Life, Love, & Lemons

by Vernon, Magan

  It was Thursday, so I should have been getting up early to get ready for school and Homecoming activities but instead I just laid in bed staring at the ceiling. I wondered what everyone around school was saying about me. Probably nothing good, and Kai was probably getting a lot of flak from people as well. I just hoped that no one thought that somehow he was involved with it, or that Brynne thought she’d won and now was all over him.

  I shuddered just thinking about her slithering up to him with her stupid dreadlocks and that smirk on her face. I heard Dad shuffle into the kitchen around ten and figured that I should get up as well.

  Mom never came back that night to get her stuff and even though she had been pretty absent since we moved to the apartment, it was still weird knowing that she wasn’t going to be around again. Dad slumped down at the kitchen table, staring at his cup of coffee blankly.

  “Hey, Dad…”

  He slowly looked up at me. First he lost his job, then his daughter got suspended, and to top it all, his wife was cheating on him with his insurance agent. For the first time, I finally understood why he was so mopey all the time. I wanted to crawl into whatever hole he was going to bury himself in and stay there. But I knew that we had to go on somehow.

  “I really don’t know where to go from here, Bent,” Dad sighed. “I should have known this would happen with your mother, but it still feels like a shot to the heart.”

  “I know I’m not supposed to say this as your daughter, but you’re way better off without her.” I tried my best to smile. Though it pained me to even say it, it was true.

  Even though Mom was always a ‘stay-at-home Mom,’ she was always too busy to be a Mom. Doing different charity functions, lunch dates, golfing. It was like being a mother was an inconvenience to her. As much as I also hated to admit it, Dad was the same way pre-lay-off. I kind of wondered what life would have been like had Dad not gotten laid off. Would he have been the same distant father who I never got to know as a writer or the guy that was actually interested in my life?

  “You know,” he said, letting out a big sigh. “In some ways this lay-off was one of the best things that could have happened to me.”

  I choked on my own spit, literally. I started coughing violently for about thirty seconds.

  “Excuse me?” I asked when I finally regained my composure.

  “If this wouldn’t have happened, I would have just been stuck for another thirty years in a loveless marriage, in a job that I hated, but now I get the chance to venture out on my own without the constraints of a job or a wife, that hadn’t been a real wife in years.”

  He reached across the table and patted my head. “But that’s not something you should be concerned with right now. What we need to be concerned about is getting you back to school.”

  “I hope that you believe me, Dad. I mean, yes, when I was at St. Christopher’s I was dealing, but I’m definitely not doing it now, and you know that Kai would never put me up to something like that,” I protested, feverishly chewing on my bottom lip.

  “Bent, I’ve been with you and Kai enough to know that neither of you would ever do that. Kai may dress funny and have way too many piercings for my liking, but I know he’s a good kid. And I know that you are as well.” He gave me a reassuring, tight-lipped smile.

  “Well, where do we go from here, Dad?” I’m just the kid in this relationship; I don’t have all the answers.” I removed my hand from his and placed both my hands on the table, folding them together in front of me.

  “I think that we should get dressed and go down and talk to your principal.” Dad stood up, looking down at me.

  “What are we supposed to say, though?” I stood up in front of him, crossing my arms. “I mean, I don’t think she’s going to believe the truth.

  “I guess we’re going to have to try and make her.” Dad smiled, giving me a reassuring pat on the back before heading into his bedroom.

  I didn’t know if it would work. In fact I had no idea what was even going through Dad’s head. He put on his former everyday work attire: charcoal dress pants, button down shirt, and a tie. I think he even shaved. He looked more like the dad that I was used to pre-lay-off.

  “We’ll be fine, Bent, don’t worry. Whatever happens, happens.” He smiled at me.

  Dad had never even been to St. Christopher’s for anything besides my eighth grade graduation, and when I got busted, so it was even weirder to see him so ready to walk into East High with me.

  His eyes were wide open as he stared at the metal detectors and then I saw his nostrils flare, knowing the East High funk hit his nose.

