Life, Love, & Lemons

by Vernon, Magan

  “Possession of prescription drugs is a serious offense, Miss Evans.” She thumbed the file on her desk as she spoke.

  “But they aren’t mine!” Tears streamed down my cheeks.

  “You know if I didn’t have a chance to look at your file from St. Christopher’s, I may have believed different.” She tapped her fingernails on the desk, looking at me like I was the scum of the earth, and that’s exactly how I felt. It was just like last time…

  ***

  “Hey, babe.” Jake ran up behind me and kissed the back of my head, a definite ‘no no’ at St. Christopher’s.

  “Hey!” I beamed. “I have something for you.” I pulled a little white envelope out of my purse, not all the way, just enough to show him that I had something.

  “You’re lifesaver!” He reached for it and I slapped his hand back.

  “Not till I get my money. We haven’t gotten a call about Dad being hired back yet, and I need a new Coach purse,” I said, smiling and twirling a strand of my blonde hair between my fingers.

  Jake rolled his eyes and reached for his wallet. “How much?”

  “Five pills, that’s one hundred bucks.” I held out my hand with my palm upwards toward him.

  He put down two fifty dollar bills in the palm of my hand. “You better be glad that I had a hard practice or else I wouldn’t be buying.”

  I took the envelope and shoved it down the front of his pants, pulling him closer. “As long as we just keep this between us, you’ll still have something to buy.” I was feeling like I was on cloud nine. Dad may have gotten laid off in February, but I was making enough money from dealing Mom’s Percocet to keep myself in designer clothes and purses for the rest of the school year. I thought I might even make enough money on finals week to pay for my tuition to St. Christopher’s and not have to go to East.

  Too bad my dreams came to screeching halt the moment I was called into the principal’s office. I didn’t think anything of it at first. I was pretty sure that no one would rat me out for the pills. That was until I saw Jake walk out of the office with his blood shot eyes.

  “You didn’t turn me in did you?” I whispered.

  He didn’t look me in the eye. “Bee, I can’t get expelled, Dad will kill me.”

  ***

  “If you look at the file you will see that the school board acquitted me and Jake.” I tried to sit up straighter, but it was hard to with how bad I was hurting inside. It was like Déjà vu—sitting across from a principal that just assumed the worst of me no matter what I said.

  “Yes, and I also saw that around that same time a new wing to the library was built in Jake’s father’s name.” She folded her hands on the desk as she looked right at me with fire in her eyes.

  “Look, Miss Evans, this isn’t St. Christopher’s, and you can’t buy your way out of this one.”

  Like I could even afford to buy my way out. I was just lucky that Jake’s dad wasn’t willing to have his son get expelled, so he bought the school out. I could never forgive him for what he did. He could have just fessed up and said that the drugs were his and dealt with it like a man, but instead he pointed the finger at me and that was the beginning of the end.

  “I’m going to have to suspend you until the school board meeting on Monday.” She closed the file and stood up from her desk.

  “But what about Homecoming?“A single tear fell from my cheek as I looked up at her.

  “Suspended students are not allowed to attend the dance. I’m sorry, Miss Evans, but you brought this on yourself.” She shook her head, and my tears fell in full force. “I’m going to have to ask you to wait out in the main office. Your father is on his way.”

  She didn’t even smile as I walked out of her office and down to the main office. I didn’t look up from the stupid blue and white linoleum floor as I sat down in one of the chairs and waited to see Dad walk up. Like I couldn’t have been more of a disappointment.

  “Looks like you aren’t the princess that you thought you were.” I looked up to see Brynne standing behind the office counter with that stupid smug smile still on her overly painted lips.

  “What are you doing here?” I wiped the tears from my cheeks.

  “I’m an office aid, so I get to watch all the trash that has to go into Mrs. Grover’s office. You know especially drug dealers like yourself.” She cackled obviously proud of herself.

  My eyes narrowed. “You saw my file, didn’t you? That’s why you planted the drugs in my locker!” I raised my voice a couple of octaves.

