Mila

Wednesday, July 24th, 11:02pm.

"You all think that I'm just like my mom...that I'm some kind of whore-," I start to say as Olivia tries to cut me off.

"Mila, we don't think that-."

"Shut up," I growl as I point a finger at her, effectively shutting her up as she blinks at me.

She doesn't try to interrupt any further as the boys don't dare say anything as they watch me. I can tell that they're afraid and it's a new feeling for me. No one has ever been afraid of the bubbly, oh-so-talkative Mila.

It's like a mask has been ripped off, that everyone is finally afraid of me.

But I'm not afraid of being a monster for one night.

"None of you know what it's like," I smile and shake my head at them, "you all have a parent, someone who loves you, who stays here."

I linger over the thought that I've texted my mother several times throughout today about what's been happening.

I haven't gotten a response yet.

Not a single text or phone call.

Derrick was all you had.

I want to punch something. I want to scream myself raw but I take a calming breath as I discretely check my watch.

It's only been five minutes.

I have to keep them distracted.

"You don't have someone who's constantly leaving to chase down whatever rich man she can find in hopes of marrying him," I hiss through grit teeth.

And it's the ugly truth, it's why my mother is down in Florida in the first place. Of course, her most current victim has lasted longer than some of her flings but I've never had hopes of her finding someone she'll stay with for the rest of her life.

"Mila-," Olivia reaches out to me then and I swat her hand away.

She withdraws, her dark eyes wide and confused as she looks from me to Paxon. I hate what she has with him, how he gives her the attention she wants whenever she wants it.

I just want Derrick back, they have to know where he is.

I'm not prepared for the thought as an ugly lump swells in my throat.

I know that what he could have done to her was wrong, that he shouldn't have set her up to embarrass her the way he did but...a small piece of me understands. What would I do to Derrick if he left me the way she left him to date someone else instead?

I would do something similar.

But I shake the thought off.

I have to stay focused on why I called them all here tonight.

You'll get answers soon enough.

"Maybe I am just like my mother, but at least I'm being honest about it," I gesture around us then, to the hot tub, to the house.

To everything that isn't mine and never will be.

"When that old bag inside finally stops breathing all her money is going to my brothers, she's told me, believe me," I snap as I stop to gasp for a breath of air.

Tears are threatening to choke me but I don't let them fall as the world around me swirls unpredictably.

"She's said to me before, 'Mila, I know that you're just like your mom, you use your looks to get what you want, but I'm telling you now that those looks of yours don't work on me, you're not getting a cent of any of my money,'" I mimic in the tone that she always uses on me.

A tone that I hate as I dig my nails into my palms.

The others are silent at this so I push onwards.

Just five more minutes maybe, I think to myself as I check the time.

"She always has to remind me that she doesn't consider me a part of her family, that she will never love me," I spit, "everything of mine has been bought by my mother when she manages to get money together for me."

It's the only way my mother knows how to show me love. Either that or how to bribe me, but it's all I've ever had.

I look up at the others to judge their reactions and I feel a flash of satisfaction at what I see. Their eyes have gone glassy by now and it's then that I know the drugs are working.

I can't help but smile at this as I look at each of them in turn.

"But enough about me," I say, "let's talk about what happened the night Derrick disappeared."