Behind These Bars

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty
That night I couldn't help but be ecstatic. My life was finally starting to look up. I was on the right side of the law, my grades were good, and I had an amazing group of friends and the perfect boyfriend. The only thing that brought me back down to Earth was the abuse Jason was enduring.
Growing up with and around Jason, I had met his parents on a couple of different occasions. He had always seemed so put together, and well, normal. Never would I have imagined that his father was an angry drunk that abused his kid. I guess it made sense that no one ever suspected that Jason was being abused. His family just seemed so perfect. Sighing, I rolled over and decided to go to sleep.
Sunday was uneventful for me as I just sat around watching TV and texting Jason. That night my mom still hadn't gotten back from wherever she was at. I wasn't worried yet about her not being home as it hadn't even been a week yet since her departure. Since Christmas was Friday, I figured she would be back before then.
It was Monday morning and I had just gotten changed from my pajamas to some lounge clothes when the doorbell rang. Wondering who would be at the house at nine o'clock in the morning, I went downstairs to answer the door. Peeping through the small hole in the front door, I couldn't help but smile when I saw who it was.
Retching open the door, I was face to face with Jason. "Hey! What are you doing here," I asked him. Jason smiled and leaned down to give me a quick kiss before answering my question. "Well we were going Christmas shopping and decided to come by and pick you up." I looked at his questionably, "We?" It was then that I looked around Jason and saw a car full of all of our friends. Just then Matt stuck his head out of the window and screamed, "Hey Evangeline!" I couldn't help but laugh at him as I waved in his direction. I turned back toward Jason and replied, "Let me get my wallet and shoes."
A couple of minutes later we were all packed into Tommy's SUV. Tommy and Morgan were in their respective seats up front with Jason and I in the middle and Matt by himself in the back. On the ride to the mall, we all got caught up on what had been happening in everyone's lives since Friday. Then we rocked out to various songs the rest of the way there. One thing I can honestly say though is Matt is a terrible singer. Surprisingly, so is Jason so you can imagine the teasing that went on in the car between everyone.
Once they reached the mall we all climbed out of the SUV and headed inside. Having not been to the mall since I had left juvie, I was excited to say the least. Since we were here to buy gifts for each other, we decided to split up. Morgan and I decided to group together and the guys chose to go as a group.
Morgan and I decided to get each other's gifts first so we split up to do that. We made a plan to meet up by one of the benches outside a popular jewelry store when we were done. Morgan's was the easiest present to get out of all of my friends because well, she was a girl and so was I. I ended up getting her a matching jewelry set that had her initials engraved on it.
Meeting back up, we decided to shop for Matt next. The main thing I knew about Matt was that he was a huge surfer. Last week he was complaining because his ankle strap had broken and he needed a new one. So walking into a small surf shop I got him a new ankle strap and some board wax. Next was Tommy.
"Hey Morgan, what kind of gift would Tommy like?" I knew that he was a really good musician but I didn't know what to get him. Morgan replied, "Well he is always running out of guitar picks and popping strings so I'm sure he would love to get some of those." Nodding my head in agreement we went into a music store. I bought two packs of guitar strings and a jumbo box containing fifty picks. "What did you get him Morgan?" She looked at me and responded, "Oh, I went to a pottery class and made him a jar in the shape of a music note." Impressed I replied, "That's so cool! He'll love it!" She smiled at me and said, "Thanks."
We had saved Jason's gift for last. I was completely drawing a blank on what to get him. The guy could have anything he wanted so I wanted to get him something special. I wanted it to be a gift that came from my heart and not purely just form my wallet.
Walking by a window, I spotted the perfect gift. Dragging Morgan inside the store, I picked up the gift and brought it to the counter. "Hi. I saw this in the window and I was wondering if you could engrave it," I asked the clerk. The woman smiled at me and said, "Of course dear. What do you want engraved on it?" After giving the lady my order, Morgan and I waited ten minutes for it to be finished. I purchased the gift after it was done and Morgan and I headed to the food court to meet the guys. I couldn't help but be nervous for Christmas. My gift to Jason was definitely from the heart. I just hoped he liked it.