Page 13 of Don't Leave Me Behind
“The bangs were a choice,” Miya jokes. Her way of buying me some time when she can tell I’m stalling.
“I think they’re cute!” Pepper grins as I try to push the too-short curtain bangs back behind my ears.
“They were a terrible choice.” I grin. “Honestly, I’ve thought about cutting them off completely pretty much every second since I cut them.”
They laugh, and a little more of the tension I’m carrying melts away.
“They cut my teaching program at school,” I sigh, feeling justified in my anger as Pepper’s nostrils flare, hereyes flashing with the promise of violence. She might be cute and little, but Pepper would go to war for her people. “Actually, they cut a ton of programs at the school, mine just happened to be one of them.”
“I’m confused,” Miya cuts in. “How does this translate to a different couple at your place? Didn’t Edna renew your lease?”
“Oh, she did.” My poor, sweet elderly landlord. “Her son sold the house, then moved her into a nursing home. She was supposed to tell me weeks ago, but I guess she forgot.”
“Oh my God.” Pepper stifles a laugh.
I don’t take offense to it, though. Only my life could be such a cluster fuck.
“What are you going to do then?” Miya covers a yawn with her mug.
“I don’t know. I was thoroughly unprepared for moving houses or careers.”
“You could try to get on at my school!” Pepper grins. “They’re looking for a pre-school teacher.”
I shudder, my eyes bugging out of my head. “No, thank you.”
Pepper shrugs, nonplussed by my refusal. Teaching pre-k would be bad enough; doing it after years of teaching high school? Hard pass.
“That’s not all,” I groan. “It gets worse. Here I thought losing my job would be the worst thing, and then I thought having to move back home was the worst, but then…” I pause for dramatic effect. “A few months ago, Mercer told me that Clay was moving back.”
Miya gasps while Pepper sits up a little straighter.
“Who’s Clay?” Pepper asks at the same time Miya says, “Where is he staying?”
“He’s no one,” I mumble, wishing I could take it back.Pepper doesn’t know about Clay. Miya is the only one who knows what happened between us.
“He’s the one that got away.” Miya winks at Pepper.
Pepper’s eyes widen as she leans forward, tipping the nail polish over as she does it. Thank God, she already put the cap back on. Her landlord would not be happy about that.
“We were just friends.” I narrow my eyes at Miya.
She snorts into her phone, sipping from a steaming mug of what I can almost guarantee is chai. “She was obsessed with him when we were growing up. He lived with her family for a while and left to join the Marines. When he came back, he was a mess. Our girl Leni here patched him up.”
“Ohhhh.” Pepper practically has hearts bulging out of her eyes, giving me a dreamy smile. “What happened next?”
“I ran away at eighteen to go see him.”
Pepper gasps, clutching her hands to her chest. She might be dramatic, but she is the best person to tell a story to. I’ve seen her listen to audiobooks. This girl doesn’t know how to hide a single emotion around us.
“He…we…I don’t know. It didn’t work out.”
Miya gives me a sad, understanding look. The pity in her eyes makes my skin itch.
“That’s it? That’s all I get?” Pepper’s voice rises an octave, hands picking at the ends of her braid.
“He had a night terror and got scared. Said he was going to hurt me. He didn’t, not really, but he did smash up the hotel room and scared the living shit out of me.”
“Holy fuck.”
