money for that, or if they bought it.
School was now a joy for me. Not because I was escaping my life or trying to distract myself from my disturbed parents, but because I had something to look forward to. And there was someone there who cared. There was someone there who apparently looked for my arrival and searched for me in the halls the way I did for him.
He had made an appearance at my locker every morning since and I could almost tell you down to the second when I would see him in between classes. But I couldn’t help but have a knot in my gut. It was all going too well, too fast and my parents were way too complacent about my going out. It was a feeling of impending doom, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
We decided during Drama class that we were going to go to the Santa Monica pier. I had only been a few times and when I had we didn’t have any money for rides or games or anything. I left that out of the conversation.
Carlos had to go to work that night so I rode the bus home and everyone was home when I got home. May was playing outside in the yard, which was typical. She waved at me and showed me her soup she was making which was actually dirty water in a pail with leaves. I went to work and got another paycheck. I still had not spent mine from the last payday, so I decided to go to the thrift store to look for something new to wear on Saturday.
The lady at the Barely Worn thrift store was a younger woman, maybe 26 or 27 and I could never remember her name but she remembered mine every time. She reminded me of the record store ow ner on the movie Pretty in Pink…The one who wore clothes that made her look like a different character every day.
Today she had on this black leather jacket with the sleeves rolled up and she had dyed her short hair black. She had tons of black eyeliner on…I took a guess.
“Joan Jett?”
She laughed and said , “Yeah Jenna , 80’s Joan Jett. Good guess.”
“Thanks.”
I looked around a bit. There was absolutely no order to the store whatsoever. It was total chaos. You could never tell if the pants you found had been there for years and you had overlooked them or if they were a new item. And Joan Jett wasn’t going to tell you either.
I found a really cute navy blue scoop neck shirt that cinched on the sides with a gray ribbon. I also bought two pairs of jeans, a new sweater and a pair of lavender Chucks. Because you could never have enough Chucks. I also found May a new set of pajamas with little bottles of fingernail polish on them. I paid Joan and decided to get home and wash my ‘new’ clothes so I could wear them on Saturday.
I stopped by the used bookstore and traded books for my store credit for selling my read books back to her. Happy with my purchases, I headed home to finish my homework for the weekend so I wasn’t stuck doing it on Friday.
I got home and my Mom and Step-Dad were waiting in the kitchen hopping up and down on their toes. The nutcracker dancers had nothing on these two.
My Mom sneered at my bags and said, “Oh, excuse us Ma’am, little shopping diva, but we need to go…somewhere. Could you come down off of your high horse for a little while and watch May?”
“Mom, I spent twelve dollars. My books were free because I had store credit.”
“Well, whatever, it must be nice.”
“Yeah, I’m happy to watch May. Has she eaten dinner?”
Rage ignited her face and she grabbed me by the
School was now a joy for me. Not because I was escaping my life or trying to distract myself from my disturbed parents, but because I had something to look forward to. And there was someone there who cared. There was someone there who apparently looked for my arrival and searched for me in the halls the way I did for him.
He had made an appearance at my locker every morning since and I could almost tell you down to the second when I would see him in between classes. But I couldn’t help but have a knot in my gut. It was all going too well, too fast and my parents were way too complacent about my going out. It was a feeling of impending doom, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
We decided during Drama class that we were going to go to the Santa Monica pier. I had only been a few times and when I had we didn’t have any money for rides or games or anything. I left that out of the conversation.
Carlos had to go to work that night so I rode the bus home and everyone was home when I got home. May was playing outside in the yard, which was typical. She waved at me and showed me her soup she was making which was actually dirty water in a pail with leaves. I went to work and got another paycheck. I still had not spent mine from the last payday, so I decided to go to the thrift store to look for something new to wear on Saturday.
The lady at the Barely Worn thrift store was a younger woman, maybe 26 or 27 and I could never remember her name but she remembered mine every time. She reminded me of the record store ow ner on the movie Pretty in Pink…The one who wore clothes that made her look like a different character every day.
Today she had on this black leather jacket with the sleeves rolled up and she had dyed her short hair black. She had tons of black eyeliner on…I took a guess.
“Joan Jett?”
She laughed and said , “Yeah Jenna , 80’s Joan Jett. Good guess.”
“Thanks.”
I looked around a bit. There was absolutely no order to the store whatsoever. It was total chaos. You could never tell if the pants you found had been there for years and you had overlooked them or if they were a new item. And Joan Jett wasn’t going to tell you either.
I found a really cute navy blue scoop neck shirt that cinched on the sides with a gray ribbon. I also bought two pairs of jeans, a new sweater and a pair of lavender Chucks. Because you could never have enough Chucks. I also found May a new set of pajamas with little bottles of fingernail polish on them. I paid Joan and decided to get home and wash my ‘new’ clothes so I could wear them on Saturday.
I stopped by the used bookstore and traded books for my store credit for selling my read books back to her. Happy with my purchases, I headed home to finish my homework for the weekend so I wasn’t stuck doing it on Friday.
I got home and my Mom and Step-Dad were waiting in the kitchen hopping up and down on their toes. The nutcracker dancers had nothing on these two.
My Mom sneered at my bags and said, “Oh, excuse us Ma’am, little shopping diva, but we need to go…somewhere. Could you come down off of your high horse for a little while and watch May?”
“Mom, I spent twelve dollars. My books were free because I had store credit.”
“Well, whatever, it must be nice.”
“Yeah, I’m happy to watch May. Has she eaten dinner?”
Rage ignited her face and she grabbed me by the
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