40,000? How in the world? I couldn't stop counting the zeros. How in the world did I get that much? I didn't think the town had that as a whole.
"How?" That was the only thing I could say.
"Well, the town raised about 10,000; half of that came from the Holloways," which seemed right. They did 5,000, and the town did about the same. Wait… where did the other 30k come from…. I scroll past the 10s and 20s of donations from familiar names around town. Again, this was one of the many reasons living in a small town was wonderful. People really come together to help each other when in desperate need. I scrolled all the way to the bottom. There it was…. Right after Jess started it with 50 bucks. Anonymous 30k, who the hell do I know has that much? It had to be a mistake, no one just had 30k laying around for a nobody like me to have. It didn't make sense.
"Jess, who donated this amount?" I asked.
"Mhm?" She hummed, looking over to what I was pointing at. "Yeah, no idea," Jess said half heartedly.
"Jess…?" I knew Jess just as well as she knew me, so I pushed. I didn't fully believe her.
"What?" She wasn't looking at me. That was a dead giveaway. She was lying.
"Who donated it?" I pushed more.
"Why does it matter?" She questioned.
"Because it's too much, there is no way I know anyone who just has that kind of money laying around for me to have," I told her how I felt.
"They wanted you to have it. So why not take it and take care of the things you need?" Jess was digging in. Still not looking at me. I don't think she is going to tell me, I had to push a little more to see if she would cave.
"So you do know who it is." I continued to push a little more.
"I don't know what you mean." She was looking out the window when she said that.
"You do. Otherwise, you would look me in my eye," I stated
"If you knew who it was, would you have taken it?" She finally fully looked at me, raising an eyebrow.
"No, absolutely not," I told her.
"Then that's why they did it this way," Jess said, and that was that.
I was tired and didn't want to keep arguing. So I lay my head down on the armrest and dozed off. I was thankful to find a sleepless dream. I was getting sick of the wolf dreams, and I didn't want another dream with my dad alive in it. I missed him so much it hurt, but I don't think I could handle the mess of emotions that would come from seeing him to waking and then remembering he was no longer here with us. I woke up to Jess rubbing my back.
"Sorry." I apologized for passing out like that.
"It's fine. You sure you're up for shopping?" She asked.
"Yeah, 100 percent, just a little tired," I tell her
"Okay, as long as you're sure." She smiled at me.
With that, we left the SUV. I wanted to ask what the person was going to do while we shopped, but Jess was tugging me along by my arm. She couldn't stop talking about clothing and outfits. It was nice seeing her so lively and chatty. Jess loved shopping. She loaded me up with lots of outfits, and I tried them all on. It was like a mini fashion show with the two of us. Once Jess was satisfied that I had about 2 weeks of outfits, we left for the food court. I sat scrolling on my phone while Jess went and got some Chinese.
A scrape of chairs next to me caused me to look up. A group of mostly boys and a couple of girls were all sitting together laughing. They gave me the creeps. I tried to ignore them as I waited for Jess to come back. But they were close and loud, I couldn't help but to look up again to lock eyes with one. I instantly shivered under his gaze. I quickly looked away, hoping not to draw his attention. Nope, I was not that lucky. The boy I locked eyes with made his way over to me.
"Hey, pretty little pup," He greeted me.
"Not interested," I told him.
"Don't need to shut me down like that," He pouted
"Sorry, but I am not interested. " He didn't seem to care as he pulled up a chair really close to me.
"I just wanted to say hi, he brushes my hair from my face. I don't bite." He smiles almost too widely. Like something was so funny about what he just said. I got a bad feeling from him.
"Don't touch me. I didn't give you permission." I coldly brush his arm away from me.
"Aw, sweet little pup. I just wanted to talk. Maybe get to know you. I can be really friendly." I pulled away from him, but he tried to touch me again. A hand came out and smacked his away.
"My friend is politely telling you to fuck off. So why don't you fuck off!" Jess stood in front of me, glaring at the guy who wouldn't leave me alone. He took one look at her as he stood, and he took a whiff of me. Gross.
"Witch". He spat at her like an insult.
"Loser!" She flipped him off as he rejoined his group. Soon they all left. "What was that all about?" Jess asked.
"No Idea," I told her honestly. "I think he was hitting on me or something? But it was really creepy."
"Yeah, I didn't like the vibes he gave me, either, or his group of friends. They seemed very off." She tells me.
"Agreed," I say. We spent the next twenty minutes just eating and chatting about what I got and what I can get at the next store. I felt like my old bedroom was a bit too preteen girlly. But I didn't want an old lady type of bedding. Jess had an idea where we could go. I was thankful for her. She always knew where to take me to find good items. I definitely spent more money than I originally planned, but the donations helped. I wanted to see how bad my home was. It was strange to try and imagine it gone. I knew I needed to see it soon. Maybe not today. But soon. Then a thought struck me. My dad's truck. No one mentioned it.
"Jess? Do you know what happened to my dad's truck? I haven't heard a thing." I asked, trying to hide the fear in my voice.
"Oh... I am not sure... I am sorry." Jess's gaze was filled with pity.
"Oh…" It almost felt like I was losing him again. That truck means so much to me. It was the last thing me and my dad really bonded over. So much love and laughter went into that truck. For it to be just gone was going to devastate me.
"Danni, I am sorry. I know how much that truck means to you. I don't know what happened. I know Phil towed it to see if he could salvage it. But I haven't heard anything about it." Jess spoke so gently it hurt.
"It's okay. thank you for letting me know…" I told her that. It wasn't okay, but right now I couldn't let myself be anything but okay.