Life, Sin, & Blood
By Jacquel May
Copyright 2011 Jacquel May
Smashwords Edition
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Chapter 1
Most people in this world seem to think that we teenagers all love romance, celebrity gossip, and pop tunes.
Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I’m not one of those girls.
In fact, I don’t even like the Twilight books at all; those stupid books just made girls want fall in love with vampires (and werewolves) and reject the normal, everyday guy.
Which I’m not that fond of either, but hey, let’s all learn to take what we can get, right?
Anyway, I’m sitting with my friends since I’m cool like that. The girls and I spend our days for the most part making fun of people who were less popular than us, normally those who dared to read that pile of crap known as Harry Potter.
Like that book is any better than Twilight.
In fact, I personally think that the Harry Potter books are a complete waste of time and the multitudes of teenagers who read them (and the Twilight books) are all stupid, and they need to stop reading those books and need to get a real life.
Anyway, to describe the girls, Ava Wilkins is the short and chubby cheerleader with blond hair, green eyes, and white skin. She is one of my loyal followers, both closed-minded and brilliant. She had recently come back from a summer trip to some foreign country that I didn’t care to hear the name of.
Alexandra Holt is the tall, dark haired, green-eyed, pale-skinned rocker; she was also known as the cruel, unique girl who was also a slight coward. Well, she is expecting a child, but not because of the usual “oh she decided to get herself knocked up” routine, but because she was trying to get back at her neglectful parents.
Grace Meyers is the chubby jock of the group with her blond hair (cut short), grey eyes, and ruddy skin. Although she excels at sports and schoolwork (and became famous after our school won some championship), Grace hasn’t been very lucky in the romance department even though most of the boys in our school find her attractive.
As for me, Nadia Coffey, I am the Queen Bee of the group, with my long blond hair, brown eyes, and cream-colored skin. All the boys at Coldcreek High wanted to date me and all the girls wanted to be me. Or at least hang around me. And why not? I’m popular, I’m pretty, I wear only the best clothes, and I just make school enjoyable for everyone.
Well unless you’re a nerd or a Harry Potter fan; and in that case that you are, I do feel the need to beat you up.
As for school, Coldcreek High School is one huge building, not one of those scattered buildings like the high schools in California. It was mainly a huge building made from red bricks, but has only 2 levels to it. There were rumors that the school was once a grand hotel during the 1920’s that went bankrupt during the 1950’s and was converted into a school in 1957. There had been 475 rooms in the hotel, but now most of them have been converted into classrooms; there are about 40 classrooms, plus a library, student lounge, a computer lab and the cafeteria. Of course, there are also the teachers’ offices, the principal’s office and the front office, but those don’t exactly count, as I haven’t been to those places. There are 800 students in the school, and about 350 of them are in the senior class. Ava, Alex, Grace, and I were high school juniors, but I haven’t turned 16 yet. Not until November 12 anyway.
Anyway, all four of us were sitting in the cafeteria just talking about certain students who were still playing with those stupid Pokémon cards. Pokémon, what a pile of crap, I thought to myself. More like laméon, that’s what they should have called it. Why do they make up random crap like that? Are they trying to force us teenagers to want to remain children longer than we should when we should be growing up?
Just then, some girl named Kate Prewett saw me. She was typical normal boring girl, with brown hair, brown eyes, and white skin. In fact, she was wearing a particularly boring outfit of just a t-shirt and jeans while I was wearing a frilly green top and a green skirt. She said to me, “You know that Kramer guy, Brian Kramer?”
I nodded. Brian Kramer was the star of our high school football team. He has black hair, brown eyes, and tanned skin. He had scores of girls who all had crushes on him, and yet, he could not keep a decent relationship for more than 5 weeks at a time. I had liked him since the sixth grade, when I first laid my eyes on him playing basketball with his friends on the school’s poor version of a basketball court. He glared at me with a mean look, but I was smitten. Ava tried to talk me out of liking him, but I didn’t listen to her. I was determined to make Brian my boyfriend.
But there was one problem with me pursuing Brian Kramer; he only liked the non-popular girls. Such as girls who were not pretty, not popular, and those who could be considered too nerdy for any decent guy to date. This meant that those girls were not me. Not Nadia Coffey, Queen Bee of Coldcreek High. There was no way on God’s green earth that Brian and I were ever going to hook up in this life.
But that still didn’t mean that a girl couldn’t dream of that moment.
Kate continued, “Brian has been asking about you.”
“Has he changed his mind and now he wants to date me?” I asked quickly, hoping that that would be the case.
“He wants to know that what you said to his brother last week has hurt him so much that he’s thinking about going to Slagston High,” said Kate.
At this, we all gasped. Slagston High School had a bad reputation the spread for miles; even the students at Coldcreek Middle School feared going to Slagston High. First off, the school was reputed to take in kids who screwed up at some other schools, or “the bad kids,” as we all called it. Also, most of the kids who went there were Black, if that is to be believed. My father, Johnathon Coffey, had barely survived 4 torturous years at Slagston High before leaving the town of Slagston, Colorado behind and coming to Coldcreek, Colorado, where he married my mother, LaDonna Reyna and had my siblings and me.
Kate then said, “Brian is trying to talk Daryl out of going to Slagston, but so far, the talks have failed. You really stepped in it this time, Nadia Coffey.”
