• The house was quiet, all but the sound of me crunching my cereal. I tipped a piece and it fell into JoJo’s waiting mouth. She crunched noisily and went back to waiting for me to give her more. Flashes from being stuck in Wal-Mart went through my mind. Ryder and I in the carts riding around. His smile, his laughs. A thump rose in my throat as I thought of everything.

    “I guess I do like then you,” he said finally letting that smile come out the whole way. I leaned down to him.

    “I guess I like you too,” he raised an eyebrow.

    “Do you?” he asked.

    I nodded. “Maybe.”

    “Maybe?”

    “Yes, maybe.”

    “Well, I think I’m going to have to make it a yes…”

    A tear slipped out and I wiped it away just in time before dad came into the kitchen and looked over at me.

    “Why are you up early?” He asked gruffly.

    I shrugged.

    “I’ve been up since 4 am.” Thinking about everything with Ryder. About Annie. About life in general. I hated it. I filled my spoon with cereal and dropped it to JoJo.

    Dad looked over and glared at the dog. “Stop feeding that d*mn dog,” he growled.

    I rolled my eyes. “She’s my dog dad,” I muttered. He slammed down whatever he had and turned to look at me.

    “You have set a bad example for our family! Did you even think to watch your mouth while on TV?! And what the hell is going on between you and this kid?” He demanded. So he wasn’t mad just about the dog. It was Ryder. And that’s when it hit me. What I had said last night, to the news reporters.

    “None of your d*mn f*cking business,” I said angrily….

    Sh*t. They must have put it on the News Report last night and my dad heard it as his alarm this morning!

    “I’m sorry dad. I was angry. All of this is really getting to me,” I answered quietly. “And Ryder and I are just having some…problems, I guess.”

    His nose wrinkled and he took a sip of coffee. “Trinity, why are you even hanging out with him? Doesn’t he live over in Madison? The poor place. You are better then that!” He stated. I frowned at my bowl of cereal. JoJo put her pawl on my leg and I looked into her brown eyes. She pleaded for the rest of my cereal. Did I really expect to find the answers to my problems? I almost laughed out loud.

    “Dad, how did you and mom meet?” I asked. His eyes got wide for a second trying to get over the surprise.

    He cleared his throat, “Um, well,” A chuckle came from outside the kitchen. Mom stepped in wearing her floral bathrobe with a smile. She touched dad shoulder as she went to get coffee.

    “Funny story, that is,” she said winking at me. I patted JoJo’s head.

    “You guys never told me,” I said quietly.

    Dad frowned, “And your not going to today kido. Now, since your getting your head on straight we’re going to talk about when your leaving for college.”

    Mom shook her head at him, disapprovingly.

    “Stop!” I snapped. They both looked up at me. “I’m going out.” I jumped off the counter and went to my room.

    I was out in my car before I knew it with JoJo in the back. I pulled out and went down the street. At first I didn’t know where I was headed until I wound up in front of the torn down Wal-Mart. I stared out through my windshield at the wreck.

    Then I looked to my right at the row of houses all looking like a piling mess of metal. Tears came to my eyes. How many people died? I opened my car door and stepped out. The sun blinded me for a moment then I caught the real destruction. Everything was down within 3 miles of Wal-Mart. And I could see everything. The destruction of it all.

    I stopped at a small mini mart…well what was left of it. A man still ran it but the broken windows were covered by plastic. I left JoJo in the car and almost hit someone going into the store.

    “Cookie!” I said surprised as I looked into the girl’s eyes. She glared.

    “Trinity, is it? Can’t remember hardly,” she said sounding bored. I frowned slightly. I was about to say something when she pushed me back by my shoulders. I stumbled completely surprised.

    JoJo barked in the car. “I told you not to hurt him. And you did! You’re such a b*tch! I’m going to mess your face up girl!” she said, pulling her black long sleeve’s up her arms.

    “Wait, what?” I demanded. To be honest, this girl scared the hell out of me! She looked like the devil himself.

    She glared daggers, “Like you don’t know? You’re the one who broke up with him! He’s heart broken, again! Because of your skinny white as*!” She slammed her fist against her hand. I backed up more and hit the side of my car. JoJo barked and growled.

    “Cookie, listen! I didn’t break up with him!” I yelled. Confusion flickered in her face a moment. “I wanted to take a break. I found out Annie died just yesterday. Give me a break for god’s sake! Ryder lied to me about her! He told me she broke up with him. How do you think that makes me feel? He still loves her!”

    Cookie stopped and just stared at me a comment. Her black baggy pants shifted as her feet did. “All I know is that Ryder called Is telling him he needed him or else he was going to do something stupid.”

    Panic rose in me and it shown through my eyes. “No, he didn’t. He might have if he didn’t call,” Cookie said quietly.

    I saw compassion in her eyes and knew at one point she had liked him, a lot. I pressed my lips together.

    “Cookie, I’m not going to break up with him. I had no intentions of ever hurting him either. I-I love him. I just need to get my head on straight,” I mumbled the last words thinking of Annie. Cookie nodded stiffly.

    “I’m leaving,” Cookie announced.

    “Umm, yeah,” I got back in my car not evening caring I didn’t get anything that I wanted and stared at my steering wheel. Things were reeling in my mind but one popped out when JoJo licked the side of my face. I have to talk to Annie.