At the receiving end

That was the end of our discussion.

The pain of missing my mother actually made my chest throb and it felt as if my heart has been shredded into small tiny pieces. I cried myself to sleep that night. Not caring if anyone heard me or not. I had given up all hope that I would ever feel happy again.
As I rode in the car with Aaron to school he advised me how I should act around his friends. Basically I shouldn’t talk. I would be hanging out with Aaron today; maybe I would get friends out of this ordeal but I doubted that. I followed Aaron over to the lockers where a group of girls dressed in tight clothes were draped over guys wearing lettermen jackets. The guys all shouted Aarons name as he approached.
“Hey guys! This is Tayber my step-sister .” All the girls slunk off the jocks and swarmed me.
“Are you going on a date with Mason?” a Bleach blonde who apparently had too much spray tan asked.

“Oh my god! You two would be the cutest couple.”A girl who looked about the same as the first gushed. I tried to smile but the over whelming giggles and death stares intimidated me to the point where I had to look down on the ground.
“Hey.” A tall, tan, lean guy whispered in my ear. I tensed up as he put his arm around me. He smelt of cigarettes and vodka. He obviously wasn’t drunk but he wasn’t completely sober either.

“Hey Mason, where are you and my sis going tonight?” Aaron asked with a Cheshire cat grin. Everyone’s attention was on us and I didn’t like it.

“Eh...I’m not sure yet. I was thinking of this little club type place. Very secluded and will give me and Tay a chance to be alone.” He wiggled his eyebrows and sloppily kissed my cheek. I pulled away from him and stepped out of the circle that they had begun to form.
Rushing down the halls I found Ryan; the last person Aaron would want to see me with. His intense gaze seemed to reach ,tightly grasp my core, and met me. I threw myself on him and began to sob. The tears flowed heavily and didn’t seem like they would let up.Ryan wrapped his lanky arms around me and pulled me towards the nearest exit.
I couldn’t even think. All I knew is that I wanted to be away from this school, from Vegas, and from my new “family”. Ryan directed me into his beat up car. We sat there for a while until my tears began to subside.

“Tayber…” He tentatively touched my shoulder not knowing whether this was the right way to console me or not.

“I’m just so sick of everything! Aaron thinks he OWNS me, Meredith secretly hates me, Mark isn’t even there, and my mom is no longer alive. I know all of 6 people here and only 2 of them seem to actually like me.” My depression drained as rage took its place.

“Hey…you know what. Let’s skip school today. Everyone needs a mental health day ever once in a while.” He rubbed my shoulder then grabbed his seat belt and pulled it on.