Free Forbidden Fruit: Volume 1 by Lisa M. Harley, Janice Baker, Lexi Buchanan, Jessica Hawkins, Missy Johnson, Stacey Lynn, Rebecca Brooke, Olivia Linden, R. S. Grey, Morgan Jane Mitchell

touches…I was sure of it.
    He nodded, a ghost of a smile on his mouth. Did he like that I was going to be around? Maybe this whole detention thing wasn’t going to be so bad after all.
    “I guess I’ll be seeing you, Maya.” He pressed his lips together into another smile before walking away, leaving me standing there, outside wing C, staring after him.
    Pushing open the door, I made my way to my assigned room.
    My roommate was already there; a tiny little blonde girl who looked like she belonged less in here than I did. Relief flooded me. I’d been expecting a six-foot butch weightlifter, named Spike.
    “Hi,” I said, offering her a smile. She glanced over and scowled at me. “I’m Maya. I guess we’re roommates?”
    “Guess so,” she said, rolling her eyes. I stood in the doorway, a little taken aback by her snooty attitude. Shake it off, Maya. Walking over to the other bed, I dumped my suitcase and sat down.
    And this is where I need to learn to shut up. But I couldn’t handle people having attitude toward me for no reason, so I decide to try again.
    “Is this your first time here?”
    She sighed, her shoulders falling back, and turned to face me.
    “Sweetie, I’m not here to make friends, okay? I don’t give a damn about you, or any of the other skanks around here. I’m going to do my time, and then fuck off the hell out of here, mkay?” She flashed a big smile that sent her big blue eyes lighting up, while I sat there, my mouth hanging open.
    What the fuck?
    This Pollyanna had way too much attitude. I hoped she wasn’t an indication of the rest of the girls here, but in my heart, I already knew the answer to that.
    No sooner than the thought had left my head, two other girls walked into the room, giggling like parrots, and walked right over to Pollyanna, completely ignoring me. I stood there for a moment, open-mouthed as the three of them chattered and giggled amongst themselves.
    Fair enough then.
    Leaving my suitcase untouched on the bed, I grabbed my purse and stalked out of the room. I kept going….and going until I found myself a shady tree right on the far back edge of the property. I sat down, staring at the high fences before me, suddenly feeling depressed that there was no escape.
    This place sucked. But then again, that was the story of my life. I sighed, banging my head against the roughness of the bark.
    It was times like this I wished I still smoked.
    Sighing again, I leaned my head against the rough trunk of the tree, staring into the distance. This spot was nice. Isolated and relaxing, I could see for miles. There was no chance in hell of anyone sneaking up on me here.
    My life read like a bad movie. Dad died at two, mom couldn’t cope and turned to drugs and sex. I got put in the system when I was five and was shipped from foster home, to group home, to foster home. Some were good. They treated me as part of the family as best they could. Others…not so good. Think of the worst possible experience for a pre pubescent girl, triple it and then you might be close to what my life was like at times.
    As soon I was old enough, I began leeching off friends. A few nights here, a night there. I was always skipping school so I could make a few dollars giving head to the senior boys in school behind the gym—even the odd teacher. Okay, so that had been a one-time thing when he’d caught me giving it to one of the boys and threatened to have me expelled. It was either that and another group home, or suck it up…so I sucked it up.
    And then I end up here anyway.
    My life sucked, but it was more than that. My whole attitude sucked. I used my body to get what I wanted, and saw no reason to trust anyone. As much as I hated being here, I was determined to try and use it to my advantage.
    Believe it or not, I didn’t want to be like this forever. I actually wanted to make something of myself. I had dreams and ambitions like any other girl, though for me they lived in between the pages of the