Broken, Navaura Campbell [top young adult novels txt] 📗

Chapter One

Vanessa: POV

You know how despite the risks, you do something anyway? Despite the fact that your mother tells you no you can’t go somewhere and you go there anyway? Well, that’s me. Vanessa Williams. I’d asked my mother and father a week ago if I could go to a house party one of my friends was throwing at school because I had never been to one and wanted to see what it was like, and of course. Like the stick in the mud parents they are, they told me no. Can you imagine how I felt when my mom spoke no first and my dad took her side on the matter?

Every time I asked him about something his response was, What did your mother say? I would get floored and try my hand at persuasion. “Dad, don’t you think you could make your own decision instead of asking her?”

He’d shake his head and refute. “What she says goes.”

“If mom said jump off a cliff would you do it just because she said so?” He’d looked up from his desk and with the same majestic – that’s what my best friend called them, green eyes I wore.

Eyes that had a gold light that always seem to shine through when he found something particularly amusing, like the comment just made, he laughed, “Only if she was jumping with me.” I glared at him. This is what I hated about them. They always took each others side no matter what. To me it didn't make any sense for them to do so because, well, I didn't get what I wanted. I hated not getting what I wanted. As a matter of fact, I was one of the few people who wished they'd get a stupid divorce. They were like an old married couple.

I guess the fact that they’d been together since high school made them that way. Mom absolutely refuses to talk about their high school years, while dad doesn’t seem to mind. He just did it when mom wasn’t around to be the nagging bitch that she was. I wished I had a different mother. She was so damn stuck up and prude that at times I couldn’t stand being around her. And as of lately, this seemed to be happening more and more. I was upset because I was in my last semester as a freshman at Tiger Hill High. I know unbelievable name right? Sounds like something out of a damn make believe city. In a couple of more months I’d be fifteen and a sophomore in high school, but did that matter to her. No it didn’t. She was just out to ruin my life.

You see, I had decided that I wasn’t going to let that happen. Despite the fact that I was only fourteen, I knew I was mature enough to handle something so simple as a party. So, Tamarah, my best friend and I concocted a plan so that I could go to the party with her and my boyfriend, who by the way, my parents hate. There’s no surprise there. If they had their way, I wouldn’t date. But hey, what can I say? I’m the type of girl that finds ways over and around getting what I want.

This was one of those times where I’d go over and under. I’d acted my usual self throughout the day so that they wouldn’t know what was happening. Around five o’clock that evening, I’d gotten out my clothes for the party; a pair of denim hip huggers with a pair of Fendy red heels that matched a favorite red blouse of mine. The blouse, a silk off the shoulder number with the bottom of it loose enough to tuck into your jeans and poof out, making it look elegant on a lovely, shapely, figure as my own. It made my eyes look even more magnificent than they already were. I waited till I heard them go upstairs and go to bed before I started to get dressed around eight o’clock that night.

After I got dressed, I rubbed some gel in my hands and ran it through my hair and brushed the strands, so that my hair would stay smooth and straight til it reached my shoulders, where it would curl at the ends. My dark black curly hair I’d inherited from my father. As a matter of fact, the majority of me I’d inherited from my dad. What I didn’t understand was how he and my mother got along so well with them being so different.

I grabbed a pair of gold encrusted sea shell earrings I’d gotten while on vacation one summer and put them in my ears. Then carefully I applied my make up. I preferred the dark dramatic looks.

I flickered my gaze in the mirror and approved of what I saw. My dark blue eye shadow looked great with my skin tone, giving my eyes a more intense green look. The mascara made my eye lashes look even longer and fuller than they already were and the light blush I’d applied to my cheeks blended in beautifully. My lipstick was called fire starter; A deep shade of red that I loved to wear. I smacked my full heart shaped lips and felt the excitement turn into giddiness. For once I was going to be able to do things my way and get away with it. I couldn’t believe I’d gotten this far. I grabbed a light jacket because according to weather reports it was going to be cool out tonight and I wasn’t one to be unprepared. I grabbed my purse and searched around in it. I had everything I needed, including the condoms that I was sure me and my boyfriend Tommy would use tonight in one of the spare bed rooms at the party.

