you. Are you okay?
Me? Seriously?
I’m fine. What happened? How’s your face?
It’s all good. They sent us both home. Suspension. They wouldn’t let me see you first. I’m so sorry. I told you I wouldn’t leave your side and now I’m not there.
Suspended? That would go on his permanent record. And he was the one apologizing? I was still trying to compute all of that when his next message chimed in.
I’m not allowed on school property, but I can pick you up off campus if you want a ride home.
No. I’d already messed his life up enough for one day. I’ll take the bus.
Turning the phone off, I slipped it in my pocket and headed around the building. Students were everywhere, wandering up and down the sidewalk, climbing on buses, hanging out windows to talk to their friends. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t willingly put myself in a confined space with that many people. Not today.
Hefting my books, I zipped up my jacket and started walking.
Ten
My stomach was making sounds similar to those of Kiernan’s bike by the time I finished my homework. Sick to death of the constant rumbling and headaches, I tore open the cabinets one after another in search of anything to silence it. Nothing. Not a goddamn thing, besides a bag of flour—who the hell knows why we had that considering I’d never seen my mother so much as scoop-and-bake a cookie in my entire life—and a jar of something I’d rather not know what it was, but had been sitting in there for as long as I could remember.
The fridge was no better. Not so much as a slice of cheese, but the shelves were lined with my mother’s special liquid diet.
“Dammit!” I’d had it. I was hungry. I was tired. I was humiliated, despised, and . . . yeah, I was sulking. I was a teenager and it was my God given right.
“What’s your problem?” It was the first I’d seen of my mother since I got home from school and I wasn’t surprised in the least that her words were slurring. If I ever heard her speak clearly, I’m not sure I’d recognize her voice.
What’s my problem? She wanted to know what my problem was? Throwing the fridge shut, I whirled around to face her, letting my frustration take control. “I’m hungry. I’m freaking hungry, Mom, and there’s nothing to eat in this damn place.”
“There’s a frozen dinner in the freezer.” She shuffled past me, brushing me off like a mere annoyance.
I watched her like she was nuts. “Only the one you opened months ago and tossed back in there.” This got no response, so I elaborated. “It’s all freezer burned and covered in ice.”
“So what?” She turned on me, and I knew it was serious when she slammed the fridge without retrieving what she’d come for. “You too good for what I can provide now? You think you can do better? You lazy ass, ungrateful, Queen Almighty. Why don’t you get a job, your Highness?”
“I will.” I’d been waiting for this opportunity for years and eagerly jumped all over it. “I’ll go out tomorrow.”
The thing about jumping was I usually landed on my face. “You will not!”
“What? But you said—”
“You start bringing in pennies and mess up my unemployment . . . You really think you can provide better for this family, ” she snarled the word as though it offended her, “with some part-time, snot-nosed, after-school job flipping burgers?”
If I could control how the money I made was spent? Without a doubt. I didn’t tell her that. I did what I did best, shut my mouth and wished I’d never opened it in the first place.
“That’s what I thought.” She threw open the fridge again and grabbed a cold one. “What’s wrong with you today, anyway?”
At least it was an acknowledgement that I wasn’t usually this much of a bitch. “Nothing.”
“Well, obviously something.” Throwing open a drawer, she rummaged around inside.
I sat at the table , watching her. She actually wanted to know? I couldn’t remember the last time my mother had
Me? Seriously?
I’m fine. What happened? How’s your face?
It’s all good. They sent us both home. Suspension. They wouldn’t let me see you first. I’m so sorry. I told you I wouldn’t leave your side and now I’m not there.
Suspended? That would go on his permanent record. And he was the one apologizing? I was still trying to compute all of that when his next message chimed in.
I’m not allowed on school property, but I can pick you up off campus if you want a ride home.
No. I’d already messed his life up enough for one day. I’ll take the bus.
Turning the phone off, I slipped it in my pocket and headed around the building. Students were everywhere, wandering up and down the sidewalk, climbing on buses, hanging out windows to talk to their friends. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t willingly put myself in a confined space with that many people. Not today.
Hefting my books, I zipped up my jacket and started walking.
Ten
My stomach was making sounds similar to those of Kiernan’s bike by the time I finished my homework. Sick to death of the constant rumbling and headaches, I tore open the cabinets one after another in search of anything to silence it. Nothing. Not a goddamn thing, besides a bag of flour—who the hell knows why we had that considering I’d never seen my mother so much as scoop-and-bake a cookie in my entire life—and a jar of something I’d rather not know what it was, but had been sitting in there for as long as I could remember.
The fridge was no better. Not so much as a slice of cheese, but the shelves were lined with my mother’s special liquid diet.
“Dammit!” I’d had it. I was hungry. I was tired. I was humiliated, despised, and . . . yeah, I was sulking. I was a teenager and it was my God given right.
“What’s your problem?” It was the first I’d seen of my mother since I got home from school and I wasn’t surprised in the least that her words were slurring. If I ever heard her speak clearly, I’m not sure I’d recognize her voice.
What’s my problem? She wanted to know what my problem was? Throwing the fridge shut, I whirled around to face her, letting my frustration take control. “I’m hungry. I’m freaking hungry, Mom, and there’s nothing to eat in this damn place.”
“There’s a frozen dinner in the freezer.” She shuffled past me, brushing me off like a mere annoyance.
I watched her like she was nuts. “Only the one you opened months ago and tossed back in there.” This got no response, so I elaborated. “It’s all freezer burned and covered in ice.”
“So what?” She turned on me, and I knew it was serious when she slammed the fridge without retrieving what she’d come for. “You too good for what I can provide now? You think you can do better? You lazy ass, ungrateful, Queen Almighty. Why don’t you get a job, your Highness?”
“I will.” I’d been waiting for this opportunity for years and eagerly jumped all over it. “I’ll go out tomorrow.”
The thing about jumping was I usually landed on my face. “You will not!”
“What? But you said—”
“You start bringing in pennies and mess up my unemployment . . . You really think you can provide better for this family, ” she snarled the word as though it offended her, “with some part-time, snot-nosed, after-school job flipping burgers?”
If I could control how the money I made was spent? Without a doubt. I didn’t tell her that. I did what I did best, shut my mouth and wished I’d never opened it in the first place.
“That’s what I thought.” She threw open the fridge again and grabbed a cold one. “What’s wrong with you today, anyway?”
At least it was an acknowledgement that I wasn’t usually this much of a bitch. “Nothing.”
“Well, obviously something.” Throwing open a drawer, she rummaged around inside.
I sat at the table , watching her. She actually wanted to know? I couldn’t remember the last time my mother had
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