Bluestone Song by MJ Fredrick

whole
responsibility thing again? Just because you didn’t have a life
when we were growing up doesn’t mean I can’t have one. Jonas is
fine. He’s asleep. I checked on him just two—beers ago.” She
exchanged a look with Vivian and burst into giggles.
    The urge to check for herself was strong. But
she didn’t want to let the other teens leave yet. They couldn’t be
allowed to drive in the condition they were in.
    She walked over to the Westley boy first,
hand outstretched. “Keys.”
    The boy looked startled. “I’m okay to
drive.”
    “No, you aren’t. You either hand me your keys
and start walking home or I call your parents to come get you. You
can get your car in the morning when you’re sober.” She looked over
her shoulder at the other three. “That goes for all of you. Keys or
phone calls.”
    “You’re just going to tell our parents
tomorrow anyway,” Vivian said petulantly.
    Beth hadn’t actually thought that far ahead.
“Tomorrow’s better than two in the morning, don’t you think? I’m
not letting you drive, and don’t you think they’ll wonder where
your cars are? Keys. Now.”
    One by one they handed over their keys,
reluctantly, and shuffled out the door. Beth was glad she’d come
home when she did. She couldn’t imagine what she might have walked
in on a few moments later.
    Once the others were gone, she turned to her
sister. “You clean up this room now. I’m going to check on
Jonas.”
    “I told you he was okay.”
    Beth pivoted on her sister, the temper she’d
reined in slipping its leash. “Pardon me if I don’t trust the words
coming out of your mouth. Clean up, take a shower and get to bed.
I’ll make sure personally that you get to class bright and early
tomorrow.”
    Beth moved down the hall to the bedroom
illuminated with a Disney night-light she’d gotten at the dollar
store. At least Linda was telling the truth. Jonas slept on his
back, his breathing peaceful in the sudden quiet. He squirmed a
little when Beth bent to kiss him, and she straightened, tears
streaming down her cheeks. What was she going to do about her
sister?
     
    The alarm came too early for both of them.
Beth fed and changed Jonas while Linda got ready, very slowly
thanks to her hangover. Beth showed no sympathy, slamming cabinets
and calling to her sister every five minutes to hurry her along.
When they walked out front, two of the three cars remained. Beth
wondered whose parents had a second set of keys.
    It didn’t matter, though. She had to get her
sister to school, then she’d deal with the rest. She’d lain awake
long hours after she went to bed, trying to figure out what to do,
only to drift off moments before the alarm went off.
    She pulled up in front of the school,
unstrapped Jonas from the car seat, and followed her sister up the
walk to the front door.
    Linda pivoted. “I’m here. You can see that,
right?”
    “I just need to talk to the counselor for a
bit.” To see how many summer school days she’d missed. To maybe
have someone help her figure out how to straighten her sister
out.
    She wished she had someone to turn to, and
hated that her thoughts went instantly to Maddox. No. He wasn’t the
one to help her. She didn’t want him to see how she’d failed.
Maybe, if she couldn’t get help here, she’d talk to Trinity, though
going to the preacher’s sister intimidated her—even if she knew the
woman in question was pregnant on her way up the aisle. She
followed Linda in, and her sister didn’t even say good-bye as she
peeled off to go to her class. She waited to see Linda actually
enter a class, then turned toward the office, Jonas pressed against
her shoulder.
    She hated that her sister hadn’t even kissed
her son good-bye. Beth had always been affectionate with her
siblings, to make up for their mother’s absence and their father’s
lack. Why did Linda not feel the same toward her child?
    She had to wait a few minutes to be seen, and
found herself dozing in the