“I will be if you continue doing this,” I mumble against his lips.
“I’ll miss you.”
I can’t help but laugh at him.
“What?”
“Nothing, just wondering where bad-boy Hunter has gone, is all.” I wink at him and reach down for my bag.
“Oh don’t worry, baby. He’s still here. I might even unleash him on you later.” That promise has more desire than probably necessary coiling around my lower stomach. “Last chance to skip with me. Empty house…”
“I can’t, but I really appreciate the offer.”
“I’ll pick you up later, yeah?”
I nod, thinking of the place he told me to meet him after school to give us less of a chance of being spotted.
“Okay, now go. Your cleaning lady might be waiting.”
He laughs as I climb from the car, close the door behind me and make my way to the building.
The closer I get, the harder my heart beats. I look around, praying that no one is watching us and I’m almost at the doors when movement behind a tree off to my right catches my eye.
My footsteps falter as I keep my eyes on whoever is clearly hiding.
I take one step up to the building when he emerges. My entire body turns to ice at the look in his eyes. His warning is even more stark than normal.
“You’re done,” he mouths. Fear explodes within me, and I rush to get into the building to be surrounded by other students.
“Where the hell have you been?” Ruby asks the second I drop into my seat beside her.
“Sorry, family shit,” I mutter, refusing to look at her, knowing that she’ll be able to read my lie.
She studies me as I pull my books out and flip my textbook to the page the teacher has written on the board, ready to go.
“Family shit, huh?” Before I can respond, her finger tucks into the neck of my hoodie and she pulls it away from my skin. “Feel like telling me the truth this time?”
“Fuck, Rubes.”
“Little morning hook up, I like it.” She winks and I groan.
“Can we not, please?”
“Not what? Talk about how a certain player is rocking your world in the back of his truck?”
“Yeah that,” I mutter as the classroom door opens and Preston strolls in like he’s not almost ten minutes late. Our teacher doesn’t so much as look up at him. But then I guess that’s the kind of thing you expect when your father pretty much owns his ass. It’s a harsh reminder as to why I’m not sitting in Hartmann’s office right now explaining everything that Preston has done.
Lowering my eyes before he spots me looking at him, I stare at the desk in front of me, praying that all of this will just come to an end without anyone getting hurt sometime soon. Sadly, I can’t see how that’s going to happen. He’s not just going to give up now. Senior year, and what he thinks is rightfully his team, is almost in touching distance.
Thankfully, that’s the last time I’m forced to be in the same room as him. He was supposed to be in my class before lunch, but his chair was tauntingly vacant. It has me on high alert, expecting something to happen that would drag me from the room and right into his hands.
The interruption I’m expecting happens almost twenty minutes before the end of my final class. I was beginning to think that I was going to escape and be able to run to Zayn’s car and to safety very soon. But the second the classroom door opens and Principal Hartmann steps into the room, my heart falls into the pit of my stomach.
I don’t know how I know that it’s got something to do with me, or that it’s my name that’s about to fall from his lips, but I do.
“I’m so sorry to interrupt,” he says to our teacher. “Miss Poore, could you please come with me?”
Harley shoots me a concerned look from the other side of the room. I force a smile onto my face and try to play down the panic that’s beginning to rise within me.
As predicted, she threw question after question at me about my absence this morning, along with my refusal to hang out last night. I used Mom as an excuse, but I think, despite her being a disaster parent, that my excuse is starting to run out of steam. The time to come clean is coming, before they dig and find everything out themselves.
I collect up my stuff and follow Hartmann out of the room and all the way to his office. He doesn’t say a word, which in itself is concerning. He always has something to say.
When I step into his office, I’m greeted by two police officers and a woman in a suit.
“Poppy, please take a seat.”
I do as I’m told, but mainly because I’m so confused, my brain too busy trying to figure out what’s happening to consider defying him.
“Poppy,” he breathes, as if he’s using the time to find his next words.
A million and one thoughts run through my mind about why I could have been dragged in here. I’ve seen all the films, usually it’s when the girl gets told her entire family was killed in a car crash and her life is about to change forever.
My breathing starts to increase as I stare at Hartmann, wishing he’d just spit it out.
“I’m sorry to have to tell you but your home was raided this morning and your parents have been arrested for possession of illegal substances.”
“Oh my God,” I sigh, falling back into the chair, my hand coming up to cover my racing heart. “Everyone is alive? The kids?”
“Y-yeah. Everyone is alive,” he confirms, looking from me and to the woman behind me.
“Good. That’s g-good,” I stutter, trying to process what he did actually tell me now that I know I’m not about to attend five funerals as an orphan.
“Hey, sweetie. I’m Bea, I’m a social worker, and I’ve been assigned to you and your siblings throughout all of this.”
“Hi,” I say shakily. She’s got perfectly straight blonde hair and light blue eyes, so light that I almost think they could be fake.
“I know this must have come as a shock.”
I nod, although really, is it? Mom and Dad have been doing all sorts in our house for years. The smell of weed that permeates the air most days isn’t the half of it. I guess the reality is, that this was going to happen eventually.
“Where are my brothers and sister?”
“Cooper is with my colleague, she’s fantastic with babies, he’s being well looked after. I was hoping that maybe you could come with me to pick Austin and Sofia up from school. It’ll be a little less scary if they see a familiar face.”
“Yes, yes, anything. What’s going to happen to us?”
“Well,” she says, her eyes still holding mine as a sadness washes through them. This must be the part of her job she hates more than any other. “We’re going to need to find you all a temporary place to stay while the investigation is carried out. Then depending on what is found, you may be able to return home.” She puts extra emphasis on the may, but it’s pointless, I already know the outcome of this. “Or we’re going to need to find the four of you a more permanent place to live.”
I nod, accepting her words. They might not have just told me that everyone died in a car crash but even still, my world has just been flipped upside down.
“We’re not going to be going home,” I mutter sadly.