"What on earth is that horrid yellow brightness?" I mumbled out, and then proceeded to shove my face into a pillow.

"I'm not sure, but I have heard it referred to as 'sunlight' before." That was Jacqueline. Curse this thing called sunlight, I needed sleep.

"Curse that thing called sunlight, I need sleep." I grumbled. "Why does it always have to come in the morning?"

"Wild guess here, but maybe it's because that's how it works."

"Well that's incredibly lame." I yawned, and sat up. Jacqueline was already dressed and ready for the day, her brown hair pulled into a ponytail with some lone strands sticking out. I compared it to my wrinkled grey T-shirt and jeans from last night. I ran my fingers through my mess of hair, and put my glasses on.

"Hurry up and get ready, will you? I'm taking you for coffee."

Coffee? I could use one of those right about now.

"I'm going," I replied, and stood up, trying my best to de-wrinkle my shirt. Then I realized all of my stuff was at my mom's house, and I couldn't do much in the way of "getting ready". I pulled on my sneakers, and she grabbed her ring of keys.

We headed outside, and I slid into the passenger side of her car. We put on seatbelts, and she drove out.

"So, first we can go in to grab coffee, and then-" Jacqueline began, before I spoke up.

"Go in? As in, go inside? As in, go inside and have to interact face to face with a person for my drink?" I questioned

"Yes, that's usually what going in implies."

"But what about a drive through? You can't expect me to be ready to go get my own drink."

"I guess I'll just get one then." She shrugged. That was pure evil.

"But I don't do people-ing. I can't simply walk up to someone and be expected to interact!" I began to protest. "It just doesn't work that way for me."

"I'll make you a deal. If you come inside with me, I'll order for you."

I thought about that for a second. Was it worth not getting coffee to stay in the car? Almost. But it wasn't. I was too tired to protest more, so when she pulled in I sighed and pulled my seatbelt off.

The first thing I noticed walking inside was a tired looking guy, a little older than me, probably nineteen. He was giving out orders to different people behind the counter, and he looked a bit annoyed at them when they walked away. The annoyed face didn't last long though, as he broke into a grin when he saw Jacqueline walk up.

"Jacks! You didn't tell me you were coming in today!" He said, in a happy sort of surprised way.

"I hadn't been planning on it," She grinned, "but my friend here could use a triple espresso. No whip."

Usually, I can't stand more than two espresso shots. It gives me a headache. But I didn't really want to say anything, especially in front of whoever this guy was. The guy working glanced me up and down, and quickly made the order. Then he turned to one of the girls in the back and said, "Hey Brianna, I'm going on break." The girl I presumed to be Brianna nodded at him. He then came out from behind the counter, and led us over to a booth. I slid into one side, and Jacqueline followed me. The guy sat across from us.

"A friend of Jacks, huh? Well any friend of Jacks is a friend of mine," he said, and proceeded to stick his hand in front of my face.

"Matt." He said.

I glanced at his hand. Then I reached my own across, and shook his.

"Eddie." I responded, in a much smaller voice than his. Smaller, and less confident. I felt uneasy around Matt. He kept smiling at Jacqueline, and for some reason that didn't settle well with a feeling in my stomach. I tried not to think about it, but I couldn't help it. So I just sipped my bitter espresso.

He tried talking to me for a bit, and I know I answered, but truth be told, I couldn't tell you what he asked me two seconds ago. My mind was much more focused on how friendly Jacqueline seemed towards him, and how she laughed at his jokes and smiled at him what seemed like every other second.

I was jealous, but I couldn't help it. I wanted her to smile at me. I'm sure everyone who knew her did. She was one of those people who you just wanted to hug and have her tell you good things about yourself. She was attractive too, in a quirky but cute sort of way. I looked at her and couldn't help but to smile. Matt asked me something while I was looking at her, I think something along the lines of, "What kind of shows are you into?" I wasn't paying attention, it could've been anything. Jacqueline looked at me. I'm sure my face turned bright red when she caught me staring.

