Free Triggered by Vicki Grant Page A

friends never liked her, and the whole time I’m just standing there with my hands up like I’m under arrest or something.
    I’m almost relieved when I see Gavin standing in his bedroom doorway. Jade turns to look. He starts to wail.
    He drops his stuffed kangaroo and runs straight to me. He puts his arms around my leg. “Why are you guys fighting? Don’t fight. Don’t fight.” Little kids crying like that will break your heart. They don’t hold back. It’s the end of the world for them.
    Jade grabs the collar of his pajamas and rips him away from me. “Don’t, Gavin. Let go! Mick doesn’t like us anymore.”
    The look on his face. That was the worst. How could she say that to him?
    I say, “Jade. No! Gavin…”
    She slaps my hand away. “That’s what you said!”
    â€œI didn’t.”
    â€œThat’s what you said.”
    She won’t let me talk.
    â€œYou did so. And now you’ve upset Gavin and he’s going to get a migraine and he’ll probably throw up and there’s school tomorrow and I’ve got a biology test and I’m going to be up half the night looking after him. So why don’t you just get the hell out of here before you screw anything else up?”
    Gavin is covering his ears with his hands and sobbing into Jade’s side. She’s rubbing his back and glaring at me.
    I grab my laptop and go.
    I don’t know what else to do. Maybe I am a coward.

Jade’s Diary
    Chapter Two
    February 26
    No, it’s not. It’s three in the morning, so that makes it February 27.
    What a night!! I just got Gavin settled down. I should go to bed myself, but there’s too much going on in my head. I have to write it out.
    It’s probably a good thing Gavin had a migraine. (Not for him, of course) I couldn’t get all worked up over my own problems. I had to take care of his. It gave me a chance to cool down. Things look different now.
    The truth is, I’ve known something was up with Mick for a while. There was that poker game he went to with the guys even though we had a movie planned.
    Then there was that time he got all pissy just because I made the server take my salad back and that other time he “wanted an early night.” I had the feeling he wasn’t answering all my calls anymore either.
    I couldn’t figure it out. This wasn’t the Mick I knew. We used to spend every waking minute together. We were the perfect couple. Everyone said that. Then, suddenly, he was like, “Sorry, Jade, I’m doing something with Quinn.”
    â€œSorry, Jade, but it’s only five dollars. Don’t go getting the waitress in trouble just because you asked for dressing on the side.”
    â€œSorry, Jade. I didn’t hear my phone.”
    I thought I’d done something wrong. I racked my brain to figure out what—and tonight I got the answer. I realized it wasn’t what I did. It was what I didn’t do.
    I’ve been so busy lately with homework and work and looking after Gavin and applying to nursing school that I haven’t had time for Mick. He’s probably worried I don’t care anymore, scared he’s going to lose me. If he were someone else, he might have tried to talk to me about it, but Mick’s not a talker. Instead, he struck back in the only way he knew how—by deliberately provoking me. It’s like he’s going, “See? I don’t need you either.”
    I understand that now—although the sad thing is he does need me. Mick’s got two parents, three grandparents, a brother and a sister, but the fact is, he doesn’t really have a family. Not the way Mom and Gavin and I do.
    We don’t have the big house or the big family reunions or the big trips down south every year, but we do talk to each other. We care about each other. At the Staynors’ you’re lucky if you hear “Dinner’s on” or