Page 5 of Wrecked
I drop the ball to the bed beside me and watch my mom fidget with her fingers. Her lips purse as she looks to the side. Something's been up with her, both her and my stepdad. They've changed over the last month – more so mom, since he was already a jerk. I'm sure it has to do with the cardboard that had the wordRapistsplattered across it, pinned to our front door.
Everyone believes Jacob is guilty, and so I've been labeled as guilty by association by many people around town. That has to have an effect on my parents, too. This whole situation has really shaken up the town, and not in a good way. I guess that means I should probably go with mom as protection. Or support. Or whatever. Maybe spend time together like we used to.
“Alright, just give me a second.”
My foot taps restlessly as the silence stretches on the drive to the store. I don't remember it ever being like this between us before. I don't like it. It has me feeling more alone than ever.
“I want to go to the hearing,” I blurt out eventually, breaking the silence.
My mom glances at me and then back at the road. “I don't think that's a good idea.”
“Come on. I haven't been able to see him at all. Just let me go to that, please,” I beg.
“We'll see what Brian has to say, but I doubt it'll be a yes.” Pulling into a parking spot, she turns the car off but doesn't move right away. “He got a job offer in Boston. We're considering it.”
My head whips around to look at her. “What?! I'm not moving to Boston.”
“Campbell, things have changed ever since . . . well, you know.”
“I don't care. Once Jake is finally released, we'll move somewhere together, away from here.”
Mom doesn't reply to me and instead gets out with a sigh. I follow her out, kicking at some rocks as I shuffle behind her into the store.
Boston? Geez. Could he pick a place any further away? I don't have any money to move out, but I know Jacob has a bunch saved from his job. We'll figure something out, I'm sure.
We start filling the cart quickly and quietly, and I'm seriously amazed at how the people that my mom would have usually talked to – herfriends –now keep their distance. I feel bad for her. No wondersomething's been off with her if this is how she's being treated now. I catch a couple of them staring, and I just glare right back at them. These people are going to feel like idiots when Jacob is found 'Not Guilty'.
After finishing up, we make our way back to the car with minimal talking and more judgmental stares from acquaintances,friends, and strangers alike. I scoff under my breath. These people are pathetic.
Once home, I help mom unload. I'm just bringing in the last bags when I hear my parents talking in hushed voices from the dining room. I guess Brian is back home now, and she's probably telling him how those people were acting at the store.
I start walking past the room, but when I hear my name, I slow my steps to listen, staying out of sight.
“It was smart of you to take him,” Brian murmurs.
“Yeah, but you should have seen all the stares we got. It's bad enough when it's just me, but it was much worse with Campbell there,” she tells him. “It's like they knew something about him that I didn't.”
Brian sighs. “I think we can expect that whenever we leave the house with him from now on.”
“I know. I just really didn't feel comfortable leaving him. I just don't trust him anymore.”
Wait.What the actual fuck?
“You made the right choice, honey. I've been telling you over and over that I don't trust him; or believe anything out of his mouth, really. There's no way he didn't know what his best friend was up to . . . for all we know, he was involved in it somehow.” There's another pause, and I hold my breath, waiting for him to continue. “They're a useless bunch, the lot of them. I didn't really expect anything more from him, to be honest.”
I release my breath in a puff of disbelief at the same time, my eyes widen in shock at what he just said.Seriously?
Then my world is turned even more upside down when instead of defending me, my mom agrees. “I know.”
My mom . . . my own fucking parents don't trust me? They assume I was involved and lying about it? And that I'm useless? The sad part is that I could see something like this coming from Brian. But from my mom? No.
Betrayal, along with hurt, makes my chest seize tightly, making it hard to breathe.
I actually felt sorry for her, Brian as well. But this whole time, the odd looks at me, the weird behavior, it wasn't because they were feeling bad for me and didn't know what to say. They never once considered that Jacobcouldbe innocent, but rather, they think thatI'mjust as bad. They're just like the rest of the assholes in this fucking place.
Worse even, because they're my parents.
It all makes sense now. Why they took my car to the “shop” for some work to be doneweeksago, but we still haven't gotten it back. And why they also stopped my allowance. Itwasn'tbecause they simply forgot with all of the extra stress that they've been under, like I had thought, which is why I hadn't bothered asking them about either of those things. No, it's because they didn't want me to leave the house. They didn't want me going out anywhere because they thought I'd get up to who knows what.
