CHAPTER FIVE

DAWN

I'm sitting on the bathroom counter, trying to remember what the makeup lady has told me how to do my eyeliner for the first day of school.

I think she has told me to smudge it a little so it gives off that grungy a-little-hungover look that's super popular right now. I'm about to finish my left eye when Jonah, my shithead big brother, bang the door so hard I almost scream.

"Dawn! What the fuck is taking you so long?" Jonah yell. "I need to shower for school!"

"I'm almost done!" I yell back, quickly finishing my eyes. I reach over and unlock the door. Jonah looks unkempt as ever, wearing his football jersey with his hair stuck up in different places.

"You look different." Jonah squints at me. "Are you wearing makeup?"

"Shut the fuck up," I huff, rolling my eyes as I close the door behind up.

The TV is flickering blue when I head downstairs, my mom on the sofa with her bare feet up on the coffee table. The curtains on the windows are pulled tightly shut so even though it's the morning, it's still really dark.

"Good morning," I call out, but I didn't get an answer. I think she must be asleep. Something smells really rotten in the kitchen garbage, so I tie the bag off and bring it to the alley outside, glass bottles clinking together inside the plastic.

I'm refilling the bin with another trash bag when my mom comes into the kitchen and gasps, grabbing on to the counter for balance. "Jesus Christ Dawn, you scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry," I tell her. She's wearing one of my tank tops and a pair of denim cutoffs, her hair scooped into a stubby tail at the crown of her head. Also, she's pretty drunk. "I said good morning when I came out."

My mother ignores me. "Do you have any cash on you, baby?" she asks, her gaze the tiniest bit slow to focus. "I want to run out and grab something for breakfast."

I shake my head. "Sorry, I haven't got paid," I lie automatically, cringing at how bitchy I felt, but also sincerely doubting that what she's after is money for food.

My mother sigh. "Oh alright." She kisses my forehead. "I'm gonna go back to bed, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." I watch her shuffle back to the couch and before I know it, I can hear her snores. Then I head over to the hallway where the phone is at and stretch the cord all the way to the kitchen to call Miguel as I pour Lucky Charms into a bowl.

"Hey, are you guys picking me up?" I ask when they answered.

-

First day back into junior year and I already want to kill myself. By the time I make it to sixth-period study hall, my lungs are begging for me to just skip it and smoke up with Zelda and Miguel by the dumpsters. When I got to the library, there are already way too many people around.

The Star Group- the nickname Miguel, Zelda and I have given them- are also there with their regulars: the cheerleading girls, like Mandy and Adrian, plus a couple of other guys from the football team, all huddling together, books opened and definitely not studying.

"What are you going to be working on?" I ask Miguel as we take one of the large tables, far from the ones that have already been inhibited.

Miguel makes a face as he pulls his backpack onto his lap. "I have to write a diary as I read The Great Expectations."

"Yuck."

"You're telling me," huff Miguel. "What about you?"

"Have this piece of a shit Math worksheet," I shrug, looking up to see Adrian Flores, Arabella Jones' best friend, talking to Mandy Kineski in an outfit that couldn't possibly be dress code. Her plaid skirt is well above the six inches the knee and she's in a shirt that covers her midriff sometimes. Her stomach is so flat I swear it's not anatomically possible. As the thought filters through my mind, in walks my brother, Jonah Wilson.

"What are you doing here?" Adrian asks frostily when she notices Jonah. "Are you stalking us? Arabella's Dad will kill you if he knows."

"You wish," Jonah sneers at her, setting his table directly opposite of me and Miguel. "I'm here to fucking study, believe it or not."

"Could y'all keep your drama shit to yourself," Miguel grumble at them, though not meanly, "Some people here are trying to study."

Jonah, who's been around Miguel and knows what kind of 'study person' he is, laughs, "Yeah right, Miguel."

"And I should listen to you, because?" Adrian cocks her hips out and Arabella groans from behind her.

"Um, older, wiser and more beautiful," Miguel smirks at her.

"Older, fine. But more beautiful and wiser? Please." Adrian snort but the smile on her lips border on flirtatious. I'm trying not to gape at the whole situation. Did Miguel just flirt with Adrian Flores? My disbelief is not the only one that's foreign; Arabella is also looking at Adrian weirdly like she didn't expect Adrian to interact so coquettishly with someone who exists outside her galaxy of planet popularity.

"Well, why don't you sit down and I'll give you a good ole' Socratic discussion," Miguel taunts her.

Adrian glance at the rest of her cheerleaders and then back at Miguel. "You're on." She grabs her books and bag and scoots over to our table. The other girls follow her.

"Hey Dawn, join us," Miguel say, "Come and get to know people who are real and actually your age."

"That sounds fantastic and all," I say, "But I actually have homework to do-"

"Shut up," Jonah interrupts me. "Who the fuck actually does homework on the first day of school?"

I scowl at my brother. "People who intend to graduate. God, you're annoying."

"I'm your brother. It's my job."

"Wait," Arabella stares at me, mesmerizing dark eyes hanging over me like a cloud. They're so brown and deep, I can swim in them. "You're Jonah's sister?"

"Yeah," I nod, my dark bangs hitting my forehead. "Dawn Wilson, nice to meet you."

"Arabella Jones," she says, holding up her hand. I shake it. Her grasp feels warm and inviting.

"Sorry you put up with my brother and his tiny dick for the last few months of your life."

"Hey!" Jonah protests from one side of the table as Adrian and the rest of the cheerleaders die laughing.

Adrian grins at me, "I think I like your sister a lot better than you, Jonah. Why did you never introduce her to us?"

I smirk at Jonah, "He's just scared that I'll expose him and his Tamagotchi collection."

"DAWN!"

"What the hell, man?" Miguel laughs at Jonah as he buries his face in of his books.

"You know, Dawn. I know we just met but I feel like this is the start of a very long friendship," Adrian curls her lips together. She straightens up in her seat in a very poised manner. "Anyway, Arabella and I are going to skip the seventh period for some froyo. Wanna come?"

The thing is Adrian and Arabella are the types of girls I like to stay away from. They're super popular, they're cheerleaders and they tend to be full of drama. But as my eyes flicker over to Arabella, who's talking to Miguel, I feel something warm expands in my stomach. And I can't really decide what it is.

So I say yes.