Chapter 13
As I opened my eyes, Hero and Blake were both towering over the bed I was laying on. I fainted, I realized. Hero handed me a glass of water and I took a sip. I couldn’t look my brother in the eye—I knew my negative emotions would come back again if I did.
“It was your fault,” Blake blurted out. “Your fault that our parents are dead.”
A lump appeared in my throat and I fought back my tears. How was it my fault?
“Say that again. I dare you,” Hero said, his voice low. He grasped ahold of my hand—comforting me, but also to restrain himself.
“It’s true,” Blake replied. He began to tell the story of how they died. The story started a week before their death.
I was in seventh grade, and I wanted to try out for the cheerleading team.
But my parents declined. They told me “cheerleading practice would take up hours of your time; that is your homework and study time.” I attempted to persuade them, telling them education would still come first. But their decision was final.
It was early in the morning, so I must’ve been a bit grumpy, and I decided to argue. “I have to be a part of the team! Reese is on the football team!”
No—I didn’t have a crush on Reese. I had always had my eyes on Hero, ever since sixth grade, and my parents knew this. Instead, it was because Reese’s girlfriend at the time, a cheerleader, had a problem with Hero for no reason.
I wanted to ruin her relationship.
That was the most immature thing I’ve done, and if I had a time machine, that would be the first thing I’d go back and change.
“Stop arguing and go eat breakfast, Pepperoni,” Blake had said to me, ruffling my hair.
I didn’t listen to him. To any of them. Hero meant a lot to me and he didn’t deserve to get picked on by that stupid bully. I had to get on that team. So I did. I disregarded what my parents told me and I signed up for the cheerleading team.
A few days later, during the school day, my parents were notified through a phone call from Pineshire Academy that I had made it on the team. I assumed they had told Blake, because he almost drove home without me that day.
I went to cheerleading practice anyway, and both Hero and Ayden stayed after school to watch.
Reese was also there to cheer his girlfriend on.
I hadn’t had any experience in cheerleading before that day, yet I was better than anyone on the team.
Reese was impressed and shifted his attention to me.
His girlfriend noticed and got into an argument with him after practice.
He broke up with her, thinking he could get with me.
I didn’t expect it all to happen so fast.
My goal was complete so I was going to drop out of cheerleading, but I noticed the way Hero stared at me and I just couldn’t. I thought maybe he had feelings for me, but he never asked me out. Shortly after, Violet came into the picture. So I made peace with the fact he didn’t like me.
A few weeks later, there was a football game.
Reese asked me out that night, but I rejected him, obviously.
He wasn’t used to getting rejected, but got over it quickly, getting with Gwendolyn a few days later.
They’re still together to this day. Although I couldn’t stand them, I had to admit that they were a cute couple.
After the game, I had called my parents to come pick me up. No answer. I called Blake. No answer. I knew they were mad, but to not pick me up?—that wasn’t like them. I ended up getting a ride from Hero’s mother.
As I entered the house, only Blake was in sight. “Where’s Mom and Dad?” I had asked.
“They went to the movies together,” he had told me.
The next morning, they weren’t home either.
“They went to get groceries this morning,” he had explained.
He dropped me off at school and went back home, saying he was sick. I took the school bus home that day. Even after school, my parents were still not home. Blake looked like he had been crying.
“Where are they?” I had asked, my voice filled with worry.
He sat me down and told me they were never coming back. That they had abandoned us.
But he lied.
When I was at the football game, they had actually gone to stay at a nearby motel for the night. They were sick of me. The next morning, Blake didn’t think it was unusual for them not to be home yet; he thought they must’ve still been sleeping.
He had taken the school day off—taking off ten points—to speak to our parents.
But when he returned to the house after dropping me off, two police officers had been standing on the front porch.
He was then informed that our parents were dead.
They had gotten into a car crash driving back from the motel.
* * *
“It wasn’t her fault,” Hero said sternly after Blake was done explaining.
“It was,” I said in between sobs. “They wouldn’t have gone to the motel if it weren’t for me.”
I shouldn’t have joined the cheerleading team.
“It wasn’t,” he said, directing the statement to me now. “That was your parents’ decision to leave. They should’ve been more supportive.”
That stroke a nerve in Blake. “Our parents only wanted the best for her! If she had only listened, they wouldn’t be dead! It was her fault!”
“It wasn’t,” Hero repeated, his fists clenched. “Look, if you want to blame someone, blame me. If she didn’t have feelings for me, none of that would’ve happened.”
“No,” I exhaled, grasping his hand. “Don’t blame yourself, Hero.”
He pulled his hand away. “I’m sorry, Pepper, but it’s my—”
“Pepper made her own choice,” Blake cut in. “It’s her fault, and hers only.”
I looked down. “Wait,” I sniffed, coming to a realization. “Why did you act like a gold digger if you had money all this time?”
“It was all an act.” Blake crossed his arms. “You didn’t deserve a good brother, so I gave you a bad one.”
Hero scoffed. “What a load of crap.”
“You should leave now,” Blake said firmly. “I’ll handle it from here.”
