The knocking on the door woke me up far too early. It doesn’t matter that it’s two o’clock in the afternoon, if I’m sleeping and I get woken up than it’s too early. I don’t remember much of yesterday except that I didn’t leave the room except for once when to raid the fridge. The knocking got louder causing Ashlee to whine and put a pillow over her head.

“Justin!” Ryan’s voice echoed through the room. What is this guy’s problem?

“Shut up, Turkey” she said in a whisper.

“I’m coming in!” he shouted. I didn’t get up but I did look over at Star Girl who was lying next to me wearing only a tank top. She doesn’t look like she’s moving either so I pulled the sheet over to cover her lower half. It’s not like she cares, or even noticed that she’s half naked but we don’t need him looking at her like that. Ryan took a deep breath when he saw us both in bed. “Get up!”

“Fuck you,” I answered before placing my arm over my head to block the sunlight as my mother walked in and decided to open the blinds.

“You two need to get up sweetie,” my mother said softly.

“We’re busy, come back tomorrow,” was Ashlee’s response.

“You need to get some things together.” My mother began before sitting down at the foot of my bed for a few seconds in silence. I didn’t remove my arm from covering my eyes but I could tell she was there; I could feel her breathing next to me. She took a deep breath before standing up. “I really wish the two of you would come out to the living room so we can talk.”

“Well I really wish the two of them would leave us alone,” Ashlee said before they were even out of the room.

I took a deep breath and sat up in bed, “We should go.”

“Yeah, we should,” she answered without moving, “or we could lock the door, don’t you have a lock on the door? How do you not have a lock on your door?”

“I don’t know.” that’s a good question. I guess I just assumed I would never need a lock on my own bedroom at my own place. “Let’s just go see what they want.”

“Or we could tell them to fuck off and go back to sleep.”

I stood up and pulled my clothes on before tossing a pair of sweats at her, “Just come on.”

“I don’t want to,” she whined while she pulled the sweats on, “This is so stupid, I don’t know why we can’t just fucking leave. How long am I supposed to stay here?”

“Would you shut the fuck up? I don’t know, I don’t know anything more than you fucking know. All I know is my mother knows what the fuck she’s talking about so if she wants to talk to us then we’re going to go fucking talk to her.”

“What are you ten? Seriously. Whatever Mommy says is what we’re going to do?”

I took another deep breath; it’s too early to deal with her shit. “I’m not good at fucking thinking right now Ash. I couldn’t even tell you my middle name, so I’m thinking maybe I could use a little input from someone that remembers to put pants on before walking around the place when other people are here.”

“Oh fuck you! What does that mean? I remember to put pants on.”

I ignored her and went out to the living room where my mother and Ryan were sitting down. I’m not sure if she’ll come out, in fact I’m pretty sure she won’t, but I’m not going to waste my time trying to talk her into it. She’s her own person; I’m not in charge of her. God knows she does what she wants.

“What is up with that girl?” Ryan asked when I sat down on the couch, “Is she coming?”

It seems that I’ve become a pro at ignoring people so I’ll just go ahead and ignore this asshole too. “What do you want?”

“This girl is trouble,” Ryan continued, “Why are you wasting your time with her? She’s…”

“Ryan, stop” my mother broke in. I’m glad she did or I would have had to break his nose. For some reason my mother seems to like Star Girl. I guess she sees something in her that no one else does. Sure, sometimes I wonder why I waste my time but she was there for me when I needed someone and for some reason I can’t walk away.

Ash stumbled out of the bedroom and sat down on the couch next to me. She kept sniffling and running her hands through her hair nervously as she pulled her knees up to her chest.

“Thank you for coming out Ashlee.” I didn’t miss Ryan’s eye roll as my mother spoke. “We need you guys to pack up some things because… Well, sometimes people get caught up in self-destructive things. Just because someone participates in some bad things doesn’t make them a bad person and we don’t think either of you are bad people; in fact we know you aren’t. But we can’t sit back and watch you continue this self destructive behavior.”

What is she saying? It sounds like she’s…

“Is this a fucking intervention?” Ashlee interrupted my thoughts, “I’m not interested.”

“We found a very nice center not too far away.”

“Fuck that,” Ashlee stood up before my mother could finish, “I don’t need this shit. I’m fine. I don’t need your fucking bullshit intervention. There’s nothing wrong with me, you’re not my mother.”