Jacqueline laughed for a second when she saw me looking. I don't think Matt cared about me answering the question anymore. He looked down at he ground, and then announced "I should probably get back to work. My break ends in a minute anyway." He slid out of the booth and walked away. I felt guilty, like I had just screwed up something else. I sighed. Jacqueline got up and stretched her arms. I stood up, and followed her out. She waved to Matt as she passed, and he waved back, but it seemed shy this time.

"Onto destination two," she said to me in the car, "getting your things."

"You don't mean-" I started.

"To your mom's house." Jacqueline finished.

"But-" I began to protest.

"We need to get enough things for you to be able to stay overnight, or a weekend. In case anything happens," she concluded. I sighed. I wanted to say it was a terrible point, but then again, I had been making terrible points all my life, so I couldn't say much.

I sighed. "Let me drive then, you don't know where she lives."

She willingly got out of the car and traded seats with me, and I got on the road.

"You might want to stay in the car when we get there..." I swallowed. "I don't know what kind of state my mother will be in, and I don't want you to have to see anything."

She looked at me and opened her mouth to say something, but then decided against it, and she turned away.

"What were you going to say?"

"Nothing."

I knew that was a lie. But I didn't want to bug her about it, no matter how curious I got. I would resist it.

I pulled into the familiar driveway. The bright green car wasn't there.

Good, I thought. I won't have to avoid her.

I walked to the door, and jammed my hand into my jacket pocket to find my keys. I unlocked the door, and walked inside. I went past the living room, and nearly jumped out of surprise. There was my mother, napping on our beat up couch. I could smell beer, and I walked toward my room, hoping to ignore it and get out of there without her waking up.

I grabbed the necessities, deodorant, my spare toothbrush and toothpaste from my bathroom, two pairs of pants, a pair of grey sweatpants, some clean underwear and socks, and a few shirts. I snagged a poetry book from my shelf, my favorite type of pen, and my current notebook full of random crap, and threw everything into my light travel bag. I looked around to see if there was anything else I'd need. Ah yes, my spare headphones.

I crept out of my room, but not as quietly as I would've liked. The floor squeaked under me. I held my breath. There was a disturbance from the couch. My mother was awake. She sat up, and saw me standing with the bag.

"Edwarddd," she slurred, "come hereee."

This is it, this is what I dreaded. She was awake, but still drunk, and I was with her. She was no doubt going to be mad at me for not being there the past few days.

I set the bag down, and slowly walked into the living room, keeping my distance from her.

"Closerrr."

I walked forward another five feet.

"More." She commanded.

I walked to her, trembling. She reached under her, and grabbed her cigarette lighter.

"Where have you beeeennn?" She stumbled over her words. I could smell sour beer on her breath, and tried not to look disgusted.

"Out," I barely squeaked. I was terrified. My eyes were getting wet, I could feel them.

"You were missssing. That makesss you a bad boy. Do you know what happensss to bad boysss?" She hissed. I gulped. I could feel my heart in my chest.

"Well?" She snapped. I quickly shook my head.

"They get punisssshed. You need to be punisssshed to be taught a lesssson." Her eyeballs rolled into her head for a moment, and then snapped forward to stare at me.

"I've done my bessst to raissse you, and this is the thanksss I get? You've been a baddd boyyy."

"Give me your armmmm," she commanded. I put my arm out a little bit. She grabbed my wrist, sinking her nails into my flesh. She snapped the lighter on, and pressed the flame onto my skin. I bit my lip, and tried to pull my arm away, but she held tight. I could feel the tears coming as she kept the fire burning on my arm. They started leaking out. She pushed the lighter further onto my skin. A moment later, she released me. I grabbed onto my arm, a blister beginning to form already.

"You know why I had to punisssh you. I loveee you my boyyy." She mumbled, and fell back asleep. I ran to the sink, and stuck my arm under cold water, the tears running down my face.

I cried as the water ran. I cried after I turned the water off. I wiped away my tears, and grabbed my jacket. Jacqueline couldn't see me like this. I grabbed the bag, put on a straight face, and walked outside.

I stuck my bag in the backseat, got in the front, and pulled my seatbelt on.

"Well that sure took a while, did you get everything you need?" Jacqueline asked me as I put the keys into the ignition.

"Yeah," I answered, my mood hardening, "Everything, plus something extra."