Chapter 75

Samantha's POV

Jenna and Tyler made me go up to bed around midnight. I didn't want to. Their friends were so awesome. And fun.

Even if Pete hurt my ribs by accident, and Patrick stunned me for a minute thinking he knew my birth father.

But to be honest, I was exhausted. Meeting new people is exhausting. But all in all it was a great weekend.

Sunday morning, Tyler woke me up and said Pete, Patrick and Brendon and Sarah wanted to go out for brunch with us. I asked what brunch was because I'd never heard of it. Tyler told me it was sort of a late breakfast or an early lunch. So, not as early as breakfast, like 8 or 9, but not as late as lunch, like 12 or 1. Or was somewhere in the middle. Like between 10 and 11.

We met them all at a restaurant. Brendon told me Zack and Kala were having a sleep in.

"But I thought he was your security guy?" I said, as I measured ketchup on my eggs.

"He is. But I don't need him all the time. Mostly at home or when I travel. And he really wanted to meet you, too. Kala as well."

"Oh," I said, confused. They travelled all the way out here from California just to meet me? I guess they all did. I'm really not that special.

Everyone talked about the night before and some of what I'd missed when I went to bed. Which wasn't really that much.

My phone suddenly beeped, so I pulled it out of my hoodie pocket and looked at it.

"I meant it when I said I'd keep in touch 😁" from Brendon. I looked up at him across from me at the table. He was grinning at me.

"Uh, I'm right here, and you're texting?" I asked.

"One of us had to be first."

"What are you two on about?" Tyler asked.

I showed him the text from Brendon. He looked over at him, rolled his eyes and laughed.

My phone beeped again. This time it was from Pete.

"Me too," his said.

I looked at him and rolled my eyes. Patrick looked over at Pete's phone, and then at me.

"I meant it too. But I'll just tell you that in person. Since you're literally two feet away from me and I don't need to text it to you," he laughed while rolling his eyes at his friends.

Sarah smiled.

"I did too. But I didn't even bring my phone to brunch. But seriously, you ever want to talk, just call or text me, okay?"

I smiled and nodded.

"Thanks," I said quietly. Jenna and Tyler looked at me, then their friends and smiled to each other.

After brunch, we said goodbye to Brendon, Sarah, Pete and Patrick, because they were all flying home that afternoon. Gerard had flown out in the morning which is why he couldn't come to brunch. He'd texted too to say goodbye and remind me I could text him any time.

Back at the house, I finished some homework I hadn't done all weekend and texted with Jill. She was excited to hear about my weekend.

"I take it you're feeling better about Tyler and Jenna and sticking around?"

I laughed.

"Yeah. Running away was a dumb idea," I said.

We talked for a little longer, then Jenna called me and asked me to help her with dinner.

We were going to have barbecue hotdogs and hamburgers.

I got a salad ready, and cut up some vegetables to go on the hamburgers. I also took the mustard, ketchup and stuff out of the fridge.

"Should I make potatoes?" Jenna asked. "I could make them like French fries? Or bake them?"

"What about chips?" I asked, looking at the bags of chips on the counter from the night before. "I mean, I think Josh bought out a Lays factory."

"Good idea. Lots less work," she said, giving me a light hug. "Smart girl."

I smiled.

We all had dinner and then after we cleaned up, I went to bed. It was early, but I'd stayed up late the night before and I was tired.

Jenna and Tyler came in around 10 and said goodnight, even though I was mostly asleep.

Monday morning I got up, got my school stuff together, took my blood sugar and went downstairs for breakfast. Josh and Tyler were in the kitchen. They were talking about something when I came in and stopped.

"Morning?" I said, wondering why they suddenly stopped talking.

"Good morning my wonderful daughter," Tyler smiled. "How did you sleep?"

"You know what a rock looks like when it's sleeping?" I said.

"I wasn't aware rocks slept," Josh said, glancing at his phone, frowning and putting it in his pocket.

"Well, I slept like a rock. I think. I mean I don't think I even dreamed at all. If I did, I don't remember."