“I’m not leaving her alone with you.”
“Then she should go live with you.” Blake chuckled, but he wasn’t joking. “I can’t deal with this anymore. I can’t be constantly reminded of them every time I look at her.”
My eyes widened. “You’re…kicking me out?” I sputtered.
“I can’t do it anymore. I’m sick of taking care of you. I won’t be pushed over the edge like you did with Mom and Dad,” he said, then turned his attention to Hero. “Are you willing to take her in?”
I sobbed, hard. Hero narrowed his eyes at Blake.
“If not, foster care is always an option,” Blake added, shrugging.
Hero’s jaw tightened, then turned to me. “That won’t be necessary. I’m sure my mom will be fine with it.”
Blake walked to the door, then looked back. “I hope she won’t use you like she used Ayden.”
My eyes widened. I couldn’t believe it. Blake was trying to twist this around on me. He was the one who manipulated me into using Ayden. I hadn’t even done it yet. And I wasn’t going to, either. I would’ve worked my way around it, somehow. I knew I would.
“What is he talking about?” Hero asked, glaring at me.
I wanted to explain but the words left my brain as soon as I saw Hero’s face of disappointment.
“I…I didn’t—”
“What she means to say is,” Blake cut me off, “that she took up my offer to go back to school as long as she used him for money.”
Hero stepped back.
“Hero—” I began to say.
“Don’t,” he cut me off. “Just pack up and I’ll call my mom to pick us up.”
I packed up all of my things—from clothes to hair accessories to the polaroid photos on my wall—while Hero called his mother.
He was right; she was willing to take me in.
I left the house without saying a goodbye to my brother.
He didn’t deserve a goodbye. He didn’t even deserve the title of being my brother. He was just Blake to me now.
Hero helped me put my suitcase in the trunk of the car.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
No response. He was giving me the silent treatment.
I sat in the back of the car, staring out the window that faced my house as Hero’s mother drove off. It didn’t feel like my home anymore. It was Blake’s home.
I didn’t belong there.
* * *
Hero’s house was a two-story house with a two-car garage.
They were middle-class people, just like I was before the whole incident.
The color of the house was blue, and there were small bushes decorating the front and sides of the house.
I liked it. It felt like a home—at least from what I could see.
Hero grabbed the suitcase and wheeled it inside, being the first one to go inside of the house. Hero’s mother stepped closer to me and rubbed my back. We walked inside together.
“Please make yourself at home, dear.” She gave a sympathetic smile, placing her car keys on the kitchen counter. Hero looked a lot like her—the eyes and nose were nearly identical. But unlike Hero’s straight hair, hers was curled and fell down to her shoulders.
I nodded, taking in my surroundings. The curtains were drawn, and the lights were dim—the perfect amount of light to see and wasn’t at all blinding. It felt so cozy.
The living room had a beige sofa. Above it was a quote hanging on a frame that read, “Be your true self.” I smiled at that. There was a circular, brown coffee table in front of the sofa and on it were two stacks of books, with a small fake plant sitting next to it.
“Let me show you to your room,” she said, waving me over. She led me upstairs, then down a hallway which had two bedrooms on one side of the wall and a bathroom on the other side. One of the bedroom doors were closed—I figured it was Hero’s. We walked past that one and went into the open bedroom.
“This was Uncle Derrick’s room,” she said. “If it’s too uncomfortable for you, I can have Hero switch rooms with you.”
“No,” I said quickly. “This will be okay.”
I wasn’t uncomfortable. Instead, I felt like I would be able to be closer to Uncle Derrick.
It seemed that everything had been taken out of his room, only leaving a bed and a dresser. The bed had no fitted sheet on it and the dresser had been completely cleaned out. The suitcase that Hero had brought in was in the center of the room.
“I’ll bring the fitted sheet in a little while. I’ll leave you to unpack,” she said. “I’ll be downstairs if you need me.”
“Thank you for taking me in, ma’am.”
“Of course, and call me Marina, dear.” She hesitated before continuing, “I noticed there’s some tension going on between you and Hero. Just know he loves having you as a friend, and things will work itself out.”
I gave a tight-lipped smile and nodded. As she walked out, I shut the door and slid down, crying silently. I knew Hero cared about me, but it still hurt to know that he was upset with me.
Wiping away my tears, I walked over to the suitcase. Not wanting to get the bed dirty, I sat crisscrossed on the floor and unzipped the suitcase. There wasn’t a lot of stuff in it. I didn’t have much to bring, considering how Blake sold almost everything I had.
The dresser was raised high off the ground and had three drawers.
I placed my shirts in the left drawer, shorts and pants in the middle drawer, and undergarments in the right drawer.
I placed some of my hair accessories on top of the dresser.
Marina told me to make myself at home, but I didn’t feel comfortable enough to take out my polaroids yet.
I was extremely grateful for Hero and Marina. What would’ve happened to me if Hero declined? Would Ayden’s parents have taken me in? What if I went into foster care? I still could, I reminded myself. If I don’t meet Marina’s expectations, I could still go to foster care.