WARNING. There is some strong language in this chapter. Sorry, but it kind of fit. -shrugs-

Chapter 8 by: horse-nerd.


Sam helped Allie and Tara carry their pillows and blankets up to her room, Jen followed along behind them. They were having a girl's sleepover. Sam hoped that by doing this she would get to know them a little better. That left Jake and Darrel to watch over Ricky, Sam felt bad for them. Sam kicked her bedroom door open with her foot and smiled back at the girls.

"Welcome to my humble abode!" She announced dropping their things beside her bed.

Tara snorted. "Well it's no palace."

Allie glared at her and looked around the room appreciatively. "I like it."

Sam smiled and Tara rolled her eyes. Allie set her stuff down and picked up one of Sam's glass figurines of a horse admiring it. Tara began looking around and Sam sat on her bed watching them. She felt a flutter of hope as she watched Allie tenderly caress the horse figurines, it was probably the first time she has seen her smile and she intended to make her do it more often.

"Whoa, who's this hot hippie?" Tara whistled picking up a picture. Sam tensed and Jen cleared her throat.

"Um, that's Sam's mom," Jen answered awkwardly.

"Damn—you have one hot mamma Samantha," Tara looked around confused. "Dude, like where is she? We meet everyone else…," she trailed off watching Sam pick at her comforter. Tara smiled cruelly.

"So even the princess has problems? What's wrong hmm? Hippie run off with some pot smoking buddies?"

Sam jumped off her bed and snatched the picture out of Tara's hand. She felt the tears sting her eyes but managed to glare at Tara anyway.

"Don't you dare talk about my mom like that! You don't know her!" Sam yelled in the girls face taking a deep breathe she lowered her voice. "No she didn't run off. She died." Sam spun on her heel and ran down the stairs. Her Gram called after her but Sam just let the screen door slam behind her as she ran towards the river.

Once she was out of site from the house she sat down on the bank and stared at the flowing water. She didn't cry even though she wanted to, but she knew she couldn't let Tara get to her. Her mean hateful ways would not tear Sam down. She stared at the picture she still had clutched in her hand and smiled. Her mom was beautiful…and she did kind of look like a hippie. With her long brownish hair that had flowers braided into it, daisies, and her flowing white skirt that reached her ankles. Even her earthy tied-dyed shirt that hung on her loosely looked beautiful. But the most beautiful thing about her was her smile that lit up her eyes. Her dad told her that her smile reminded him of her mother.

Sam started when she heard footsteps behind her. Her heart sunk when she saw Tara walk up and sit beside her. She looked at Sam remorsefully before taking a deep breathe and staring into the river. She picked up a rock and skipped it into the lake.

"I'm sorry…about what I said, it was totally not cool," Tara apologized picking up another rock.

Sam was taken aback, she didn't speak.

"I guess I just was jealous cause it seems like you have such a great life here…you got an awesome dad, friends…Jake," she paused and smiled at Sam before becoming serious again. "I guess I just wanted to find something in your life that didn't seem perfect."

Sam laughed humorlessly. "Well kudos."

Tara sighed and skipped another rock. "I know, that was mega bitchy of me."

Sam let herself smile. "Yeah, it kind of was," she shrugged. "But it's alright…you didn't know."

"If I were you I would have like knocked the bitch out," they laughed together. "But I'm serious…and it has happened before."

Their laughter subsided and they both continued to stare silently into the river.

"My mom, she uh, she died in a car accident," Sam told Tara feeling a little better about the girl.

Tara sucked in a sharp breathe and let it out slowly. "Wow, that really blows," she said sympathetically.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, it does. It's almost funny though, with the whole hippie remark, because she drove this big hippie van. You know the ones you see on That 70's Show…no joke. My dad hated that thing but she refused to get rid of it. Well of course she was driving that 'death trap'—as my dad would like to call it—when it happened. She swerved as some antelope ran in her path. She would do anything to protect the wildlife…even if it meant sacrificing herself," Sam picked up a rock and chucked it angrily. "It was a freaking antelope! There are like a million of those stupid things. I wish she could have just hit it…," she hugged herself and rubbed her hands up and down her body to create friction.

