9Th grade
x-x-x
Jordan picked up the rock she had been kicking down the street, rolling it over and over in her hands. It wasn't before long that she realized she was back home, sighing she walked up the stairs, back into the house. It turned into a regular weeknight routine, her dad would come home, grab a beer and sit on the couch criticizing her mother till she had to leave and cry. Jordan knew her mother was anything but weak, yet she didn't understand why her mother never stood up to him, Jordan did, or at least she tried. When it became too much for Jordan to handle she'd just leave, she knew she always had a place at JJ's or Emily's and especially Penelope's.
Jordan set the rock down on the counter on her way to the living room, she saw her mother sitting next to her father so he wasn't being too mean today. Jordan took a seat across from her parents.
"How was school today Jordan?" Her mother asked.
"It was good, we learned about governmental saving plans." Jordan replied.
"Governmental saving plans?" Her father looked up at her. "What kind of plans?"
"Like food stamps and unemployment. It wasn't very interesting, but it's better than saying we learned about the tangents of a circle."
"Did you understand the math? They teach it poorly now a days." Her father said.
"After a while I figured out that it's not as hard as they say it is."
"Good." He looked around the end table for another beer and Jordan leaned over picking it up for him.
"Here." She handed it over to him. "Dad, can I go over to Emily's house this weekend?"
"I don't see why not, I just want to make sure your work around the house is done. And none of that bull shit jobs, I want it done perfectly."
"I already did it this week."
"Alright, then as long as you get your homework done too." He said drinking from his beer. "What are you girls planning on doing?"
"I don't really know, just movies I guess." She said and he nodded.
"Stay out of trouble." He said before she walked out. Jordan made the quick walk to Garcia's so they could go to Emily's.
"Hey Jordan!" Pen answered the door.
"Hey Pen." Jordan smiled.
"Your dad didn't have any issues?"
"No! I was impressed. On the other hand he wasn't drunk yet though."
"Yeah," Pen looked at Jordan again before hugging her. "He hasn't hit you lately right?"
"No, he hasn't."
"Good." Pen said before grabbing her bag. "Let's go to Emily's." She smiled and the two walked hand in hand to Emily's house. When they got there they walked in knowing no one was there to answer the door, they went right up to Emily's room, knocking on the door before walking in, as per habit since their friends had gotten together over the summer.
"Hey guys." JJ said laying down on Emily's bed as Emily was standing at the book shelf in the connecting room. "Just ignore Emily, she's been looking for a book for the last hour."
"Alright. What book?"
"The Grapes of Wrath."
"Oh you let me borrow that." Jordan said. "And I have it to return it." Jordan smiled and grabbed it from her bag, handing it to Emily. Emily grinned and put it back in it's place.
"See told you I would never put it in the wrong spot." Emily said looking at JJ.
"Yeah, just cause your ocd about your books, crazy." JJ huffed and then squealed when Emily launched herself onto her bed on top of JJ.
"Is that a sign for us to leave?" Pen asked smirking.
"No you know we are that bad." Emily grinned kissing JJ's nose.
"Right." Pen smiled sitting on the couch in Emily's room next to Jordan. "So do we have plans for tonight?"
"Only that we shall get fat on ice cream and watch horrible romance movies." JJ said flipping onto her stomach.
"That is a great plan." Jordan said grabbing the stack of movies already set aside. The girls all found their normal places around the room to watch the first movie.
"Hey Jordan, your dad doing alright?" Emily asked and Jordan nodded. They all had their own way of asking about her father's habits of drinking and hurting her but Jordan liked Emily's the most cause it was very discrete, no one knew it besides the four of them. JJ would wait till she was alone with Jordan, she knew JJ was the one who was most angry about it, JJ had stopped acknowledging her father when he was around, she'd just glare at him, it made Jordan laugh. Though all the girls cared and pulled together to keep her safe Jordan knew that they really couldn't do much to help her besides be there. They wouldn't leave her and she knew that.