I'm not broken

Chapter 9

"Ray!" I yelled as I entered through the door. The house was silent.

"Ray?" I said again, checking his room and the bathroom.

Nothing.

I got out my phone and dialed his number. It rang three times.

"Hey this is Ray, leave a message."

"Ray? it's Nat. I'm home, just wanted to see where you're at. Call me when you can." I hung up, then looked around the house. It felt so empty without my brother.

But I had things to do.

First, I got a piece of paper and pencil and wrote down all the good things about Carter on one side:

Good things

Really hot

Sweet when he wants to be

Awesome at making me laugh

Is a bit insecure

Then I wrote about the bad things:

Broke my heart just to be with Trinity Young

Wants more of my attention

Lied easily about me

Easily swayed

I sighed. Maybe I should give him another chance, but I should be more cautious. In my frustration I tore up my piece of paper and threw it towards the kitchen. It landed next my phone on the kitchen counter, which reminded me I had to do something else. I got up from the couch and got my phone, then sat back down on the couch.

"Okay, let's do this." I mumbled, but then thought: wait. I got up and did some jumping jacks, then some squats, until my mind finally said ENOUGH! so I sat down on the couch again and stared at my phone on the coffee table right ahead of me.

"Fuck it. I'm doing it."

I went on my contacts, then dialed the number.

It rang three times before the person picked up.

"Hey Natalie Marks. I thought you had it all under control. Funny you should call me." Ashton said, voice smug. I rolled my eyes.

"Cut the shit. You in or not?"

"Oh I'm in. I just want to savor this moment. Please wait." he put me on hold, and I exhaled loudly as I waited.

"Okay I'm back. When do you want me to come over?" he asked, and I bit my lip. I knew it was forbidden to bring guys over to my house since Ray would kill me, but he's at Avery's house, so...

"How bout right now?" I asked hopefully. Ashton agreed.

"I'll be over in five minutes." the line went dead, and I looked around. The whole place looked like shit.

"I better clean some stuff up." I began to pick up wrappers and left over food plates, shoved it all in the sink, then went to the bathroom to wash my hands. I glanced at myself in the bathroom mirror and almost crapped my pants.

"Holy cow." I whimpered, then rushed to my room and changed into some sweatpants and put on a plain green T-shirt, then left my hair up in a bun. I struggled on a green and black headband right when the door rang.

"Coming!" I remarked, rushing to open the door.

"Hey Nat." Ashton waved. I waved back.

"Hey Ashton. Come in." he stepped in, completely ignoring the fact that I basically lived in a shithole and sat down on the couch.

"Okay, so, we're going to have to complete the assignments given to us, correct?" I nodded dumbly. Ashton ran his fingers through his bangs, then exhaled.

"But we have no idea what it is, correct?" I nodded again. He checked his phone.

"It's only six thirty, I say you call Donald and say you already have a partner so we can start."

"Okay." I picked up my phone and called Donald. He picked up in the first ring.

"Hey there Natalie!"

"Hi," I told him.

"So, do you have your partner?"

"Yeah. Ashton Smith." I answered.

"Please wait." I was put on hold once more, while Ashton sat next to me on his phone.

"Okay, Natalie Marks, here's your assignment: I want you and your partner to go down to the Bakers house and steal these three things: a salt shaker, a shot glass, and whatever is inside the vault. Remember, you only have till Tuesday." he hung up, and I wanted to throw the phone into the wall. "What he say?" Ashton asked, and I almost whimpered.

"We have to steal more stuff."