I took one good look at her and laughed. For several years, or since the 7th grade, Kate has been after me for things that I clearly did. So what if I made fun of Daryl Kramer to the point of him wanting to switch to the worst school in the state? He should know that wearing makeup is stupid unless you’re a celebrity. He’s a guy, for crying out loud!
I said to her, “That may be true, but I have this to say: show me a man who likes girl things and I’ll show you a man who ran out of good ideas.”
This time, Kate just stared at me with her typical opened mouth. Open mouth, insert foot. She should know to never mess with Nadia Coffey.
With that, I stood up and left the cafeteria. The other girls followed me. As I left, Kate said something to me that would define the next few months of my life: “One day, you’re going to find yourself all alone and unpopular. No one will want to be your friend. And when that happens, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”
Yeah right; like that’s ever going to happen.
Anyway, my dreams of hooking up with Brian Kramer just went down the drain. Yeah, that hurts me even more than the news that some big-name celebrity couple split. Which was what everyone else was talking about. I also realized that I have hurt many people in the past, but hey, they were asking for it! No one will respect you if you like playing with fake pocket monsters or reading books about stupid whiny teenagers.
To be fair, I didn’t have any issues with gay people at all, just as long as they stayed out of my way. No need for me to get involved in that crap.
Maybe I should shut up while I’m still ahead.
Since it was still a few minutes before class, all four of us wandered the halls and talked about some other girls that we didn’t like. Brian was far from my mind; I had no wish to mention him since I now knew where his loyalties were. As we walked by Mr. O’Toole’s (the economics teacher) classroom, he said to me, “Miss Coffey, I’d like to see you before class starts tomorrow.” That meant that word of Daryl’s decision to switch to Slagston High has reached the ears of the teachers and they saw fit to go after me for what I knew I did. But I can’t apologize to Daryl; he brought this upon himself by wearing that makeup.
“I hope he goes easy on you, Nadia,” says Alex. “I’d hate to get detention.”
Ava added, “You know Nadia’s never going to get detention; she can manipulate her way out of anything.”
Ava was right; I could easily worm my way out of any bad situation. My father had taught me to always be honest, even if it hurt. Also, don’t be afraid to say what you really thought about that person. Those two things had helped keep him alive in that hostile environment.
But would that help me when I had to face Mr. O’Toole the next day?
The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, and all four of us separate, making plans to meet at the library after school. Of course we don’t “study” at the library, but we joke around and make life miserable for the guys who do study there until the librarian kicks us out. Alex goes on to math with Mrs. MacGuffin, Ava goes to biology with Mr. Crepsley, and Grace and I head to Spanish III with Ms. Mulberry.
Spanish class would have been enjoyable on most days, but there was one problem: Brian Kramer was in the same class as I was, and while that would be nothing short of exciting for me (seeing as I had the cutest guy in the school in Spanish), today was a day of judgment for me regarding his brother, Daryl. I knew that no matter what, Brian wasn’t going to let the fact that I had hurt his brother go.
But I had more things to worry about than a boy whose brother I had hurt; everyone in class was required to read a book (in Spanish, of course!) and to write down their opinions on that book. So far, the two big books I hated, Harry Potter and Twilight, had been chosen by 75% of the class. That left 15% reading Percy Jackson & the Olympians (why is Greek Mythology so popular? To me, it’s somewhat childish) and the rest of the class reading some other book that wasn’t the big two.
I tensed, knowing that I wasn’t doing the assignment. And why not? I wasn’t about to read any book that I didn’t like in a foreign language and doing homework at home was out of the question. And the books that I did like to read, mainly realistic teen novels, were banned by Ms. Mulberry herself because she had read them and deemed them to be “too dull” and “useless” and also, “not fitting for a high school classroom setting.”
If only she had said that about Harry Potter and Twilight, then things would be so much better for me (and countless others here at Coldcreek High who don’t like the books). That would also mean that a riot would break out and those who do like the books (which were more than those who didn’t) would give the school some serious grief. Those are just stupid books, for crying out loud!
So Grace and I usually would write down things that we didn’t like about several of our classmates, such as David Fonstein, whose family was Jewish and how he never seemed to get along well with anyone at the school. Or we picked on Laurel Lynton, whose mother walked out of the family and her issues with a relative who came out as gay. And there was Eric Dalson, who no one liked for various reasons, all which would be a waste of time if I described them.
Today, there was no gossip; instead, we were writing about Daryl Kramer and how and why he should not be wearing makeup and dressing in girls’ clothes. (Even though Grace had once admitted that girl’s jeans looked better on him than boy’s jeans; this earned her a fierce spanking from the rest of us.) We also made up a list of good excuses for him NOT to go to Slagston High. I just hope this list idea works, as I hate to be responsible for what could happen to him if he were to go to that school.
By the time that the 10-minute assignment was done, Ms. Mulberry began to move to the lesson of the day. Almost immediately, everyone had put away their notebooks and pulled out their textbooks. I waited for Brian to notice me before pulling out my textbook and flipping to the chapter that we were studying.
To describe Ms. Mulberry: She has large coffee-colored eyes, fine, straight, waist-length chestnut hair (which she always wore in a bun on the back of her head), pale skin, and a large nose and small hands. She was the kind of teacher who didn’t care if you passed notes in class, just as long as you were writing the notes in Spanish. While the rest of the class was diligently taking notes on the given subject, I was stunned to find a note in the back of my chair. The note said, “I hope that you are pleased with yourself, Nadia. You really hurt my brother’s feelings.”
