I tried to get free, but my hair was so knotted the more I tried the worse it got. I cried and screamed, panic and pain had taken over my mind so much I could barely think.
At first Eric thought I was kidding. I always did like to play jokes... What ever happened to that side of me? But he quickly realized I wasn’t joking when the tears started falling over my cheeks and I fought with the chain and my hair.
He ran away.
His eyes got big as saucers and off he went.
I cried even harder when I realized he wasn’t going to help me.
But, seconds later, the back door of the house slammed and he reappeared. In his arms was a tub of margarine from the refrigerator.
He looked blurry through my tear stained eyes as he approached.
“It’s okay, Kelly,” he said. “I’ll help you. That’s what friends do, they help each other.”
I stopped crying then, even when my scalp hurt every time the swing moved. Eric used the entire tub of margarine and buttered up my hair and the chain. It felt like it took forever, but it worked, he slipped my hair right out of the chain and I was able to dash free.
Mom laughed at the sight of me, all covered in butter. I couldn’t be the only one looking so ridiculous, so I tackle hugged Eric and smeared butter all over him.
Before we could go inside, Mom made us hose ourselves off.
We spent half the afternoon that day playing in the garden hose without a care to how we looked.
“You two were inseparable.”
“Until he stopped coming around,” I mumbled.
“What?” she looked up.
“Nothing,” I replied and turned to escape to my room.
The doorbell rang through the house and I quickened my steps.
“Kelly! Can you get that, my hands are a mess!”
Damn! I wasn’t quick enough. Instead of running to my room to hide, I went and pulled open the front door.
Eric’s mom stood on the front porch. She looked like she always had, with dark, permed hair and brown eyes. She was wearing scrubs, she’d probably just come from work, and in her hand was a small suitcase.
“Hi, Mrs. Seaver,” I said, opening the door wider. “Please come in.”
“Hi, Kelly honey. Don’t you just look so grown up? It’s been ages since I’ve seen you.”
I couldn’t remember the last time I saw her. Usually when she and my mom got together I was at school or something.
“And you know you can call me Laurie. Especially now since we are going to be roommates for a week.”
An entire week? Kill me now!
I knew Eric was hovering outside on the porch, but he hadn’t stepped forward when his mom had come in so I started to close the door.
I didn’t get it very far when I felt resistance on the other side. Sighing, I looked around the dark wood to see Eric there, with a bored look on his face, a bag in his hand and the other splayed on the front door as he pushed it open.
“Oh, I didn’t see you there,” I lied.
“Well come on, Eric. We’re not trying to invite in the bugs,” his mother admonished.
He walked right in without looking at me.
How rude.
“Do you two see each other often at school?” his mom asked.
I smiled. “Not often.”
“We have a class together,” he said.
“Oh, well maybe you help each other with homework while we’re here.”
We were saved from answering to that when my mom breezed into the room. “Laurie! So glad you made it. So how bad is the mess at your house?”
The two started talking about water mess, burst pipes, and stuff I had no desire to listen to.
That left me with him.
I glanced up. He was looking at me.
“Hey, Kelly,” Eric said.
“Hi,” I echoed.
“I’ll show you to your rooms,” Mom said, waving at them to follow along. “I’m so glad you could come and stay. Dinner will be ready in just a while. I have a meatloaf in the oven.”
“Meatloaf!” Laurie exclaimed. “That’s Eric’s favorite!”
“I remember,” my mom said.
I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes.
I started forward, ready to leave him in my dust.
“Kelly,” Mom called behind her. “Why don’t you show Eric his room? It’s the guest room right across the hall from your room.”
Gag me with a spoon. I wanted to die.
I glanced over my shoulder at him. “Come on.”
He followed without a word. Upstairs in the hall, I pointed out his room. Before he could go in, I gave him a hard stare. “Do not tell anyone about this at school.”
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Afraid your precious reputation will go to hell?”
My mouth dropped open.
He smirked. “Don’t worry, Kelly. I won’t say a word. I don’t want anyone to know I’m here either.”
“You don’t?” I echoed, surprised. I thought he’d be shouting it down the halls. I mean, him staying with Kelly Ross?
He’d be instantly popular, and I’d be a laughingstock.
“No,” he said, his voice flat.
I felt my mouth drop open again.
Eric let himself in his “new room” and before I could recover, shut the door in my face.
Deep shit – a way to say you are in trouble.
I don’t know why she acted so surprised. Did she really think I’d be jumping up and down at being here? I know she was used to people at school tripping over themselves to even get her to smile at them, but I’m not one of those people.
To me, Kelly was human just like everyone else. Even more so because I knew who she used to be a long time ago.
Maybe it was unfair to judge her based on how she was as a child. But isn’t that when people are the most pure? Isn’t that when they are most who they are before all the other stuff (like life) got in the way?
If I was truthful, that applied to me. I was more jaded now than when I was a kid, I just showed it in a different way.
‘Course, I had a reason to be jaded. Kelly didn’t.
