Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2)(104)

“You wait for me, Mom. You don’t go through my stuff.”

“Are you dating Beth Risk?” she demands.

“Or is she the girl you’re experimenting with?” asks Dad.

Mom spins. “Andrew!”

“Some girls you date. Others you have sex with. Boys do this.”

“I’m aware of your behavior in high school,” Mom says. “But my son will not be sleeping with one girl and dating another in public. Gwen deserves better than that. I deserved better than that!”

“Stop it!” I’m tired of the fighting.

“It was one night, Miriam!” Dad yells.

“Twenty-five years ago.”

I throw the Gatorade in my hand across the room. Glass shatters in the china cabinet and Mom holds her hands over her head. “Do you guys even hear yourselves anymore? Did you even bother listening to Mark? Do you even hear me? I’m not dating Gwen and leave Beth out of this!”

“Ryan!” Dad bellows, but Mom puts her hand up to silence him.

“Ryan,” she says slowly. Her hand plays with the pearls around her neck. “Beth Risk isn’t who you think she is. Gwen grew concerned when you continued to date Beth at school even after we forbade you to see her, so she went to her parents…again.”

I swear under my breath. Gwen doesn’t even understand the destruction she’s created.

Mom continues, “Don’t be mad at Gwen.

She cares for you and she did the right thing.

See, her father knows the truth about Beth. She didn’t move to New York with Scott all those years ago. Her father went to prison and her mother moved herself and Beth to Louisville.

Gwen’s mother knows the attendance clerk at Beth’s old school in Louisville.

“I’m sorry, Ryan, but sometimes children are destined to become nothing more than their own parents. Beth is a drug user. She’s been arrested and her reputation with boys at her old school…”

I don’t wait to hear anything else. “Does Gwen know any of this?” Because she didn’t before. Otherwise, she would have told me in order to break Beth and me up.

“Yes. She was there when her parents told us yesterday.”

With my keys tight in my hands, I turn my back to her.

“Ryan!” Mom calls from the kitchen. “Come back!”

She’s too late. I race out to the garage, start the Jeep, and peel out of the driveway. If Gwen knows, then that means she’ll tell the rest of the school.

Beth

SCOTT PULLS INTO A SPOT next to the front entrance of school and places the car in park.

We’re early. Neither one of us said much during breakfast. I didn’t eat. Neither did he.

“Are you sure you want to go today?” he asks for the tenth time. “I’m okay if you stay home. Allison and I heard you pacing downstairs so I know you didn’t sleep the past few nights. She’s worried about you and so am I.”

I’m too damned tired to even roll my eyes at the lie of Allison being concerned over me.

Mom and I were supposed to leave today. I was going to cut school and take a cab into Louisville. Then Mom and I would have left.

My insides feel tormented, battered, and bruised. Sort of like if Trent was allowed free rein over my organs. The worst sensation is the  tightness in my lungs, the feeling of drowning.

I touch the ribbon on my wrist. “No. I want to go to school.” I need to see Ryan. He said I had roots here. I need to hear him say it again.

I need to laugh with Lacy. I want to smile when Logan and Chris egg each other on. I want to nail the anatomy quiz in science. I want to know that I’m not making the worst mistake of my life by leaving my mother behind.

My backpack sits on the floorboard and I hold my science book to my chest. I’m good at science. Really good. My teacher likes me.

Instead of yelling at me when I accidentally cursed while giving an answer, she laughed and winked. After class she told me to watch my f**king language. I earned a B on my last progress report and last week my teacher told me that I’m close to an A. Me, Beth Risk—I could get an A.

“I never wanted to tell you about the money.”

I shake my head and Scott stops talking. I’d rather not think about that. It still hurts too much. I try to wipe out the thoughts of Mom and money and how I’m leaving her behind with Trent. Instead I try to focus on Lacy. She called me her best friend and she asked me to stay the night next weekend. Since I left Groveton at the age of eight, I’ve never had a sleepover with a friend. She said we’d eat frosting and watch movies. I have a best friend who’s a girl.

“You don’t look good, kid.”

I hit Trent Saturday, which means he’ll hit her. I choke as I attempt to breathe. How can I do this? I can’t leave her behind. “Mom swore to me she’d never do heroin.”

“I’m sorry,” he says in a simple way. Kind of like when a child finds out that Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny doesn’t exist. He’s sorry that the fantasy is over, but happy I’ve entered reality.

Mom doesn’t fight back when Trent hits her.

I should go into Louisville. “Dad shot up heroin. He sold it too.”

Scott turns off the car. “I didn’t know.”

I’m leaving Mom behind, but I owe her. She never left me. “He wasn’t bad when he shot up.