Chapter 14
“You better come straight home after school. I don’t care who takes you, but I will be calling you on the house phone right at three p.m. to make sure you are home and alone. That gives you forty-five minutes to find a ride and get your ass home.”
Without looking at my mom, I say, “Okay.” I slide out of the car and start walking into school.
Once again, I’m late, and not because of me.
My mom had a hard time waking up this morning after last night.
I can tell she didn’t get any sleep after we came home.
Both her eyes are puffy and she won't stop yawning. It’s hard for me to look at her because I knew I had disappointed her.
Again.
The last time I disappointed her was when Paige and I took her mom’s car for a joy ride.
“B.”
My body jolts at the sound of my name. I look over my shoulder and see Kai standing in the shadows in front of the doors.
We draw each other into our arms. I dig my head into his neck, feeling the warmth and comfort I get every time we’re together.
Am I crazy for falling for someone so fast? I’ve heard people say, When you know, you know. Is this what people mean?
“I’ve been texting you all night and morning. Is everything okay?”
I tilt my head, looking up at him. “My mom took my phone away from me.”
He takes my cheeks in his hands and places a kiss on my forehead.
“This is going to make it so much harder for us to see each other,” I say.
“We’ll find a way. It will be alright.”
We let go of each other, Kai grabs my hand as we walk to class. No one is in the halls. Not even Mrs. Chatley. Thank God.
“Let me guess, you didn’t get in trouble at all?” I ask.
With his lips pressed firmly together, he shakes his head.
“You’re so lucky.”
“Hey, we talked about this. Sometimes I don’t feel so lucky.”
“I know,” I murmur. “Can we have lunch together?” We stop just before we get to my class.
He leans against the wall, staring at me. “I can’t today. I have to go to work.”
“I thought you had some time after your classes to be at work. How did we go to lunch that one day?”
“I was late to work that day. Since I only work half a day, my uncle wants me there right after my last period.”
My heart sinks even more, knowing he gave up that time to be with me. “What about after work?”
He shrugs his shoulders. “I can try. But Kevin always has the car. He takes night classes and doesn’t get home until about ten.”
With pouting lips, I slump my shoulders and groan. “I can’t anyway. I just remembered I’m grounded.”
“We’ll figure something out, I promise,” he says and kisses me on the lips. “We both need to get to class.”
We release our hands and go our separate ways.
“Nice of you to join us, Miss Leigh.”
I give the teacher a small wave. The closer I get to Paige, the bigger her eyes get.
“I haven’t heard from you in like a day! What the hell,” she whispers.
It hasn’t been a whole day, but I guess when you’re this close to your best friend, it can feel that way. “My mom took away my phone.”
She frowns and whispers, “Tell me everything.”
“At lunch.”
Paige drove me home, and since my mom gave me forty-five minutes, Paige and I hung outside in her car before my jail sentence commenced.
As I walk into the house, right at three, the house phone rings.
“Hello,” I say in a monotone voice because I know who is going to be on the other side of the line.
I wanted to give Kai my house phone number, that would give us a few hours to talk before my mom gets home.
After thinking about it more, he wouldn’t have been able to call me between those hours since he would be at work.
“I’m glad you made it home.”
“Where else would I have gone?”
“Don’t give me your attitude,” she says, and I stay silent. “I have to stay late and catch some things up at work. Brynlee is having a friend drop her off. Can you see if we have everything for spaghetti?”
“Yeah, hold on. Let me check.” I set the phone on the counter and check the pantry for noodles.
Next to it is a jar of marinara sauce. I already know she’s going to ask me to cook dinner since this is an easy recipe that I’ve made before.
I open the fridge and, oh, what do you know?
Ground beef is thawing out. She must have had this planned. “We have everything.”
“Good. I’ll need you to make dinner for us. And then, after dinner, bathe Brynlee and put her to bed.”
“Okay. Anything else?”
“Yes. Then you put yourself to bed.”
I roll my eyes, grateful she can’t see me.
“Okay. When will you be home?”
“When I finish here. I’m not sure when that will be.
” My mom has been a mortgage loan officer for a few years now.
She worked her way up from a bank teller to car loans and now mortgage loans.
Back when she and my dad split, she was a bank teller.
It paid little, and it was hard for her to make ends meet.
Now, we’re doing a bit better, but I know she still struggles sometimes.
“I'll see you later, then. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Does my mom even have to work late? Or is she making me play mom while she’s out with her friends? Sometimes I wonder what she’s really doing when she asks me to make dinner and put Bryn to bed.
Maybe we both have secrets.