Losing my phone wasn’t the end of the world for me, I learned from Daniel to always have a backup so I bought myself a cheap little pay by minute phone so I could still keep in contact. I quickly texted both Roger and Cassidy giving them a shortened version of what happened before lying down. I needed to find a way to get out of all of this, I refused to let him ruin my life like this, I wasn’t going to be another Claire.

A soft knocking at the window snaps me out of my thoughts and I look over to see Luna sheepishly waving from my roof. I roll my eyes and get up to let her in.

“Are we sober or are we still drinking?” I ask not wanting her obnoxious drunk ass to get me in even more trouble.

“Not completely sober, but very hungover.” She says “I took a long nap and now I’m here to apologize.” She holds up a copy of Scream and gives me a smile. “Wanna watch it on my portable DVD player and eat a bunch of junk food like we used to?”

“Fine” I say, I could never turn down a rewatch of Scream “But we have to be extra quiet, my dad already basically ruined my life I don’t need him finding more ways to do it.”

“Jesus do you ever get a break?”

“Apparently not.” I say and help her inside.

Luna and I met when we were six. She had just moved in next door and my mom had decided that she absolutely needed to throw a lawn party to introduce the new neighbors to everyone, and probably also to yet again show off her cooking and decorating skills. She had Daniel, Claire, and I all in these matching white outfits so of course Daniel and I were having a contest to see who could be the messiest without messing up their clothes. Claire was furious with us.

“You guys’ mom worked really hard; you’re going to ruin it.”

“No, we aren’t,” Daniel said as he climbed the big tree in our backyard so slowly to not rub bark on himself “It’s a boring adult party we’re making it fun!”

“Yeah, but climbing a tree is easy.” I say walking up to him “If you really want to try to win you gotta jump over the mud puddle up front!”

“No! if you do that, I’m gonna tell dad!” Claire yelled in shock “And then he’ll ground both of you and then I’ll be the only one eating cake while you two cries in your rooms.” She crossed her arms and gave us a little smirk. She knew cake was Daniel’s weakness.

“If you pick cake over playing in a mud puddle, then your kind of dumb.” We all turned to see where the voice was coming from. Behind us was a small blonde girl no taller than me with her hair in pigtails. “Cake just makes your stomach hurt and doesn’t last long, but playing in the mud now that’s the most fun anyone can have, that’s what my mommy told me.” She slowly walked up to us and held out her hand “The names Luna I’m your new neighbor.”

“Well Luna,” Daniel said, adding emphasis to her name. “How about instead of standing there telling us how we should play, you try and jump over the mud puddle without falling in.”

Luna walked towards the front of the house where the rain from the night before had covered the corner of the lawn in a thick puddle of mud and water. “It probably could be done.” She called over as she took a couple steps back. “But what’s the point of jumping across when this is much more fun.” We all watched as she took a deep breath and ran full speed towards the puddle. She was just about to jump when she stepped on a loose shoelace and landed face first in the mud.

We all sat there in shock, waiting for her to start crying which would eventually get the attention of the adults and ruin any chance of getting any dessert when she lifted her head and started laughing.

“That. Was. Amazing!” She yelled between laughs. She rolled over on her back and inched herself deeper into the puddle and proceeded to make mud angels. “Are y’all gonna come play or are you a bunch of sissies who listen to everything mommy and daddy says.”

“I’m no sissy.” Daniel said and he ran as fast as he could before jumping in and making a splash covering both him and Luna. “Come on you, guys!” he called out “It’s like a mini mud pool!” I went to make my way towards them when Claire grabbed my arm.

“Kat no! You know this’ll make Mommy mad which’ll make daddy mad too and then he’ll yell!”

“You have to stop being so scared all the time Claire and live a little.” She tried to say something but I whizzed past her and plopped myself face first right next to Luna. She laughed and turned to me both our faces now caked in mud.

“Watch this.” She said and used her finger to draw a mustache on her face. “My name in Fancy Pants and I’m the Fanciest Pants in all of Mud town.” I giggled and drew a beard on mine.

