Misery is my name, Emily Walton [classic romance novels txt] 📗

he shivered in mock horror, then his hand flew to his bruise. " yes, I belive i do. bruised ass and all." I shook my head and rolled my eyes heavenward." I am sooooo sorry." I said too sweetly. his eyes widened." for what?" I slapped him,hard, across the face." that." I said flatly. he put his hand to his face, suprised. "ow." he said, and his friends started laughing. he tackled me unexpectedly, and i was pinned under him. he grinned wickedly. " you know," he said, loud anough to be heard over them. then, lower, he said" i think they'd enjoy the veiw you gave me this morning." I scowled, wedging a foot between us. i pushed, hard, and he went flying. " I think not." I said flatly. for some reason, that was the time the swooning girls decided to decend, and I slipped from the crowd quietly with my things, furious, and at the same time amused. those boys had actually made me SMILE, something I havent' done in a long time.


Chapter two

when i got home, Richie dropping me and CHess off, I went straight for my room and closed the door, planning on slipping into a pair of Jonathans old boxers and longsleeved shirt and go to sleep till he woke me up. instead, while i was changing shirts, my door flew open, AGAIN, only this time it was Richie. he stopped dead in his tracks as i pulled my shirt the rest of the way on at a leaserly pace, as if him seeing me half naked, with Chess behind him, didn't effect me at all. " yes?" I said dryly,putting my hands on my hips. they both blinked, then simutaniously shook there heads. " we...uh..." richie started. Chess finished. " wanted to know if you wanted to go with us to the park with the twins and greg." I shrugged, going to stand in front of them like i had the last time Chess had come barging in. I sill hadn't changed my pants." sure, why not?" they nodded, but i grabbed each of there arms. they turned, confused, and I smacked them both. " knock next time." I hissed in there ears before jogging downstairs. I didn't see them exchange sly grins.


" so, now where the only three that haven't seen you partaly naked." Greg said casually. he was leaning against an oak tree, me on a bench across the path from him, Chess leaning against the back of it, Richie leaning against the front of it by my feet, and the twins streatched out on the path." actually, I've seen that twice." Chess said, dancing out of the way in time to miss getting smacked. Richie gave me a funny look, and I shrugged. " he walked in on me changing this morning. and if he EVER does it again, ANY of you, you'll get the worst bloody nose i've ever given." Chess laughed. " which is pretty bad. Jonathans nose still clicks when he blows it." I rolled my eyes.

" number." Darrek said bluntly. Richie rolled his eyes." no idea. Inbetween what?" he glanced at me, grinning. " 1 and 10." he thought for a moment. "9." I closed my eyes, suprised. I'd expected a low number, and that high of a one made me uncomfortable." what about you, Chess? rate your foster sister." Greg said, and I glared at him out of one eye. " i will when she answers my question." I frowned, opening my eyes." which one?" he grinned. " the one i asked you this morning." I frowned, then my eyebrows shot up. " THAT question?" he nodded.

"yup. till then, no rating." I shrugged, closing my eyes again. i didn't need to tell him why i chose the clothes i wore- actually, only Leon even knew the answer to that. he said, and i quote ' your gonna end up feeling like a hooker if you keep wearing anything other than baggy clothes, because I wont be the only one with there hands all over you. then i just might get jealous.'

" so, Izzy, if you don't mind us rating, you must like us." I scowled at the sky, then turned to Richie. " I tolerate you, better than if I’d stayed home and had to deal with Jonathan. He just might have had to go to the hospital again." Chess laughed, and surprised me by sitting on my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. " She’s lying, she loves us." I crinkled my nose, trying to wiggle out from under him. He grinned wider, and before he could say anything perverted, I kicked my foot so my shoe flew off and hit him in the head. He jumped up, and I sprang up, standing on the edge of the bench, balancing on one foot. He had my shoe in his hand. He laughed when he saw my socks." toe socks? Really?" I shrugged, and then toppled over onto Richie. Chess yanked me up before I was able to hit the ground. He opened his mouth to say something when his phone rang. By the way he grimaced I guess it was Jonathan.