  “Hi, I’m Marcus Evans, and my daughter and I are here to see Mrs. Grover.” Dad turned on the ‘all business’ voice as he spoke with the secretary.

  “I’ll let her know that you’re here, Mr. Evans.” The secretary smiled behind her Coke bottle glasses then headed down the hallway toward Mrs. Grover’s office.

  “Dad, do you really think this is going to work?” I asked quietly, as I looked through the big glass windows that surrounded the office.

  People walked by and stared at us, then whispered to each other.

  “It’s worth a shot.” He smiled as the secretary walked back out to the office.

  “Mrs. Grover will see you now,” she said and motioned her arm toward the hallway. Mrs. Grover seemed to have a softer appearance about her as she greeted us. Maybe she had gotten wind of Mom and Dad’s split somehow and wanted a guy that wouldn’t be running around on her.

  “Please, have a seat.” She motioned for us to sit as she closed the door behind us.

  “Thank you for seeing us, Mrs. Grover,” Dad said as she took her seat behind the desk.

  “I have to say that I wasn’t too surprised when my secretary told me you were here.” She smiled and leaned back in her chair.

  “Do most parents come in and speak with you after their child has been suspended?” Dad asked, crossing one ankle over the other, leaning in.

  “No, actually, the kids that do get suspended are expelled and have parents that are pretty absent in their lives but looking through Bentley’s file it seems as though that was not the case.”

  She opened the file and thumbed through it. “Aside from that last incident at St. Christopher’s, Bentley looked like a model student. Honor roll, student council president, AP classes. She was the poster child for high school success.”

  “I know, Mrs. Grover, that’s why it’s obvious that someone set me up,” I practically whined.

  Dad sat his hand on my knee before he looked back at Mrs. Grover.

  “Mrs. Grover, you can obviously see how upset my daughter is. I’m not here to tell you that I plan on paying you off. Things have been rough on my daughter over the past year with my lay-off, moving, and starting a new school. I really don’t want her to miss out on her senior year because of a miscommunication, and I’m hoping there is some way that we can work this out.”

  “Well, lucky for you, Malakai Stone has come forward and said that the pharmaceuticals were his and that Bentley had no idea that he’d put them in her locker for safe keeping.” She closed the file and folded her hands on top of it. “Mr. Stone left just a few moments ago, and I was actually just about to call you, Mr. Evans. Bentley is allowed to come back to school and will be able to assume her position on Homecoming court.” She leaned in smiling. “I also heard that she is a shoo-in for Queen.”

  Chapter 33

  Why Are Boys So Stupid?

  Out of all the stupid romantic clichés, why did my boyfriend have to be Juliet? What did he think? That by taking the blame for the pills it was going to make things all better for us? I’m sure that if his mom already didn’t hate me, she definitely did now.

  Dad said I should stay at school and go to my last few classes of the day before coming home, since I probably had a few things to catch up on. Too bad Dad didn’t realize that everything I was supposed to be learning in class I had already learned freshman year at St. Christopher’s
. I declined his offer to stay, saying that I had a headache and just wanted to rest. The truth was, I was hoping Kai would be home and maybe I could talk to him about what the heck was going through his head.

  When we pulled into the apartment complex I was expecting to be greeted by his car, but it wasn’t there. I made Dad drive by Burgers’R’Us and Perkins, but his car wasn’t at either place. I had no idea where he was.

  “I guess that wasn’t a complete waste of a trip.”

  Dad and I were silent most of the way back home, and I guess that was the only thing he could think of to say as we walked back into the apartment.

  “Why are boys so stupid?” I whined. “How is it really going to help anything if I’m back in school, but he’s probably going to get shipped off to some juvenile rehab center where the other kids sell him for cigarettes?”

  “Bent, I think that you’re overacting.” Dad opened the pantry, pulling out a bag of spaghetti and a can of sauce. “It was very noble of Kai to stand up for you, and this is all going to be taken off of your permanent record.”