Three days of living at her house with her family. It really wasn’t that hard to avoid her. I got up and went to school before her, and spent the extra time in the science lab. I just grabbed something quick for breakfast and ate it at the school. Kelly got up later and arrived at her usual time.
It was like it had always been during the day.
Like I didn’t exist. Hell, she even told my mom we never saw each other. Was I really that invisible? Did she really not know I was in her science class?
I’d spend some extra time after school in the library, at science club or with a friend. By the time I got home at night it was almost dinner. That was when it got a little awkward.
We all ate together, like a happy family.
Me, my mom, Kelly, her mom and her dad. Except for the night her dad was working late.
Thankfully we didn’t have to talk much because our mothers never shut up.
After dinner I’d go up to my room and do homework or listen to music. Sometimes as I laid there with my Walkman and headphones, I’d stare at the closed door and know she was just across the hall. What was she doing?
A couple times I heard her laugh. She was probably on the phone. Probably talking to her latest victim. I was pretty sure that victim was Mandy’s boyfriend.
More proof that people change. The girl I use to know would never betray a friend.
Isn’t that what she did to you?
That really wasn’t fair, I guess. She wasn’t the only one to blame for the reason we stopped being friends.
“Earth to Mr. Seaver,” Mr. Brawn sang.
I snapped out of my thoughts and sat up, nearly knocking my book off the desk. I caught it just in time.
People laughed.
“What?” I asked, righting the book.
“Are you paying attention?” he asked, a puzzle
d look on his face. I’d never not paid attention before.
“Of course, I just didn’t hear you.”
He repeated the question and I rattled off the answer. He seemed satisfied and went back to the front of the room. Good thing I read ahead last night.
Actually, I’d done all the reading for the entire week.
Clearly, living in that house was getting to me. I couldn’t even pay attention in my favorite class.
“I have the pop quiz scores here,” Mr. Brawn said, holding up a stack of papers. Everyone groaned.
“I have to say, some of you totally bombed. Maybe if you spent as much time on your classwork as you do your hair, these grades would look better.”
He started handing out the worksheets with the grades and everyone shifted around nervously.
“If you totally failed,” the teacher went on as he passed them out, “you can do an extra credit assignment. A two page report on the topic of your choice. Obviously in some relation to science.”
He handed me my paper and I took it. There was an A in red marker on the top. I really hadn’t expected anything less.
The guy next to me wasn’t so lucky. He had a D + on his paper.
What a moron. It wasn’t even a hard quiz.
I heard a familiar voice, rather, a familiar groan, and glanced two seats up and one row over. Kelly was staring at her paper. I knew from her body language she wasn’t too happy but I couldn’t see the mark.
As I watched her, she leaned back to whisper to someone behind her and I saw the letter grade marking the top of her quiz.
Yikes.
She did worse than the moron beside me.
When she pulled back from the girl she was whispering to, our eyes met. She made a face and spun around in her seat.
The bell rang and everyone rushed from the room.
My friend Ryan was waiting in the hall. He was in the science club too. He always wore suspenders, which I thought were dorky, but I’d never tell him that.
“We still on for this weekend?” he asked.
We’d been planning to get together at my place and watch the VHS of The Amityville Horror. My mom always went to bed early, so we knew we could get away with watching it without being caught.
Ryan was a total horror movie junkie. I guess I kind of was too. It’s not like there was much else to do around here. Neither one of us had a car, and even if we did, the options were limited to the mall and the arcade.
Ryan’s mom hated scary movies and never let him watch them (which in my opinion only made him want to watch them more) so we watched them at my house.
“Can do it at your place?” I asked.
“You know my mom will flip,” Ryan said. “What’s wrong with your place?”
“Ah, plumbing problems,” I said. I hadn’t even told him where I was staying right now. “Burst pipe, the family room is out of commission.”
“Sucks,” Ryan said. “Sure, come to my place. Maybe my mom will go to bed early.”
“Will do.” A couple jocks ran down the center of the hallway and knocked into Ryan and all his books went flying.
“Jerks!” I yelled after them.
“Whoa!” Ryan said and pressed against my shoulder like he thought I was going to rush them and start a fight.
They hadn’t even heard me. They were already down the hall and turning the corner. They didn’t notice, or didn’t care, who they plowed in to.
“What the heck was that?” he asked, bending down to get his stuff.
I helped, picking up a nearby folder and pen.
“Nothing. I’m just tired of the way some people act in this school. Always acting like they are better than everyone else.”
“It’s been that way for years, why you so mad about it now?”
“Maybe I’ve always been mad about it,” I snapped.
Ryan fell silent as we started walking again.
“Look. I’m sorry. They just make me mad is all.”
He nodded. “I get it. So I’ll see you at my place this weekend?”
“Absolutely,” I agreed.
I didn’t bother hanging around school extra today, I was tired of being around the people. I felt edgy kind of, distracted. Just like I was in science today.
