Chapter One

In three days, our summer vacation will be over, and I"ll be starting my senior year. I saved as much as I could over the summer to move out since my parents can't afford to pay my college tuition. Instead of saving for your kids' college fund like any normal parent would, Dad blows the rent money at the casino and comes back empty-handed, demanding more money, including anything that he can sell for a few bucks, and pawns it for cash so he can lose it all over again or waste it on alcohol.

Since my father can't support his family, it forced me to grow up, making sure our electricity stayed on and rent was paid. I have to hide my check and tip money underneath the loose floorboard in my bedroom closet. Otherwise, Dad will take the money I work so hard for his personal gain.

Parking my car on the side of the road, I spot my best friend, Natalia, sitting on her stoop.

"Hey, Tia," I call out while walking up to her porch and holding my work uniform over my forearm.

Tia looks up and away from her phone, sliding her ten-dollar sunglasses on top of her head. She grins, stuffing an envelope in her back pocket.

"Hey, girl. "Bout time. I"ve been sitting out in this fucking heat for twenty minutes," she greets me in a sarcastic, friendly tone .

"You know you have air conditioning, right? And besides, no one told you to wait outside." Rolling my eyes, I join her on the stoop.

"Why are you sitting out here anyway? Does it have to do with the envelope you stuck in your back pocket?"

Tia only sits on her stoop to think things over, make a difficult decision or share bad news.

She turns away from me.

I nudge her arm when she doesn't respond. "Hey. What's going on?"

After a while, she finds her voice. "I was sitting here thinking about what our lives would've been like if we lived without being someone's fucking punching bag.

I think about that all the time, but I don't tell her that. Instead, I give her a nod, quickly looking away. She knows that's all I've thought about since we were kids, counting down the days until we could disappear. There were countless nights when I prayed for a new family.

"We were good at pretending everything was fine. Always fine. You know I hated that word, right?" She laughs, but it seems forced. Tia tightens her ponytail and turns her head away, trying to hide the pain, but I see the sadness in her green eyes before she turned away. Even underneath that tough exterior, she can never hide her sensitive side.

"Tia, where is this all coming from? Did something happen?" I ask with concern.

Tia pulls the envelope from her back pocket and hands it to me. Confused, I reach for it. When I notice the return address, I can't help but smile, knowing what I'm holding. I remove the letter with pure excitement.

"Oh, my God, Tia! You got in!" Tia wipes the tears from her face, trying to hide them from me.

Why isn't she happy? This is what she always wanted.

"Tia, look at me."

This is supposed to be the best news she's ever received, and she looks sad.

"Why aren't you as excited as I am? You worked so hard for this."

"Because you'll be here, and I'll be there." She points to the letter. "How is that fair to you? You deserve this more than anyone. It's not fucking right, Sade. It's bullshit." Her voice cracks.

Tia and I always talked about applying to the same college and being roomies, but our choice of career paths will lead us to different parts of the world. She strongly believes one day I will open my own studio, and she will have her own medical practice. It"s one of the reasons Tia and I work so hard to maintain a 4.0 GPA, but unfortunately, my dream will have to be on hold…for now.

As much as we love our mothers, we refuse to make their story our future. Living check to check, taking out advance loans just so we can eat, sitting on lawn furniture that was considered our couch, and sleeping on a mattress without a box spring. We made do until Mom's tax refund came. Tax refund day was like Christmas Day for us. They deserved more—we deserve more.

"Tia. It's going to be ok."

She shakes her head.

"It is. I'm going to be ok. We are going to be ok," I reassure her. "Besides, who says I can't have the future I dreamed about? It's just on hold for now. Trust me when I say that one day I will make that dream come to life."

She doesn't seem convinced but gives me a small smile anyway. Her eyes are red and puffy, and her eye liner is starting to smudge.

"I thought this was supposed to be waterproof." I wipe off the black mark with my thumb.

"Shut up." She laughs, pushing my hand away.

