Alpha’s Hot Summer.

Past, Present, & Future.

Tessa POV:

We walked into the mall and browsed through a few stores. The mall was busy tonight. I recognized a few classmates. Cameron stayed on his phone most of the time. Cameron was the one that asked me out. At first he was sweet and flirty. His hand would always be holding mine. After I told him the first time I didn’t want to sleep with him he changed.

Insults took the place of him whispering sweet nothings. Sometimes I think he took more pleasure in humiliating me then making me happy.

We walked into a jewelry store where we ran into Becky and Lily.

Literally I ran into them. Cameron grabbed my hand half-heartedly to keep me from falling.

I felt Becky brush into me again. When I tried to turn to look, Cameron pulled me deeper into the store. I looked at all the jewelry that they had.

Emeralds, diamonds, and pearls sparkled and shined. Catching the eye of anyone looking.

I wasn’t really into jewelry.

“You know, I’m bored. Since we all just so happened to run into each other, why not go get an ice cream together?” Becky said with a huge grin.

“That sounds like a great idea! Let’s go.” Lily said.

When we walked out of the store the alarm went off.

I looked around to see who was shoplifting.

Becky wore a devious grin on her face while she looked at me.

“ Oh my goodness, I can’t believe you would steal Tessa!” Lily said with fake surprise.

I knew in that instant, that I had been set up.

Tears came to my eyes.

I can’t believe I used to be friends with any of them.

Cameron walked over and whispered in my ear.

“I’m breaking up with you. Also check your purse.”

A security guard came over before I had a chance.

They found the necklace in my purse.

Everything started happening so fast.

I was detained in the security office till the police came. My parents were called.

The necklace found in my purse was worth a lot of money.

Before I knew it I was in a juvenile detention center.

My parents were horrified by the situation.

All they cared about was what people would think.

That’s how I wound up here.

If Aunt Lucy hadn’t taken me in, I wouldn’t know where I’d be.

My parents refused to let me back in the house; telling me I wasn’t welcome.

It was all too much. I was overwhelmed, and embarrassed that I was fooled.

I heard a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” I called out.

“ Tessa, it's Grammy. I came to see how my girl is doing.”

“ Leave me alone grammy.”

“ I’ve got chocolate chip cookies.”

My grammy’s cookies were the best.

No matter who you are, you can’t resist them.

“…Come in.” I said as I sat up on the bed.

Grammy walked in with a plate of fresh cookies. I could see the steam rising from them.

She sat down on the bed next to me and held the plate out for me to take a cookie.

I took a cookie from the plate and took a bite.

Delicious couldn’t even come close.

“Well I guess you feel stuck in a rut huh? You're embarrassed and angry. You don’t know who to blame, your parents or yourself.

You're taking your frustrations out on your family here. Even though you want to say thank you and cry into all of our arms.” She said not looking at me.

I felt like there was a knot in my stomach and throat.

“What gives you that idea?” I choked out.

“I’m a grandmother, I have years of wisdom to share.”

“… I messed up grammy. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to fix it. My life feels like it’s already over.” I said, fighting back tears.

“How do you picture your life being?”

“I don’t know… I want to be able to make everyone proud. Have a person I can call a friend. I wish I had parents that were proud of me. Parents that didn’t think money was more important than my happiness. I don’t want to make mistakes. I thought they were my friends. They framed me, I didn’t steal that necklace.”

I cried.

My grammy rubbed my back.

“It will be okay. The best thing you can do right now is take baby steps. Figure out how to get what you want and take steps to reach it one day.”

“Thanks grammy.”

“Now why don’t you come with the girls and I. We are going to the beach and then to pick up Sabrina.”

“Alright. I’ll go.”

“And Tessa.”

“Yea grammy.”

“A word of advice, the first step you might consider is being a little nicer. Less sarcastic, more appreciative. Perhaps even try to reconnect with Sabrina.”

“Okay, I’ll work on it grammy.”

We all got ready to go to the beach. I slipped on my black bikini and headed downstairs.

We all piled into the car and headed to the beach.

“I’m going to try hard.” I told myself.