“5555,” she said.
I punched it in, and then said, “You may want to come up with something a little less easy.”
“Yeah, well, my mom has an awful memory, so welcome to the access I just gave you to break into all aspects of our life.” She chuckled as the gates opened and I drove up the circular driveway.
“Have a good night,” I said as she hopped out of the car and turned to face me.
“I will. Thank you, Mr. D. You didn’t have to stay, but I’m glad you did.”
I gave a slight nod and watched her walk up to the door. I waited to make sure she got inside safely and really hated the fact that she was entering a very large and empty house. At least I was going home to a cozy place where my voice wouldn’t echo in the hallways. I felt sorry for Corrine, although I wasn’t sure how I could help in this situation. Unlike some of the students I had dealt with in Oakland, at least Corrine had a roof over her head and money to buy food. She didn’t need to be my charity case even though something in my gut told me to keep an eye on her.3CorrineIt was fair to say that today was a pretty shitty day. Nearly getting kicked out of school, detention, broken down car, and now I looked into an empty refrigerator hating the fact that I was going to have to order a pizza again. There were only so many topping combinations one could do to try to mix up the repetitive meal. Pizza was pizza, and I was sick of it.
Picking up my phone, I decided it was best to call my mom’s manager first. Bill was a twerp who was way too handsy with me when I was around him, but he was also the only way of reaching my mother when she was out and about and off the radar. I had free rein with her credit card, so paying for the car to get fixed wasn’t an issue, but I thought it best to at least let her know. Or to let Bill know.
Most likely I was wasting my time.
Which is why I was happy when I got Bill’s voicemail, because the rare times I had to actually speak with him, I always got a sick feeling in my stomach. I truly felt that he imagined me naked when I spoke. He was a creep but one of the best managers in the biz, or so my mother always told me. I still always pictured him in some dark basement somewhere jacking off to kiddie porn.
When I got done leaving him a message about the car and hung up, my phone rang right away. I considered not answering it if it was Bill calling me right back, but I saw it was Kevin.
“Hey,” I said, sitting at the expansive kitchen counter and running my fingertips over the smooth white marble.
“Where were you after school?” he asked. “I was looking for you. A few of us were getting together, and I wanted to see if you wanted to come.”
“I got detention.”
“Detention? Why?”
“For being late and missing so much school. And then my car broke down… and let’s just say it’s been a crappy day.”
“That sucks. Why didn’t you call me? I would have come and picked you up.”
It was odd hearing Kevin act as if the logical thought process would be to call him up and lean on him for help. For some reason, I didn’t think we were that close, but it was most likely all in my head and feeling like no one was really in my life whom I could count on. We were friends, actually pretty close friends in many ways, but then like strangers as well. I’d nearly had a total breakdown when rumors began circulating about me and my name got decimated at our previous school, and when Kevin suggested we move to Black Mountain, I had jumped all over his plan. He needed a change, and so did I. But at the same time, we both just did the move on our own. We kept our distance during it all.
Our relationship was definitely complicated.
We were friends… but not daily friends. We could go a number of days never speaking, but then if I had to be honest, he was the only real friend I had. He was trying very hard to make friends in Black Mountain, and I wasn’t. He had invited me several times to hang out with people, but I always felt like I would be a tagalong. I tried… I just wasn’t very good at the social game. Kevin wasn’t very good either, to be honest, but at least he was giving it his all this time at Black Mountain.