Drop Dead.

“Look who’s here again,” Tee chuckles until I glare at him. He shuts up immediately but the smile on his face is still there and stating that he finds great amusement in my frustration. And what exactly am I so flustered about?

The answer is just in front of me, Laker.

He’s here again. He’s been coming here every weekend with his father since Christmas. Whether he has been willing or not is a mystery but I really don’t care. I just want him gone, along with that father of his.

We don’t need them. We don’t want them. They need to stop butting into our lives because they feel sorry for us. I hate sympathy. I don’t want nor need it, especially from people like them. Fuck ‘em. Fuck all of ‘em.

“Come on, they’re passin’ out food. Man, we need to get some before they’re out!” Tee exclaims, leaving me alone on the steps to waltz over there and grab himself a sandwich. Gel is already there, talking away to Laker and trust me, I’m watching the bastard like a bloody hawk.

My concentration on him is torn when Gel begins to shout, “Jinx, Jinx come ‘ere!”

I blink rapidly and place my eyes on Gel. She’s waving wildly at me with a sweet, pleading smile. When she realizes that I don’t move or even seem like I’m going to move, she frowns and asks, “Jinx, are you gonna come over?”

Her words make it to my ears but my brain doesn’t fully comprehend them. My eyes are on Laker’s, which are just daring me to get up and walk over to him. He’s leaning back with a smirk on his lips and it’s just so damn conceited and daring that I push myself up and stalk over to him just to prove that I’m not scared of him, that I can handle being around him.

Gel is speaking about something. From the corner of my eye I can see her arms moving in every direction. She’s speaking quickly and happily because she is so obviously thrilled to be around other people who aren’t complete freaks.

I’m not really paying attention to what she has to say though and I’m not entirely sure if Laker is either because he’s staring right at me through his fringe. There’s still that damn smirk on his face and all I want to do is punch it right off but I resist the urge by grinding my teeth instead.

And suddenly Gel is no longer at my side. She must have realized that neither Laker or I were listening and left to speak with Carter and normally I would watch her, make sure nothing happens to her but this time I don’t. I stand still, here, in front of Laker in an eye lock for who knows how long until Laker finally breaks it by sighing and getting to his feet.

Out of instinct, I step back and watch him as he moves. My eyes scan him from his white sneakers to gray beanie. He leans over to grab something and when he tosses something at me, I catch it and examine it. A sandwich.

“Stop staring at it like it’s going to blow up. Fucking eat it,” Laker demands, glaring at me slightly. I glare right back and grind my teeth.

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

Laker smirks and leans in and again, out of instinct, I move back but he reaches up fast to grasp my chin in his hand. I feel my heart hammering within my chest and my skin is tingling as he says to me, “You know, you aren’t as frightening as you think. I think it’s you that needs looking after rather than Gel.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I growl but I don’t get an answer because Carter starts calling for him. Laker pulls away and gives me one last smirk before walking away and it isn’t until he exits the warehouse that I realize I’m not breathing.

Mentally, I slap myself for being such a dumb ass. Not breathing, seriously? What am I, a girl? Fuck him. Stupid Laker, needs to go rot in hell.

“What was that about?” Tee whistles, chuckling from behind me until I elbow him in the gut. He coughs and clutches his now damaged stomach while groaning. “Sorry…just…jokin’ ‘round.”

I rip open the plastic and take a bite into the turkey sandwich. Chewing slowly, I think over what just happened. Although nothing really important happened because the only thing that did was Laker being a prick and me acting like a little bitch. I guess I’m just wondering why I acted that way and why he did…

Well it’s obvious why he did.

I’m nothing more than scum. I sigh and walk away from Tee to head upstairs. I take my place in the corner that Gel and I have shared for who knows how long. With my legs pulled into my chest, I eat my sandwich in silence and wait until Gel comes upstairs to talk with me.

“Laker and Carter are really nice,” she says and I eye her like she’s stupid. This causes her to giggle. “You just need to give them a chance, Jinx. I think…I think that Carter is trying to find us a home. Isn’t that great, Jinx? You and me…we can live together, as a family!”

“Excuse me?” I raise a brow in curiosity. Carter is trying to find us a family? I knew it. I knew that ass was up to something!

“Yeah! He said that he has a friend that he’s going to bring in to meet us. She said that she’ll take both of us, you and me! He’s trying to find someone else near by for Tee but do you know what this means, Jinx? You and me…we’ll be safe. We’ll have food and water and heat and…everything! Isn’t it great?” Gel continues, going on and on about how excited she is to meet the people that we are going to call family but the more she says about it, the more I dread it.

My chest is tightening and I’m beginning to rub at my arms because they’re starting to shake. I’m nervous, scared, pissed and worried. A family…it won’t last. Once they see me, once they see us and how we live, how we are they’ll realize we aren’t worth it. We aren’t good enough for them.

They’ll keep us for a week or two and then it’s back to the foster homes. We’ll be thrown out like trash. There is no way this is going to work. There’s just…no way.

Fuck.