Chapter 21. Tell me what happened.

Every morning differed for Adana and as she stirred in her half-asleep state,  she hissed at the pain that shot up from her legs to her arms,  holding her in a painful grip.

Her legs felt heavier than lead from the late-night scrubbing Helen had dragged her to do,  with the excuse that she had been expecting guests the next morning. Still cursing and mumbling, she padded across the hall and stood at the base of the stairs bracing her mind for the heated argument.

A few more steps down,  the view of Helen screaming her heart out at a half-naked man on the other side of the living room caused her to wrap the sheer material tighter around her.

"What did you do with it, damn it?" Helen screeched and threw the thick blanket beside her at the man. It made it halfway.

"I swear I didn't do nothing!" Wrong answer because Helen growled and bent to pick up a used ceramic bowl. The new one.

"I'm going to ask one more time, Dax, what did you do with it?" Her voice was now reduced to a suspicious calm note. The calm before the storm. The moment where if you didn't provide an answer she would snap.

Adana sensed this and took two cautious steps backward still having a tight grip on her robe. The ma-Dax must not have known her for long because he sighed in relief and stepped forward smiling at her, fake gold teeth on display.

"I didn't do anything with it shawty." He was now a few feet away, that smile which would probably only make the storm raging within Helen brew more. "Here, this is all I have and I swear it's all mine from the last deal."

Helen waited patiently for him to bring out a small sack from under one of the floppy pillows on the single couch in the living room before offering a bittersweet smile. "But you said you didn't take it."

Not waiting for a response, the ceramic was shattered on his head causing different pieces to explode around her and he dropped with a thud, writhing and holding the rapidly growing crimson color spreading on his head.

"Lying fucktard!" Helen swung her feet into his sides and Adana winced remembering the impact of those same feet in her side too.

Not wanting to be caught watching and most likely get punished,  she walked back up the stairs and changed for school then snuck down the stairs when she heard the sound of water running as Helen had taken to bathing with the door open.

♥ ♥ ♥

The picture of the body of the rather large man in the living room that morning kept running through her mind. The pure rage in Helen's eyes as she swung the bowl at his head.

"Did you hear a word of what I said?" Leilani jabbed her side and she jumped on her seat. "Storm has something to tell you."

She hadn't even taken note of the newest member of their table amidst her racing mind and the chaos of hungry teenagers in the place. Meeting his gaze on her already,  she focused on her tray which remained untouched.

"I have this." His hands made circular movements in the air. "And um..." His voice reduced to an inaudible note as his gaze joined his fingers in playing with the small yogurt cup, turning it this way and that.

"I'm just gonna head over to class." Leilani began to rise and panic boomed in Adana's chest. Don't you dare leave me now! "I wanna get the good seats."

Everyone knew there were no assigned seats and more than sixty percent of the students preferred the back row seats anyway and there were no 'good seats' as Leilani had claimed.

They both watched her sling her bag over her shoulder and leave the cafeteria, disappearing behind the double doors. Still thinking she has imagined it,  Adana blinked.

"It's simple really." He cleared his throat and shifted forward in his seat. "Brittany's gearing up for her summer bash and you're getting supplies with me."

"That's it?" She took a small bite of her Apple. "That's what you wanted to say?"

He nodded and turned to stand just as the bell signaled the end of recess. Holding out his hand to her,  he motioned to the exit which had begun to fill out fast. "Shall we?"

Flustered,  she accepted his help a little ungracefully in her mind's eyes and exited the cafeteria with him.

♥♥♥

After school,  the small group stood,  lists in hand at the Walmart close to school as Brittany prepared to give last-minute instructions. Since the internet remained the bane of her life,  she made a video telling her fan base about the summer bash and the ridiculous budget planned out while the group waved awkwardly at the camera when she told them to say hi.

After checking her makeup,  oblivious to the growing irritation of her classmates and other neighborhood volunteers,  she addressed them with a huge, "Okay people, gather round!"

"So we all know why we're here," she said. "You all have your lists and your special cards for identification that you're in on plans."

Giving too much importance to small things was another strategy she used to keep up the 'Internet Sensation' quo and everyone just followed to avoid undue embarrassment.

As she speed talked, Storm fiddled with a loose string from his shirt and Adana discretely leaned on a shelf, regretting even being here. There was something about the way Storm had asked her to be here that made it hard for her to refuse anyway.

"Okay,  you're free to start." Brittany clapped twice and the group wasted no time dispersing to various sessions of the store.

"So I'm to get drinks," Storm said and retrieved a shopping cart which he passed to Adana. "Should be a left from here."

"Why couldn't you have done this yourself?" She asked after he placed two wine bottles in the cart.

"Because shopping is boring." He reached for a bottle on the top shelf and his shirt rose. She diverted her sight before she drooled over the strip of exposed skin or worse, got caught staring.

"Besides, I get to get answers to all my questions you've been avoiding."

"Questions?" She inspected a bottle she knew she had no business with to avoid his fleeting gazes. "I haven't been avoiding anything."

"Sure you have," he said. "Like when you missed school and you told us you had the flu."

The memory of the pain on her wrists flashed through her mind and she bit the inside of her cheek. "What about it?"

"You didn't cover your arms as much as you thought." His tone changed to that tone she had heard him use when he knew something that was meant to be kept hidden. A dull chill developed at her back,  not from the air conditioning but from the possibility that Storm already got a whiff of what happened.

"I wasn't trying to cover my arms."

"Sure you were," he continued. "When you had come to meet us in a long-sleeved dress when I felt like burning up my shirt, my guts told me something was up but I didn't want to believe you were in any danger until I saw those purplish-black marks on your wrists when you played with the seatbelt in the car."

Silence. She couldn't formulate a reply but he didn't seem to be done and asked the next question. "What really happened?"