Collide: A Riverbend Novel (2 page)

I wondered if she knew I'd
be the one taking her home. I wondered if she knew why. But
starting the conversation was hard for me. She was already acting
like a freak show and if she knew nothing about the arrangement,
she'd freak even worse.

"We should get back in
there. They take skipping school pretty seriously." Not that I
cared but it was a good reason to get her back inside.

She looked at the door and
her grip tightened on the strap of her bag again. A tear slid down
her cheek as she walked past me to go back into the
building.

Once in, she turned to the
left, the opposite way I was heading, and kept her head down saying
nothing to anyone.

The school counselor
flagged me down before I could make it any further down the hall.
"Mr. Satterly, I need to see you in my office."

I followed her and sat down
in the leather chair across from her messy desk. She sat down and
picked up a file.

"Since Reese will be living
with your family I'd like to talk with you. I've already spoken
with Garrett."

“What?!”

She didn't flinch. "She is
an emotional wreck. The only people she knows are gone. This
morning she became a ward of the state and when your mom heard, she
immediately started the paperwork to let her stay with you guys
until she graduates or until her father is found."

I blinked a few times. How
convenient it was that mom was a social worker for DHS. Was she
crazy? That girl was trouble.

"Are we done
here?"

"I want to tell you I'm
here if you need to talk. This isn't going to be easy. All of you
are going to have to make her feel as welcome as
possible."

My mother was the Betty
Crocker of Riverbend. She'd overwhelm her with being too welcoming.
My dad too. I raised a brow.

"I'm talking about you and
Garrett mainly."

I nodded. "Welcoming. Got
it. Anything else?"

"I'll be breaking the news
to her shortly."

"Why do you say it like
that?"

"She doesn't do well with
strangers." She started working on her computer, and I took that as
my okay to leave.

Doesn't do well was an
understatement.

REESE

After I sat down in the
leather chair in front of the counselor's desk, I waited. I just
wanted out. Out of the office. Out of the school. I needed to be
looking for dad.

My hands shook when I put
my hair behind my ears. Finally, she entered the office and sat
down at her desk. I held my hands together to hide the tremors. Not
eating didn't help my diabetes at all.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked
quietly as I avoided her eyes.

“No, not at all. I wanted
to meet with you to go over a few things." I watched as she moved a
file thicker than the others on her desk. I noticed my name written
in black across the tab. She smiled as she leaned forward, resting
an elbow on her desk. "How are you doing?"

My hands shook worse, and I
tried to steady them. "Okay," I said quietly.

"I've been assigned to meet
with you every day for your first few weeks here at Riverbend High.
If I see that you are doing well, I will lessen the
days."

She opened my file and
scanned a few pages in it. Looking up she said, "I see here that
you have diabetes. The nurse has been notified and will meet with
you later to go over your routine of insulin shots and blood
testing."

"I know what to do," I said
as I looked at my clasped hands.

"I suspected you would say
that. We just want to help you and make sure you are taking care of
yourself. I've read about your several attempts at suicide, Dear."
She raised a brow and frowned. "Your social worker said you have to
meet with the nurse daily to make sure you are taking care of
yourself."

A tear fell down my cheek.
"I just want my dad. I want to go home. I want Charlie."

"I know, Reese. We all want
that for you but Mayor Johnson is missing and now it's our job to
make sure you are taken care of. You've been assigned to a foster
home until your father is found."

My eyes widened. "I can't
go home?” I asked as tears filled my eyes. I didn't want to stay
with strangers. I wanted to go home and wait for my dad. He'd be
home soon. I knew it. They'd find him soon.

"I'm sorry, you can't. Your
home is under investigation." She looked through my file some
more.

I looked down at my hands
again. "Who..." I swallowed hard. "Who am I staying
with?"

"Mrs. Johanna Satterly. She
is also your case worker. You may know her two boys. Garrett and
Havock?"

"I met Havock earlier, and
I know Mrs. Johanna. She came to the hospital last weekend," I said
as my thoughts went to my last suicide attempt. Yeah, not the
smartest idea. I can't explain it but at the time it had seemed
like a good idea. The pain would end and the nightmares would stop
if I just died. I sighed.

"Good. Then you know how
precious she is. Havock...Well, just be patient. Those boys
are...well...you'll figure it out." She smiled a little. "I've been
told that Havock was told to give you a ride to their house. So, he
should be finding you after school."

"All right," I said as I
wiped my tears. I didn't really care if someone was there to pick
me up or not. I wanted to go to my home, not to someone
else's.

"If you need to make any
changes to your schedule let me know, and I'll take care of it for
you. You have second lunch which is," she looked down at her watch,
"In two hours. If you're not comfortable eating in the cafeteria
you can eat in my office. I won't be here, but I'll leave it
unlocked for you."