I wrote back, “Look, Brian, we’ve been through this already; it’s not cool for a boy to wear makeup; not unless he wants to be a girl. Which is pretty much useless when you think about it.”
He replied, “But still, you shouldn’t have insulted him. Now because of you, he wants to go to Slagston.”
I said, “He can’t go there; they’ll eat him alive!”
Brian said, “Not like you care.”
I said, “Remember a few weeks ago when the news broke out about some girl at Slasgston who came out as a lesbian? She was raped and knocked up soon after! Do you want that to happen to Daryl?”
Brian said, “So what? You think that’s going to stop him? Besides, she was stupid to even do that; what did she expect? To have the school accept it? No way! But still, I expect you to come up with a full-fledged apology for Daryl when tomorrow comes around and I’ll make sure that he knows that.”
I’m not going to bore you with any more details regarding this conversation, but I will say that after class, I rushed out of the room as if my feet were on fire. Grace joined me and we walked to my next class, which I was planning to ditch when I realized that we had a test today. Figures.
When school finally let out for the day, Ava and Alex were waiting for Grace and me at the library. All four of us had originally planned to “study” there, but plans had to be changed. Such as Grace and Ava had practice and Alex had some club that was meeting today. So, I decided to take myself home.
The one thing that sucks about being 15 years old is that you hardly have any money at all. You’re too old for an allowance, and yet, you’re too young to get a job. You can’t drive until you’re 16 and you can’t ride your bike to school anymore. Also, riding the bus is stupid because only the stupid kids actually ride the bus. That’s why it’s a bit easier for you if you hang out with anyone at the school who can drive a car, and they cannot a teacher or staff worker.
Well, I was out of luck because my twin, Drew, saw me and waved, saying, “I saved a seat for you, Nadia!” I so wanted to slap him.
To start, although Drew and I were twins, we knew we looked nothing alike. While I had blonde hair and brown eyes, Drew had brown hair and blue eyes. That wasn’t the least of it. While I loved keeping with the latest fashion trends and dressed well, Drew wore whatever he could get his hands on, even if it was in one of those resale shops. While I was popular and had many friends, Drew knew only a few people and he also hung out by himself most of the time.
Yeah, and you thought twins all looked alike and like doing the same things. I wish I could find and slap the person who invented that a dumb stereotype regarding twins.
Anyway, I make my way to the bus and pulled out my iPod, hoping to drown out the noise and fake drama of the school bus. As for the music I listen to, I listened to tunes mainly by popular artists such as Britney Spears and Beyonce, but Drew listens to whatever’s available on the radio. Another way that we are different. For a long time, the bus drove around various neighborhoods, dropping off kids who had to go home and do homework. But I knew that Drew and I would never get that luxury, not as far as Chelle was concerned.
Chelsea Coffey, or Chelle (as we called her) is 12 years old. Unknown to the rest of the population of Coldcreek High, Chelle has autism, which meant that she was very much detached from the world around her. In fact, she was oblivious to the fact that most people who see her make fun of her, one thing that was not lost on me. (I also have a sister named Brooke and a brother named Jarrett, but they’re both older than me and out of the house, so they’re not in the story very much.) Our mother, LaDonna, has to keep an eye on her, since she doesn’t know if she could get herself into bad situations that could result in years of pain and misery for the rest of us.
Which is why Drew and I could never get our homework done at home, because #1, Chelle destroys whatever she could get her hands on, and #2, she is like a small puppy that needs to be watched constantly. She also never seemed to do anything else but play on mom’s iPhone most of the time that she was awake.
When Drew and I get home, mom is quickly preparing tonight’s dinner. Chelle is sitting in the play area that dad had designed for her, playing on mom’s iPhone as usual. We set our things down in our rooms and Drew locks the door to his room.
This was great because I needed to ask mom a big question.
I said to her, “Is it a good idea if a boy wears makeup?”
Mom looked at me real hard and said, “Of course not! Whoever gave you that idea?”
“It’s Daryl Kramer,” I said quickly. “He’s wanting to go to Slagston because I said it was a bad idea for him to wear makeup. His brother is now angry with me. I’m just lucky I didn’t get in trouble.”
“I see,” said mom as she returned to her cooking. “I’ll have to have a word with Rhonda later. That poor woman’s got enough on her plate as it is, with her mother’s illness and her husband’s affair; now this…”
I decided to take a walk outside. My house looks a bit old-fashioned and is in average condition. The interior is done in spring colors. The yard is tiny and looks very formal. So were all the other houses on my street. I pop in my iPod and nod my head along to the lyrics of Lady Gaga as I walk down the street. Other than the issue with Daryl Kramer, I didn’t have any other school problems, but no one at the school was interested in hearing about the problems of a high school student having a 12-year-old autistic sister, so I had successfully kept it away from everyone.
That might not be the best idea after all.
By the time I got home with a cleared head, I saw mom and Mrs. Kramer happily talking about something silly. Then mom looks at me and says, “I just spoke to her and we have arranged for Daryl to see the counselor tomorrow, so there’s no need for him to go to that awful school. But Brian had no right to get on your case about that.”
“I will deal with Brian,” said Mrs. Kramer. “It’s about time that boy came down from his high horse.”
Within a few minutes, Mrs. Kramer had gone home and my dad walked through the door. For a man pushing about 56 years, Johnathon Coffey didn’t look too bad. He had graying brown hair, blue eyes, and he looked like one of those football players who let themselves go after they stopped playing the game. At age 52, mom had graying blond hair, brown eyes and she looked like one of those aging supermodels. While most of my friends’ parents were in their early-to-mid-40’s, I had the shock of having older parents. And Chelle’s condition had aged mom even faster than time itself.
