It's our first night in this house. It feels weird, I don't know how to explain it. Like we we're not home, at least at Jimmy's place, I felt safe. This isn't a good neighborhood and I know Lexi can take care of herself, but I feel like I always have to protect her. I just can't believe she's staying here, she could leave at any point, but chooses to stay. Another reason to really love her. We're sleeping on an air mattress, closet to the door. Cassidy has a real mattress but no bed frame or anything else. The girls were sound asleep, but I just couldn't sleep. So, I got up and went downstairs. I usually wear the same pjs everyday, grey shirt, dark blue sweatpants and a pair of socks, nothing fancy. I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. I wonder if I could just have a late night snack. 

"You're up late." Andy said.

He was sitting in the living room, with a few cans of beer and leftover pizza. 

"I have a hard time sleeping in new places." I shrugged and walked over to the couch to take a seat. 

Andy nodded, "Here, have a beer. I mean you have drank before, right?" 

"Oh yeah! All the time." Is it obvious that I'm lying? Because I felt really nervous about saying that. I'm not a great liar. 

He smiled a little, I knew he didn't believe me, but just pretended. I grabbed the drink and took a sip. Right away I spit it out and started to cough. His smile grew wider and he laughed.

"I'm use to the rich beer." God, that sounded so pretentious. 

"This is the rich kind." He replied.

"Yeah, so I never drank before," I have to stop pretending to be cool, "Is it suppose to burn?"

Andy shook his head. It seemed like beer was the only source of drinks around here, I had to suck it up and drink it. After a lot of sips, it wasn't so bad. Still really gross, but didn't burn as bad. 

"So, Andy, what's your story? How'd you get here?" I asked. 

"It's a long story and I got to get to bed." He quickly left. 

Ah, touchy subject. But it won't stop me from wondering, one day he just has to tell me. Or I could ask someone. Yeah, the second option sounds better. I was about to go upstairs, but Maggie came down. I looked at the time and it said three a.m. What's she doing up so late? I sat back down and she sat down too. Maggie grabbed a can of beer and began to drink it. 

"How old are you?" She looks extremely young.

"Fourteen." She answered.

"Wait, what? You're drinking?" I questioned.

She nodded, "It's the only drink that we have." 

I shook my head, annoyed, "No, you shouldn't be drinking. You're too young."

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"Neither should you." 

Well, she got me there. But seriously, fourteen? That's s young, "What are you doing up so late?"

"I never really sleep at night," She shrugged, "I get scared."

I looked at her and smiled sincerely, "Everyone gets scared. I hate the dark." 

"I know everyone gets scared."

"What are you scared of then?"

"My step dad. I'm scared he's going to find me and hurt me again."

I just looked at her, I wasn't expecting that answer. No one should be scared of their parents, even if it is a step parent. 

"He would always come home drunk. But it was my fault, I was always fucking up." She felt guilty.

"You shouldn't put yourself down, it was always his fault and you shouldn't drink." 

"It's the only thing that we steal." 

I sighed, I couldn't believe I was about to ask this, "When do you usually go out and steal?" 

"Anytime really. Sometimes we'll walk up to the mini mart and grabbed snacks." She shrugged.

"What about now?"

"Sure."

"Lets go then."

Ugh, what's wrong with me? I'm about to steal, why? I mean I know why. We put on our shoes and left. It was really scary walking in this neighborhood at night. Starting to think we should've took my car, then again, I'm low on gas. And this place is quiet at night, I wouldn't want them to hear a loud engine. Maggie and I got to the mini mart and walked in. We walked all the way to the back by the drinks.

"It's always easy to steal at night, don't feel pressured." She said with a little smile. 

That's the first time I've seen her smile. I nodded and she started to fill the bag with soda and water. We got lots of water. She also grabbed some candy and chips. The guy who was working, got up and walked towards us.

"Play it cool." 

The guy was kind of short and pretty chubby, he wore a green polo that had a name tag on it, his name was Tag, he also wore blue jeans, white shoes and a brown belt, "What are you kids doing?" 

"Nothing, just looking." I said, I could feel myself sweating. 

When I said I was a bad liar, I meant it. I sweat, a turn red, I get real nervous, I start to look around and get a dried mouth. My heart pounds very fast and I know people can hear it. We're by the coffee. That's important by the way. Tag grabbed Maggie by the arm, tightly. She looked scared and ready to cry. I was holding onto the bag.

"Let go of her." I stated, determined.

"Put the stuff back and I will." 

"What stuff?" I asked, filling up a cup of coffee.

The two looked confused at me. Why was I filling up a cup of coffee? 

I looked down at the coffee, "Oh this, yeah, no this is nothing." 

"Throw that out." His voice raised. 

I shrugged and threw the, hot coffee into his face. He let go of Maggie and put his hands in front of his face. He fell to the ground, screaming. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

"Come on Maggie!" I yelled. 

She kicked him really hard, grabbed a bunch of stuff and ran out with me. We ran all the way home. It was such an adrenaline rush. We got home and walked in. The time was four a.m. I felt really tired and sat on the couch. I lied down, but without a second later, I jumped off the couch. I began to panic. Maggie looked confused.

"What the hell did I just do?" I yelled and really wanted to cry. 

"Saved my ass." She replied.

"I wouldn't even have to do that if we wouldn't have stolen stuff! I have money, we could've just bought the stuff!" 

Maggie just let me freak out. She wasn't too concern. 

"No, Lexi can't know about this. She would hate me," I sat on the couch and began to cry, "Oh my God, I'm going to lose Lexi! I'm such a stupid idiot. God, what the fuck is wrong with me?" 

I put my hands over my face and slowly remembered what I did.

"That's what Tag did." Maggie smiled and laughed a little.

I jerked my head up, "Oh! That poor guy! I threw hot coffee on his face. What is wrong with me? How could I let this happen?"

I continued to  freak out for a good hour, when Jinx came downstairs and watched me freak out. I noticed her five minutes later. I asked what she was doing.

"I'm always up at five." She answered.

"I think I'm dying." I said and passed out. 

Maggie and Jinx stood over me. That's all I remembered.