Priceless

by Linda Kage

  But then I realized I was a complete hypocrite. I’d just asked a total stranger to be my friend on Facebook, so I was no better than him. Except I was pretty sure he was my big brother’s coworker’s little brother, and in my book, that was enough for me to think he was safe.

  So I typed, I’m Mason’s sister, just to be sure he was the right guy.

  A second later, he asked, Who the fuck is Mason?

  I blinked, rereading the word fuck over and over again with a stunned yet secret delight. No one had ever cussed at me before. Maybe that was because I was only thirteen or maybe because of my cerebral palsy, but I liked it. It made me feel...normal.

  My biggest dream in life was to be normal, so I decided right then and there, I was going to stay friends with Brandt Gamble, and it was going to be oh-so-blessedly normal.

  BRANDT

  AGE 13

  Noel’s girlfriend, Aspen, was a tiny thing. At thirteen, I was already taller than her and probably weighed more too.

  That didn’t mean I trusted her, though.

  After Caroline had broken up with her rich prick boyfriend for good, she’d gotten really sick, like I probably should’ve taken her to a hospital or called an ambulance sick. But all I could think about was how much money that would cost and that there was no way we could afford it. So I’d done the next best thing. I’d called Noel.

  Twelve hours later, he’d showed up with his best friend, and they’d taken care of everything.

  Meanwhile, I’d tried visiting her ex and knocking him around for hurting her. It was too bad the little bitch had been surrounded by his high school cronies. I knew I could’ve taken him on by myself. But as soon as I’d gotten in one good swing, his posse had swooped in and kicked my ass. A black eye, bruised knuckles, and a couple sore ribs later, Noel was there, packing us into his friend Ten’s truck and taking us back to college with him. For good.

  It was all so surreal. I was happy to leave, escape that shithole trailer park, ditch the school where everyone thought I was trash, and never see Daisy again for as long as I lived. But it felt too good to be real. I kept waiting for the bad side of all this to strike.

  Strangely, it hadn’t yet.

  We’d stayed with Noel for a week or so in his apartment he shared with Ten. But there was no room for the five of us there, so Noel’s girlfriend Aspen had let us move into her three-bedroom house with her. Suddenly, Caroline had a room to herself, and Colton and I had our own beds in the room we shared while Noel just...took care of everything. And so did Aspen.

  She took us to buy new clothes. Then she enrolled us into the local school. And then...then she fed us. Every day. Every fucking meal.

  It was beyond bizarre.

  The chick was too nice. It made me suspicious. She had to be hiding something awful. What if she turned out like Daisy and decided she had an appetite for thirteen-year-old boys? Okay, I doubted that part, but just to be safe, I locked the door every night so she couldn’t get in to either Colton or me.

  But she just kept being nicer and nicer to us, which made me leerier and leerier. No one was that nice. Something fishy was going on.

  That’s why I was keeping a close eye on her, trying to figure out her ulterior motive.

  So while Noel was at work, Caroline was holed up in her room by herself, and Colton was wrapped up in a blanket, watching cartoons in the living room, I wandered toward the kitchen to snoop on her.

  Colton had taken to Aspen immediately; it was actually Noel he seemed scared of. Idiot kid. But it’d been three years since we’d really seen our big brother, and Colton didn’t remember him. Noel would do anything for us, though. He was the absolute last person to be wary of. Aspen, on the other hand...

  She hummed under her breath as if she was happy while she worked in the kitchen, cooking, get this...supper. Why would she cook us supper every single night when our own mother never had? And why would she be happy about it? Something definitely had to be up with her.

  She must’ve sensed me in the doorway, watching her, because she glanced over her shoulder and jumped. “Oh!” Then came out the warm, welcoming smile. It had to be fake. “Hey, Brandt. You want to help?”

  I shrugged and pushed away from the doorframe. “Sure. What do you need me to do?”

  This was good. I could get in close, right under the radar in the guise of helping, and figure out what she was up to.

  She opened a cabinet and pulled out some plates before piling them into my arms to set the table.

