Learning The Lies: The Bailey Trilogy, #1

DEDICATION

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This book is dedicated to all the Likers of the Author D. Love Facebook Fan Page! Please understand how humbled and honored I am to have you. Every word that I write is for you!

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Table of Contents

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CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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I would like to give a special thank you to my PA, Heather Alexander. I cannot express enough how incredible she is, but one in a million comes to mind. Heather, thank you so much for always encouraging me and mostly, sharing part of yourself with me.

To all my friends and my family, I love you all so much! A special thank you to Sheila and Kent Axell for adding inspiration to this book, the magic of friendship you give me is beyond words.

Auntie Lois and Uncle John, thank you for standing by me.

Thank you, Bailey and Steven, for being the perfect models for my cover. My gratitude is never ending.

A huge Thank you goes to Tina Donnelly, Terri Barber, Lisa Markson, Tina Harrison, Crystal Bozeman Clifton, Nanette Bradford, Lisa Graziano, Rabsaris Flores, Erin Volf, Jacquie Talento, Lulu Vega, Anna-Marie Coomber, Donna Bosser, Susan Burdorf, Michelle McQueen, and Megan Grimm. Each one of you has touched me in a special way during the writing process of this book.

Another Thank You to Melanie Williams

BookfabulousDesigns for designing a cover perfect for Learning The Lies.

Tina's Photography for a perfect cover photo.

I love you ladies!

Author Susan Griscom for all my formatting. You gave me so much in the last few months, I hope one day I will return the love. Thank you for holding my hand and walking each step with me. Everyone can check out Susan’s great books here.

http://www.amazon.com/Susan-Griscom/e/B008R94FNO/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1388257480&sr=1-2-ent

A very special Thank You goes to my mentor, Author Belinda Boring. You are my very own angel! I truly love you! I hope one day I can give back what you have given to me.

Lastly, if you are reading this, I love you!

http://www.amazon.com/Belinda-Boring/e/B005C1IRFC/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1388257689&sr=1-2-ent

CHAPTER ONE

*Bailey*

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Sitting here underneath this old willow tree, I can smell the fresh cut grass. I stare at my house, trying to memorize it for the last time as I pluck one blade of grass at a time. Tomorrow I will be leaving this life for another. I have been dreaming about this move for a year. Now it is finally here, and I’m a little scared but excited at the same time. Talk about being confused.

Sometimes life is such a big contradiction. People spend so much time wishing their life could be so different, or we wish we’re that other person who we think has everything, unless that other person’s face is flashing on the news. Then we say, thank goodness I’m not them. I often wonder is one person ever happy in the life that they are given, or will they always want what they don’t have, never being satisfied.

That’s the girl I was, wishing I was someone else or had someone else’s life. Living at my house is like living twenty years in the past. My friends are all walking around with iPods and cell phones, yet the most current electronic I have is a Walkman. If I ever thought about asking for something, it was a five hour long conversation about how, In my days ... or Do you understand how hard your father works to provide us with a roof over our heads? This being my all-time favorite, Just because your friends jump off a bridge, are you going to as well? But yet my brother got anything he desired. All he had to do was flash my parents those blue eyes, and they would melt, giving him whatever he wanted.

My mother didn’t know what the word trendy meant or the need to keep up with the times. Lord knows, she has no clue of what fashion is. Thank goodness for my brother Ethan, who has always made sure I have everything I need. I am not shallow, but going to high school in polyester pants and a matching shirt when everyone else was wearing jeans and t-shirts, well you can imagine how my days went.

I stand up, making the biggest decision I have ever made. As of today, I am Bailey Jones. I will be strong, and I will make my life become my dream. I start walking down our driveway that is not paved, but made of dirt and gravel, feeling like a warrior. I giggle to myself thinking I am nuts, but excited to finally feel free of the chains I have worn since I have been here.

Bailey Jones, warrior of the world, I say aloud.

I walk slowly toward the house, wondering what the possibilities were that something exciting would happen. I pause for a moment to shake my head, knowing that will never happen. Thinking to myself that I need to stop reading so much, I continue on to the house when I see my brother Ethan coming out with Dad.

Wonder what Ethan would say if I told him I am now a warrior, I say to the air, laughing.