After the family had dinner and Chelle (once again) ruined everything by throwing food at Drew, I went to my room and shut the door. Dad had told us early on that we needed to keep our rooms shut and securely locked since Chelle destroys whatever she sees and can touch. I sat at my computer and chatted with the girls on Skype, letting them know that my mom had spoken to Mrs. Kramer and all I needed to do was speak to Mr. O’Toole about that incident. Alex agreed and added that her parents were finally getting some much-needed help for their issues. Grace said that her mother was going out of town, leaving her dad in charge of the house for a few days. We all cracked up at that, knowing that Grace’s father was no good at housekeeping at all. Ava showed us some pictures from her vacation, which we all rolled our eyes at.
When it was all over, we agreed to meet up in Mr. O’Toole’s classroom tomorrow. I then check my emails, updated my Facebook status, and then I leave the computer on to listen to some music while I did my homework for Spanish, English, and psychics classes.
While lying in bed, I thought about the great life that I had built up for myself, and the things I could do to make it better. Then I thought about Daryl and how he could ruin it all for me, and then I thought about Brian and how I went from liking him to hating him in one afternoon. He made his bed, so he can go lie in it, I said to myself. Besides, Jeramy Kasey Hayes is so much cuter than Brian Kramer; and he doesn’t even care if I’m popular at all. I’ll go talk to him tomorrow and see what he thinks of me.
Well, there is a thing called karma and then I remembered Kate’s cruel words. This was too bad because those words were about to come true…
Tell me this one thing: Why did Kate Prewett tell me that my life was going to suck?
OK, so she wasn’t the brightest star in the cluster, but still, everyone she that had told that silly line to have laughed in her face, insulted her, or vandalized her locker. It was the middle of October and so far, her locker had been broken into 4 times and her stuff was scattered around the hall each time. Also, 5 students had been suspended due to the break-ins.
But how was I to get my revenge on Kate without causing too much damage to myself?
The next day, I forced myself to get up and leave for school. I was going to personally deal with her. No one person should have to be such a completely inconsiderate jerk at Coldcreek High, and certainly not girls like Kate Prewett. She was going to pay dearly for trying to humiliate me in front of Brian Kramer.
Ava, Alex, and Grace saw me walking towards Mr. O’Toole’s room. I noticed that Alex was wearing an orange maternity shirt. Somehow, I don’t think that orange is really her color at all, as it clashes with her green eyes. They all said, “Don’t worry, Nadia, things can’t be so bad. You know that Kate’s going to get detention, right?”
I said, “I can only hope so. But what about Brian? Ava, you knew that I had liked him, but yesterday in Spanish, he showed me his true colors. I don’t know what to do now.”
Alex said to me, “All I can say is that you march up to him and give him a piece of your mind.”
“And admit that I was right,” said Ava. “Brian really wasn’t worth your time.” I nodded, but I knew that if Kate found out that I had liked Brian, then I was finished. I just couldn’t let that happen at all.
Mr. O’Toole noticed me and said, “I think someone here owes you an apology, Nadia.”
I gasped as Brian Kramer and Kate Prewett came forward. Daryl hung back; he was wearing just a regular T-shirt and jeans. Both Brian and Kate wore looks of anger on their faces.
And here I thought it couldn’t get worse.
Mr. O’Toole continued, “Yesterday, I caught those two in my classroom saying some very demeaning things about you, Miss Coffey. Kate has implied that you have a disabled sister, which everyone in this school knows is not true.” I nodded, knowing that as painful as it sounded, I had learned to never reveal Chelle’s identity in public. In fact, my parents had made Drew and me promise not to talk about her at all.
I then said, “Well, let’s get this over with; I really don’t have time for this crap.”
After Brian and Kate half mumbled their apologies, Mr. O’Toole said, “Come with me, you two, and we’ll discuss this with the principal and your parents.” He took them out of the classroom, with Brian mumbling to me, “You’re going to be sorry for this, Nadia Coffey.”
Smiles hide so many things, like the knowledge that one has achieved some sort of victory over their arch-nemesis. In this case, my smile meant that Brian wasn’t worth my time and Kate was getting exactly what she deserved.
But it wasn’t over yet.
Within a few hours after that, Ava and I were in the library for English class when one of the office assistants called me to the office. I tensed, wondering how much more crap are they going to put on my shoulders? I didn’t even apologize to Daryl for that smart-assed remark, so why are they dragging this out?
I was so ready to take out the next person who brought up Daryl Kramer and his situation; why can’t they just let the whole thing die? Still, I forced myself to walk through the door that led into the principal’s office.
Drew was sitting in the office when I walked in. For the record, Drew has never done anything that would land himself in the principal’s office. But I have seen my fair share of the office, especially with that juvenile delinquent Denise Lansing always trying to beat me up in my freshman year. She was later sent to juvenile hall for trying to blackmail me. Drew said to me, “Nadia, you have a big mouth.”
“So do you,” I shot back.
“Why can’t you be like other girls?” he cried out. “Like girls who…aren’t popular?”
Now if that kid were not my brother, I would have slapped him across his face. Hard. I had been popular for almost my whole life and I had worked very hard to get to where I was now. I was not about to give that all up just because of my brother’s complaints.
