Shattered by Elizabeth Lee

our driveway.  She peaked over my shoulder and out the door as we watched him climb down from his truck and head toward the front door. “That’s Collin Smolder, Alyssa,” she said, as if I didn’t already know.  The overjoyed expression on her face annoyed me.
    I  quickly brushed off her excitement before going out to meet him.  I was not about to let him in the house so that my mother could gush about how great his family was and how happy it made her that I was hanging out with acceptable people.
    “Hi.” I smiled, tucking a stray hair behind my ear.  Then remembered how I acted the last time I’d seen him and quickly took in a deep breath, hoping that he’d forgotten.
    “Hey party girl.” The smug smile that crossed his face let me know that, indeed, he had not.  “What are you up to?”
    I laughed and tried to play off my embarrassment, “Nothing really.”
    “Feel like hanging out?”  He crossed his arms over his chest and the sleeve of his shirt inched up just enough to let his inked-up arm show.  He might as well have had a red flag tattooed on his arm, because my conscience started up again. He’s bad news, Alyssa . That nagging little voice rang out.  I peeked over my shoulder and saw my mother, still peering out the window, with a smile on her face.  I rolled my eyes at her.  She apparently hadn’t seen his tattoo.  He would have quickly been cast into her inappropriate pile.
    “Sure.  Let me just grab my things and tell my mother,” I emphasized the word as I turned my head back to face her, “where I’m going.”  She must have taken the hint, because she quickly exited the doorway.
    He laughed, “Sounds good.” He pointed toward the front porch and leaned close to whisper, “I’ve got a couple of nosy-ass parents too.”
     “I’m going out.” I said nonchalantly to my parents as I made my way back inside and upstairs. I grabbed a jacket, knowing that once the sun went down the May night would bring out a chill.  I looked in the mirror and added a little lip gloss.  My shoulders sunk as I contemplated just what in the hell I was doing.  I knew he was no good, but I still wanted to go with him.  He was one of the only people that didn’t look at me like I was a leper in this town.  Even though I’d managed to make it through the entire day unmedicated I decided it was best not to take any chances and quickly swallowed down a pill with a gulp from a half-empty diet soda that was sitting on my nightstand.  I tucked another in the inside pouch of my purse, not knowing if I’d need it later, and bounced down the stairs.  
    “That’s the kind of boy you should be spending your time with, Alyssa,“ she said, pleased, as I passed the kitchen on my way out.
    I turned to my mother, “You don’t need to worry about me hanging out with Jesse.”  She smiled.  A genuine smile.  Little did she, or I, know… hanging out with Collin Smolder could be much more damaging.

Chapter 8
    Jesse
     
    Ok.  So maybe taking a job working for Alyssa’s dad wasn’t the smartest idea, but when I saw the classified ad running in the Harrington Herald, I had to take a chance.  Even if she wasn’t ready to talk to me, I was going to make sure that I got to see her every day. I’d missed out on nine months, I wasn’t going to miss one more day.  Plus, she’s really cute when she’s mad.  That first morning that she saw me unloading hay, I thought her cute little head was going to explode.
    “She didn’t know you were working here?”  Paul Boyd asked as we watched his daughter stomp across the driveway.  
    “Mmmm… no,” I shook my head.
    He just smiled.  I watched as Paul’s tall frame leaned up against the hayrack we’d just finished unloading.  His face was long and appeared tired from all his years of hard work.  He pushed the John Deere ball cap he always wore up on his head, giving me a better view of his hazel eyes and balding dirty blond hair.  “Well,