  As I went to work, setting a plate in front of each chair, she asked how everything was going.

  With another shrug, I answered, “Fine.”

  “Miss your friends from home yet?”

  I mumbled an answer because I wasn’t sure if I’d honestly left anyone behind to miss. So far, nope. All the most important people in my life were here in this house with me...and her.

  “You know, if you want, you can borrow my computer, go online and get in contact with some of them. That’s totally fine, any time you like.”

  I nodded. “Thanks.” I still couldn’t think of anyone I wanted to contact, but I added, “I might take you up on that.” Maybe I could do a little research on Aspen Kavanagh, see if I could dig up any good dirt on her.

  She waved me off, telling me I didn’t need to help her anymore, so I wandered toward the front room until I reached her computer. My first Google hit led to her LinkedIn account, saying she was an English professor at the college Noel attended. That was strange. She didn’t look old enough to be any kind of college professor, and besides, I’d seen her searching the newspaper for jobs, meaning she was unemployed, so I figured that page was for another Aspen Kavanagh.

  I logged onto Facebook to check her out. The profile picture for the only Aspen Kavanagh I could find showed some literary quote, and that Aspen wasn’t friends with Noel, so I figured it was the account for the other teacher-Aspen. I was about to leave Facebook when a friend request popped up from a Sarah Arnosta.

  I squinted at the name, trying to figure out how I knew her. Her pic showed flowers—typical—and her page was private, meaning I couldn’t get any other details without accepting her request. So, I did.

  We didn’t have any friends in common, so I popped her a quick message, asking her who she was.

  She told me she was Mason’s sister, which made me glance around the room and ask, “Who the fuck is Mason?”

  After typing the question, she answered quickly.

  He works at the Forbidden Nightclub with your brother Noel.

  Oh... right. Now I remembered Mason. At least I think I did. Noel had taken us to some barbecue picnic thing with a few of his coworkers over the weekend, and I was pretty sure I knew which one Mason was.

  He’s the one that has the hot brunette girlfriend with the nose ring, right?

  A second later, a little bubble popped up, telling me she was typing.

  We call the hot brunette with the nose ring Reese, but yeah. That would be them!

  I grinned. Mason’s sister seemed cool. But I still wasn’t sure why she’d picked me to befriend. I did a quick check on her page and saw that she hadn’t friended Noel, so she wasn’t the type to just befriend everyone.

  But she answered my question before I could even ask. Reese said one of Noel’s brothers would be transferring to my middle school next week. I’m guessing that would be you.

  Oh, so she was my age. Sweet. Maybe I could actually get to know someone before starting a new school. I hadn’t exactly been looking forward to the first day.

  Unfortunately, yes, that’s me, I typed. Not that I’m excited to start a new fucking school.

  Sarah sent a sympathetic frowny icon and said, Who is? I’ve only been here since January. We moved from Florida, and the first day sucked big time. I thought I was going to throw up I was so nervous.

  I nodded, glad she got it. Hoping maybe I could get a little intel from her about Aspen, I began to fish a little.

  Do you
know why we had to move here? I asked.

  No. That’s why I was super curious and went snooping on your page. Sorry for being snoopy, by the way. I just know Noel was the guy who worked with Mason that was sleeping with his teacher and got her fired.

  My jaw dropped. But...what? Noel slept with a teacher? No...well...

  No!

  No way.

  Before I could tell her she was whack, she kept typing.

  And then suddenly he was moving all his younger brothers and sister in with her. But I couldn’t connect the dots as to how that came about.

  I immediately typed, Wait, wait, wait. ASPEN was Noel’s TEACHER? No fucking way.

  My mind spun. How was this even possible? Aspen—or Noel for that matter—didn’t act like people who’d do something so wrong.

  But Sarah typed, Oops. Did you not know that?

  NO! Of course, I didn’t know that, because— It can’t be true. Aspen’s way too young to be a college professor.

  And my brother wasn’t the type to fuck a teacher.

  Was he?

  No!

  No way.