  “But he didn’t do it, Dad! I know Kai and there is no way that those pills would be his.” I leaned up against the counter, running my fingers through my hair. It had started drizzling by the time we were on our way home, and I looked like a wet dog.

  “And I believe you, Bent, but there is nothing we can do if he wants to take the blame.” Dad filled up a pot with water and set it on the stove.

  “I just don’t understand why he would even do that. He didn’t even talk to me first.” I shook my head feverishly.

  “I don’t know what to tell you. I guess he must really like you to do that,” Dad said as he glanced over at me from the stove.

  A boy loved me too much, and Mom didn’t love Dad enough to stay faithful to him. And I was being a huge jerk for complaining so much. I needed to get out of the house.

  “I think I’m going to wait out on the patio for Kai to come home…” I trailed off as I headed out the screen door.

  It felt like I was sitting outside forever when my dad poked his head out. “Bent, lunch is ready.”

  I sat in one of the cheap plastic chairs that we had picked up at Wal-mart. It was still raining and smelled like wet grass, but I didn’t want to move.

  “I’m not hungry,” I muttered, still staring blankly at the parking lot.

  “Do you plan on waiting out here all day for him?” Dad asked, leaning against the door frame.

  I shrugged. “If that’s what it takes.”

  He didn’t push me to come inside; he just walked in and set my place at the table. He did the same thing with dinner and as the sun set off in the distance of the Blackford skyline; I was still sitting in the chair waiting.

  I saw the lights turn on in his apartment sometime after it started to get dark, but as the rain came down, I still didn’t see his car approach. I was mentally exhausted and it seemed almost too easy to fall asleep in the chair.

  “What are you doing out here?” I heard a loud whisper.

  I woke up in a daze. At some point Dad must have covered me with a blanket, but I was still pretty sore from falling asleep in a plastic lawn chair.

  I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn’t dreaming but there he was, standing in front of me with the same lip ring and all.

  “What am I doing here?” I groaned. “Kai, I’ve been waiting for you for hours! Where have you been?” I stood up. Every part of my body creaked and the constant rain wasn’t making it any easier with the cold air and all.

  “Bentley, you need to get inside and go to bed. We can talk later.” He pointed toward the door.

  I crossed my arms firmly over my chest as I looked him in the eye. “Why did you say that the pills were yours?” I wasn’t about to budge. I didn’t sit outside for hours in the rain just to go to bed.

  “It doesn’t matter. You get to go back to school and to be Homecoming Queen, isn’t that what you want?” He leaned down toward me.

  “Why would you say that? Yes, it’s great that I get to go back to school, but it’s not great that I don’t get to be there with you.” I took a step closer to him. “I honestly hated East on my first day and had no idea how I would survive. Then you came into my life and made me actually want to get up in the morning and go to school. I didn’t care about all the stupid nicknames or how many times I got a ball thrown at my head in gym class as long as I had you.” I looked down taking a deep sigh. “And now I feel like, why even bother.”

  “Bentley…” He lifted my chin with his fingers, so that our eyes met. His eyes were so bloodshot that I could almost feel the pain behind them. “I did this for you. I can move on from this. I may have to go to the alternative school for a year, but I’m a big boy I can handle myself.”

  “Where were you today?” It was the only question I could muster.

  He dropped his hands to the side, shoving them in his pocket. “I went out with Mom…”

  “Where?” I dropped my voice lower as if to sound more stern.

  “Nowhere. She just wanted to talk.” He dug his sneaker into the cement, like it was going to burst through it.

  “Malakai Stone, I’ve been waiting out in the rain for you for hours. The least you can do is be honest with me,” I almost shouted, but was careful not to be too loud, so I wouldn’t wake everyone up.

  He let out a big sigh as he finally met my eyes again. “She took me up to Wisconsin to see Dad.”

  “Oh…” I dropped my eyes, suddenly feeling guilty.

