Please Don't Go

Please Don't Go(Natacha Rivera) My name is Vanessa Armada. I'm a 17 year old high school student at Jefferson High. I like to be at school rather than at home. School is the only alternative to safety other than a foster home. I love my friends, just scared to let them into my actual real world. It wouldn't be easy.

~At home. "Why can't you just be sober?" I yelled from my room to my mother. She came home drunk. I knew she had gotten fired from work, just didn't know it was going to go this far. "What was that?!" she yelled from the outside of my door. "Vanessa! I--open the damn door!" she banged on the door. I just looked at the door, watching it shake from her bang. My dad left us when I was just five years old. The closest thing to a dad was my best friends dad, Gary. He let me spend the night when my mom didn't come home till late night. He let me come over for dinner when my mother was high in the kitchen. I looked up to him. My best friend, Madison, is like a sister I never had. She has seen me in every aspect with every emotion. My mom kept knocking on my door until she feel asleep in front of it.

I open my door at 2 in the morning to see her knocked out, just laying there. I just stayed there for a while, just staring at her. Knowing she needed me now more than ever. Honestly, I'm better off without her. I grabbed some extra clothes and stuffed them into my green polo bag, grabbed my book bag and started to head to Madison's house.

On my way there, I called her. "He-hello? Ness? What's up?"

I'm on my way there. Mom passed out at my door again, after I yelled at her. I'll be there in 2 minutes." Instead of walking, I drove, taking my mothers car. She was 20 minutes away walking but I didn't feel like walking in the mist air.

As I pulled up into her drive way, I saw Madison open the front door. I assumed that Gary knew I was on my way because she wouldn't have opened the door to wake him up. Their door made this loud screeching noise that sounded like a cat scratching on a chalkboard. I just hope she didn't wake her step-brother up. His name is Greg and he is a year older than Madison and I. I secretly have a crush on him. Not even Madison knows because I know how she would react to me liking him. He's so gorgeous. It's like you wanted to stare at him all day.

"Thank you for letting me stay for the thousandth time." I said while putting my stuff on Madison's bed. Mr. Ventura came in to tell me that I was welcomed to stay whenever, at anytime of the day. It means a lot to me for him to say that. I'm glad I have people to look up on because they know what I'm going through.

I worked my way to the bathroom when I saw Greg come out of his room. He was wearing his penguin boxers while his bare chest was just out there, all muscular like. "Your mom giving you trouble again?" Greg asked tiredly. He always made jokes about my mom, honestly, I could care less.

"When does she not?" I said so confidently. I went to the bathroom, giving him a smirk cause I know that he was also on his way to the restroom. Oh well!

I washed my face, brushed my teeth and hair before going to bed. I slept next to Madison because the floor was unpleasant to sleep on. They had tile, so you can imagine. Madison snored loudly. It never bothered me before but somehow, tonight it does. I was getting easily annoyed lately, especially with people that were closer to me. Tonight, it had me at the point where I just wanted to stick something up her nose to make her stop. I couldn't take it anymore. I got up slowly, making sure I don't wake Madison. I made my way to the door but made the door squeak a bit. It always squealed. I went to Greg's room hoping he was still up from when we encountered each other on our way to the restroom. I knocked lightly not wanting to wake up their parents and hoping Greg will hear it. He heard the light knock because I heard him throw something small at the door. This has happened before when it was too cold in Madison's room and I couldn't take it. I walked in quietly, seeing his eyes opened because of the light in the hallway.

"Can I hop in? Madison's snoring is bothering me tonight." I said while kneeling down so he can hear me better.

"Are you going to give me something in return? It's only fair." he said while opening the sheets wide enough for me to get in.

"Haha, you think you're so funny. You can get breakfast in the morning." I hopped in giggling. As I laid there, feeling Greg's body heat against mine, I thought about how great it would be to do this every night.

"Greg?" He shuffled around to face my face. "Yeah?" You can hear the sleepiness in his voice. I felt bad for even bothering him. "What if I were to live here? How would you feel about it?" I wanted to know if he were to be happy if I were his adopted sister that happened to be his step-sister's best friend. It's weird to picture it that way if I have such strong feelings for Greg.

"Eh, I guess it would be cool. The only bad thing about it is that I have to see your morning hair." he said jokingly. He is always playing pranks on me and Madison. There was this one time when me and Madison were in the pool and me and Madison were talking about sharks being in pools. I really don't know how the subject came up. It just did. Then all of a sudden, there was a little nibble on my leg that freaked me the hell out. Madison and I screamed so loud, you probably could have heard us all the way from Australia. He laughed so hard, that even when I punched him as hard as I could on his chest, he was still laughing.

"You think that you're going to get a suitable girlfriend that will put up with that crap?" I said, putting the weight of my head onto the palm of my hand, facing him. He took his whole body weight and got on top of me, like he was going to wrestle with me. I tried to fight him off but it was no use, he was too strong for me. All of a sudden, I felt my stomach being tickled. That's when it got personal. I hate being tickled. I started to giggle. It was unbearable. I tried pushing him away by taking both of my hands and putting them on his chest to put all my force on his chest. It worked only because he got tired of pinning me down.

At that very moment, the door cracked open. We just laid there. Pretending we were sleeping. I was breathing so hard because of the horse play we just got done doing. It was Greg's mom, I bet wondering why she heard so much noise. I cracked my left eye open enough so that I could see her face from the hallway light. She smiled a bit, closed the door carefully, thinking we were sleeping. I turned around to see Greg asleep. Looking up to the ceiling, I thought about tomorrow, how school will turn out, how high my mother will be when I get home or if she will be home at all. I fell into a deep sleep after thinking too much about my mom.

**
I was in a dark room with twinkling lights on the ceiling. I heard this husky voice coming from behind me. "Will you have this dance with me Vanessa?" the husky voice asked. I knew who this was, just couldn't come to mind at the moment. I was still in awe with the sparkling ceiling. I turned around with my head up high still staring at what seemed like the sky. I put my arms around the mans neck. At that very moment I knew who it was. It was Greg. His messy hair gave him away. With its rough texture and it being as long as it is. "Greg?" I asked just to make sure. I would have taken my phone out to just take a look at who it was with the little light my phone gives me. "Shh. Don't say a word. Just dance with me Ness." He drew closer to me. I laid my head on his muscular chest. I could feel his breath on my neck. Hard and heavy it was, like he just finished jogging here from Georgia. The song was beautiful, with no harmony. Just this amazing slow melody that went on and never got boring. "I love you Vanessa. I can't hide it anymore. Your personality is just so bright. It doesn't matter if your life is a total wreck. You still keep a smile on your face so that people don't see through you. I wish I could be with you, but it would just ruin everything." He sounded so sincere and so calming. I pulled my phone out quickly so that he didn't have a chance to stop me. When I did, I was in so much shock, I yelled. It was Mr. Ventura.**