I said, “How could you say that, Drew?”
He said, “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore, Nadia. We’ve become like strangers. And it certainly doesn’t help much to know that Chelle is part of the problem.”
“Drew, don’t you dare drag Chelle into this,” I snapped at him. “She has done nothing wrong.”
Drew stared at me blankly and then went back to doing whatever he was doing when I first came into the room. I knew that blaming Chelle for almost all our problems didn’t help much at all, nor did lying about her or hiding her from the world. I had come to believe that karma would make us pay for that eventually.
How right I was.
Anyway, the principal came to us and said, “A fire has broken out at your house earlier this morning.” That was no surprise to us, as our house, like the other houses on the block, were over 50 years old and they were known to catch on fire. In fact, every week, it seemed that a house on our block was on fire. But that wasn’t the least of it. I also learned that the kitchen was completely gutted and the living room was heavily damaged. Firefighters were able to save the rest of the house, however.
But not my parents, and perhaps not poor innocent Chelsea.
At this point, Drew had a “who cares” look on his face, but I was a little shocked. No one expected us to scream in horror. We were high schoolers, not stupid women from those stupid chick flicks. But I did not show it at all.
Just then, Ava, Alex, and Grace rushed into the office, with Ava crying out, “I heard about your parents!” She can be a real drama queen sometimes. “I’m so sorry, Nadia!” She hugged me and burst into tears.
“OK, Ava, enough with the dramatics,” said Alex as Grace tried to pry her off me. “Nadia’s already shocked enough as it is; we don’t need to scare her off.” But she too was as shocked as I was.
Drew frowned and looked the other way. I could tell that he was very upset about our parents’ apparent deaths, but not about Chelle’s. I felt somewhat bad for her, though. Autistic though she was, she did not deserve to die in this fashion. And besides, she was only 12 years old.
How’s the saying go? Life sucks and then you die? Yeah, that’s just how it goes. But even then, nothing in the world could prepare me for the entire school’s reaction to this tragedy.
When I stepped out of the office, everyone had looks of calm on their faces, like they wanted to say something to me, but couldn’t. But how do you tell a popular girl whose parents have died in a house fire that you’re sorry that her parents are dead? How do you tell a regular high school kid that you’re sorry that their parents are dead? Most of the kids at Coldcreek High don’t get that luxury at all, so this is a new thing for them.
Drew and I went home early, just so we could see for ourselves which part of the house had indeed survived the fire. The kitchen was completely gone, and most of the dining room was gone as well. But the living room was damaged, as many pictures of our family had soot all over their frames. But mom and dad were gone; never to come back, make us dinner, listen to our problems, and to prepare us for the world that laid ahead. Luckily, Chelle was found hiding in their bathroom the whole time; she clutched mom’s iPhone and would not let go until I came to get her.
Just to take some attention off this part of the story, I will say that Brian was suspended for about a week and no one has seen Kate at all. Daryl ended up going to some special program at his church that helped gay students deal with their issues. I eventually apologized to him, which he accepted. But by the time the next week rolled around, Brian came back, telling everyone that Kate’s parents had sent her to stay with some relatives who lived in Kentucky or somewhere like that; they claimed that Kate had no friends and the kids at our school would never accept her at all.
Just like that, Kate’s life had changed forever. What did she say to me before? “One day, you’re going to find yourself all alone and unpopular. No one will want to be your friend. And when that happens, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.” Yeah, that’s exactly what she said to me. And look where it had gotten her. She’s now in a very boring town in some state that I had never seen or heard of before in my life. I guess that’s what happens when you decide to become the school blackmailer.
Somehow, that had failed to make me feel better. Especially since I knew that it was going to happen to me.
Since the tragedy, my older sister Brooke came from her school and stayed at our house. She looks like my mom, except for the gray hairs and wrinkles. Jarrett also showed up; he looks like dad, except that he weighed considerably less than him. While Drew and I were 15 years old, Brooke was 19 and Jarrett was 23. None of them could handle Chelle at all and if they even tried to help Chelle, that would mean putting her in some sort of mental institution someplace, something that mom just would not accept at all.
Other relatives stopped by to check up on us. Uncle Connor Reyna offered to stay at our house and have it rebuilt; he also planned to move his family there since they lost their own home due to mold that grew in its walls. This was good for the house and us, but not good enough for poor Chelle. Connor’s wife, Alvira, said that she had found some sort of program that could teach us how to help Chelle live her life.
While cleaning out my parents’ things, I stumbled upon the name of another relative: Cheri Reyna. She had to be mom’s younger sister or something like that; mom had never spoken about her. When I asked Uncle Connor about Cheri, he said, “Cheri is not worth mentioning at all; she doesn’t exist.”
“Why not?” I asked, surprised that Uncle Connor would say something like that.
“Cheri had a mental disability, not unlike your sister Chelsea,” said Uncle Connor. “But Cheri was more mentally alert and she knew that something was wrong with her. Instead, she chose to live in denial and pretend that her disability didn’t exist. Her insane behavior irked us to no end, from having imaginary friends and attempting to prolong her childhood to her mindless obsession with toys and filming and celebrities. LaDonna and I thought that she was stupid, she needed to grow up, and she also to own up to the fact that she was disabled and she needed to be put away in a hospital. Now that your grandparents would never allow, so the easiest thing for myself and your mother to do was to simply pretend that Cheri didn’t exist and push her out of our normal, everyday lives.”