I nodded then grabbed my
bag. "Thank you," I whispered.

"Come see me between first
and second period every morning, alright?"

"Yes ma'am."

She smiled and started
cleaning off her desk. "See you tomorrow."

I stood up and headed out
of her office. Once outside, I went to my next class. I avoided
everyone's eyes and sat at the desk in the back.

I just wanted to go home. I
got out my notebook and started drawing.

~~~

I came out of that
nightmare they call a school and looked around for Havock. Some
girls bumped into me knocking my bag to the ground. It opened, and
my art notebook fell out.

As I bent down to get it, I
saw a pair of black and white converse. Havock reached down and got
the notebook. He handed it to me.

"Ready to go?"

I stood up and nodded. I
looked at Havock. Actually looked. Earlier I was too distraught and
didn't take in anything about him. Now I did. He had dark brown
hair that almost touched his shoulders. His appearance was
disheveled like he didn't care and like he just rolled out of bed.
It suited him. He had a lip ring on the left side of his bottom lip
and dark eyes. Dark eyes that looked like they were hiding
something. Eyes that pulled me into them. I scrunched my eyebrows
at that thought and held my art book tightly to me as we made our
way to an old truck. I smiled a little as I saw it. I always wanted
an old truck like this. Actually, any vehicle would’ve been
nice.

He threw his bag into the
back and opened his door. It creaked loudly. "Piece of shit," he
mumbled under his breath as he got in. I tried to open my door, but
it wouldn't open. He looked irritated and got back out. "I forgot.
That door doesn't open. You'll have to get in on my side." He moved
out of the way to let me in.

I tried to climb in without
showing off too much. My skirt had risen up some. Once in, I
buckled up. "I like your truck," I said softly. Not intending for
him to hear

"A princess like you?" He
laughed as he cracked his window and lit a cigarette. He held the
cigarette between his lips as he cranked the truck. It only took
three tries before the engine started.

A smile formed on my lips
as I watched him drive. I've always wanted to learn, but dad never
would let me. “Is this a standard? Is it harder to drive than an
automatic?"

I hadn't been this chatty
all day, but even though Havock was a jerk, I felt comfortable with
him. Well, more comfortable than I had all day. Maybe it was
because it was just the two of us.

"Is it a standard?" He
laughed as he moved the stick thingy then started smoking again.
"And what might have given that away?" He rolled his eyes and
flicked ashes out the window.

"It was just a question.
I've never driven before," I mumbled as I looked out the
window.

"Of course you
haven't."

“Why did you say it like
that?” I asked as I looked at him in confusion.

“S-p-o-i-l-e-d.” He flicked
the ashes from his cigarette out the window again and turned up the
radio at the same time. He continued to drive with his knee as he
pulled out his phone and started texting.

I didn't respond. I stopped
watching him drive because it was going to give me a heart attack.
As we drove by my house my heart clenched, then I froze. Charlie?
"Charlie!" I yelled. "Stop! Stop the truck!" I begged. I tried the
door knob, but it wouldn't open.

He slammed on his breaks
cursing. I noticed him slapping his knee then saw the cigarette
burning through his jeans. "DAMMIT!" He shouted as he hopped out of
the truck, forgetting to put it in park. I jumped out his door
right before his truck drove itself right into a tree.

"Nooo! Shit, shit, SHIT!"
Havock hurried over to his truck and got in to cut off the
engine.

He pulled his phone from
his pocket. "Garrett?!" I heard him say as he started walking down
the road.

I didn't care. I took off
running towards my house. I froze when I got closer and saw
Charlie, my lab, dead on the front porch. I looked around and saw
the police tape surrounding my house.

Tears fell down my face.
"Charlie?" I backed away and my whole body shook as my eyes stayed
locked on my baby. My best and only friend besides my
dad.

I noticed Havock with his
upper body inside the driver side pushing the truck away from the
tree. Once he got it far enough away he popped the hood. Smoke
filled the air from the engine.

He looked up at me then at
Charlie. He rolled his eyes then started working on his
truck.

I stormed over to his truck
and pushed him away from the engine. I may have not known how to
drive, but I could fix most problems in a vehicle. I leaned over,
and only after a few adjustments, the truck was fixed.

“You didn't know if my
truck was a standard or not, but you can fix it? I'm
confused.”

"I was making
conversation," I said as I started to walk off.

About that time a super
clean nice Ford pulled up. A guy rolled down his window. "Reese
Johnson?"

I kept walking. Tears
started to fall down my face and my heart clenched. As long as
Charlie had been alive, I had believed dad was too. Dad had gone
out hunting that morning taking Charlie with him. But Charlie lay
dead on the porch. My eyes cut to the guy as I tried to focus on
what was happening around me, not the pain that filled my
heart.