Tara wrapped her arm around Sam's shoulder on impulse surprising both of them.

"Well if it's time for revelations I guess I should share mine." Tara said.

"You know why I got in trouble?"

Sam shook her head no…she still hadn't read those packets.

"Ha, interesting. I thought they would tell you guys everything…anyway that's not the point," she stretched her legs out in front of her scattering some rocks.

"I from LA, the perfect place, I ate in restaurants with stars…hell I even had lunch with Chace Crawford one time!" She waggled her eyebrows at Sam. "He's mega hot."

"But yeah, I went to a private school, like all the rich kids. I was queen. Beautiful, blonde, cool parties, even straight A's! I had it all. I know…so how did my life become so crappy? Well, I thought I had it all. But I was lacking in my home life. My dad was part of this big corporation so of course he was never home, even if he was my parents would do nothing but fight.

"My mom," Tara rolled her eyes. "She thought she was like the queen of all things Gucci. She was one of those moms you see in movies you know? Sitting at home in their five hundred dollar matching velour tracksuit carrying around a fluffy Pomeranian while gossiping about things she thinks she knows with neighbors.

"I was pissed ya know? Because I tried to be perfect…mostly for them, but they didn't care. As long as their own lives were perfect who cared about mine. They used me for one of their little tokens to prove how perfect they were. So I went on a rebellion. It was little things at first, just trying to get attention from my parents. So I flunked a test…no good. I threw an unforgettable party…at our house, still nothing. I was desperate for attention," Tara looked Sam in the eye. "Not even a dead Pomeranian roused them."

Sam's eyes widened and Tara shook her head. "I know sick right? I knew I had to do something extremely drastic. I was going to get there attention, nobody ignores me. So I was quiet for a few weeks, not making any trouble. At least that they knew of…at night I was sneaking to what I guess you could call the slums. I was making new friends. One night I took them to my dad's office, cause nobody works there at night. We soaked his office with gasoline and to be dramatic I used a picture of our family to start the fire.

"Oh, man I was not done though. We hurried out of there and headed for my house. I torched that mother fucker…with my parents still sleeping inside."

Sam looked at her terrified and Tara rolled her eyes. "Chill, they made it out of there. But my mission was accomplished. They had nothing left, there was only me. They had no choice but to notice me now. Mom's velour suits were gone. My dad's precious business…ruined. I wasn't accounting for them to call the cops though. But I guess it was pretty obvious that they would. Didn't take them long to figure out who did it…," Tara grabbed another rock and tossed it into the river. It made a loud plopping noise as it hit the water.

Sam honestly didn't know what to say, but she really wished she would have read those packets. Nothing could have prepared her for this. Personally right now she felt like Tara should be locked in a psychiatric ward. But as she watched Tara's eyes fill with tears and as she buried her face into her hands, she only felt bad for her.

Sam comforted her as Tara sobbed into her shirt. This girl wasn't really mean, it was a façade, something she wore to gain attention at first, but now she only wanted to hide what was underneath. Tara took a deep breathe to compose herself as she sat up.

"Tara…I really don't know what to say. I know you don't want to hear 'I'm sorry'," Tara smiled lightly and hugged Sam.

"And I'm glad you didn't. That's all anybody says is: 'I'm sorry'. I mean ugh! No your not. Everyone thinks I'm physco. That's why I'm always bringing everyone else down…to feel better about myself." Tara bit her lip and looked back down.

Sam sighed and stood up. She reached her hand out to help Tara stand. "I don't know about you but all this emotional stuff has really made me want some chocolate."

Tara laughed and grabbed her hand standing up. "Girl, you spreakens my language." She stopped and looked at Sam warily for a moment. "Hey…you won't tell anyone about this…right?"

Sam pretended to ponder. "As long as you promise to drop that bitch act. I kind of like this Tara better." She stuck out her hand towards Tara. "Deal?"

Tara rolled her eyes making them laugh and she grabbed Sam's hand to shake it. "Deal."

Sam smiled. "Good now how about that chocolate?"


ha, i have no idea if it was antelope...lol but oh well. sorry for the strong language! oh and for the very sentimental chappie! review loves :)