Soon as I got to the Ross’s house I went straight to the phone hanging on the wall and dialed the doctor’s office my mom worked at.
“Dr. Brawn’s practice. How can I help you today?” Mom was cheerful.
“Hey, Mom. It’s me.”
“Eric, hi!” She paused. “Is something wrong?”
I never called her at work, so of course she would think that. Technically, there was something wrong. I wanted the hell out of this house.
“No, I’m fine. I’m just here at the Ross’s…”
“Yeah?” she asked. I could hear the steady murmur of voices in the background from the waiting room.
“How is the house coming along? We moving back in soon?”
She sighed. “I’m afraid not. The plumber just called. It’s going to be several more days. He found some other pipes that needed replacing.”
“Oh come on!” I griped.
“Eric,” Mom said, surprise in her voice.
“Sorry,” I hurried to say. “I uh, well I was supposed to have Ryan over this weekend.”
“I’m sorry, honey. Set it up for next weekend. I’ll get you guys a pizza.”
I leaned my forehead against the wall as I held the receiver to my ear. “Sounds great.”
“Great,” she said.
“Hey, Mom,” I said before she could hang up.
“Yes?”
“Did he tell you how much it’s gonna be?”
The long pause on the other end was answer enough.
Finally she answered, her voice hesitant. “He gave me an estimate, yes.”
“We can’t afford it can we?” I said into the line.
“Well it’s more than I was hoping,” she said, trying to make it sound better than it was. “The plumber said I could make payments. I was going to call down to the diner Grandpa use to own and see if I could pick up some waitressing shifts on the weekends for a few weeks and make some extra money.”
“I’ll get a job,” I said.
“Absolutely not,” she insisted.
“I’m almost eighteen, Mom. Most kids my age already work.”
“You’re priority is school. That’s it. You have the rest of your life to work.”
We’d had this conversation before, and it was always the same. I wanted to get a job and help out and she always said no.
One of these days I was just going to get a job anyway. It’s not like she could stop me.
“I have to go, okay? A patient is waiting.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll see you in just a bit.”
I hung up and looked around the empty kitchen for a few minutes. The Ross’s always did have money. Kelly’s dad had a really good job and provided for his family.
Some fathers did that.
Anger, just like I felt at school in the hall, shot through me. I picked up the phone again and punched in a number I knew but barely ever called.
“Mr. Seaver’s office,” a woman said into the line.
“This is Eric Seaver. I’d like to speak with him please.”
“Hold, please.”
Some lousy elevator music came on the line and I stood there waiting. Then I waited some more. I was just about to hang up when his voice came on the line.
“Eric?”
“Yeah, dad,” I said.
“I’m surprised to hear from you,” my father said into the line. He talked kind of in a brusque tone. He was a busy man; he owned a car dealership. The most successful one in town. Most people were impressed by that, but I wasn’t. I wasn’t impressed by anything about him.
“I’m calling for a reason,” I said, getting right to it. “We’ve had some stuff happen at the house. Burst pipes and stuff.”
“Yeah?”
/>
“Mom can’t afford to fix it. She’s talking about getting a second job.”
“I see,” he said, sounding less hurried. He knew what I wanted. “You know I’m remarried now, son.”
“I never ask you for anything. I’m asking you for this,” I said, my hand fisting at my side.
I never wanted to be like him. Never. I never talked to him. I wouldn’t have called today, but I couldn’t let my mom get a second job. She did enough already. If talking to him would help her, then I would do it.
“How much?” he asked, his voice low.
“Five hundred,” I said. I had no idea how much the pipes were going to cost but five hundred was a lot and it should be enough.
He made a sound.
“You owe this to us,” I said into the phone, my voice not backing down.
“Fine. I’ll have my secretary cut a check and send it to the house.”
“We aren’t there,” I said, not showing any of my shock or relief that he actually agreed. “Send it to the office where she works.”
“Fine,” he agreed.
He didn’t even ask where we were. If I was okay.
“Thanks,” I forced the word through my lips and then slammed the phone down.
I pressed both hands on the wall on either side of the phone and took a deep breath. Mom was going to be pissed I called him, but I didn’t care. I was right. He owed us.
You think I’d be used to this feeling by now.
“Who was that?” a familiar voice butted in from behind.
I spun away from the wall to find Kelly. She was standing in the kitchen staring at me. Her blond hair was poufy around her face, her lips were pink and she was dressed in a pair of Jordache jeans and a tight, bright pink top that showed off her flat stomach.
“No one,” I said.
“It obviously wasn’t no one.”
“You’re right,” I conceded. “It wasn’t no one. It was someone. But it still isn’t your business.”
“You can’t talk to me like that.”
“Why? Because you’re the most popular girl at school?” I rolled my eyes. “Newsflash, I couldn’t care less.”
She made a sound kind of like a huff and stomped forward. Her glare was icy. In fact, if I’d touched, her I might have gotten frostbite.
1982: Maneater (Love in the 80s #3) Page 3