“But why did you and mom push her out of your lives?” I asked.
“She married Kurt Webster,” said Uncle Connor, “and from what I heard, he was a cruel man who did not like certain groups of people, especially if any of them were disabled. But Cheri charmed Kurt and kept her disability hidden from him. They have three children named Lacie, Bruce, and Wayne.”
“So why not we go visit her?” I asked. “I’m sure Aunt Cheri seems like a nice person. And who knows? Maybe Uncle Kurt knows a thing or two about Celle’s…condition.”
“Out of the question,” Aunt Alvira snapped as she walked into the room. “Cheri and your mother had a huge falling out after her wedding and Kurt kept her away from us. Now, no more of this silly talk about Cheri; I’ve gotten takeout for dinner tonight. It’ll be a few weeks before the kitchen can be deemed usable.”
That night, with most of my things put away in the attic to make room for my cousin Jeanette (who was about my age), I Skyped the girls and gave them the message that I could be staying in Coldcreek or going to stay with Aunt Cheri. Alex said, “You got to stay here, Nadia. Who else is going to make school interesting for us?”
I said, “I don’t know, Alex. But I have never met my aunt before, and I think I should take this chance and go see her.”
“You probably should,” said Ava. “Who knows? Maybe you might like this…Aunt Cheri person.”
“Give her a chance,” said Grace. “You’ll never know what she might really be like. I had the same issue when meeting my foster brother Doug last year. You’ll see.”
The next day, I had to miss school because of my parents’ funerals. I had a hard time coming to terms with their deaths. Sure, we’re all gong to die someday, but I prefer to die when I’m old and happy with my life, not while I’m still young and strong. I also hated how death can make things so…permanent. Like it’s going to break you. But I was Nadia Coffey, and I would not let a thing like the deaths of my parents break me at all. I must remain strong, if only for Chelle’s sake.
I also thought about Daryl Kramer and how my insensitivity had almost ruined his life; I just hoped that he didn’t self-destruct at all. But Brian and my obsession with him had to go because I had now seen that behind that good-looking guy was a cold-hearted person who would do whatever it took to destroy popular people like me.
As for Kate, she wanted me to be as dumb, mean, and friendless as she was; but in the end, she was forced to move to another school in another state, where no one would treat her right.
I then wondered if finding Aunt Cheri would be worth it; it would mean going to another school in another state where no one knew me at all. I would have to start over and build up my popularity there. And then I wondered about Ava, Alex, and Grace. Would they be willing to be without their friend and ringleader? How would they be able to cope without me? They also worried that I might make new friends and forget about them.
And as for Uncle Connor, I don’t know what he has against Aunt Cheri, but I was going to make sure that this useless rivalry between them was going to end.
That’s right.
I would prove them all wrong.
Chapter 2
It was with high hopes that Drew, Chelle, and I made our way to Columbus, South Carolina.
Uncle Connor went with us on this trip; he didn’t trust his children to come and see the crazy aunt. It would not be worth all the trouble. He still could not talk us out of visiting Aunt Cheri and staying in Coldcreek. But I really wanted to meet her and I did not take the word “no” for an answer.
Now that was something that I had learned from my mother; she didn’t let anyone say “no” to her at all. Not even dad could stand up to her, let alone the other adults and children she had come into contact during her years on earth.
So anyway, all four of us are on an airplane flying out to meet some relatives that we didn’t even know existed. There were a number of questions that flowed through my head, such as what was Aunt Cheri like as a kid? Why did mom and Uncle Connor stop talking to her? Was she really disabled? Why did she not visit us?
Every question was built upon another question until I grew angry and impatient with everything. Chelle sat next to me, not saying anything, but staring out the window. If only Heaven weren’t so far away, then I bet that she’d jump out of the plane and go there without a moment’s hesitation...
Just then, the plane landed at the airport in South Carolina. As soon as I walked off the airplane, I could sense that something was out of place. Looking around, I saw that most of the people there were wearing just t-shirts and jeans. But I just happened to be wearing a spaghetti-strap blue dress with blue pumps. I bet most of the girls there would be envying me and my nice dress and shoes.
Well, the opposite was true, since they all looked at me and thought out the word slut. Who did they think they were fooling? To me, the word slut is an insult to me, and not only that, I had beaten up a few girls who dared to call Alex a slut when she revealed that she was pregnant.
Just ignore them, I said to myself. They’re not worth the trouble. Think of Chelle.
Speaking of Chelle, she was sitting in the baggage carrier when we went to get our bags. She did not even look up from mom’s iPhone and take in the scenery. Of course when we left, we took our parents’ electronics with us; Aunt Alvira convinced us that we should hold on to them and not to leave them lying around at home.
It would be their home now, not ours anymore.
Now that was a very sad thing for us to hear, but it was true. The home was now ours; but Uncle Connor and Aunt Alvira, along with cousins Harper, Jeanette, Monica, Brandon, and Nemo would be living there until they could get back on their feet. Jarrett and Brooke had their own lives, and they really weren’t about to move back home and take care of the house. I’m also not sure if I could handle a slightly crowded house filled with relatives and an autistic sibling.
The last time that I remembered hearing about my Aunt Cheri was when dad had told me that she was mentally disabled and was living in a hospital in Ralston, Virginia. At that time, I was 8 years old and was doing a family research project for school. So I didn’t have much to go on regarding her.
