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The cold sweats always h the T-shirts I wore at night I pulled it all off, eventhem into the hamper Even from beyond my bedroom door, I heard the snores of a ed hoht I rolled my eyes as I walked into my bathroom I turned the water on and let it run for five hed

Apparently, I’d have to take a cold shower this

“Great,” I whispered

It was the shortest shower of my life But I did what I had to do I washed hget war everywhere in the process I still didn’t have h of a hell-binding, torturous state What withdown half of whatever I ot the job ot the da and choosing which bills to pay every month

But when I went to turn onhome more men

Because our electricity had been shut off

“Fucking great,” I sighed

I focused on getting ready for school, because the sooner I got out of the house the sooner I could let this entire summer fall from my mind I tied my hair back into a low ponytail, then brushed my teeth I pulled on the first outfitAnd after rurabbed rabbed a water froe on myself a little bit

The relief I felt as I stepped out onto the porch almost knocked me off my feet

I saw the foreign car in the driveway and shook my head It sure as hell wasn’t her boyfriend’s car Nor was it hers I snickered as I walked up the driveway,hoht stands Even if she did have a steady boyfriend who gave her whatever the hell she wanted

You know, in exchange for knocking her around a little

“And yet, we still can’t pay our bills,” I muttered

I took a large bite ofopen the bottled water I knew I’d catch hell for it after school, since my mother practically had a counter on the food in our ho through the night After dealing with that stupid nightmare

I shivered at the thought of it

“There she is!” Michael exclaimed

I smiled as I tossedforin the summer breeze behind her I held my arms out, cat

ching her as she ran into ed her tightly as the collar of her Ralph Lauren shirt tickled o to take a look at her parents’ traditional ‘first day of school’ outfit for her, Michael had his arms around both of us

Squeezing the ever blessed-fuck out of our bodies

“Michael, I can’t breathe,” Allison choked out