“Look, it’s not a damn option,” Ryan spoke up, “You’re going, it’s not like you have a fucking choice. Court ordered, sweetheart.”  He held out a piece of paper with the information on it.

“Don’t call me sweetheart. I’m not your sweetheart, I’m not anyone’s fucking sweetheart!” she screamed. Damn, she’s getting all pissed off like he called her a bitch. I didn’t know sweetheart was such a bad word. “I’m not going because I’m going home and you all call fuck off. Especially you,” she pointed to me, “You can especially fuck off.”

“Ash, calm down,” I stood up and grabbed onto her arm to stop her from going out the door.

She pulled her arm out of my grip, “Fuck you! I’m calm; I’m way fucking calm. I’m not going to a rehab shit hole because your fucking… stupid ass people think you need help. I told you, I fucking told you we should have left. Now you have to go to fucking rehab.”

“It’s like a week… tops. Who the fuck cares? It’s not like we have to…” I spoke softly so no one else could hear me.

“A week tops? You’ve never been have you? You have no idea.”

“No, I’ve never been to damn rehab. Have you? How many fucking times have you been?”

She rolled her eyes as an answer, “You sleep in a room the size of a closet on a box spring for a mattress. It’s freezing cold, there’s no heat. Crazy people that think if they wear an aluminum foil hat the aliens can’t read their minds surround you. People scream all fucking night and you can’t even have a fucking smoke or a drink. You eat fucking organic shit and aren’t allowed to talk to anyone you know. It’s called hell Justin, it’s worse than fucking hell and I’m not going. You can’t make me, no one can fucking make me.”

“Can I talk to you for a minute darling?” my mother came into the kitchen, “Justin, go get some things together and let me talk to her alone.”

“I don’t need help, ok?” Ash spoke before I left, “If I needed help I’d be like ok fine, take me away. I don’t though. I’m fine. So what if I do a little blow? It’s not like I’m addicted or anything. I can stop. It doesn’t fuck me up, I’m fine. I’m completely fully functioning; I know what’s going on. I’m still getting the shit done I need to get done. I’m not hurting anybody.”

“Justin, go get your things together and give us a minute.”

I looked at my mother and then at Ashlee and nodded my head. If anyone can talk her into it it’s my mother. It’s not that I want to go to rehab, I know damn well it’s just about the last place I’d like to be. But I’m strong enough to know that this shit is going a little too far. I need to get myself in control. The fact that Star Girl thinks she’s fine worries me a little.

I walked past Ryan who was on his blackberry and made my way into my bedroom. I grabbed a duffle bag from my closet and started packing. I’ve never been to rehab, I don’t know what exactly I’m supposed to be bringing. Ashlee would be the one to ask, since apparently she’s been there a few times before. I really don’t know anything about her, maybe after all this shit I’ll have some kind of a clue about her life.

When Ashlee came in a few minutes later she was crying. Well, she’s not crying anymore but she definitely was and looks like she could start up again at any moment. I didn’t think she could cry, she’s not the kind of girl that cries. Leave it to my mother to find a way to make her cry. “What’s going on?”

“I’m going to get my shit,” she answered softly before pulling a sweatshirt over her head.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, stop looking at me like that.”

The whining is definitely back. “What did my mom say?”

Star Girl looked at me for a second and then grabbed her bag, “I’m going to get my shit and then I’ll be back.”

“Do you want me to come?” she shook her head. “Alright, then we’ll talk later?”

“Probably not. You’re such a chick. Why do you need to talk about shit?”

“Why don’t you want to talk about shit?”

“Because people don’t need to talk about every single thing they’re feeling. Sometimes you just do the shit you need to do and that’s it.”

I took a deep breath and continued stuffing clothes in the bag. I don’t know why I waste my time. “I should be able to know what the fuck my mother said.”

Now she’s ignoring me completely. You’d think I put her dog in the blender. I shouldn’t take it personally because she really does look like she’s going to burst into tears any second. It’s weird seeing her like this so I’m just going to let her go and stop trying to cause more shit. “I’ll see you in a little bit then.”

“Yeah, ok” she nodded her head and left me alone in my bedroom. I really wish she’d take down some of her walls and let me in a little.