But anyway, Uncle Connor had rented a car and we ended up driving from the airport and through the city until we reached a quiet neighborhood called Ridgewick Forest. As I looked at all the houses that were there, I noticed that they were small houses that looked very old-fashioned, yet in good condition. The interiors of those houses are done in colors that remind you of the sky. The yards are small and neatly-trimmed. I’m not even sure if Aunt Cheri was even in those houses; they looked like they could eat her up in a second.
We pulled up in front of a house that had a faded blue car in the driveway and got out. The sky outside had turned dark and it looked like it was about to rain. Only it didn’t. We saw a woman standing in the doorway staring at us. She had slanted gunmetal-gray eyes and thick, straight, brown hair. She is short, has a lean build, pale skin, and a small mouth. Her wardrobe is severe, with a lot of black and yellow. She took one good look at Uncle Connor and said, “Mr. Harris? I wasn’t expecting you until next week. Why are you here?”
Uncle Connor frowned at her oblivious reaction to our appearance and said, “Mrs. Webster, my name is Malcolm Hobday and I’m with an organization that provides foster homes for teenagers. It was come to our attention that your sister, LaDonna Reyna Coffey, had been killed in a house fire last week; these are her children Nadia, Drew, and Chelsea Coffey.”
Aunt Cheri took one good look at us. For a second, I wondered if she would reject us and send us right back home. I knew that if that happened, then our trip would be wasted and I did not anything to be wasted. She then said, “Oh, very well then, Mr. Hobday. I’ll take them.”
“For the time being, or until we find other relatives, whichever comes first,” said Uncle Connor as he went back to the car and grabbed our suitcases.
Aunt Cheri looked at me and said, “You’re Chelsea, right?”
“Nadia,” I said.
“Now what kind of name is that?” Aunt Cheri cried out. “Your mother lacked imagination and thus she gave you the wrong kind of name.”
“Well,” I said, “my full name is Nadia Rosemary Coffey.”
“Indeed,” said Aunt Cheri. “Rosemary was your grandmother’s name, did you not know that?” I had barely recalled meeting grandmother Rosemary Reyna; she had died when Drew and I were 6 years old and Chelle was 3 years old.
“And your name is Drew,” Aunt Cheri said to Drew. “Short for Andrew, isn’t it?”
“No, just Drew,” said Drew. “As in Drew Barrymore.”
“The actress?” said Aunt Cheri. “Figures. And this must be Chelsea then.” She looked at Chelle and said, “Is there anything wrong with her?”
“Well, she’s been like this since she was born,” said Drew.
“Indeed,” said Aunt Cheri as she stared at Chelle. “LaDonna was never any good with children; I’m surprised that you’re not as crazy as she is. But regarding Chelsea…”
“We usually call her Chelle,” I cut in.
“Chelsea,” Aunt Cheri said in a firm voice. “We only address people using their given names. Nicknames are not acceptable. Now then, we’ll just wait until Mr. Hobday leaves and then we’ll get you settled in. How old are you kids?”
“Fifteen and Chel…sea is 12,” said Drew.
“I’m shocked,” said Aunt Cheri as she stared at him. “LaDonna just kept having you one right after the other. Well, I’m not like her. I had mine all at once.” She directed us to a series of pictures on the wall in the living room. There were some pictures of Aunt Cheri as a child, sitting with mom and Uncle Connor on the front porch of their home in Boston, Massachusetts; one of Aunt Cheri on her wedding day, some with her children, and one with her husband. “Uncle Kurt works long hours and comes home late,” said Aunt Cheri, “and Lacie, Bruce, and Wayne are 5, 3, and 6 years old, and I’m not sure how you kids are at handling three little ones. But our house is small, and since I don’t have any teenagers around, you will have to share a room.”
Uncle Connor came back with our bags, saying, “I need to have a word with them before I leave.” He called all three of us to him and said, “Remember that Aunt Cheri doesn’t have her ducks lined up in a straight row…”
“Don’t sugarcoat it,” said Drew. “Just tell us the truth.”
“Why did you lie to her?” I cried out.
“It’s easier this way,” said Uncle Connor. “If she found out that I was here, she’d throw you all you immediately without any explanation. But in making up this Mr. Hobday character, I can send you here and at the same time, keep her blind to my identity. Now be careful, as Uncle Kurt is a man with a short fuse, and I think it’s best that you get some help for Chelle as soon as you can; your mother isn’t here and you two are not the best caregivers in the world. Make sure to keep her safe.”
With that goodbye, Uncle Connor got back into the car and drove off. Drew frowned and said, “Well, this isn’t how I imagine it would go.”
I said, “At least they weren’t fighting and stuff like that. It could have been worse.”
Aunt Cheri called us back inside and said, “Now, let’s get you to your room.”
We walked down a long and narrow hall, passing by three rooms. One was the living room, the other was Uncle Kurt’s office, and one apparently belonged to the kids. She stopped at a door and said, “Well, this is your room; I apologize if the place is junky. Kurt keeps saying that he would make this room into a proper guest room, but he seldom delivers on his promises. So we’ll have to make do with what we have here.”
We walked into the room; it is described as an expansive room, but quite sunny. The walls are obscured entirely by floor to ceiling bookshelves, broken up by flimsy, dark rose curtains on the windows. The bookshelves were built right into the wall, with three alcoves in the middle of the bookshelves. The beds were built into the alcoves, with a row of drawers under the beds. The furniture was mismatched and scattered all over the room. I bet that Uncle Kurt didn’t have much time to match the furniture to the room.
