Chapter twelve: Rock the boat

Ruthie sat on Tristan's lap outside his house smoking. Tristan sat there tickling her trying to get her to take the beer. Ruthie laughed and kissed him, as to make up for not taking it. Tristan gave her this puppy-dog face but she just laughed and took drag from her cigarette.

"Aww, you two are so cute," Lindsey said looking up momentarily from kissing Lance. Ruthie laughed looking at Lindsey. Lindsey smiled a sarcastic smile at Ruthie getting up and taking the beer from Tristan.

"I have to go home sober unlike you guys in order for my parents to believe I was in the school library," Ruthie said smiling she glanced down at her watch and jumped up. "I got to go, I'll call you later"

"Ok bye" Erica said smiling.

"Ok," Lindsey said. "Bye"

"Bye" Tristan waved, but Ruthie was already gone. Lindsey looked over at Tristan who got up and went inside.

"I'll be right back," Lindsey said. Lindsey followed Tristan inside where he was sitting on the couch drinking. "What's wrong?"

"Ruthie, I feel like she's using me," Tristan said.

"Using you? How the hell would Ruthie do that?" Lindsey said.

"She doesn't want be a good girl anymore, she used me to not be good," He said slurring his words.

"Tristan that's stupid, Ruthie really likes you," Lindsey said.

"Yeah right," Tristan looked up at Lindsey who was staring at her hands, he reached in and started kissing her. Lindsey quickly realized what was going on and pushed him away.

"What are you doing?" She screamed getting up.

"I… I don't know," Tristan said standing up.

"I have to go," Lindsey said quickly running outside.

"What's wrong," Erica asked.

"Nothing" Lindsey said. "I just have to go" Lindsey grabbed her things and grabbed Lance.

"Ok, I guess I have to go too," He said laughing his curls falling in front of his face. Erica waved bye, as the two of them rushed into Lance's car and drove off. Erica knew something was wrong. Just then Tristan came outside looking upset, he turned and looked at Erica, he had such a sad look in his eyes which quickly turned to a look of hatred. Tristan gripped the bottle in his hand before smashing it against the sidewalk in front of him. Erica watched him as he spun around and ran inside, slamming the door behind him.

Ruthie slowly opened the front door; she placed her jacket on the hook and ran her fingers through her hair. As she walked into the kitchen she could see her brother's sitting at the kitchen table working on their homework. She watched them waiting for anything; she glanced at her mother who was walking back and forth between the fridge and the stove, checking on pots and chopping carrots.

"Hey," Ruthie said cautiously. Annie glanced up and locked eyes with her daughter; she glanced nervously over at the twins. Sam looked at her and went back to working on his math problems, but David kept his eyes on Ruthie waiting for her to set off another explosion, Ruthie was a magnet searching for landmines to explode in her parents face.

"Hey, how was your day?" Annie asked, she searched Ruthie's face looking for some answer to her sudden rebellious stage.

"It was fine," Ruthie said, she looked over at the twins and caught site of David's glare. "What?"

"What?" David replied.

"What are you staring at?" Ruthie said placing her hands on her hips.

"Not much," David said.

"Oh really," Ruthie said, she stopped when she heard her mother clear her throat. "I'm going to my room," Ruthie went up the stairs pounding each step so the sound echoed down the hall. Once she reached her room she plopped onto her bed staring at the ceiling. She kept her gaze on a crack in her ceiling as she traced it with her eyes, focusing only on that. She thought about getting up to catch up on her homework but her body got the best of her and she just lay there quietly.