  Reese said she was like a genius child and finished high school when she was fifteen or something, and she looked really young on top of that, so...

  I reread Sarah’s words about five times before typing, Are you shitting me right now? Please don’t lie to me, because I can’t believe this. Noel really fucked his teacher? How do you know?

  I am so sorry I blabbed. She sent me the sad, begging eyes icon before adding, I heard Mason and Reese talking about it once. I guess she taught one of their classes too.

  You HEARD them? I asked, needing a firsthand account and not hearsay to believe such a claim.

  Yeah, Sarah confessed. I’m a master at listening in on conversations. No one ever tells me anything directly so I just...eavesdrop.

  Un-fucking-believable.

  I was so busy gaping into space that I didn’t realize I hadn’t responded to Sarah until she wrote, You’re not going to tell anyone I told you, are you? I really didn’t mean to spill the beans. I thought you already knew.

  No. I won’t tell, I assured her. I’m not sure I want them knowing I know, anyway.

  Good idea. They might torture you for your source and I don’t want you rolling over on me. I might have to kill you then.

  I laughed and typed, LOL. You’re funny.

  She sent a smiley face before asking, So are you going to tell me why you guys moved in with Noel and Aspen?

  I sighed and ruffled my hair before typing, There’s not much to tell. We had a shitty mom and Noel practically raised us. He thought we’d be okay if he sent home money while he went away to college, but...

  You weren’t okay, Sarah guessed.

  I’m not sure what overcame me, but I just started typing all my family shit to her. I have no clue if she wanted to become my confidante or not, but she’d asked to know, and I guess I needed to gush to someone because it felt really good to get it all out.

  No. We weren’t okay. My little brother Colton got really sick. Then my sister Caroline got knocked up by a douchebag, but she lost the baby or something, I don’t know, but it scared the shit out of us when it made her sick, so Noel came, saw how bad off we were, and just took us back to school with him.

  Wow. Sarah added a frowny emoticon and asked, So if something bad happened to your brother and something bad happened to your sister, what bad thing happened to you?

  I swallowed, wondering how she knew. Glancing around to make sure no one was looking, I cleared my throat and wiped my face. Then I began to type, Nothing. But at the last second, I wrote, I tried to kick Caroline’s ex’s ass, but his boys gave me a black eye instead.

  There, maybe she wouldn’t guess what had really happened if I told her about that.

  Sucks, she said, and I blew out a relieved breath, glad she hadn’t picked at the subject.

  Feeling more honest than I probably ever had, I wrote, I don’t know how to think about all this.

  Oh my goodness, can’t you PLEASE try to forget what I told you about Noel and Aspen, she begged. I’m so sorry. I have no idea why I thought you already knew.

  No, no, I answered. That wasn’t what I was talking about. Though I am surprised he didn’t tell us himself, but I guess...why would he? He probably didn’t want us to think bad about his girlfriend.

  Which suddenly made me realize why Aspen was being so nice to us. She probably felt guilty and this was her way of redeeming herself.

  For some reason, it made me a lot less suspicious of her. It was a relief to find her imperfection.

  What are you not sure what to think about then? Sarah wondered

  This entire move, I answered. Noel didn’t even ask us. He was just like, get in the truck. We’re leaving. So we all just got in the truck. I lived in that town and went to that school my entire life. I should be pissed he ripped us away from our lives.

  It took a few minutes for Sarah to respond, but just as I was sure she’d had to log off, her reply popped up.

  I don’t know. Waterford, Florida was the only town I’d ever lived in before. But I didn’t like it there, and would never want to go back. I wouldn’t have been mad if my brother had moved me here...which is kind of what he did, but not really. He moved here to be with his girlfriend—the hot brunette with the nose ring—but my mom just kind of came with him. I live with her. He lives across town with Reese. But it’s kind of close to what you went through. Sort of. Okay, not really! But anyway, the point is, I’m really relieved for a fresh start.

  I grinned. Good. Because I’ve mostly been feeling relieved too. I hated that shithole. Everyone thought we were trash because of who our mom was, so only these gangbangers would talk to me. When they tried to get me to join them, they kicked my ass because I said no.

