T is for...he's a TOTAL jerk (Grover Beach Team #3)

by Piper Shelly

  To: Anthony J. Mitchell

  Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2013 00:41

  Subject: I can’t believe you did this!

  Dear crazy stalker!

  The drawings are beautiful. Thank you for showing me.

  See you tomorrow.

  :-) Sam

  It took all of forty seconds for him to reply.

  ___________________________

  From: Anthony J. Mitchell

  To: Samantha Summers

  Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2013 00:42

  Subject: Re: I can’t believe you did this!

  I’m looking forward to it.

  And so was I. I shut down my laptop, turned off the light, and climbed into bed, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

  CHAPTER 22

  “Mom! Dad! Come quick! There’s something wrong with Samantha!”

  Ugh…What…? Something was wrong with me? I forced my eyes open and groaned. Bright light blinded me. Hell, what time was it?

  Rolling my head to the side, I shielded my eyes with my arm, fighting against a murderous headache. Too little sleep. Vaguely, I noticed that my quilt was gone.

  Worried voices drifted from downstairs, then rushed footfalls came closer. I pulled my arm away from my face, blinking a few times, trying to focus. The lights in my room and in the hallway were turned on. Outside the window it was pitch black. I knew I couldn’t have slept longer than an hour or two.

  “Goodness gracious!” a deep male voice barked.

  Without a clue why three people were suddenly standing in my room, I sat up in bed and kneaded the spot between my eyes. “What’s going on?” I murmured. Was there a fire in the house?

  “Sam! Oh my God!” Wrapped in a light blue dressing gown, my aunt fell on her knees in front of my bed, pressing her palm to my forehead and then touching my cheeks, my shoulders, and my upper arms. “Are you all right?”

  I pulled my legs to my chest. “Yes. Sure.” Just dead tired and confused as hell. “Why’s everyone so upset?”

  All of a sudden, Pamela’s eyes grew as wide as her porcelain saucers. She leaned away from me but held me tight by my shoulders. “Samantha…did you drink?”

  What stupid change of topic was this? I frowned at her. “No.” Then I caught a glimpse behind her of my uncle lifting my desk chair from the floor. It had fallen over? How strange. And not just my chair. The doors of my wardrobe stood wide open, clothes littered the floor, and—Shit! My laptop lay open and upside down next to the desk, pieces of the shattered screen all around. “Was there an earthquake?”

  “If only!” Jack snarled. He stood in front of me now in long flannel bottoms, his feet and chest bare. In each hand he held a bottle for display. One empty, the other containing a mouthful of—what? I read the square black label. Scotch?

  “When did you drink these?” my uncle demanded, his voice growing louder with each word.

  Confused, I pulled my brows together. “I didn’t drink them.”

  “Don’t lie to me, Samantha! These are the bottles that disappeared from our stock,” he thundered. “So when the fucking hell did you drink them?”

  “Jack!” Pamela shouted, shocked, and whirled around to him. She sure wasn’t used to her husband swearing that way. No one was.

  My mouth went bone dry. My mind started to swim. “I didn’t take them. And I didn’t drink them. I promise.”

  “You promise? You smell like a distillation brewery, and you honestly expect me to believe you?”

  I smelled like what? Shit. Now that he’d said it, I noticed the heavy odor of alcohol in the room. But where exactly it was coming from, I couldn’t say. I opened and closed my mouth a few times. No sound came out. This was too weird. I hadn’t drunk alcohol at the party. What in the world was happening here?

  Then my gaze fell on Cloey for the first time. She had her PJs on and her hair was a mess from sleeping, so she must have come home a while ago. She stood behind her father and made a frightened face.

  I swallowed hard, struggling to find my voice again. “Why are you all in my room anyway? What time is it?”

  “It’s three in the morning, Sammy,” my aunt told me.

  But her husband overrode her with his angry shout. “We came in here because you scared Cloey. She heard noises in your room and came to check on you. Then she found you in this chaos!”

  Cloey clung to her father’s arm, her eyes on me. She actually shivered. “You were shouting. I thought you were having a fight with someone. Then I heard a rumbling and came into your room, but no one was there, and you were lying on your bed, knocked out cold. I couldn’t wake you. I was so scared.”

