Dares with the Boy Who Doesn't Care

Chapter Seven (Rose POV)

"Mom?"

I hear rattling as soon as I pull my key from the door. It's coming from my room. My mom almost never goes into my room, but then again she almost never comes home either.

Could it be, a burglar? I run past the counter island and grab the largest knife I can find. I'm tempted to hide in the laundry room, which is to my left. But then again I know whoever's in here could have heard me already and could be heading down the hallway, to my right.

I take one step forward before remembering I have a cellphone. The first thing I think of as I pull it out of my bag is Noah. He told me I could call him anytime, is this too soon? Calling the police could result in a fine if this turned out to be a false alarm. The sound of glass shattering shatters my thought process.

I take a step towards the hallway. My hair is sticking to the back of my neck and I'm panting like crazy. I try to calm down, taking another step forward. I exhale shakily before allowing my feet to move again. I let the knife fall from my hand as I peer through my doorway.

"Mom."

She doesn't even look at me. She continues moving through the remains of my piggy bank, grabbing dollars, coins, everything I've worked hard for for so many months. I watch her until nothing's left but shattered porcelain. She rushes past me and I glance into her blank soulless eyes for the first time in what seems like forever.

She's out the door.

Though this has never happened to me before it feels old. I've never had anything stolen from me, especially not by my own mother. Yet, I'm not surprised. It's like I knew this would happen eventually. I knew she'd do anything to feed her drug addiction yet I was still stupid enough to keep money in the house.

I slide down the wall until my knees are pressed against my torso. I didn't even try to stop her. I press 911 but can't even bluff enough to push 'call'. Trying not to cry, I turn off my phone.

If Ella were here right now she'd probably say something along the lines of 'That's what you get for being a dumbass.' or 'Now you know better.' She never pitied me, something I really loved about her. She was harsh but it was always to push me forward.

Thinking about her, the way she looked, the way she used to look, makes me unable to hold it in any more. My entire body shakes as I sob uncontrollably.

•••

As soon as I wake up one question crosses my mind. What am I going to do?

I take a long shower with this question still ringing through my head. Once I'm done I turn on my phone to check the time, 6:21am. I'm so used to waking up early that I don't even need to set any alarms. I'm always on a schedule. Between school and summer jobs, I almost never have any free time. That's it! I need to get another job. Something I can do on the weekends so that I can still go to school and continue being a part of the after school club.

I get ready for school and leave the house making sure to lock the doors. I don't know if my mom was able to keep up with her key through all of these months of not, but I know to take extra precautions from now on.

This was originally her house, our house, but she doesn't live here anymore. She doesn't care anymore. She cares more about substances than she does about her own daughter. Memories are flooding back all at once. My father, my family, my friend. Don't cry.

Both bus rides fly by in a breeze. The Lee high schoolers were too busy instigating a fight between two girls to pick on me today. By the time we reach my stop, they succeed and the girls are full out brawling. Of course the bus driver doesn't do anything, so I have to slide past a crowd of rowdy teens in order to get off of the bus before the doors closes.