  She put a hand to her over exposed chest. “Little ol’ me?” She batted her eyelashes.

  Suddenly the door swung open. I half-expected Dad to be standing there, but the person I least expected to see was Kai.

  “Kai, that bitch framed me!” I shrieked as I stood up and pointed at Brynne.

  “Wow, Malakai, really moving up in the world, aren’t you? A drug dealer and a liar.” Brynne smirked as Kai grabbed me and pulled me out of the office while the secretaries watched my outburst.

  “You have to believe me, Kai.” I was a complete blubbering mess. Tears were fully streaming from my cheeks and I was hiccupping.

  Before Kai could respond my mother walked through the front door and that’s when I really knew that I was in trouble.

  Chapter 30

  That Boy With The Lip Piercing

  “I hope you’re happy. I had to cancel a lunch date to pick my drug-dealing daughter up from school,” Mom scolded as we pulled out of the high school parking lot.

  “Mom I didn’t do it,” I protested, firmly crossing my arms over my chest.

  I didn’t even get to say good bye to Kai and didn’t know if I would ever see him again since I’d be grounded for life. When I got busted at St. Christopher’s, Dad was the one who got the call and since Jake’s dad took care of it,’ Dad said that we shouldn’t bother telling Mom what happened. I was starting a new school, and we thought it was something that would never have to be brought up again. We were very wrong.

  “Oh, like I really believe that one.” She rolled her eyes. “First I find out form your father that you sold your car without telling us, and now I find out that you’re dealing prescription drugs! What is the matter with you, Bentley? Is it that boy with the lip piercing? He looks like the drug-dealing type.”

  That was it. “Pull the car over, Mom. I don’t want to be near you right now.”

  “Oh you don’t want to be near me?” She pointed her newly manicured nails at herself.

  “Yes, Mom. I don’t want to be sitting next to my cheating mother who has the gall to talk about my boyfriend, who by the way, is not into drugs, when she is going out and sleeping around on her husband.”

  “What the hell has gotten into you, Bentley? Are these drugs putting some kind of ideas into your head?” She turned down the street toward our apartment building.

  “No, Mom, it’s because I saw you with him. Who is he, an investment banker or something?” I stared right at her, wishing that my puffy eyes could shoot lasers at her.

  “Bentley, I don’t know what kind of ideas these drug hallucinations are putting into your head…”

  “I’M NOT ON FREAKING DRUGS!” I screamed, opening the door before she even put the car into park. “And if you spent any time with me or got to know my friends, you would know that!” I spat as she stared at me with her mouth wide open.

  I stormed into the house, not shutting the car door or even waiting for her to follow.

  “Bentley, I think your mother and I need to have a talk with you…” Dad stood up from the couch, trying to have his best serious expression plastered on his face.

  “I will not talk to your wife!” I screamed.

  “Bentley, you will not talk about your mother like that.” Dad crossed his arms over his Hawaiian shirt.

  “Ask her where she has been going all day, every day,” I screamed pointing at Mom, who looked as white as a ghost as she finally entered the apartment.

  “Ask
her who she’s sleeping with while I’m out working my ass off at school and a part-time job.”

  “Bentley, that is enough. I know you’re angry at your mom, but we need to talk about what happened at school today.” Dad leaned his back up against the couch as Mom walked into the living room, not saying a word.

  “Dad I may have messed up in the past, but I swear to you that I learned my lesson and those pills aren’t mine.” I met Dad’s eyes with my own. When he confronted me last time I couldn’t look him in the eye. I think he knew I was telling the truth this time.

  He let out a very big sigh. “I believe you, Bentley.”

  “Oh for heaven’s sake, Marcus,” Mom groaned. “Are you just going to let her walk around and talk like this? And don’t get me started with the fact that you didn’t tell me this has happened before.”

  “Lillian, it was taken care of. There was nothing else that could have been done. Bentley was going to be transferring anyways, so I didn’t think that it was that big of deal.” Dad shrugged, not looking Mom in the eye.

