A Piece of Heaven (Allendale Four 1)

“What are you going to do?” I asked, knowing something big was coming. A punishment. Therapy. The spiral in my chest coiled, tighter and tighter.

“First, I’m reporting this bullying to the school and to Chief O’Neal. Whoever is doing it needs to be stopped. Then, things are changing around here. You’re my number one priority from here on out. I’m taking your phone, no more social media, no more attention-seeking.”

I couldn’t breathe. “What about my friends?”

“Heaven,” she said, her voice laced with pity. “You don’t have friends. You have abusers. Users. It’s unhealthy and it’s stopping today.”

Her words hit me like a wrecking ball, destroying everything in my life in one fell swoop. The walls closed in and the anxiety, which had been so much better lately, started to slip away.

“Can I at least tell them.” If I didn’t contact the Allendale Four, they would freak. Hell would rain down on the whole town while the

y tried to find me.

She looked at me skeptically. “One phone call. That’s all you get. Then I want the phone.”

She pushed the phone across the table. “Ten minutes. Then I’m disconnecting it.”

My hand shook as I picked up the phone and stood. The chair scraped against the kitchen tile and I left the room. One phone call. I could keep it together that long.

In my bedroom with my door shut, I pressed the first number I saw, Face-timing him. There was no way I couldn’t do this face to face.

“Hey,” Anderson said, answering on the first ring. My heart kick-started when I saw his gorgeous face. Unsurprisingly, the others crowded around, smiling and waving. They were all in Oliver’s apartment. Anderson’s smile vanished. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

How could I tell them?

“Heaven?” Jackson asked. “What’s going on.”

Four handsome faces, grave with concern, waited for me to speak. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“My mom saw the Fakestagram page. She’s going to the school and to the police.”

Concern shifted to surprise.

“Okay, we can deal with that. You’re being bullied. We can tell Principal Morrison that,” Oliver said.

“Maybe the police can stop it once and for all,” Hayden added.

I nodded, knowing there was truth in their words, but I hadn’t told them the rest. My chest hurt. I’d never felt this level of heartbreak before. Not with Anderson in the library. Not when my dad left.

Jackson took the phone from Anderson. “What’s going on, Heaven? What aren’t you telling us?”

I inhaled, trying to steady myself. They’d made me strong and I needed to carry on for them right now. Until we could figure this out. I exhaled slowly and said, “My mom is putting me on lock-down. No phone. No social media.” I swallowed. “No friends. Including you.”

Jackson’s jaw dropped and Hayden shouted, “What the fuck?”

The four fell into a variety of emotions, each playing out on the screen. Sad. Angry. Furious. Shocked. It hurt so badly not to be able to comfort them. All I wanted was to touch them. Feel their arms around me. And all of that was gone.

“How long?” Anderson asked. “How long will this last.”

I shook my head. “I have no idea. I’ve never seen her so serious.”

“We’ll talk to her,” Oliver reasoned.

“No!” I shouted. “It will make it worse. Let her calm down. Maybe in a few weeks she’ll be ready to listen.”

“Will you be at school?” Hayden asked.

“Yeah but I still don’t think I can talk to you. I don’t know.”