Chapter One:

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"Be quiet, please? At least until she signs the paper...You need this - I need this" My lawyer, Ms. Goodman, glared at me for a moment before her phone buzzed and she went to check her email.

"I don't know her" I huffed under my breath.

The car seat was extremely uncomfortable and I drew my knees to my chest to try and give my back a little stretch, but before I could enjoy it I felt acrylic talons grab my ankle and yank it off the seat.

"She's your grandmother, Allie - she's  family. The only family whose willing to take you for the matter." Goodman said, setting her Blackberry on the torn leather seat of the taxi "And remember your manners - you weren't raised in a barn."

Ms. Goodman was a bitter woman who'd been by my side since my mom, dad, and brother died 4 years ago. She handled my finances and organized who I lived with, all the while reminding me how irresponsible my parents were for not having a will.

I had been living with my dads mother, Grandma Annie, until she died of a stoke 2 months ago. I'd been staying at a hotel while Goodman searched for someone to take me in, to take in the troubled girl who lost her family in a fire at age 13 and then went to live with the delusional grandma who made her kill dogs that didn't exist. I didn't have a rap sheet, and had done especially well in school but everyone assumed with my baggage I had to be super messed up.

Aunt Angie and Uncle Kevin couldn't take me in because a new baby was on the way. Aunt Abbey coulden't take me because she would be traveling soon and putting me under that stress after my loss wasn't humane. The list went on and on, all relatives having some excuse to why they coulden't take me in. It hurt, having to read the excuses my family have listed off at every guardianship meeting - there were 10 in the last two weeks - and had hardened me to relatives in the short time. I had begun to fall into hopelessness, resigning myself to a group home or maybe a foster family.

That was until Ruby Blake called, and said she was willing to take me in. She was my moms mother, and my only memory of her was my mom always saying Ruby would have no part in our lives as long as she was alive. Mom would never elaborate, just that she would never go back to Oklahoma and she prayed that we woulden't either. Moms wish can't wouldn't come true. Most of her wishes hadn't in the last four years since her death.

"Mom always said she didn't want us coming here, I agree with her. Mother knows best, ever heard it? Can't I stay in Salem? I have friends there. A support system better than anything Oklahoma could ever give me." I begged, turning to face her in the seat as we turned into a traditional suburban neighborhood.

It was the kind of place women gossiped on the street and men barbecued, maybe talking about football. The homes were manicured in that upper middle class way, the lawn meticulously mowed and a fresh coat of paint. It was an idyllic neighborhood - set back against lush trees growing out of red dirt.

"You're 17, only a few months till you turn 18. Then you get everything you've been whining about for 4 years," Ms.Goodman said "and you're off my hands." 

I saw the driver flash her a look in the rear view mirror, as if to question her position as a guardian. It made me smirk.

"I want to set up a small studio and paint all day." I said to myself and she rolled her eyes. "Whatever you want. It's your money."

The taxi came to a stop and Ms.  Goodman payed the driver before climbing out and scrunching her nose up as a little girl rode her bike past, chased by more girls on scooters.

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