“Well, hello their Fancy Pants I’m PoopyButt McGee and I have the poopiest butt in all of Mud town.” We both busted out laughing and continued to draw things on our faces.

“You guys!” Claire screamed at us as she walked closer. “You need to clean up now before mommy sees!” Daniel rolled his eyes at her and grabbed a chunk of mud, tossing it right at her chest.

“Well now you’re dirty too.” He said as she shrieked “so you might as well have some fun before they bust us.” She glared at him and tackled him to the ground smacking mud in his hair. Before I knew it, we were all wrestling and throwing mud at each other, laughing, and giggling until we were out of breath and panting.

“This was way more fun than anything else at this party.” Luna gasped as she lied down. “I was worried this would be a boring neighborhood. I’m glad I’m wrong.”

“It’s still pretty boring.” I say lying next to her “But you live next to us, and we’re pretty cool.”

She smiled at me and reached over and grabbed my hand. “Cool.”

My mom was furious when she finally saw all four of us covered in mud. We had tried to sneak by and shower, throwing the clothes away never to be seen again, but we were unlucky enough to have walked into the kitchen the same time she was grabbing more beers for dad and his friends. She had screamed at all of us, sending Claire who never got in trouble into her first panic attack. All of us including Luna had to shower and clean our clothes ourselves and clean up all the trash and dishes from the party. I was so scared this was going to make me lose all cool points that I had just earned with Luna. Who would want to be friends with someone who’s mom and dad freaked out over a little mud?

Ever since then though, Luna and I have been connected by the hip. I don’t know what it was about her, maybe the way she just didn’t seem to care what anyone else thought, or how she always found something new for us to do, but I was so impressed by her that I needed to be around her. We were there for each other through every big event in our lives. When her mom died of cancer, when Daniel first went to rehab, when the girls at school bullied Luna for being poor, when Claire got committed. We were always there for each other, never leaving the other’s side.

“I’m sorry I was so mean to you this morning.” Luna mumbled. As per usual she ended up falling asleep during the movie and was going to end up sleeping in my bed with me instead of going home. “You didn’t deserve me lashing out on you because of Michael.”

“I’m used to it by now.” I say “it’s like a monthly thing, it’s just guessing when it’s going to be and working around it.” I turn my head to see that she’s fast asleep. “You didn’t hear a word of that did you?” I sighed and laid down next to her. Being her friend has become so complicated ever since Michael entered her life. I never knew when she was mad at me or mad at him and just snapping at me. I couldn’t just drop her though; she was my best friend. This was just a rough patch and the minute she finally dropped Michael it’ll all go back to the way it was.

I turned to face her as she slept. Her make up was still smudged from her crying earlier and she still smelled as bad as she did this morning but she looked so peaceful for the first time in days I just couldn’t make myself wake her up. I grabbed some of her facial wipes she left the last time she was over and slowly wiped her makeup off, doing my best not to wake her.

I made my way to my bathroom, grabbing my secret bottle that thankfully my dad hadn’t found yet and took a swig. My whole body convulsed and I gagged.

“Cheap ass shit.” I said to myself and forced down another gulp before stashing it back in its spot. I went to the bathtub and lied down, letting the cold from the tub wash over my back mixing with the heat the cheap liquor was producing. The smell of the years of shampoo and body was that had seeped into the walls filled my nose. I always felt safe here, when everything got crazy this was always the place that was safe and the same.

It was the only place I got privacy. After the debacle of my father going through Claire’s bathroom and finding all her feminine products, which embarrassed both him and her to no end, he made it very clear that he would leave his daughters bathroom to themselves.

I pulled out my phone to a load of text messages from Cassidy and some number I didn’t recognize. The last one from Cassidy read “I tried to stop him but you know how Roger gets when he’s determined sorry!”

Fuck, what did Roger do this time? I opened the message from the unknown number.

Hey it’s Jack, I hope you don’t mind that Roger gave me your number. I feel like we got off on the wrong foot, can we talk?

Next Chapter: Chapter Six