One of the reasons I’d decided to go was because he and I were going to go all the way tonight, with no interruptions. My friend Alicia had said we could use the spare room in the basement and just make sure that we locked the door before anything happened. We didn’t want our business spread around school. We liked to keep things low profile. I sighed and placed the purse strap over my head in between my left should blade and watched as it settled in across over my chest. I kept the purse snug tight to me. Opening my window, I crawled out onto the sturdy trellis.

As I worked my way down I smiled at the victory I knew was coming. I had my cell phone clipped to my hip in case Tamarah or Tommy called. They were supposed to meet me around the corner. As I climbed down the trellis and jumped the last bit, I turned to walk toward the street. As I did, I heard a voice speak, “I knew you were up to something. I just couldn’t prove it at the time.”

I felt rage spark in me and I turned to face my mother, and replied back with immediate anger, “Well you know what, if you weren’t such a stick in the mud all the time then maybe I wouldn’t have to do this.”

She stared at me with fire in her almond shaped eyes, “Maybe if you were more trust worthy I wouldn’t mind you going out this time of night Vanessa, but the truth is, your behavior is ridiculous. Your father and I both told you that you couldn’t go to that party, yet here you are sneaking out of your bed room window. Do I have to get bars put up just to keep you safe?”

“Safe? Mom! Bars are for prisons, not houses. I’m fourteen years old and I’m able to make my own decisions. I’ll be fifteen this summer. I can make good decisions.”

She put her hand on her hip and yelled, “This is what you call making good decisions? Vanessa, do you know how many predators lurk out in the world?”

“Predators? Seriously mom! This damn town is so sleepy and boring, even they wouldn’t want to come here.”

“You know what, I’m done arguing with you. Go in the house and take off those clothes and make up.”

“Mom!” I yelled, feeling the anger with her I had boil over. “Why are you such a bitch?”

“Excuse me?” Her eyes got big as she gawked at me.

“Why do you always keep me from having fun? You want to keep me cooped up in this house day in and day out.”

I watched her take a deep breath and then I felt the rage as she stated in an obnoxious way,“Why do you act like such a spoiled brat? Temper tantrums are for four year olds, not fourteen year old girls.” Her hands balled tightly into little fists, and I had no doubt that she wanted to hit me. This caused me to shirk back a little, as in a cold tone she cleared her throat and began her next sentence,“ Since I’m being a bitch, I’m going to show you how much of a bitch I can be. I’m going to drop you off at school and pick you up. You’re going to wash everyone’s clothes in the house for a week and you are not allowed to leave the house until I say you can leave. You will help me with everything around here, no hanging out with Tamarah or that damn Tommy boy. The only thing you will be allowed to do is eat, sleep, breathe, and do homework at my command. That’s a bitch for you.”

I stomped past her and yelled, “I hate you.”

“I think that’s already been established.”

~ ~

“Where’s V?” Tommy inquired, his gaze going to Tamarah. Tamarah shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know. She was supposed to be here a half an hour ago but she hasn’t shown up.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to just go to the party anyway?”

“Should we?”

“Have you tried calling her?”

“Yeah, but there’s no answer.”

“Same for me. I think it sucks that she stood us up like this but we may as well go.”“She didn’t stand us up.”

“What happened?”

“Her mom probably found out and didn’t allow her to come.”

“That woman’s a bitch. I can’t stand her uptight ass.”

Tamarah laughed, “She does it because she care about her.”

“Ain’t that much care in the world. She need to let her live a little or Vanessa’s going to be wild as hell when she get out on her own.”

“ Vanessa said she’s moving out right after graduation and she’s going to accept a school as far away from here as possible.”

“Good for her. Who wants to live with a damn tyrant all day. Not to mention what kind of man her father is, he can’t even stand up to his own wife. If that was me I’d be like, shut the hell up and let her be a teenager.”

Tamarah laughed, “You’re stupid Tommy.”

“Are we gonna go to this party or what?”

Tamarah started the car, still in a fit of giggles. When they arrived at Cory Dasher’s house, the drive way and the street was full of cars. There were people getting out of their vehicles and walking up the front lawn to the house. There was already people hanging out on the lawn, some talking, others making out and others drinking and eating Jello. Tamarah frowned, why would anyone bring Jello to a party like this one? She had intended to get her drink on but make sure she didn’t get too drunk. She didn’t want to end up in a ditch some where. Sighing, she greeted several people as she and Tommy made it out of the car and made their own walk toward the front door. You could hear the loud bass coming in from the house. They were bumping some rapper named Lil Chubby. As they