"It's nice to see you smile, babe." I nudge her side with my elbow. Standing up from the step, I held my hand out to Tia. "Come on. Let's go inside. These pants are starting to stick to my ass."

She laughs and gives me a tight hug.

Are you freaking kidding me?

Who designs this crap?

We got new uniforms for work, so I brought mine over to Tia's to change since we're both working tonight.

I sigh as I stare in the mirror.

When I enter the kitchen dressed in my new uniform, Tia opens the fridge and grunts. "There's nothing to eat in here. Why is there never anything to eat in here?" She murmurs and shuts the door and spins around with her water bottle in hand.

She gives me a massive smile like she's about to tell me the best idea she's ever had.

"It"s Friday! Let"s go to Francisco"s." She exclaims, naming the mom-and-pop pizza shop that is the most popular Friday night hangout spot.

"You just want to go so you can flirt with Francisco Jr," I say with a laugh as Tia rolls her eyes.

"What the fuck is that?" Tia chokes on her water while pointing toward the ridiculousness on my body.

"You just noticed? It"s our new uniform." I playfully twirl around like a model so she can get a better look.

"No, it's not." Her shoulders shake from laughing so hard. "He can"t be serious?" She spreads my skort to the side, inspecting it like it"s some kind of disease.

"It"s not that bad." I look down to my outfit and back to Tia. "Is it?"

"Babe." She covers her mouth while laughing. "All you need is a pair of bunny ears and a puffy tail glued to your ass." She doubles over in laughter.

"Seriously, Tia? You're supposed to be my best friend."

"Yeah, well, it's my job as your best friend to tell you when you look that Saved by the Bell chick in show girls."

"Tia!" I stomp my feet like a child.

"Ok, ok, ok." She tries to regain her composure. "I mean, it's not that bad." Tia says unconvincingly.

"Whatever. Besides, I have no choice if I want to keep this job."

I fuss with the waistband because it's too tight. "God. Why do we work with an egotistical horny ass who looks at us like we're an all you can eat buffet?" Frustrated, I plop down on a rickety wooden kitchen chair.

"Because he thinks with his dick." Tia unfastens a few buttons on my shirt to show more cleavage. I'm wearing a button-down white cotton ruched shirt with a V-neck and three-quarter length sleeves. The skort is black with a small slit on the left side.

I swat her hands away. "What are you doing? It's bad enough my ass is on display. I don't need any more body parts to show. And why the hell don't you have to wear this?" I point down to my outfit.

"Because I'm not a bartender. Besides, if anybody is going to bitch, it's going to be me. I'm the one who has to walk around with my ass cheeks hanging out, trying to not cut off the fingers of the dirty pendejos trying to cop a feel." She takes a drink of her water and walks toward her bedroom as she yells over her shoulder.

I chuckle.

She's not wrong. The waitress's referee-style uniform almost looks like the Hooters uniforms, just a little tighter. If that's even possible. I don't know what the hell Joaquín was thinking when he chose these uniforms. Actually, I do. He was thinking with his dick.

My phone's been going off since I've been at Tia's. Three missed calls from Mom, and a bunch from the girls. I've been on edge since my meeting about the essay. A part of me wants to tell Mom and see if she'll agree and encourage me to go through with it. But I have a bad feeling she won't be too keen on the idea.

"?Que te pasa? What's going on with you?" Tia asks when she walks out of her room dressed in her new uniform.

I let out a sigh and tell Tia about the essay and the ultimatum the counselor gave me if I refuse to move forward with it. Surprisingly, she agrees with the counselor, but I can't say I'm surprised. Tia has always been a good student and believes we have what it takes to become more than our parents.

"Look." Tia sits beside me and reaches for my hands. "Out of all the people in the world, you deserve to be happy. Remember, we vowed to change ourstory. Don't break our promise by passing this up. You have other people to think about. What's really holding you back?" She lets go of my hands, leans back, and crosses her arms across her chest.

"Hang on." I walk back to her bedroom and grab the folder from my bag.