  If this was only a show then she was one hell of an actress. But I didn’t believe one word of it.

  “For heaven’s sake, what are you talking about?” I shouted. “I came home before midnight, and I went to bed an hour later. Everything was right at that time. I didn’t drink at the party or afterward, and I sure didn’t trash my room like this!”

  “That’s the problem with drinking,” Jack exclaimed. “You’re not master of yourself any longer. You don’t know what you’re doing in that condition.”

  “And you don’t know what you’re talking about!” I rubbed my temples, trying to concentrate. Had they all gone nuts?

  “I recognize a drunken teenager when I see one. And since you’ve been caught, you can give back the other things you stole from your aunt and me as well.”

  “What?” I screamed at him, straightening my back and pulling my legs underneath me. I shook from cold and horror.

  “You know what I mean! My watch. The two hundred dollars from Pamela’s purse.” He removed his arm from Cloey’s hold and started pulling open the drawers of my desk, one after the other. “Where are they?”

  “Jack, I beg you,” my aunt whined, crossing to him and tugging gently at his arm. “This is just a big misunderstanding. Sam would never steal from us.”

  “Is it? IS IT? And what the hell do you call this, Pam?” He shoved two shiny hundreds he’d just pulled out of my bottom drawer in front of her face.

  I gulped.

  Everyone turned to me.

  “I didn’t put them in there,” I whispered. “I didn’t take them.” My pleading gaze found Pam’s eyes. “Please, believe me, Aunt Pam. I didn’t steal the money from you.”

  “Sam…” Her voice broke off.

  “Do you see now that she’s a bad influence on our daughter?” Jack hissed at Pamela. “We should never have agreed to take her in. Go and call Miranda. Tell her we’re sending Samantha home on the first flight we can get.”

  What? He was kicking me out? Oh my God. Why? What had I done? This was a mistake—not my fault. Didn’t he see that? He couldn’t send me home.

  My heart almost gave out on me. I didn’t want to leave.

  “Jack, I don’t know,” my aunt croaked as she tore her gaze away from me, holding her husband’s hand. “Maybe this is just—I don’t know.” She clapped her hand to her mouth, cutting a painful look at me and back at Jack. “We should go downstairs and talk about it. Maybe there’s an explanation. Maybe Sam just has problems.” She turned to me again. “Do you have problems, Sam? Do you want to talk about anything? Maybe I—didn’t I listen carefully enough? Please, tell me what happened.”

  “Nothing happened. I swear this wasn’t me.” Kneeling on the bed, I wrapped my arms around myself, but it brought no comfort at all. Tears clogged my throat.

  “It’s not our job to raise this girl, Pam. If she has problems”—he grabbed the almost empty Scotch bottle, holding it out to her—“and she definitely has, then it’s her parents’ duty to take care of her. Go and call Miranda. Now.”

  “It’s the middle of the night. At least let’s wait until the morning to talk to them.”

  “Why? Egypt is half a day ahead of us. You’ll reach them in the afternoon.”

  Obviously, Pam wanted to say more, but after a second she closed her mouth again, resigned. With another sorrowful look at me, she turn
ed and walked out of my room, leaving me to my doom.

  Jack put his arm around Cloey’s shoulders then. “Go back to sleep, darling. Everything is under control. You don’t have to worry anymore. We’ll take care of it.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and led her out. The doorknob in his hand, he glared at me across the room one last time. “Tidy up here, and in the morning pack your things. We’ll book a flight home for you as soon as possible.”

  The door slammed shut.

  My world broke apart.

  I sat on my bed for several more minutes, just staring at the closed door. Breathing hurt. Tears blurred my vision. My whole body trembled.

  What would I do now?

  Slowly, I rose from the mattress. My feet were cold. I walked to the middle of the room, turned around, and looked at all the mess on the floor. I felt like a stranger in my room. Who would do this?

  But I already knew who. And I also knew why. Cloey had warned me, oh my God. And I hadn’t taken her seriously enough. Our fight tonight must have caused her to snap. Now she’d gotten her way. They tossed me out of their house.

