Let Me Die by Maryjessie Pacheco (little red riding hood read aloud TXT) 📕

I whirl around, startled to find a strange boy I'd never seen before watching me intently. He was dressed all in black from his expensive-looking leather jacket to his brand-new combat boots. His short, spiky hair was a really dark blood-red, and his left ear had a lot of piercings. The weirdest thing about him, though, was his big, yellowish cat eyes that seemed to be examining me like mine were doing to him.

 
"What's with the mask? Is it Halloween already?"

Snapped out of my reverie, my face burns with rage. Who does this guy think he is?

"What the hell did you just say, you freaking bastard?" I roar. He grins crookedly, amusement dancing across his face.

"I said-" he gets out just as I tear a chunk of muddy grass out of the ground and hurl it at his stupid face. He scowls, attempting to clean the oozing mess off his forehead without much success. I bite back the urge to laugh hysterically because all he's doing is smudging it everywhere.

"You little bitch!" he screams furiously, lunging at me. I literally dance out of the way while he crashes into the log and slips through the mud. This time I do laugh, scooping up my backpack and racing away. He yells after me, but by the time he's up, I'm too far away to hear or care. My whole day just got so much better. That guy was the most beautiful dumbass I've ever met, and I don't even have a name to put to that dirty face of his. Shame.
 

 
I stand with my hand frozen on the doorknob. I really don't want to go in, but I can hear Avery wailing at the top of her lungs and Demetrius yelling at Reed. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, pushing the door open slowly.

The moment I set foot in the house, Avery barrels into me, her head ramming into my stomach. It's cute, yeah, but it hurts like hell. I nearly fall when Reed and Demetrius ambush me. No, wait! I'm goin' down!

"Timber!" I cry, wheezing out a shaky laugh when they fall on top of me in a giggling heap.
"Okay, okay! Let me up! I can't breath; you guys weigh a ton."

"Jezabel? Is at you?"

I shut my eyes and take a deep breath. Here we go-the moment I've been dreading.

"Yeah, Mom. It's me," I answer, shooing the kids away to their hiding place behind the staircase. I can see them peeking through the slightly open door fearfully. I brace myself for the next question.

"Where's my Dezmond?" she asks, stumbling down the stairs excitedly.

"He's not home yet," I murmur, averting my eyes. Here we go.

"Why? Where is he? Why's he gone? He left, didn't he? He couldn't stand me anymore, could he?" she cries in a heartbreakingly sad voice. Then she turns on me. "No! My baby would never leave me! He's strong, and he loves his mama! You drove him away, didn't you? You were always so jealous of him! What did you do to my little boy?" She grips my arms and shakes me so hard, my head snaps back and hits the closed front door.

"Mom, he'll be home in a few hours; he's still at school," I yell, trying to stay calm while black dots dance across my vision.

"I don't believe you! He's gone! My little Dezzy's gone!" she wails, throwing me against the wall and turning her back on me. She races back upstairs, sobbing. I sink to the ground and listen to the slam of her bedroom door. I long to shout that I'm her child, too. That Dez isn't her only kid. But what was the point? She'd always love him more; he'd always be her favorite. The Golden Boy. It was like the rest of us didn't even exist. I don't think it would matter to her if we all died as long as she had her Dezzy.

In that moment, I realized, with horror, that I hated my twin. How could I hate the sweet, lovable brother I'd grown up with? The brother who'd always protected me when Mom's boyfriends got violent.

But then...how could I not hate him? The perfect everything who was loved by everyone. The boy who turned his back on me at school. The boy who didn't do anything when he saw me getting picked on. The boy who always left me to take Mom's scary tantrums and beatings. Why had it taken me this long to realize that Dez was the person I hated more than anyone or anything else in the whole world? 

 
I got dressed and left in a hurry without Dez again. Ever since I realized how much I hated him, I haven't been able to so much as look at him. Golden Boy didn't seem to care too much about that though; he's busy flirting with Amanda these days. They definately deserved each other, I can tell you that. Alright, on to other miserable topics. What should I make for dinner? Let me think about what we have that isn't rotten.

"Hey!"

I turn, startled to find Mud Face shaking an angry fist at me. Oh, shit! He's still pretty far away, but he's catching up fast. Okay, time to run like hell! I turn and flee, with both fear and excitement bubbling up in my chest. You know, running from him is actually the most fun I've had in a while. He probably won't catch me if I can just make it to that bus over-

"Aaaaahhhh!!!!" I scream as I sprawl flat on my face with, like, a million pounds of someone crushing me. "Get off of me, you psycho freak!" I squirm, kicking wildly; by some stroke of luck, I kick him where it counts, and he rolls off of me into the fetal position. Now's my chance! I stand and am about to sprint away when the guy grabs my freaking ankle. I try to wrench it away, but all that does is make me land on my ass.

"What the hell was that for?" he says through gritted teeth, pulling on me until he manages to drag himself up against my left knee.

"Are you kidding me? A guy jumps on top of a girl, and you don't expect the girl to fight back?" I fire back. We glared at each other for the longest time until I realized I had to get to school. I kicked out as hard as I could, sending him toppling over. Standing, I turn and stalk away. When I looked over my shoulder, about to board the bus, he stood where we'd fought, watching me with a strange look on his face. Was he smiling?

 
I got to class on time, for once, without being hassled. Taking my seat in the back beside the window, I prepared myself for another boring day.

"Listen up everyone," Mr. Carter shouted. "We have two new students. Go on, introduce yourselves."

I didn't bother looking away from the window, uninterested. At least I wasn't until one of them spoke.

"My name's Derek Fear, and that's my brother, David," Derek, Mud Face, said, sounding bored. He wore that same leather jacket and boots from the day I threw mud at him, the rest of his clothes black. I guess that's his thing, like the spiky hair and peircings. His brother, on the other hand, had his hair long in front and short in back, his eyes barely visible. David wore a simple, white sweatshirt and ripped up blue jeans with old black sneakers. He did have the same peircings but on his right ear. He also had one just below his bottom lip and looked shy.

"Okay, Derek, you sit in front of David, and David sits next to Jezabel. Please raise your hand so they can see you, Jezabel."

"Um, over here," I said in shock, waving my hand a little. Derek's eyes lit up when he saw me, his mouth curving into a dangerous grin. You've gotta be kidding me.

"Jezabel, huh?" Derek said smugly, taking his seat.

"Yeah," I grumble. "You can call me Jez, David. You can't, Derek."

"Huh? Oh, h-hi Jez," David stammers while Derek tries to hide his annoyance. Score.

"Alright everyone..." Mr. Carter goes on, but I go back to ignoring him. I draw what I see outside instead. A few trees. The sky. The gym, etc. That's when I got the feeling I was being watched. When I looked up, I saw David watching me with his