As Jade walked past all the little kids playing in the hallway, she put on her headphones and turned on the CD player. She really felt like she was going to cry. She was worried about Harmoni. Harmoni had loved their mom and dad more than anything. The grils all loved their parents, but Harmoni seemed to have formed a real friendship with them. Harmoni never stayed at anyone's house because she did not want to be away from her mom and dad. Then she had to watch them die right in front of her. Not to mention, now she was 2000 miles away from where they were buried. It had to be worse for Harmoni than for Jade, Jewel, or Zoey, no matter how many friends they lost or how many sports they had to leave behind.
Jade opened the back door and walked outside. The rain was stopping, and the sun was coming out. As she looked around the yard she noticed a lot of little kids' toys laying all over. To top that off, there was a swing set, sand box, and two different tree houses on the outskirts of the woods. One of the treehouses was painted blue and the other was painted pink. Jade assumed that one was for the boys and the other for the girls. Thinking that was a little stupid, she laughed a little to herself. She finally sat on the steps and watched the rain sprinkle down.
"This is not going to be fun," Jade said to herself.
Jewel helped Zoey downstairs. Once they were both down, they sat on the couch in the living room. A bunch of little kids were watching Barney.
"This is going to be fun," Zoey commented sarcastically.
"Tell me about it. There's nothing but little kids here. We're going to have to watch Barney everyday for the rest of our lives."
Zoey rolled her eyes. "I wonder if there's nobody here because there's school."
"Only if it's summer school. It's the middle of June, remember? There is kinda no school."
"Oh, yeah." Zoey laughed and looked toward the living room window. It had stopped raining, and the sun was trying to peek out the of the clouds. There were a few houses across the street, but other than that the house was basically out in the wilderness.
"I wonder if any kids our age live in that house over there?" Zoey asked her sister.
"I wonder." Just then a cute little kid walked up to Zoey and Jewel.
"You're the new girls. I heard about you guys. Your mommy and daddy died in a car accident?" The litte boy asked.
"Yeah," Jewel answered. "What's your name?"
"Carmen. My mommy and dadddy didn't want me anymore. I was dropped off here when I was just a baby. Miss Thomas is looking for a new family for me."
"Same with us."
"What's your name?"
"My name is Jewel, and this is my sister Zoey. We have two other sisters, Jade and Harmoni. Harmoni is in our room, and Jade is outside."
"You have cool names."
"Thanks." Carmen sat down between Zoey and Jewel.
"Will you be my friends?"
Both grils smiled. "Sure."
Carmen smiled. "Thanks."
Harmoni got out her laptop. She turned it on and put in one of her disks, that she managed to sneak in. Then she began to work on one of the many stories she had. Miss Thomas, the woman that drove them there, invited herself in.
"Harmoni, do you like your room?"
Harmoni shrugged, without looking up from her laptop.
"Come on, Harmoni. You have to talk. This is not healthy, and not many people will want to adopt you if you don't talk."
Harmoni shrugged. She really did not care if she never got adopted. All they had to do was wait at least a year, when Zoey would be 18, then she could get out and get them out.
"I know it's hard for you to lose your parents and see them die right in front of you. I'll give you some time, but if you don't talk soon I'll have to take you to a counselor."
Harmoni shrugged again. Even if she did go to a counselor, she would not talk to him either. At this time in her life, she planned on never talking again. There just was not any reason too, and she just did not have the heart for it.
As Miss Thomas turned and left, Harmoni let out a sigh and continued working on her laptop. After typing two more words, she saved her story to opened a new document. This one was going to be different than most of her stories. Right away, she started out with the accident, adding every little detail that she could remember. Anything else she would just have to get from one of her sisters when the time came. As soon as she got to the part about her parents dying, she couldn't help crying. It was the hardest thing for her to write about, but she wanted to write a story about it. Even though she knew it would get no further than her sisters and herself, she would at least have it. Then if anyone ever asked, she would not have to speak a word about it.
When the rain fully stopped Jade walked over to the pink treehouse and carefully climbed up. Once she made it to the top, she noticed a girl about her age already there. She was smoking something, but Jade could not quite make out what it was.
"Sorry. I'll leave you alone."
"Wait. You're that new girl?"
"Yeah."
"What's your name?"
"Jade."
"Crystal. Do you want to try some?"
Jade climbed all the way into the clubhouse and sat down. When she did, she got a better look and noticed that it was pot. "I don't know. I'm not into that kind of stuff."
"Neither was I 'til I came here. My dad killed my mom, then he killed himself. I was in the other room, and I heard it all. I haven't been the same since. Then, when I came here, I lost it. It's really helped to calm my nerves."
"Uh..." Jade closed her eyes for a second and remembered the accident. That was when she made up her mind. She had to, at least she thought she had to. She opened her eyes and looked at Crystal. "Sure," she replied as she reached out and took a joint.
Crystal lit it up before handing it to her. Jade looked at it for a while before taking her first drag. Since that seemed not to really phase her, she had no problem finishing it.