" Hello?" He listened to him talking on the other end for a minute, a smile spreading across his face. He glanced at me. ' She’s right here. Do you want to talk to her?" Jonathan said something else, and he threw his phone at me. I caught it reflectively.
"Hello?"

" Izzy? This is Jonathan. Mom and Dad want to talk to you, do you think you could call them?" I sighed. " Sure, I'll call them on Chess's phone. Bye."

" Alright, bye." I hung up and went to his phone book. I glanced at him. " I 'd like my shoe back, thanks." he grinned, looping the laces around his fingers then throwing it over his shoulder. " Maybe later. Who are you calling?" I shrugged. ' Your mom and dad wanted to talk to me." I found there number and called them. She answered on the first ring. " Yes, Chess?" she said, sounding breathless. " This is Izzy, Jenny. Jonathan said you wanted to talk to me?" She gasped.

" Hold on, let me put this on speaker." there was a pause, then she said " alright, can you here us?" john, my foster dad said. " Yeah, I can." I started walking down the path, away from the boys so they couldn't hear what I was saying. Jenny squealed.

" We wanted to ask your permission first, Izzy. While were on this business trip, we where wondering if you'd allow us to adopt you." I felt my breath catch in my throat. She went on hurriedly.

" We know you've only been with us for 2 months, but we really like you. And you and the boys get along, well, like siblings. Yeah, you fight, but that's expected. But you joke around with them, and you have fun. The social worker said that you almost never genuinely laugh, but you've laughed yourself breathless around Jonathan numerous times. What do you think?" I felt my eyes widen. " I.... I...ok." I managed. She sounded worried." is this too soon? Do you want to stay longer and see? Or are we just rushing this on you? Do you want time to think?" I took in a steady breath, and then let it out. " I think that would be great. I'll call you tomorrow morning, all right? This is just too good of news to process and make a good decision,” she laughed. " Listen to you, talking about rational decisions. All right, I want an answer be nine tomorrow. I'm calling Jonathan and letting him know, alright?" I sighed in relief. " That’d be great, Jenny. Thank you guys so much." she said good-bye, and then hung up. I walked back to the boys- err, hopped, kind of- till I stood in front of Chess. I glared up at him till he gave me my shoe.

" Were leaving. Richie's dropping these guys off, so were walking home." I glanced at the sky. It looked like it was going to rain, and we had a good 6-mile walk. I sighed.
"Alright." we waved bye to the guys, and they taunted us about the rain. As if on queue, it started misting. I pulled my hood on my jacket up, deep in thought. I wanted Jenny and them to adopt me so badly- when I was little, that was always my Christmas wish, or what I wished for on birthday candles- but a hateful, mimicking part of my brain said that when they learned about my habit, they'd kick me back into the system. So I didn't realize Chess was talking to me until he grabbed me wrist and yanked me to a stop. I winced when the fabric of my jacket scraped against the fresh scabs forming on my arm. I yanked my hand away.

" where you listening to me at all?" he asked, surprised. I shook me head, rubbing my wrist. he grimaced. " sorry." i shrugged, dropping my hands to my sides. he glanced at the sky. it was pouring now, and i smiled, letting my hood fall off as i raised my face to the sky, smiling. it was getting really dark, and at that moment, the street lights turned on. I laughed, spreading my arms out. " I love the rain." I said blissfully.

Chapter three

" we need to get going." Chess said, pulling his hood farther up. I spun in a circle, arms out." why? the rain is fun." he made me gasp when he caught my waist and brought me to a stop. " really,kid? right now it's just hazardous to our health." i felt anger rise as he said 'kid' in the exact tone my dad did when he left me on the subway bench.

" I'm only a year younger than you, so DON'T you call me kid." I hissed, spinning out from under his arm, pulling my hood up, and stomping off. I heard him fall into step next to me.

" where