  “Oh come on, Marcus, you can’t keep bending over like this!” Mom shouted.

  “Bentley, I think you need to go to your room. Your mother and I need to talk in private,” Dad said.

  I looked over at Dad, for the first time since the layoff he had some fire in his eyes. I slowly walked to my room. I closed the door ever so gently behind me. But since it was a two bedroom apartment, it wasn’t too hard to hear every word that they were saying from the doorway.

  “Oh, now you get some balls,” Mom screamed. Her stilettos stomped on the ground. “Why are you letting her get away this, Marcus? She was dealing drugs!”

  “Who’s the guy, Lillian?” I heard Dad ask softly, barely above a whisper.

  “I can’t believe this, my daughter the drug dealer,” I could hear Mom say as she paced back and forth.

  “Who is the guy, Lillian?” Dad raised his voice another octave.

  “Marcus, what are you talking about? We are losing our daughter here to drugs and some boy with giant holes in his ears!” she shrieked.

  “Dammit, Lillian, will you just stop beating around the bush and tell me who he is?” Dad was now literally screaming.

  “Marcus, I have no idea what you are talking about,” she said, her voice defensive.

  “Lillian…” He let out a deep sigh. “I’m not stupid. I know you’re not going out with your friends to lunch. Tell me who he is, Lillian, I deserve at least that much.”

  “Jerry,” she said just above a whisper.

  “Jerry?” he screamed.” Our insurance agent?”

  “Yes, Marcus, Jerry our insurance agent,” Mom said almost too calmly for my liking.

  “Out of all the people, why our insurance agent? I guess it should have been my first clue when our rates dropped, but I really thought it was because I was getting some loyal customer discount!”

  “I don’t see why you need to be making jokes at a time like this,” Mom said and cleared her throat.

  “This is just hilarious, isn’t it?” Dad’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “You know I get laid off, so my daughter gets a job and starts selling drugs to support herself, and what does my wife do to help out? Well she decides to lower our insurance rates by screwing our agent!”

  “At least he knows what he wants in life, Marcus. He didn’t move his family into a two bedroom apartment while he moped around for six months!” There was pain in mom’s words and maybe sadness, like she was on the brink of tears but wouldn’t let them out.

  “You know what Lillian?” Dad sighed.

  “What, Marcus?”

  “Get out,” he said it quietly. “Get out of my house,” he shouted. “You never took the time or cared to help out me or our daughter, and I’m not going to have you around to hurt or belittle us anymore.”

  “Fine!” Mom yelled. It was the last thing I heard before she slammed the door behind her.

  Chapter 31

  The Real Reason

  I was dreaming that I was from a place far, far away. A place where I couldn’t hear Dad crying softly from the next room. A place where I didn’t have to worry about where I would be going to school. It was just me and Kai laying on a cloud and listening to music play while we counted the stars. Of course one of the rudest wake ups back to reality is the sound of something banging on your window.

  I opened one eye, thinking that maybe I was still dreaming but sat straight up when I saw Kai’s face peering in. He waved with a huge goofy grin on his face and then pointed toward the patio door. I got up from the bed, threw on a hoodie, and snuck out onto the patio.

  It was quiet, almost too quiet. I guess when it’s so late that all one can see are stars and streetlights then it really should be quiet.

  “Hey…” Kai breathed and stepped onto the patio. He was still in his clothes from earlier and looked like that he hadn’t gone to bed.

  “Hi…” I hugged myself tightly. Midwest, September nights were definitely freezing.

  “So, about this afternoon.” He absently kicked his foot at nothing.

  “Kai..I—”

  He cut me off with a wave of his hand. “Look.” His brown eyes met mine. The hurt behind them was evident and I never wanted to see that pain again. “I just want to know if the rumors are true. That this isn’t the first time you’ve been caught dealing drugs.”

  I sucked in my breath. “It’s true.”

