Page 6 of Dirty Liars
Even from outside, I can hear Ms. Martin loudly yelling at the girls for eating at the buffet because it makes her look like she doesn’t feed them. From the shrill tone of her voice, Lola Hines must have had to leave early. She’ll be coming for me next.
This is my life. This is the lot I’ve drawn. But it doesn’t have to be.
It’s like something in me snaps.
I can’t put a number on how many times I’ve simply thought about running away … but I’ve never acted on it before. I guess I never had a place to go. Until now.
I head towards the road and walk past the limos, and I’m just about at the end of the road when I see Ms. Martin standing at her dumpy old car, smoking a cigarette, watching me while she slams the car door shut with the girls in the backseat.
I feel the slightest pang of guilt at the sight of their scared faces pressed to the glass … but I have to do this. Someone has to set a good example for them. I’ll show them there’s a way out.
I look away and pick up the pace.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” she calls after me. She flicks the butt onto the concrete and grinds it out with the bottom of her heel.
“Somewhere better,” I answer her.
She laughs and blows the last stream of smoke out of her lipstick caked lips. I’m not waiting around to chat. I turn from her and begin to take off toward the main road down the small hill.
“Wait! Teddy! Wait!” she cries out, and there’s something in her voice that makes me stop and turn around; something almost … desperate.
“What?” I ask, turning to face her as I continue to back down the hill.
She steps to the edge of the road and stops, not wanting to stand on the lawn in her heels. Any last hope that she might try to show even a smidge of genuine, motherly care, evaporates when her mouth opens again.
“You walk away, you’re dead to me. If anything, and I meananything,is missing when we get home I’ll have your ass in juvie before you can sayrunaway.”
A chill shudders through me. Of course, that’s what she’s worried about.
I look at her standing there, a new unlit cigarette in her hands already, her bird-nest of hair … then back down at myself in the oversized dress and worn boots. I turn Sadie’s license over in my hand. It’s the last in a long line of things I’ve stolen.
I’ve gotten quite good at it actually, though I make a point to never steal from the homes where I live. It’s always been from the places where it doesn’t matter, from big business that wastes more than I’d ever be able to steal … but I’ve grown tired of it.
I’m going to steal just once more. This time, it’s going to be something much, much bigger.
I whirl around and stomp off.
Jokes on Ms. Martin. She doesn’t have anything I need.
I don’t have anything, and I don’t need anything. She can’t see that all I want is to get the hell out. I can’t believe that I thought for one second that she might actually care about me. What a joke.
All my life, I would have killed to be someone—anyone—other than who I actually am.
Fortunately for me, Sadie White went ahead and did the hard part for me.
CHAPTER3
One bus ticketand a bottle of bleach later and I’m standing in a gas station bathroom looking in the mirror at a face I don’t recognize. The overwhelming chemical smell draws angry looks from others as they glance my way, but that doesn’t matter. My hair is dry and brittle and a little yellow, but it doesn’t matter.
If I look so much like Sadie White, then why not become Sadie White.
I’m halfway to the school, and the doubt is really starting to settle in. This is a new start for me. It’s more than an escape from Ms. Martin and the system, it’s an entirely new life without any of the baggage that comes with being Teddy Price.
“Sadie White.”
I try the name on my lips. It doesn’t sound right, so I practice it a couple more times until a lady comes out of a stall and looks at me like I just escaped the nuthouse. I don’t want to draw any more attention to myself, so I throw my things into a plastic bag and hurry back to the bus. No use in turning back now.
My life is going to change forever because of this. All my life I’ve had to fight for scraps … but no more. This is my chance to get ahead; to get a fresh start, a new life. Even if it means stealing someone else’s.
