Joey’s Choice by Piper Kay

BLURB: Seventeen year old, Joey wakes every morning dreading what the day ahead may have in store for him. High School sucks and so does the jerk and his pack of bullies who live to torture him. When Joey feels there is no hope left and no chance at having peace, there’s only one choice left. He’s sure the people he cares about would be better off without him anyway. Things happen for a reason, and when Luc steps in, Joey’s faced with two decisions. What will Joey’s choice be?  EXCERPT: THIRTY SECONDS after I close the bedroom door, I take a deep breath, and crank the tunes. It’s not like they’ll notice anyway, they hardly ever do – unless it’s to complain about something. I guess hearing that their tosser son got his ass kicked again at school is enough to bitch about. I’m pretty fed up with it myself. If just one time I could see it coming or if these packrat jocks fought fair, I’d stand a chance, but they don’t, it’s all of them on me at once. Yet I’m the pussy? Yeah, right. Whatever. Bruxa’s the perfect song to drown out the yelling and screaming from the other room. Music’s always been my escape and believe me, any chance I get to crawl out of my own skin for a few minutes, you can bet I’m all over it. Anything, no matter what it is, that helps get rid of the thoughts that torture my daily life and terrorize my dreams at night is worth a shot. The crap I live with every single day and can’t seem to escape from, is the same crap that drives me to go extreme, to make this final decision. This choice. Why be here anymore when it seems to affect everyone? Because of me, my parents fight day in and day out. Mom defends me, but Dad is always against me. He doesn’t even understand why either, but I do. It’s the same reason they jump me at school. They all sense it, they know I’m different, and it scares the hell out of them. When people don’t understand something, they flip shit and lash out. They prey on you like a wounded animal. Bullies attack like they’ve been starved for years, and people snicker behind your back. Guess what I get to do?  I get to pretend […]