Abruptly, she cuts across the street and yells, “See ya later.” Her blonde hair bouncing down the street is the only part of her I can see.
Drops of rain begin to pelt my head. Seriously. We had a beautiful day the whole time I was in school today, and now that I am outside to enjoy it, we get rain, great. Flipping my hood up over my head, I take off running. I make a mad dash for my street. By the time I reach my gate, the rain has stopped. I nearly topple over Percy, my neighbor’s cat. Picking him up, I scruff his neck, petting him behind the ears. When he purrs it sounds like a motorboat. I drop him over the fence into his own yard.
My mother is sitting in the kitchen smoking and cleaning her wigs. “The school sent home a note that says you were absent the second half of school well over a week ago. I called and told them you came home sick, and I forgot to check you out. I don’t know where you were, but this will be the only time I cover for you.” She puffs hard on her Marlboro and her lips are starting to show wrinkle lines when she puckers and sucks. Too many years of that. I suppose she does a lot of freaking puckering up.
As I am rummaging through the cabinets for something to eat, she says, “I have a friend coming over around six.”
Don’t worry Nancy. “I’ll be out of your way,” I tell her, settling on a can of vegetable soup. We don’t speak any further.
I fix my soup and take it into my room to eat and decide how I am going to pass the time tonight. I don’t have anywhere I want to be. Guess Nancy will be dealing with my being home tonight. My phone buzzes with a message from an unknown number. The message is a picture of a carpet muncher meme. I delete it and ignore it completely. I only have a few months of school left anyway. I can survive until I graduate. Another message pops up from Becks.
Becks: I didn’t paint that on your house. It was Penny. Don’t tell her I told you. I am still mad at you, but I think she is acting crazy. She is obsessing over you and Aaron.
I don’t have the energy to text him back. No matter what I say, he will still feel a way about me that I can’t change. I know people make mistakes but for Becks to just take her side without letting me explain because he was butt hurt, isn’t cool.
I hear the front door open as my mother greets a voice I don’t recognize. Part of me wants to peek and see whom, but I know I am better off not knowing. Why couldn’t I have a normal mom that likes to bake and shit? I have to be stuck
with a prostitute, and better yet, why didn’t she give me up for adoption? Maybe I would have ended up in a nice home like Kai’s.
My mother’s laughter echoes through the house at only God knows what. Popping my earbuds in I get lost in the music I have saved to my phone.
Sleep eventually takes me, and I awaken hours later from a dream about school. Everyone was there—at school. Kai was standing with Aaron and they were both pointing at me and laughing. Penny was whispering in Raven’s ear. When I walked passed Becks, he heckled me, calling me a whore. Must be because he was texting me earlier before I fell asleep. My cell phone is dead, and my earbuds are wrapped around my throat. Untangling myself, I plug in my phone with the wall adapter and wait for it to get enough juice to power on, so I can check the time.
I pad over to my door on my tiptoes, pressing my ear against the wall. I try to listen for any signs of my mother and her friend. Not hearing anything, I decide it is safe to brush my teeth and wash my face. The house is oddly quiet with only the humming of the baseboard heater making a sound. Opening my mom’s door, I see she is sleeping soundly and there is a dude still in bed with her. This freaks me out. Her dates never stay over.
I shut the door to her room softly and scurry back to my room without brushing my teeth. Skipping one night won’t kill me. Back in my room, my phone is on and it is three a.m., so yeah that is definitely out of character for my mom.
Making sure my door is locked just in case my mom’s friend is a wanderer, I crawl back into bed and fight sleep until it’s time for me to get ready for school. Tossing and turning, I keep lying in wait to hear my mom see her friend out, but it isn’t happening, which means I am going to have to give in and drag my lazy butt from bed. Gathering my stuff quietly, I hurry to the bathroom and lock the door, so I can get ready for school.
Something about knowing I am going to Kai’s house today makes me want to look nice. I put extra effort into making sure my hair is tamed, smoothing it half back into a barrette. I even use my mother’s fancy perfume, dabbing some behind my ears. If she catches me using it, she will rip me a new one.
Glancing in the mirror and looking over my outfit—a tight, royal blue, long-sleeved V-neck tee and black leggings—I look somewhat hot.
When I go into the kitchen for my bowl of cereal, my mother and her friend are having coffee together at the table, holding hands. I must have stepped into another dimension…I look hot today and my mother has a man here.
“Katie, darling, meet David.”
Katie darling? Yeah, this can’t be my mother. Maybe she was abducted by body snatchers.
“Hello, Katie. Nice to meet you.” The seemingly harmless man is holding his hand out to me.
My mother clears her throat and gives me the evil side eye. I reluctantly shake hands with this stranger. My appetite is no longer with me.
“David here is a contractor and he has been coming into the diner. He is helping build the new courthouse. We have been spending a lot of time together.” My mother explains his sudden appearance.
Whatever, if he knew what she really was he would run away hard and fast. They always do once they learn she isn’t the settling down with one-man type. She had this one regular when I was in grade school that worshiped her. He wanted to marry her, to take us away from here, and she broke his heart. I begged him to take me with him when he left. Even packed my backpack, stuffing it full of my clothes. I sat on the front steps and waited for him to come for me, but of course he never came back.
I looked him up about two years ago online. He has since gotten married and has a beautiful family. It made me sad thinking that could have been me in the photo, happy, smiling with my dad and dog. I have always wanted a dog.
A knock at the door saves me from having to engage in any further conversation with David and Nancy.
“Morning,” Kai says groggily when I open the door.
“Hey there sleepy head.” I close the door behind us. He looks exhausted. “Rough night?”
“I didn’t sleep good. Khloe-bug came home from daycare early with a stomach virus. Poor thing was throwing up all night. I had to leave school to pick her up. My mom was swamped at work, Kirk was underground and my dad, well I don’t know where he was...” He rubs his fingers over his tired eyes before buckling his seatbelt.
“Maybe you should stay home and rest or check in late or something,” I suggest.