  He let out a deep groan as he put his hands on his head and slid down so that he was sitting on the cold cement of the patio.

  “But,” I said, letting out a deep breath as I sat down next to him. “I promise you that I didn’t do it this time. Back at St. Christopher’s I was in a bind. Dad had gotten laid off, and I thought it was the only thing that I could do to save myself.”

  I took Kai’s hand and interlaced our fingers. “I didn’t do it this time. You have to believe me. That girl from St. Christopher’s isn’t the same Bentley you know.”

  “Is that the real reason that you and Jake broke up?” He looked down at his knees.

  “Yes, he got caught and immediately threw me under the bus. The school let us go since his dad donated some money, but things were never the same after that. And I don’t want that to happen to us. You have to believe me, Kai.”

  He rubbed his thumb against the outer edge of my palm and let out a deep sigh. “I just don’t want another person that I love to get mixed up with drugs….”

  His eyes flickered to mine. I raised my eyebrows and tilted my head in confusion. Did he just say another person? More importantly did he just say love?

  “My dad was a commercial pipe fitter when we lived up in Wisconsin.” He stared off into space. “Things were a lot better then. We lived in a house with a yard and a dog, and even Mom was happier working as a secretary at the church up there. We were the perfect suburban family.”

  He pushed his bangs out of his face and let out a slow breath. “Then Dad got injured at work, which was fine at first. He was laid up at home, but the union was still paying him. But then Dad started getting addicted to the pain killers that they put him on, and he was a whole different person.”

  Kai shifted nervously, constantly rubbing the back of his neck. “He went from being the dad that would take me to soccer practice and rock Abby to sleep at night to a guy that sold Mom’s wedding ring so he could have more money for prescription drugs.”

  I just stared at Kai. I really wasn’t sure what else to do. I hadn’t assumed too much or even asked about his dad. I just figured he was another absent father or simply that his parents were divorced.

  “Mom finally left him about four years ago, taking us with her and moving back to Blackford, where she is from and my grandma lives.”

  He stopped rubbing his neck. “It’s why she’s even more crazy-religious, you know? She tried to get Dad to stop, and she thought that if he would have gone to church more or let our pastor help him then he wouldn’t have gotten so bad. Obviously tha
t didn’t work, and I had to grow up pretty quick.”

  I could almost see the tears well up in his eyes, but not a single drop fell. “When you’re thirteen and all of a sudden you have to be the man of the house, it’s a lot to take on. I took solace in music, but it still kills me to even think about Dad or even where he is now.”

  We were silent for awhile, just sitting on the patio with the only sound being our own heartbeats. I leaned my head on his shoulder.

  “Did you mean the other part that you said? The whole L-word thing?”

  He smiled. “It took you long enough to catch on to that part.”

  I pinched his side. “Hey, I was busy listening to you speak and didn’t want to interrupt!”

  He ran his fingers through my hair before brushing his thumb along my cheek. “I’m glad that you’re here to listen, and yes, Bentley, I do love you. I have since I first saw you crying at Burgers’R’Us. I knew that you put on that tough outer shell, but when you broke down like that, I just knew that you were different.”

  “But…” I sucked in my breath before letting it out slowly. “What about everything that happened today? I mean, I’m suspended and probably going to be expelled. Your mom is never going to let you be with me now.”

  “I don’t know, but we can make it work. I know we can. There has to be some truth to all of those Romeo and Juliet stories, right?” he asked, his brown eyes pleading with me.

  “I’m not going to fake my death.” I raised my eyebrows.

  “You know I try and have these nice little romantic moments with you, and all you do is make jokes.” He smiled and leaned in closer. “I guess you learned from the best.”

  “Yeah, my boyfriend’s pretty good about doing that,” I whispered, practically into his mouth. “And I’m completely in love with him too.”

  Chapter 32

  Shoo-in For Queen

  I wished I didn’t have to go back into my apartment that night. That I could have just stayed out on the patio with Kai forever and try to forget all that was crumbling around me.