  “She wanted me to see what drugs can really do to a person, and let me tell you, the Wisconsin prison system is not pretty.” He continued digging his foot into the ground as he spoke. “She didn’t want me to turn out like him and instead of getting mad, she just got really concerned and started talking about my choices in life.”

  “But did you tell her that it wasn’t actually yours? That I was framed but you took the blame?” My voice was sounding needier and whinier by the second.

  “It really wouldn’t have done any good. She’s never liked my lifestyle with all the tattoos and piercings and weird music anyway, so this was kind of just the icing on the cake.”

  “Did she blame me?” I questioned.

  He let out a deep breath. “I wish I could say no, but yeah, your name was definitely brought up.”

  “Oh…” I didn’t take my eyes off of the droplets that continued to fall on the ground.

  “But, hey.” He put his hands on my shoulders. “She’s not going to stop me from seeing you. I’m going to be eighteen in a couple months, and we’re neighbors, it’s not like she can completely hide me from you.”

  “I don’t want it to be like that, Kai.” I looked up at him as the tears started to well up in my eyes. “I don’t want to have a relationship where we are sneaking around behind your mom’s back.”

  “I don’t want that either, Bentley. It’s not ideal, but I don’t want to be without you. Don’t you see? At least this way we can still see each other, and I’m sure in a few months this will all blow over.” He tried to smile, but it came out more forced than anything.

  “Kai…I love you. I can’t deny that, but I don’t want us to keep doing stupid things like this that’s only hurting us.” A single tear rolled down my cheek.

  “Are you breaking up with me?” He swallowed hard.

  “For now, this is just goodnight.”

  Chapter 34

  Barbie downgraded to GI Joe

  I couldn’t sleep. It was like the storm inside my head was louder than the storm outside of my window. I just couldn’t understand why Kai put himself in that position for me. Not only did he get suspended, but now we wouldn’t even be able to see each other. These thoughts just swam around my head all night until I was forced to get out of bed and go to school.

  I really didn’t want to go. I should have been the one suspended. The pills were in my locker. I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror as I got dressed, and it took every ounce of energy
I had to even slip on sweatpants. Dad had some kind of meeting or something in the morning, which was the first time I’d heard him ever say that word since the lay-off, so Gabby said that she would pick me up for school.

  “Whoa, rough night, or were you just out celebrating your return to school?” Her eyes widened as I slipped into the passenger seat of her car.

  I just stared at her, hoping that she realized by the way my eyes narrowed and my lips didn’t move that it was definitely the first scenario.

  “So you’re not happy to be returning to school?” she asked and pulled out of the apartment complex. “It’s the big game tonight and Homecoming tomorrow, and like everyone I’ve talked to said that they voted for to be Queen.”

  I picked at the nail polish on my fingernails. “I don’t even have a date anymore.”

  “You don’t need a date to have a good time, and Kai can still go to dinner with all of us. Then you can leave right after you’re crowned Queen or whatever.” She changed the song on the stereo to a more upbeat one, probably trying to lighten the mood.

  “I don’t think he even wants to see me for dinner,” I muttered, slowly peeling back the pink nail polish.

  “From what you said about him taking the blame for you, I think he must like you a ton.”

  That wasn’t exactly how I saw it. Yes, he obviously really liked me, but it seemed like he wasn’t thinking. By taking the blame he made it so that we could never see each other again. His mom just thought I was some drug-dealing low-life that got her son into drugs and would definitely never let us be together. If he wouldn’t have taken the blame maybe she wouldn’t have even had to know.

  It was even harder walking into school than I thought. From the first day at East, Kai had been at my side and even though I had Gabby, I still felt very alone.

  “Hey, Bentley.” The last person I expected to walk up to my locker, before first period, was Macy. With her blonde hair perfectly done and not a single wrinkle on her belted shirt-dress.

  “Uh, hey, Macy.” I didn’t look at her as I grabbed my history book from my locker. I was hoping she wasn’t going to ask me about Kai, or I would snap.