“Can I quote you on that?” she asked with a smirk.
She made me want to scream. I took a breath and asked, “What do you even want?”
“I want the house.”
I shook my head. No fucking way was that happening. “I’ll give you money if you need money, but you’re not getting the house.”
“I don’t need your money. When I sell that house, I’ll be doing just fine.”
“You can’t sell Gran’s house.” My voice hitched, and I hated it. I hated that my mom could make me fall back into that scared little girl all over again. I’d worked so hard to get rid of her.
“You’ll find that I absolutely can.”
I shook my head. “You’re a monster. You were a terrible daughter and an even worse mother. I will fight you tooth and nail over this. You can’t win.”
She grinned. “Then you’d better lawyer up, Marley Sue. And oh, I already have the best in town.”
She slammed the door in my face, the same way I’d done to Derek. This time, I did actually scream. I closed my eyes and let loose.
Uncle Bobby stood and patted my shoulder. “Sorry about that, kid.”
I took a deep breath. “I’m going to win.”
He nodded but knew better than to say anything where his wife could hear. I stomped away from the house, getting back into Nancy and driving away.
My mother was right about one thing—I needed a lawyer. And I needed one right now. Because there was no fucking way that they were getting the house. Not ever.
5
Savannah
November 1, 2004
I vowed to stop thinking about that kiss at Derek’s Halloween party. It was Monday morning, and I needed it to stop. Derek Ballentine was a Holy Cross boy. We might have had a connection in that moment and a series of incredible kisses, but again… Holy Cross boy. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that it’d meant anything to him.
Danielle met me in the school parking lot when I hopped out of Maddox’s truck. Jack was speed-typing on his phone, hardly paying attention until he saw Maddox. He pocketed his phone, and they started in on the show and future rehearsals and the running theme about the band name.
“Local Carnage is a cool name,” Maddox complained.
“It sounds violent,” Danielle piped up.
Jack slipped an arm around Danielle as his phone noisily pinged again. He glanced at it and then put it back. “We need something else. Something that fits our sound better.”
“Who’s texting you?” Danielle asked.
“Just my mom,” he said and then arched an eyebrow at Maddox. “Thoughts?”
I let them get ahead of me. Personally, I thought Local Carnage was the best of the ones they’d gone by before. This had to be the third or fourth name they’d picked. Next concert, it would be something else since Jack never seemed to be able to make up his mind.
I stepped inside, and immediately, a guy that I’d only vaguely seen before whistled at me. I jumped, turning around to see if maybe he was whistling at someone else.
“Looking good, Marley,” he said with a wink.
My cheeks flushed. What the hell was he talking about? I looked exactly the same as I always did—nondescript. I had on bootcut jeans with a white tank top, layered under a baby-blue T-shirt with a jean jacket over top and a backpack stuffed to the brim. My hair was in a ponytail, and I had on zero makeup. There was no reason for whistling.
I hurried away from the guy, tucking the book I was holding tight to my chest. I stopped at my locker, opening it with the combination and filling the space from my overstuffed backpack. I was only a sophomore, but I was already taking three AP classes, and my class load was intense on top of dance and cheer.
“So, Marley,” a guy said, leaning against the side of the locker next to mine. This one I did recognize. Brandt Johnston was a senior and on the baseball team. He was being recruited by Alabama. “You want to go out this weekend?”
I gawked at him and looked around as if I might know another Marley. As far as I knew, I was the only one in the school. “I… what?”
“I was thinking you could come over to my house.” He winked.
I blushed deeper. “Um…”
“Maybe eight o’clock.”
The bell rang. “I… I have to get to class.”
“I’ll find you later,” he said and then touched my arm as he passed.
I was so flustered that I was nearly late to my homeroom, where I slid into a seat next to Leigh. She had a compact out and was powdering her face as our teacher wrote out our assignment for the period.
“Leigh something strange is happening. Brandt Johnston just asked me out in the hall.”
She snapped her compact closed. “What?”
“Yeah, and some guy whistled at me.” I gestured to my nerd outfit. “Me.”