Enjoy the Ride

Chapter 1

Stella's POV

"So how long are we going to be at this apartment," Cody asked with a huff as he got out of the car. "As long as we can son," I told him with a sigh. "So basically when you loose your job," Cody said with a nod. I took a deep breath, trying not to snap at him. Teenage hormones, I reminded myself. He was thirteen and his younger brother Tyson, is twelve. When I was fifteen, I had unprotected sex at a party. I was a freshman in high school and I had a rather large rebellious streak. When I found out I was pregnant, I was terrified. Thankfully though, their father, Samson, didn't just up and leave. We got together and he did his best to help me, and we fell in love, which resulted in Tyson being born. When Samson graduated high school, he joined the Marines. Since I was underage, we couldn't marry, but we agreed when I was old enough, we would. He sent money anytime he could while I got a job and tried to finish school. Then he was killed in combat. Since we weren't married, I didn't get anything. I was left heartbroken and lonely. I had just started doing online courses for community college, but because of my depression, I flunked out of them. When my mom died of cancer, we were on our own ever since, and I have been struggling every day. I want to give my boys a great life, but I can barely keep us clothed with a roof over our heads. 

"It's okay mom," Tyson said with a smile as he grabbed his bag out of the car. "We know it wasn't your fault." I gave Tyson a small smile and then lead the boys up to our apartment. It was a simple two bedroom, with nothing special about it. We unpacked what little we had before I looked at how much money we had. I started my first day at the diner as a waitress tomorrow morning at six am and the boys started at their new middle school. Tyson was in seventh and Cody was in eighth. 

I took the boys with me to the store. "Can we get a snack," Cody asked, hands shoved in the pocket of his hoodie. I did the math of what was in the cart and how much we had. I nodded, "Yeah, you each can get one thing under five." They then ran off and I sighed. "I didn't say run off," I muttered. I was about to exit the aisle when I nearly ran into a cart. "I'm sorry," I said. It was a guy covered in tattoos and a biker's cut with two girls. One looked to be close to my sons' ages and one looked to be around seven or eight. "It's fine," the guy muttered coldly. "Can you possibly tell me where two boys ran off in? One in a Deadpool hoodie, the other in a white collared shirt," I asked them kindly. "They went to the candy aisle. It's that way," the oldest girl said. I gave her a smile, "Thank you." As they turned into the aisle, Cody and Tyson came running up, each carrying two cans of Pringles each. "I thought I said one each," I said to them. "Yeah, but you also said no more than five dollars," Cody said with a shrug. "They're two for three right now." I sighed, "Okay fine." 

After getting a few more things we left the store. After putting one of those cheap pizzas in the oven I joined the boys on the couch where they were playing Yugioh since we didn't have internet or cable. "Who's winning," I asked them. "Tyson," Cody said with a grumble. "After this, do you want to play mom," Cody asked me. "Not tonight," I said with a sigh. "I need to make sure you guys have clothes that fit the school dress code. Plus I have to make sure your forms are completely filled out." 

I watched them play until the pizza was ready and I took it out. I cut it and put a couple of slices on their plates before handing them their plates. "Thanks mom," they said in unison. I smiled and grabbed my slices before sitting back down. After we ate, the boys did the dishes while I looked through their clothes. Luckily this school didn't require uniforms which was a life saver. 

The next morning I was up and woke the boys up. I got ready for work while making sure they got up. Cody came out in only his basket ball shorts, his sandy blonde hair a mess. I held out the key to apartment, "Do not loose this." "Yes ma'am," he said around a yawn. "You remember where the bus stop is don't you," I asked his. He nodded as Tyson came out of their room, "Yeah it's on the corner of the block. It'll be there at seven thirty. It'll drop us off at the same stop. Once we're dropped off, come straight home." I kissed their cheeks, "I'll be home by seven thirty tonight." I left home quickly to get to work on time. 

Venom's POV

When I picked up Vanessa from school, I noticed she was wearing a hoodie that wasn't hers. "What's with the hoodie," I asked her. "Mrs. Hart was gonna give me a dress code violation until the new kid threw his hoodie at me," she said. "Dress code violation for what," I asked her, eye brow raised. She showed her shirt. It was a basic shirt that stopped just where her shoulder stopped and rest of the arm started. The rule was that it had to be four fingers wide, which it was. "It's because my shirt is too tight," she explained. "The shirt shows the indentation of where the strap for my training bra is." She pointed to the slight indication of where it was. "She claimed it was distracting to the boys." I scoffed and shook my head, "That's fucking bullshit." "Yeah I know. She did it in front of the entire class too, which was embarrassing. The new kid told her the only thing that was distracting them was her interrupting the lesson to talk point something out that no body cared about. She almost wrote him up, but since he was new he got a warning. That was when he let me use his jacket. I tried giving it back to him, but he got on the bus before I could. Cody is that kid we saw with that woman yesterday at the store. He was the one wearing the Deadpool hoodie." 

I nodded and pulled out of the school parking lot. "Mrs. Hart tried to get him to do that whole introduction stuff in front of the class. He just asked for her to point him to his chair and start the lesson," she told me. "He didn't talk much outside of that." 

I then went to the elementary school to pick up Jocelyn. "How was school Josie," I asked her. "It was fun. We got to learn about volcanoes today," she said happily. As I drove, she began to talk about the different things she learned. "You guys want to stop at Lucky's Diner," I asked them. "I want a milkshake," Jocelyn declared. "A milkshake sounds awesome," Vanessa said with a nod. 

I pulled up to the diner and opened the door for them. We sat down at one of the booths and the woman we saw at the store came up, pad and pen in hand. "Your Cody's mom," Vanessa said, throwing her off. "I go  to school with him." Vanessa then took off the hoodie and explained what happened. The woman took it with a sigh, "I see he's already started off great." It was muttered and whispered but I still heard it. She draped the hoodie on her arm then took our orders. 

After that she walked away. After she pinned the order up she took the hoodie to a Honda Civic that's seen better days. She tossed the hoodie in, and came back inside. When she came with our orders I noticed her name tag said Stella. "I'm Vanessa by the way," Vanessa introduced herself. "It's nice to meet you Vanessa," Stella said. "I'm Stella." "This is my sister Jocelyn and this is my dad Venom," Vanessa told her. Stella nodded and looked at me. "I take it Venom is your road name?" I simply nodded. "He's the VP of Toxic Smoke," Vanessa told her. I shot Vanessa a look, telling her to shut up. I still hate the fact she snuck out of bed to listen in on a conversation between Spark and I last year in my living room. 

Stella nodded, "It's nice to meet you all." She then left to go tend other tables. "Seriously Vanessa," I asked her. She shrugged, "She's cute, and doesn't seem scared by your presence most women." I glared, "I'm not dating." She rolled her eyes, "You should. Maybe you won't be so grumpy all the time." "He's not grumpy all the time," Jocelyn stated. "He is tired too." 

"I'm fine," I grumbled. Vanessa raised an eyebrow at me. "Whatever you say," she said with a shrug before taking a drink of her milkshake. My girls maybe the death of me one day.