When I return, Tia is in the same spot. I hand her the essay guidelines. Tia grabs the form, reads it, and looks at me with confusion. "Okay." She draws the word out. "What's the problem?"

"There"s one more thing, Sadie, before you go," Val says as she walks over to her desk and hands me a document. "Since you're under eighteen, they require one parent"s signature.

"This is not good," I say to myself, snatching the form from her.

She flinches at my reaction.

In a calm tone, I say, "They're going to flip out if I ask them. You do realize they will never agree to this, right?"

"Your mother would want this for you. She was pretty vocal about it during the parent teacher conference. She will be the one you can reason with." She pauses for a second and tilts her head to the side with concern in her eyes. "Sadie, am I missing something here? Is there something you're not telling me?"

Yeah, where do I begin? Dad will laugh in my face, making me feel worthless, like I will not amount to anything, and then beat the crap out of me just for considering that I could escape this life. Then Mom will make me feel guilty for leaving her behind with Dad and comparing me to Josiah, saying that he cared more for her than I ever could. But unable to shake off the uneasiness in my chest, I tell her, "No, there"s nothing. I'll talk to Mom tonight." Because what's the point? I don't have an option.

"Fantastic! Please bring the form back tomorrow." Val walks over to me, giving me a gentle hug, not realizing the shit storm she just created.

"You know Mom's not going to agree to this. I can"t have the guidance counselor poking around in our business."

Letting out a deep sigh, I turn to my best friend and plead, "What am I supposed to do, Tia?"

Tia leans forward and slides the form back to me, resting her arms on the table.

"Even if that did happen, you know Titi Paloma would take you in. There"s no way she would let you live in a foster home with people probably worse than your dad."

I wince at the thought. Is that even possible?

"Hell, she"ll take your mom in too." Tia gives me a smirk like the best idea just clicked in her brain. She stands up and grabs a pen from the kitchen counter. When Tia returns to the table, she hands me the pen.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" I grab it from her, giving her an incredulous look.

"It's a pen."

"Yeah, I know what it is. What do you want me to do with this?"

"Sign it."

"What?"

"Sign. It." She takes the hand holding the pen and directs it to the document.

"What are you doing?" I ask, while trying to rip the pen out of her hand.

"Relax, will ya?" She says and grabs the document like she's getting a million-dollar check.

"Fine. Then I'll do it for you."

"Tia, Are you crazy? She"s going to know it's not Mom's signature."

"How is she going to know? Besides, my cousin Leticia did it all time with Paloma whenever she skipped school," she says, waving her hand in the air. "So don"t stress out about it."

"Tia, I don"t like this."

"It"ll be fine. Trust me."

"Tia, she"ll know. She always knows," I grumble in frustration, staring at the document in my hand like it's going to combust into flames and burn me straight to hell.

"Why are you afraid of taking risks? We only live once." She holds up a finger. "You need to learn to say yes instead of no." Tia dismisses my concerns like it"s nothing.

But she"s not the one who will have to deal with the consequences. Tia notices my expression and places both hands on my shoulders and gives me a stern, determined look. I laugh at how serious she's trying to be.

"You have two choices you could make, and one of them is your only way out. You need to do this, Sade. Trust me, it will be worth it. You are worth it."

One of the many reasons Tia is my best friend? She gives me the strength to view challenges as an opportunity. Given all that we"ve been through, you would never think that Tia and I grew up in abusive homes. She"s stronger than I am, more confident, whereas I am cautious about everyone and everything. Trust doesn"t come easily anymore. I"d like to think that one day I will be stronger and more confident to deal with it. But maybe Tia is right.

Maybe this is one of those times.

"I need real food. Sick and tired of eating the same shit at Joaquín"s," Tia complains.

Ignoring Tia, my brain starts to work overtime.

This can go either way: 1) I could get away with it, win the scholarship, and earn my way to freedom. Or 2) I"ll get caught and arrested for fraud, bringing Tia down with me.