Rich Prick – Tijan Page 0,7

full night’s sleep since the last time I’d reached for her was an hour ago. Hence my exhaustion, and I knew I’d be even more wiped for school because my mom was not going to let me off the phone anytime soon.

I mouthed at Mara, “I’m sorry.”

She nodded, but with a big yawn, she got up.

Silently, she began dressing.

This scene had played out a lot at my house; my mom just didn’t know. Mara would dress, then slip out and head home. She had her own entrance at her house, so I wasn’t sure if her parents knew she was gone and didn’t care, or if she was just really good at sneaking out. I’d asked a few times in the beginning when she started sleeping over, but she always told me not to worry about it. So I’d stopped worrying about it.

This morning, I felt a bit shittier than I usually did.

I reached over, taking her wrist. I mouthed, “I’ll drive you home.”

She frowned, pulling her arm free, and shook her head.

“Blaise!” Mom practically shouted.

I scowled. “What?”

Mara slipped from the room.

I rose, padded over to the door, and opened it. She was already down the hall.

“Stephen invited Tasmin over for dinner tonight. I want you here.”

Well. Shit.

Thoughts of Mara vanished, and I knew if I didn’t let go of the phone, I was about to break it. It wasn’t long ago that I’d learned my mom’s new boyfriend was actually my biological father, and that he had two other kids.

The brother didn’t want much to do with me. Fine by me.

Tasmin was not the same.

My sister was trying to force a relationship to the point that it was pissing me off.

My mom had tried this family dinner before, and I’d gone. I’d taken Zeke with me, mostly to act as a buffer because my brother’s hate was palpable. And that’d been the last time they tried to put the two of us together.

Tasmin, or Taz as everyone called her, was a whole other matter.

She was at our house most nights now, and it was becoming exhausting.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like her. I just didn’t want anything forced on me, not before I was ready. Let me relish in hating my non-bio dad for a while before I had to manage a whole kumbaya moment with the new family.

I’d been rifling through years of hatred toward Griffith when I thought he was my dad. When I found out I wasn’t his kid, a lot made sense.

But he was still calling.

He claimed he wanted a relationship, but I didn’t trust the asshole. That was part of the reason I was going to New York. I wanted to find out his real agenda—whether it was to mess with my mom or something else—because I knew he didn’t give two fucks about me.

“Mom.”

“Say you’ll be there, and I’ll let you go back to sleep.”

I sighed. I knew my mom. She’d keep me on the line until I had to go to school. She’d done it before, knowing I couldn’t bring myself to hang up on her. It just felt wrong, even though she treated me like she was my annoying older sister at times.

I’d take Zeke. Hell, at this rate, I’d take the entire group: Brian, Branston, Penny, all of them. Mara.

“Fine.” I gave in, needing to sleep. “Just text me what time later. Love you, Mom. Bye.” And I ended the call. That wasn’t hanging up, in my mind. We’d discussed things. I’d agreed. The conversation was resolved. I was just getting off before she could remember to add limitations, like I had to come alone to dinner. If she texted, I could say I never got it, because I wasn’t above being immature like that, not for dire situations like family dinners.

On the way to the bathroom for a quick piss, I texted Mara.

Me: You get home okay?

Scrolling, there were a few more texts. One was from Tasmin.

Taz: Hey! How are you?

I deleted it, tossing the phone aside. I was crawling back into bed when Mara’s response came through.

Mara: I did. See you in a few hours.

I didn’t reply, just collapsed into my pillow and hoped for more shut-eye.

5

Aspen

Students at FCA had recently successfully petitioned not to wear uniforms anymore, so I was still getting used to that. We’d had to wear uniforms for elementary school, and then also at Hillcrest, so coming back and finding out I could wear normal clothes had been a kick. I’d loved it, until