  I sobbed into my hands, my lips wet and salty from my tears.

  On autopilot, I walked around the room and picked up the scattered clothes. In the end, my arms were loaded, and I just didn’t know what to do next, so I dropped the clothes again, sinking onto the edge of my bed. For an endless time, I stared into the distance. Finally, I closed my eyes, hoping this was all just a bad dream. But when I opened them again, the chaos was still there. Nothing had changed.

  Minutes ticked by. Bit by bit, I emerged from my shock. My panic grew. Mom. I needed to call my mom. Tell her what happened. Tell her the truth, because by now, Jack had surely talked to my parents and dished out lies about me drinking and trashing my room.

  Phone! Phone! Where was my phone? Moving things aside from my nightstand and desk, I searched madly for the damn device but couldn’t find it anywhere. Next I dug my way through the clothes on the floor, feeling inside the pockets of my pants and hoodie. Nothing there. Where else could it be? I had to talk to my mom!

  Finally, I moved the broken laptop over and found my cell underneath. I always turned the ringtone to silent at night, so I hadn’t heard it. There were several missed calls.

  My fingers trembled as I called my mom on speed-dial and pressed the phone to my ear.

  “Sam?” my mom cried, her voice strained from worry. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you for the past half-hour.”

  “Sorry, Mom,” I sobbed, then I choked on my tears. Speaking was no longer possible.

  “Oh, my dear. Are you all right, darling? Your father has Jack on the phone right now. Tell me what happened.”

  I sobbed and whined some more until my mother’s loving tone finally soothed me. “Calm down, darling,” she said softly. “Take a deep breath. And now tell me what happened.”

  “I was at a party last night. I didn’t drink. And I was home early.” Sniffing, I wiped my nose with the back of my hand. “Then they all came running into my room and woke me. My room is a mess. But I didn’t do it. I promise, Mom. Please believe me!” My voice cracked. “No one believes me. They all think I’m drunk. And that I stole money and alcohol from Jack and Pam.” New, hot tears trailed down my face.

  “Shh, darling. It’s all right. We’ll find out what happened and take care of it.”

  “I know what happened. Cloey hates me. She warned me the other day that she would get rid of me. I met this guy. Tony. I told you about him. We’re together now. And she hates me for it. Because she’s in love with him. And she hates me because Pam was really nice to me.”

  “Cloey? You didn’t tell me that you had troubles with her.”

  “Because I didn’t realize it was that bad.” Curling up on my bed, I hugged my legs tightly to my chest with one arm while I held the phone to my ear with the other hand. Tears dropped onto the pillow. “She’s been so ugly to me since I came here.”

  “So she’s jealous?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you tell your aunt and uncle about it?”

  “Jack won’t listen. He shouted at Pam. They don’t believe me,” I sobbed. “Mom, I don’t want to go back to Egypt. I like it here. I have friends here. Please. I want to stay.”

  “Oh, my dear baby.” My mom sighed. I knew she was feeling my pain, too. “I’m afraid if they don’t want to listen and see the real problem, there’s nothing we can do about it. Jack told your dad that he’s already booked a flight for tomorrow. Maybe it’s best if you come home for now and we’ll think of something then.”

  Oh God, no! He’d already booked a flight? So fast? I pressed my lips together, squeezing more tears out of my shut eyes. If I had to go back to Egypt, I wouldn’t see Tony for more than three months. Until we finally moved to the States in spring. I didn’t want to be without him for so long. Or without Susan. Or Liza, and Simone, and Nick, and Ryan.

  “I don’t want to leave,” I whispered, at my limits.

  My mother took a deep breath. “It’s the middle of the night for you. Go to sleep, Sammy. Get some rest. I’ll call you again in the morning. Then we’ll find a solution. Don’t worry now, my dear.”

  I didn’t want to go to sleep. But I was exhausted. And I couldn’t hold my eyes open any longer. So I agreed. But my heart ached, and for the first time in my life I was scared as hell.

  “I love you, Mom. Please believe me.”