  Sounds like your butt gets kicked a lot.

  I frowned, not wanting her to think I was a wuss. Hey, I can hold my own, thank you very much! Just not when I get jumped by half a dozen assholes at once.

  Sarah sent me a laughing emoticon. I think you needed to join a self-defense class if you got jumped that much.

  No, what I needed was to get out of that town, except what if this new place is no better than the last? I’m not going to know anyone.

  You’ll know ME.

  Relief swamped me that she actually offered her help. So you’ll be there first thing on Monday at the office to show me around to all my classes?

  When she didn’t answer within a minute, I added, Pretty please with sugar on top.

  Ugh. Add a cherry and maybe I’ll consider it.

  How about a cherry on top PLUS my never-ending gratitude, I typed, biting my lip before I added the begging eyes emoticon.

  No! Not the begging eyes. You don’t play fair. Fine. We have a deal. I’ll be your guide.

  I sat back and grinned, glad Sarah Arnosta had friend requested me.

  SARAH

  AGE 13

  Brandt Gamble was beautiful.

  He looked tall for as lean as he was. The shirt he wore made his shoulders appear impossibly wide because the cloth stretched tight over his upper half while remaining baggy lower down.

  His chocolate-colored hair held the shaggy look, shorter in the back and longer up front so that his bangs hung down into his eyes, obscuring what color they were.

  Face narrow, chin pointed, mouth and nose on the slim side, his features were too well proportioned, only offset by his bruised eye and a single freckle, mole, beauty mark thing hugging the right side of his nose. He reminded me of Sam Winchester off Supernatural.

  The dark slashes of his eyebrows were expressive as he studied the hive of students swarming past him with leery suspicion. He didn’t seem to like what he saw at all. Didn’t appear to want to join their flow.

  I’d watched him for all of five seconds, ever since he’d stepped from the office and slung his tattered green army book bag over his shoulder before he caught sight of me. As he took me in,
every muscle in my stomach tensed. I held my breath, waiting for recognition to light his gaze.

  I hadn’t expected him to be so pretty. So tall. So...boy.

  Looking at him in real life was so very different from a small, grainy photo on a screen. His flawless beauty made the first traces of uncertainty stir in my gut. I suddenly realized how stupid and naive I’d been to think we could be buddies. In my head, I’d built him up to be the nerdy type, a lonely, awkward boy who got his butt kicked a lot and needed a friend just as badly as I did.

  This badass hottie with that couldn’t-care-less aura wrapped around him was so not what I’d been expecting and so far out of my league I probably shouldn’t even be staring at him.

  Dang it. And it’d been amazing to talk to him too.

  He’d poured out his entire life story to me these past few days. For the rest of the weekend, we’d written to each other constantly, at least once every waking hour of the day. He’d told me I was funny and smart, and I glowed inside. He’d commiserated about his life, and it felt amazing to listen to him pour out his heart to me.

  People never brought their problems to me. Ever. Reading all his worries and concerns hadn’t just made me feel normal. It’d made me feel special. And not the kind of special in special needs, how everyone else thought of me, but special special.

  Since I’d sworn to him that I’d wait outside the office for him first thing Monday morning to show him around his new school, here I was. But as he barely took in my wheelchair and then glanced away, I realized one startling fact.

  He didn’t know.

  No one had told him about me.

  He hadn’t been writing his heart out to me these past few days and treating me like a normal, regular girl from the kindness of his heart. He’d been doing it because he actually thought I was a normal, regular girl.

  I swallowed, and the muscles in my stomach not only tightened this time, but they wound themselves together in complicated little snaking knots. Like Chinese button knots.

  I felt like a cheater, as if I’d tricked him into befriending me by not telling him about my condition. But honestly, it hadn’t even occurred to me. Everyone else had always been so eager to tell newcomers about me that I’d never had to explain it to anyone myself. So naturally, I assumed his brother or someone had already filled him in on the whole cerebral palsy, wheelchair, seizures, speech impediment thing.