Drop Dead.

“Man, I never thought da day would come when I’d be inside of one of these places,” Tee whistles the moment we step into Carter’s house. The man is standing before us, grinning from ear to ear. Gel and Tee are no different…I’m a completely different story.

Janet, Terry, Gel, and Tee are all standing in front of me saying their thanks and greetings to Carter. I am leaning against the door, glaring at anything and everything. The soft carpet looks expensive and I have the urge to rip it to shreds while the living room, which is where we’re standing, is full of books and a giant flat screen TV that I want to take off the wall and sell at the nearest pawn shop.

There’s a lot of nice things here and my fingers are itching to take all of it. Carter has money, he doesn’t need it. I do. I need it to sell, to get Gel, Tee, and I things that we need like food, water, and clothes. I hate rich people. I hate all people.

“Jinx, you can take a shower after Gel,” Janet says, snapping me out of the trance that I was in. After blinking, I narrow my eyes on Carter and snarl.

“No.”

“Why not?” She sets a hand on her hip.

“I don’t trust him.”

Carter frowns and goes to take a step towards me but Tee throws an arm around me and laughs, “Don’t mind ‘im, Carter. He doesn’t really trust anyone.” Tee sends me a glare out of the corner of his eye and whispers to me, “Fuck man, be thankful. This is going to be the biggest meal we’ve had in a long time.”

I grumble angrily and follow everyone into the kitchen. There a woman and boy sits. The woman, Carter’s wife, is a beautiful girl who doesn’t look a day over 30. Her blonde hair flows down to her waist and her eyes a bright green. She’s wearing a green sweater along with jeans.

The moment she sees us she’s smiling, “You must be Jinx and Tee. Carter has told me about the two of you. Thank you for coming over. I hope the food is to your liking.”

“Any food is to our likin’,” Tee cackles, smiling and taking the woman’s hand in his to shake. “I’m Tee, Gel is upstairs taking her shower and this guy ‘ere is Jinx. He don’t talk much.”

“I’m Eli and that there is my son Laker. I believe he’s around your age.” She gestures to the boy who I saw when entering but he hasn’t got up to greet us or even really looked at us. When he heard his name though, he looks up from the table and right at me.

His brown hair frames his face only bringing out his green eyes, that are the exact replica of his mother's, even more. He seems as displeased to be here as I am so it’s no surprise that he simply scoffs and looks away. Resting his head on his hands, he scowls at the sound of his mother scolding him, “Laker, get up and say hello to our guests.”

The boy doesn’t move. Eli shakes her head and apologizes for her son's behavior before guiding us to our seats. Carter sits at the head of the table, Laker on his left, Eli on his right. Janet is next to Eli, Gel is next to Janet. Tee is sitting next to Laker and me next to him.

The food is passed around the table. Tee, Gel and I probably look like pigs to them but neither of us seem to care. Anything that is offered, we take and practically shove down our throats. Gel even grabs some buns and stuffs them in her jacket for later.

“So, Gel, how old are you?” Eli asks, sweetly. Gel is smiling more tonight than I’ve ever seen her do before and this makes me smirk. She seems to be enjoying herself and I’m now actually kind of glad that they forced me to come. Gel needs this, time spent with normal people.

“I’m 12,” she answers, proudly. “I’ll be 13 in February!”

“You’re so young,” Eli gasps. “How do you take care of yourself when you’re alone?”

“I’m not alone cuz I got Jinx!” She shouts, looking over at me with a thankful smile that could make anyone blush. I look away and bite my lip at the sound of her praises. “He’s like the big brother I always wanted! He works hard to get me what I need and makes sure that I never go hungry. Jinx is the best!”

Tee laughs aloud at how red my face has gotten. Mumbling, I rub the back of my neck and whisper so quietly that only Gel can hear, “I’m not that great, Gel.”

“He’s just being modest,” Carter laughs and I glare at him. I really don’t like him. I don’t trust him at all. “I see him watching over her everyday. You’re a good kid, Jinx.”

I scoff and ignore whatever else they have to say. For the rest of the evening I sit there in silence, along with Laker. He hasn’t said a word since we’ve gotten here and I’m beginning to wonder why. Does he see us like everyone else? Does he think we’re scum, dirt that isn’t even worth his time? Probably. Stuck up little prick probably sees us as nothing more than gum in his hair or rats in his bed. After all, he has everything he needs, unlike us.

The night ends and I am grateful. I’m standing at the door before anyone else with a big bag of food that Eli has given me. I wait patiently for the others to say good bye. I don’t bother and simply stare at the door way, waiting and praying for them to hurry. Being here makes me so uncomfortable.

Sighing, I look back to see that the girls are still chatting and the guys standing there laughing about something. I bite my lip and watch as they all speak to one another as if they’ve been friends for ages. How the hell can they act like that? How can Gel and Tee trust these people so easily?

Don’t they get it…they’re not like us. They have jobs. They have money. They have a home and food. They're somebodies and we are nobodies.

“Feeling left out?” A deep voice asks from behind me. My body shivers at the sound and the feel of someone’s hot breath fanning over my neck. I turn my head only slightly to see Laker standing just behind me with his hands in his pockets and a bored look on his face.

“No,” I answer around a growl. He smirks at my reaction and shrugs his shoulders as if he doesn’t really care.

“Sure as hell seems like it,” and that’s all he says before heading for the stairs, ignoring his mother's calls to say good-bye. He disappears at the top and I roll my eyes. What an ass.