"Well, that, is fantastic. You need sleep and you need good sleep. How was your blood sugar this morning?  It looked good at 2," Tyler said.

"You checked my blood sugar?" I asked.

"Of course I did. You didn't budge when I came in to get you to test. So I did it," he said.

"I'm not sure if that's creepy or not," I said. "Anyway, it was fine. 86."

"Great. Insulin and are you okay with cereal this morning?"

"Sure. Is M- Jenna taking me to school?"

Josh and Tyler looked at each other. Josh shrugged.

"No. I am," he said.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. Everything's fine," Tyler said, quickly.

"Are you sure? You're acting really weird."

"I'm sure. Come on. Get your cereal, eat up and let's get you to school," Tyler said.

As I was pouring myself a bowl of cereal, Jenna came into the kitchen.

"Good morning, sweetheart," she said giving me a kiss on the head. "Did you have a good sleep?"

"Yup," I said.

"Good. Tyler's going to take you to school, okay?"

"Yeah. Fine. Everything okay?"  I looked at her carefully. She didn't look like she'd been crying. She didn't look upset and she didn't look tired.  I didn't mind Tyler taking me to school but I was curious. There were the whispered conversations that had stopped when I came into the kitchen. And Josh kept looking at his phone and frowning. Tyler kept looking at his, too.

"Did you guys..." Jenna started, but Josh shook his head and looked over at me.

"What is going on?" I demanded.

"Nothing, sweetie," Jenna said. "I promise."

I frowned at them while I ate my cereal. Once I was done, I put my bowl and spoon in the dishwasher and picked up my bag.

"Have a great day sweetheart," Jenna said. "Be careful. I love you."

I looked at her. That was an odd goodbye.

"Love you too. Are you sure everything is okay?"

"Of course. You have a good day. Learn lots, be careful, you know. Because of your ribs, and remember that we love you."

I looked between her and Tyler. Both of them, actually all three, them and Josh, looked... worried.

We got into the car, Josh came with, and headed to the school.

"Is Jenna okay?" I asked.

"Of course," Tyler said. "Why do you ask?"

"You guys all look worried," I said.

"Nope. We're all good. Promise." Tyler said, smiling at me through the rear view.

I sat back for the rest of the ride. Was Jenna sick? Is that why they were all worried?

When we got to the school, Josh got out of the car with me.

"Have a good day, kiddo," he said giving me a hug. "I'll see you after school, right?"

"Of course," I said.  Maybe they were worried I was still planning on running away. That must be it.

"Hey, Sam," Tyler said out the passenger window. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I will," I said, putting my backpack on my back.

Jill was waiting outside the front doors so I went to go meet up with her.  We walked into school together and I forgot completely about everyone's weird behaviour as Jill filled me in on the rest of her weekend.

The school day went along like any normal school day. After lunch though, I got called to the office. I went and there was a man I didn't recognize standing there.

"Samantha," Ms. Tracey said. "This is Mr. Gillingham. He said he's your new social worker?"

"What happened to Marie?" I asked.

"She's taking some time off he said."

"Okay, but, why are you here?"

"Well," he said. "There's been an accident at your house and I had to come get you to take you to the hospital. Tyler and Jenna were both hurt."

"Are they okay??" I asked, panicking.

"They'll probably be fine, but I was asked to come get you and take you to them. Once we know more, we, I'll have to decide if you need to go to a temporary placement until they recover or if you'll be able to go home."

"What about Josh?" I asked.

"Who's Josh?" Mr. Gillingham asked. Was that fear? concern in his eyes?

"Tyler's friend. He's been staying with us."

"Oh. Well, I don't think he was home."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Gas leak," Mr. Gillingham shrugged.

Weird, I thought.

Ms. Tracey said I'd been signed out and that she hoped everything was okay. I followed Mr. Gillingham outside to his car.

As we approached his car, he turned around and smiled at me. It was not a friendly smile.

"That was too easy," he said. He raised his hand and I saw he was holding something.

Then, the world went dark.