Page 12 of Psycho

He pulled the car forward and headed to school.

He probably spent his night with Britney Metcalf.

The thing was, I knew he cheated on me.

I had known since early on because Garrett was anything but slick.

He couldn’t hide anything to save his life.

I didn’t mind—I didn’tcare.

I just needed something in my life that wasn’t the boxing ring or Dad and his fighters.

And it wasn’t like I was putting out.

He might as well get it from Britney, because he wasn’t getting it from me.

Garrett had a bit of a reputation for getting around, and I knew even before I agreed to date him that I didn’t want his dick anywhere inside of me.

I supposed I was just excited about the prospect of dating someone, that I didn’t care who it was.

I might have felt bad about it if Garrett wasn’t such an asshole most of the time.

He slammed on his brake when we got to a stoplight, and I looked over to him, wondering if he was really in any condition to be driving around or why I couldn’t bring myself to care that I was in the car with him.

“What are you going to do today?” I asked as we waited for the light to turn green.

He shrugged like I knew he would.

I looked back to the front.

In some way, I felt like I might even deserve a man like him.

Had I really thought about it, I knew we had nothing in common.

We didn’t even have sexual chemistry, but sometimes, he just made everything better by being nearby, even if he wasn’t doing anything but smoke the entire time we hung out.

It didn’t take him long to get to school.

I looked out to the large building bursting with life.

River Heights High School.

At twenty, I was a high school senior.

My birthday was in December, so I was held back a year, but then, when I was thirteen…

I shook my head.

It wouldn’t do me any good to think about it, but I had to stay home for a month, and by the time I could go back, I was falling too much behind, not only from all those missed school days but from stress, and a school system that didn’t give a fuck whether or not I got caught up with the other students. I ended up repeating the grade.

I was now two years older than most of my peers. If that didn’t make me feel like an outcast already, the fact that Dad had a reputation around the neighborhood for the illegal fights he hosted, did.

Or perhaps it wasn’t my dad at all that made me an outcast, but a mom that wasn’t even in the picture. But she sure made herself known around as the town whore, mostly catering to politicians and wealthy businessmen; but there had been a few times she stepped down and took on the local dads.

One of those dads happened to be Jordy Marstein’s married dad, and now she blamed me for my mom’s sins. As if I had anything to do with the fact that my mom did what she did and that her dad had an affair.

I really won the parent lottery.

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