A Whole New Crowd(3)

“Stop it.”
He did. The drive to Rawley continued in silence, and I couldn’t stop the tears. They kept rolling down my face, falling onto the backpack I was hugging to my chest. I hated this. I did. A new future. A new family. Everything he said was true. I knew it was the right thing to do, keep going and never look back, but my god, it was killing me.
They had been family when I had no one. I never knew who my parents were. I had no intention of looking for them. They never mattered to me. Brian and Jace had been the ones that mattered. After getting off the Rawley exit, it wasn’t long until he turned into a ritzy neighborhood. The houses were massive. The front lawns were perfectly groomed. White picket fences. All the shit that I used to make fun of. He turned down the last street, the truck slowed, and he pulled over.
I had never been to their house before, and I drank in the sight of it. It was huge with two large pillars in the front and a gated driveway. The gate was open and lights lit up the sides of the driveway, all the way to the house and attached three-car garage.
I rolled down my window. Nothing. There was no yelling. No one was slamming doors. No music with heavy bass was booming from the neighbors. It was too quiet.
I glanced at Jace. “I’m going to die of boredom.”
He didn’t reply. I didn't think he would.
The front door opened and the Parsons came out. The dad, the mom. A younger boy and a girl my age. They all filtered out to the patio, paused a moment, and then they slowly made their way towards us.
My nerves were stretched thin. My stomach was doing somersaults. “Do I have to take their name? Parson? I already hate that name.”
“No, the social worker said you could keep yours. You’re Taryn Matthews.”
Damn straight. A flare of defiance shot through me, but I shook my head. I couldn’t lie to myself. I was scared. Taryn Matthews was never scared, but my ass cheeks were quaking in my seat right now. “I can’t do this.”
“You can.” Jace leaned over and pressed a kiss to my forehead. I closed my eyes, absorbing the touch. He whispered, “I love you, Taryn, but I hope that I never see you again.”



CHAPTER ONE

Six months later

“Taryn.”
I rolled my eyes at hearing my sister’s voice. She could yell all she wanted. I knew what she was going to ask and I wasn’t going to help her, so I kept going down the hallway. I had overheard her on the phone the night before. She wanted me to steal something. After taking Jace’s words to heart, this was my new beginning, so that meant no more stealing. It was something I would’ve done in my old life.
“Taryn,” Mandy shouted again. She was running now. The sound of her heels hitting the floor went from a normal clitter-clatter, to a constant staccato. I rolled my eyes. My sister was an idiot. No one should run when wearing high heels, at least those high heels—they arched halfway up her calves— but that was Mandy Parson. She wore high heels, clingy tank tops, miniskirts, and on some days, a cheerleading outfit.
She was one of those people.
I had been adopted into a family that was the opposite of everything I was—the God blessed rich kids. Mandy was the epitome of the perfect daughter: blonde, petite, smart, and popular by all accounts.
“Taryn, stop!”
I ignored her and opened my locker. Hearing her stumble to a halt, panting behind me, my eyebrows went up. “Thought you were in shape. All those late night activities with Devon, right?”
“I’m not here to talk about Devon.”
“I heard Devon hooked up with Stephanie Markswith at Brent’s party.”
She huffed. “Not gonna work, Taryn.” I turned and saw the twitch in her eye. She knew I was trying to distract her. Her eyebrows were fixed, bunched together, and her mouth was pressed in a flat line, but then it all changed. Her eyebrows shot up, and she let out a dramatic sigh. “There’s no chance he would hook up with her. No way.”
“Not what I heard.”
“She’s not suicidal.”
“She was drunk. I don’t think she was thinking sober.” I shut my locker and moved away.
Mandy latched onto my side. “The girl’s dead.”
I saw Stephanie turn the corner up ahead. Talk about perfect timing. “Better tell her that.”
Mandy didn’t say goodbye; she veered off in her direction.
I stopped to watch this. I had to. Stephanie spread a rumor that I stole a biology exam my first week at Rawley. It wasn’t true. She wanted revenge because her boyfriend had hit on me, but when I got called into the principal’s office, my history was pulled up. Being known as a thief and being associated with Brian and Jace Lanser hadn’t helped. I looked guilty and I got detention for two months with no chance to defend myself. They couldn’t prove it was me, but it didn’t matter. They didn’t need to prove it.