Ethan is eleven months older than me. He was born in January, and I was born in December of the same year. Just because he is older, he thinks he is my protector from everything bad, or at least what he considers bad. He’s a great brother, but sometimes he does get on my nerves. 

Dad pulls up next to me in the car while I am walking, and Ethan leans out the window, smacking the side of the door to get my attention.

Bailey, if you’re done talking to yourself, you want to go to the hospital with us to see Tim? he asks in between chuckles.

With a huff, I say, No thank you. I have a lot to do before I leave tomorrow. He just gives me an icy stare as dad pulls the car away.

Ethan and Tim are the very best of friends, and to him, I was being rude by giving up so easily. He claims Tim just needs time to adjust. He doesn’t understand how much Tim has broken my heart. It’s not like he just broke up with me, which would be easier. No, he said things that shattered my heart into jagged pieces, like a glass vase knocked off a table. I know he’s hurting, but that doesn’t give him the right to hurt others.

Three months ago, Tim was in an accident. He ended up getting his arm amputated after having it caught in a combine harvester. He was working with his father on their farm when he tried to fix something on the tractor. His arm was pulled in and horribly mangled. Sadly, the doctors couldn’t save it from the elbow down. They did manage to save his life though, and everyone is grateful for that.

Tim is, or was, my very first boyfriend. Heck, he’s the only boyfriend I’ve ever had. Considering that I have strict parents and live in the sticks, I had no hopes of a boyfriend prior to him. I began seeing him as a means to get out of my house, but soon after that, I found myself falling in love with him. At least what I thought was love. But after his accident he said he didn’t want to be with me any longer. As a matter of fact, the last time I was at the hospital he ordered me to leave and told me he never wanted to see me again, EVER, were his exact choice of words. So, after leaving that day, I have yet to go back. I still call every day to check on him, though he continually hangs up on me.

We had spent every day together since we started dating. I was fifteen and a half, but never officially got to go out on a real date until I was sixteen. He taught me some of my firsts like kissing, holding hands, and making out in the back seat, but never going beyond that. He has beautiful, bright blue eyes and blondish hair with sun kissed highlights. He is a bit over six feet tall with a typical football player body. When he smiles at me, it always sends shivers down my spine. I love him, but how am I going to get through my days without him? My hands start to shake, so I take a deep breath to steady myself. I tell myself I am not going to cry all night again tonight. To finish packing is first on my list, then I will start on my new path in life tomorrow.  Because I will start a new life; I will be strong.

Once I make it into the house and enter the kitchen, Mom is cooking already. You can smell the biscuits baking and the grease from the chicken frying. Of course, this is nothing new for me. Since she makes such a big meal, she starts early. We eat every night by six thirty, no later.

Hi, Mom. I’m home

She looks at me, and I already see the question in her eyes. Did your Dad catch you in time to go to the hospital with him and Ethan?

Yes, Mom, but I’m not going. Why would I want to, just to be kicked out of the hospital again? I snap. She just shakes her head and continues cooking. It’s her silent way of telling me how disappointed she is in me. Sometimes I wonder if I have ever made her proud.

My Dad and Mom adopted me when I was eight years old after my real father died. When my brother and I were babies, a drunk driver hit our car, killing my real Mom instantly. I believe my real father blamed my brother for my Mom’s death because she protected him in the accident. He gave Ethan over to the parents I have now. He chose to keep me, only he died when I was eight, which led to my adoption too. My adopted parents, now mom and dad, never told Ethan he was adopted and raised him to believe they were his real parents. He was to never know any different from that. That was the first lesson I learned after coming to live here. I felt like I was just a ‘have to’ case. They didn’t want me, but didn’t have much of a choice after my father died. So I keep their secret, not to protect them, instead to protect my brother. I never want him to hurt.

I finally make it to my room and throw my book bag on the bed. As I take a deep breath, I begin pulling my clothes out of the closet and spread them all over my bed. I am only allowed two suitcases, so I need to pack very carefully to be able to make the most of what space I have. Packing is not what I want to do right now. I grab my pillow as I lay on my bed, wishing it could give me the answers I need. I want to cancel going to Aunt Sheila’s, my heart wanting to stay here with Tim.

Until his accident, he would drive me to school and bring me home. Mom and Dad love him, trusting him, just like they trust the bank with their money. Whenever Mom would get in one of her moods ready to ground