Drew frowned as he looked at the room and said, “Isn’t there anywhere else I can stay? I don’t think I should be sharing a room with Nadia and Chelsea.”
Aunt Cheri said to him, “Well, there is the backroom, but the kids are being kids and so they leave their toys scattered all over the place. That is not a good place for a boy like you to stay in. And besides, I don’t believe in separate rooms for anyone; we all have to learn to share and get along with each other, right? Now let’s get this place straightened up, no doubt you will want to unpack your bags and get yourselves settled in.”
We nodded and then set off to work on unpacking our bags and setting up the room in apple-pie order. The computers were switched on and dad had left instructions on how to send things to his job before his death. Mom’s computer mainly had family pictures of us; she never used it much. These pictures were downloaded into a flash drive and put in a safe place.
I had set up my computer in my alcove on a built-in desk and drew back the curtains that hung over it, intending to Skype the girls later on. Drew had his computer set up on a nearby desk. But Chelle, who had no computer, just sat on the bed playing with mom’s iPhone.
When the room was finally cleared, we put our clothes away in the drawers and then took to wandering around the house a bit. There wasn’t much for a 15-year-old to do; everything in the neighborhood appeared to be set up for children ages 10 and under. It was a bit of a shock to us when Kurt Webster came through the door with Lacie, Bruce, and Wayne.
For starters, Uncle Connor had said nothing but bad things about Uncle Kurt to try to dissuade us from wanting to visit him, but that was beside the point. Uncle Kurt was described as an elegant dragonfly. He has wide eyes the color of chestnuts. His luxurious, straight, black hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a wave of water. He has a full beard and a moustache. He is tall, has a boyish build, dark skin, and a strong chin. His wardrobe is artistic, with many colors meshed together in various rainbows.
As for the children, 5-year-old Lacie had her father’s brown eyes and her mother’s brown hair. Her skin was tanned and she was a bit short for her age. 6-year-old Bruce had his mother’s gray eyes and his father’s dark hair. His skin is a bit darker than his sister’s, but not as dark as his father’s. 3-year-old Wayne also has brown eyes and dark hair. But his skin color appears to be the same as his mothers, if but a little darker.
After dinner was made, Uncle Kurt began to make arrangements for us. Mainly about how Drew and I would be attending the local high school and Chelle would be at a group home for disabled children. “They have a special program at the home that’s just for her,” Aunt Cheri said to us. “I had been contemplating asking LaDonna about sending Chelsea here so she could attend this program, but I knew that the answer was no. LaDonna is doing that girl a disservice by keeping her hidden away from the world. But no matter; you’ll be attending Lochland High School next week.”
Uncle Kurt continued, “The high school may be a bit...bigger than what you’re used to, but it only has 2,321 students attending. You’ll like it for sure. Make new friends; be popular. Nice teachers. Nice students, except for some bad eggs of course…”
I hoped that he was at least telling the truth about being popular; I had been popular since the sixth grade and Ava, Alex, and Grace had flocked over to me. In about a few weeks, I had changed three unpopular nobodies into the friends I definitely wanted to have.
That night, the girls were a bit surprised to hear that the trip was a success, but I said, “Well, I’m kind of stuck in a room with BOTH Drew and Chelle, so we got to be careful of what we talk about here.”
“I see,” said Grace. “I too have brothers and sisters and sometimes, I can’t always Skype with you guys every night. Well, I guess this is what it’s going to be for the next few months.”
Alex said, “You should be careful out there, Nadia. These bigger schools are mean. They could eat you alive. Not that you haven’t survived tough situations before. But still, there’s Facebook and the things you say on there could backfire one day.”
“And there’s still Kate for me to contend with,” I said as I tried to make myself more comfortable on the bed in the alcove. The mattress was old and needed to be replaced, and Aunt Cheri had stuffed old quilts under the sheets, stretching out the sheets. They too needed to be replaced.
“Where’s Ava?” I asked.
“Ava had an extra-long practice today,” said Alex. “The game is tomorrow. You should have taken off next week; it would have been worth it to see the look on Brian’s face when they told him he was suspended for five games due to that incident. Also, he and Jenna Schmitz broke up due to her hearing about the incident with you, isn’t that an odd thing?”
“Indeed,” I said as I leaned back on the bed. For years, I had been hoping that Brian would stop dating loser girls and date me instead, but when he showed his true colors, I found myself rethinking my obsession with him. I was not as weak and stupid as he thought I was.
“Also,” Grace cut in, “Kate had her Facebook account hacked into, and most of her status updates were changed to apologies to everyone who she’s hurt over the years. She won’t be getting her account back anytime soon.”
“I knew she should have had her account deleted a long time ago,” I said. “I was even thinking about doing it myself a few weeks ago. It’s too bad that she has to be mean to everyone, but now she’ll be banned from the site for at least a few months and her records will be erased from the site. Hackers can do that, you know.”
“Are you sure that it’s even legal?” Grace asked. “I mean, hacking a person’s Facebook account and deleting all their stuff?”
“Of course it’s not legal,” said Alex. “But how else can we get revenge without actually hurting anyone physically?” To me, she said, “Well, be careful, Nadia. I’ve heard that bad things happen in these big schools. Like school shootings and stuff. You have to take care of yourself out there. Those popular girls over there can be so cruel and nasty and you can get hurt.”
“It’s not like I can’t handle them,” I said. “And besides, they’ll be the ones envying me when it’s all over.”
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