"See? No problem."
"I actually do feel a little better." Jade smiled and leaned back against the wall.
"Play any sports at your old school?"
"Yeah," she sighed as she remembered playing them with all her friends. "Football, soccer, and basketball. What about you?"
"My parents wouldn't let me. They thought I would hurt myself. They were really strict. Probably 'cause I was an only child."
"That's gotta suck. I have three sisters, and all of them played sports. Now one doesn't talk, and the other two are bumming 'cause they left their boyfriends back home."
Jade and Crystal started to laugh. "Bawl babies. I had to leave my boyfriend behind, too, but I got over it. I started doing this. Do you think they would start?"
"No, they are goody goodies. They would probably kill me if they found out that I was doing anything of this sort."
"Did you leave behind a guy?"
"No. I had a few guy friends, but I didn't leave a boyfriend behind. Sometimes I wished some of the guys were my boyfriends. So, are there any guys here our age?"
"Yeah. They aren't that bad looking either. Their parents didn't want them anymore, so they were put here. They were, like, five when they came here. They don't like me anymore since they found out what I do up here."
"How come I didn't see them when I got here?"
"They were probably hiding in their room on the second floor. They really don't like it here. They've tried to break out a few times. Miss Thomas won't let them go for a walk unless I go with them or she does, so they don't even go on walks or leave the house that much."
"Man. That's kinda mean." Jade put out the little bit of pot she had left and lit up another one.
"You're really getting into this, aren't you?"
"It's calming. I always wondered about this stuff." Jade closed her eyes and enjoyed the drag she had just taken.
At nine o'clock, Crystal and Jade went into the house, stoned. "What were you two doing out there?" Miss Thomas demanded.
"None ya," Crystal answered, then they both laughed.
"You're stoned, aren't you?"
"No," Jade answered, and again they both started laughing.
"Crystal, what did I tell you about that? Now you have Jade doing it. You are a bad influence on the little kids. Do you want them growing up and doing what you do? Come on, Crystal. You have to stop and, Jade, I don't want you to even start. If I have to, I will forbid you two from going to the club houses."
Jade and Crystal started laughing again. "Okay." The two then went upstairs to Crystal's room.
"She's so stupid," Crystal stated. They both started laughing again.
"I feel Iike I'm flying."
"I know. Isn't it cool?" Jade started to nod her head and laugh.
"I better get to my room." Crystal nodded, and Jade got up to leave and fell back down. Crystal and Jade started laughing again.
Jade got up a little slower and headed upstairs to her room. Knowing her sisters would be mad, she drew in a deep breath, trying to hide that she was just a little high.
"Where were you?" Zoey asked.
"Outside," Jade answered as she started to laugh. For some reason, the word just seemed funny to her. She knew it was because she was high and that would be her sisters' first clue.
"What's your problem?"
"Nothing," she replied as she tried not to laugh. It did not work anymore, though. This was all too funny to her at the present moment.
"Make any new friends?" Zoey asked.
"Yeah, one. Her name is..uh..." Jade started laughing. "Her name is Crystal."
"Jade, what is wrong with you?" Jewel asked, concerned.
"Nothing. There is nothing wrong with me. Hey, did you know there are two of you?" Jade started laughing and had to lie down. "Guys, this is soo cool. You have to try it!"
"Try what!?! Jade, what were you smoking?" Zoey demanded as she pushed herself up off her bed and hobbled over to Jade's bunk.
"Nothing. Nothing you would like, anyway." Jade started laughing some more and closed her eyes. She pictured their car flipping over. She saw her mom and dad fly out the window. Then she saw Harmoni slowly climb out and over to them. She watched as her sisters were tossed from place to place. She could even start to feel the pain of her arm bending in ways that it should not and all the glass and debris piercing her skin. She quickly opened her eyes. She looked at her sisters.
They all knew that something was up with her, and they knew that it was not good. They were worried about her. There was no way they were going to get separated and with Jade doing whatever she was doing then there was some way that they were going to get separated.
"Jade, you're high, aren't you?" Jewel asked nervously. She did not want to know the answer, and she knew that her sisters did not want to either.
"No." Jade swallowed hard and closed her eyes. "No."
"Jade, stay away from Crystal. She's bad news."
"No she's not. She's really nice. Me and her talked today. She's really nice."
Jewel looked at Zoey. "What are we going to do?" Jewel asked her.
"I don't know. Everything is messed up. Harmoni won't talk. Jade's on drugs. We aren't going to be adopted together. No matter what she does." Zoey looked from Jade to Harmoni then back to Jewel. Shaking her head, she carefully made her way back to her bed and lay down.
After Harmoni was back on the bottom bunk and comfortable, Jewel walked over to the light switch and turned it off. Then she felt her way to her bed and lay down. She could not get to sleep right away, and she knew that she was not the only one. It seemed as if every time she closed her eyes, she saw the accident. With everything they all were going through, she knew it would be quite some time before any of them slept really well.
Chapter 2
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