Believe It

"Home sweet home!" Allison sings at the top of her lungs, opening the oak wood door to her apartment. I look around, taking in the sight of her flat. Not all that fancy my ass!

There's a plasma hanging from the creamy white wall over in the corner and three navy blue couches. They look really soft, too. A hallway leads to another part of the apartment, and the kitchen is to the left, the walls made entirely of glass. It's a small kitchen, not tiny, but not large. It's pure white, unstained and sparkling. It looks like one of those kitchens you see in a magazine that you wish you had, but you know you could never afford.

I walk down the hallway and see a good sized bathroom with tiles on the floor and a hottub. To the right is a bedroom with another flat screen and a couch, along with a huge pink queen sized bed. There's stuffed animals everywhere, and a bra's hanging from the ceiling fan. Awkward...

"So, what do you think?" I jump as Allison materializes behind me. "It's nothing impressive, but it's good, right?"

I blink at her. "Nothing impressive? How do you afford all of this?" I walk around the apartment once again, shaking my head. How much money does she make?

Her laugh tinkers from behind me, causing me to jump again. How does she do that? "Well, I make like 800 a month from my barista job, and I also work at an animal shelter, so I get some money from there. But my neighbor gives me some money time to time. He knows I need some help, so he comes over and he'll help pay the rent. He's really nice."

I look around at the huge plasma on the wall. "How much does this guy give you?"

"Oh, not much. Like three thousand or so."

My eyes widen. "Every month?"

She shakes her head. "Every other month. But I told him to not give me any for the next few months; he's in the middle of a divorce."

Awwh, poor guy. "Oh, um, I'm sorry."

She laughs again, face lifting to make eye contact with me. "Don't be sorry, she was a bitch anyway. I just feel bad that she's got custody of his kid. She was a sweet little girl."

I nod, understanding. That's gotta be hard. "That sucks. Is he alright?"

"Yeah," she says, going to sit on the couch, "he's fine. At school I'll go and talk to him about the whole break-up. It's pretty messy, but he's doing alright."

My eyebrows furrow together. "At school?"

"Oh!" She shakes her head again, giggling. She laughs a lot. "He's my music teacher at my high school. He enrolled me when I moved here." Suddenly she stops laughing and stares straight into my eyes. "Do you go to high school?"

I sit down next to her slowly, shaking my head. "No, ever since I ran away, I haven't gone to school."

"Are you in high school?"

"Yes. I'm supposed to be a junior this year."

A huge smile breaks out across her face. "You should to go school with me! I'm going to be a sophomore, so you'll be a year ahead of me, but we'd still see each other. You need to meet all of my friends, I think you'll like them. Brad and Drake are gonna try and jump you, though, so be warned." Jump me? What? "And Cassidy, too. But Cass is a senior. Whatever. And maybe you'll have Mr. Ratliff as a teacher! That'd be so cool!"

"Who's he?"

"Mr. Ratliff? Oh, he's the neighbor I was telling you about. He's the best music teacher I've ever had. He taught me how to play guitar. He's like my dad, you'd love him."

My stomach twists. I dont think I like the idea of meeting this guy. What if he reports me as a missing child? I mean, he's an adult, he could call the police and have me out of here no problem. Then they'd take me back. I can not go back there. I just won't.

"Do I have to meet him?"

She throws me a strange look, raising an eyebrow and frowning. "Why wouldn't you want to? He's so nice."

"Well, will he mind? Y'know, that I'm a runaway?" I say, shaking a little. If he does, then I have to run again, and I want to stay here. Here's perfect. They wouldn't look here.

She thinks for a minute, then shakes her head slowly. "No...no I don't think so. I mean, if you want, we could tell him something else. We could tell him you got kicked out of your house, too, so now you're staying with me. Does that work?"

I nod enthusiastically, relieved to have an excuse. "Yeah, thats perfect." Suddenly, I remember. "Hey, Allison? Why'd you get kicked out of your house?"

She half-smiles and looks at me, eyes void of emotion. "Because I'm lesbian, and my parents were horrified that their good little daughter turned out to be a 'satanic heathen that will burn in hell'." Looking down, she sighed. "They gave me two hours to pack my stuff. I grabbed both my mom and dad's wallets and left before they noticed they were gone. Haven't been back there since." She looks up and glares at me straight on. "Are you a homophobe too?"

I shake my head, a bit scared. "No, not at all. Totally the opposite."

Her eyebrow raises. "You're gay?" I nod. I've known I was gay since I was 14 and had a huge crush on Billie Joe Armstrong. I just don't really broadcast it. "Is that why you ran away?"

"No." I wish that was why I ran away. "I left for other reasons."

"But you still wont tell me why, right?" I shake me head, no. She nods. "Okay, I understand. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But, you're not, like, on the FBI's Most Wanted list, right? Or an escapee from prison or something?"

I laugh, one of the purest sounds I've uttered in a while. She doesn't know how close she is. "No, nothing like that. Just a misfit, really. That's all." Well, thats all to you.

She nods, smiling a little. "Good, because I am not housing a rapist or something. That would not look good for me if you got arrested." I smile at her, and she smiles back. Then she sighs, giving me an honest look. "You're a nice guy." She pauses, thinking, collecting her thoughts. "Whatever you did...it couldn't have been so bad. But you don't deserve to be like this. You're not cut out for the streets."

I shake my head, sighing, my heart dropping. "Trust me, Allison," I say sadly, turning my head to look out the window, "I deserve everything I got."