  “I do believe you, Sammy. And I love you, too. Now go to sleep. I’ll call in the morning.”

  I pressed the phone to my ear until my mom rang off, then I let it slip through my fingers. It dropped onto the pillow. Hugging my bent legs with both arms, I cried until I had no more tears and drifted off eventually.

  *

  “Sam?”

  A gentle shake woke me. I opened my eyes. They felt sticky and swollen.

  Pam was sitting at my bedside. She stroked my hair, her face in soft but sorrowful lines. “How do you feel?”

  I remained silent.

  “Do you want to come down and eat breakfast?”

  I shook my head.

  “Shall I bring you something up here?”

  I shook my head again.

  My aunt paused for a moment, her fingers skimming softly across my forehead. “I’m so sorry about last night and all the terrible things that have been said, Sammy. But you shouldn’t have gotten drunk. You’re far too young.”

  “I didn’t drink.”

  Pam sighed.

  I closed my eyes. “You don’t believe me.”

  “Sam…you should have come to me if there was anything troubling you. I know you’ve been upset because of this guy, but—”

  Focusing on her again, I cut her off, “We’re together.”

  She cocked her head. “Really? Now that’s…good.”

  “Cloey still has a crush on him. Can you imagine how she feels now?”

  “I—well…”

  My voice got sharper. “Can you, Pam?”

  “I believe it makes her sad.”

  “She’s jealous. She hates me.”

  “She sure doesn’t hate you.” My aunt frowned at me, looking like she was in pain. “You’re cousins. You’ve always gotten along so well.”

  “You know that’s changed. You’ve seen it. Why are you denying it now?”

  Pam took my hand, holding it in her lap. “Does it make a difference?”

  Shit, of course it did! I pulled my hand away. “Apparently not to you. Nor Jack.” Tears burned in my eyes again, but I fought to keep them under control. At least as long as my aunt was with me. “I fly home tonight?”

  She nodded slowly. “I couldn’t dissuade Jack from booking the earliest flight.”

  “When?”

  “Ten o’clock. You still have time to say goodbye to your friends.” She paused, then added, “I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah. Me, too.” I closed my eyes again. For me this conversation was over.

  “Look,
Sam. Maybe it’s best this way. And when you come back with your parents next year, perhaps you and Cloey can start anew.”

  Sure. Like I would really want that. If I wasn’t so close to tears, I might have laughed. When I remained silent for the next couple of minutes, my aunt eventually realized there was nothing more to say. She caressed my hair one last time, then the mattress shifted as she rose to her feet and silently walked out.

  At the low sound of the door closing, I opened my eyes again, glaring at the wall and struggling to keep new tears at bay.

  My cell phone started blinking on my nightstand. A call. My mom keeping her promise. I reached for the phone and answered. “Mom?”

  “Umm…no.”

  Crap. Tony!

  “Hi,” I croaked, fighting for a steady voice.

  “Hey. You sound weird.” And he sounded every bit alarmed.

  “I— It’s—” Taking a deep breath, I struggled for control. Impossible.

  “Sam? What. Happened?”

  “They’re sending me home,” I got out eventually.

  “What? Who? Your family?” Tony sounded like he wanted to crawl through the phone to get out more information.

  “My uncle. Cloey tricked me. Everything’s destroyed. I have to go back to Egypt.”

  “Fuck! When?”

  I fought so hard not to sob, but in the end I lost that battle. “Tonight.”

  CHAPTER 23

  I glanced at my wristwatch. After I’d told Tony what happened in my room, he’d said he’d meet me outside the house in ten minutes. That gave me just enough time to wash my face and dress in dark pants and a black sweater. When I pulled my tank top off, I finally realized where the stench of Scotch was coming from. Cloey must have splattered it on me while I was asleep.

  Who cared? Certainly not my aunt and uncle.

  Leaving my room as it was, I trudged downstairs and past the kitchen, where Pam and Jack seemed to be having another argument…over me. I didn’t bother to stop or listen. Pamela must have seen me, though, because she shouted, “Sam?”

  “I’ll be outside,” I murmured.