by Linda Nelson
“I wish you guys could stay another night,” Karla blurted out, trying to break the silence. The silence had an eerie feel to it and it troubled her.
“Yeah…,” Sarah agreed. “Too bad we got school tomorrow, or I would ask otherwise.” She reached out to push the stop light button. Cars began to line up in front of the crosswalk.
“And; I have to work tomorrow,” Jody replied as she looked down the street, watching the traffic.
“I guess I should start looking for a job,” Karla said as the crosswalk light changed to green, allowing her to step off the curb. “Maybe I can get one somewhere in the mall.”
“Then we would never have any time to spend together,” Jody complained. She turned around, walking backwards in front of Karla.
“I'm getting my license soon,” Sarah said, skipping over a crack in the sidewalk. “We could hang out on weekend nights. The movies are open late.”
“I don't know if my folks would let me stay out late…,” Karla said, “You know how they are.”
“You never know until you ask,” Sarah advised.
The driveway appeared small in the darkness. An outside light on the edge of the driveway beckoned their way to the door.
“I guess we'll see,” Karla reluctantly opened the door, and announced, “Mom, we're home.”
“Okay, go get washed up, and I'll heat this up for you girls.” The microwave beeped. Her mom headed into the kitchen to finish heating up the meals.
Karla noticed her mom seemed angry. She was surprised to see that she was heating up their meal since she did say they would have to heat it up themselves, over the phone.
They quickly washed up and took their places at the dinner table. Mrs. Centon served them left over frozen pizza. It was a little tough and chewy from the microwave, but it was still edible.
Mrs. Centon took a place at the table. She cradled some sort of drink in a glass of ice, between the palms of her hands. Karla could not tell what kind it was, but she did know it was not soda. She wondered how much of that stuff her mom would drink before going to bed tonight. Giving it some thought, she could not remember how long it had been since she had seen one of those drinks in her mom's hands.
Karla did make one other note. Her dad’s car was not in the driveway. She didn’t remember him saying he had to go out tonight.
“So, what did you girls do today, anyway,” Mrs. Centon asked.
Karla raised an eyebrow and she stated defensively, “We went to the mall and the movies, Mom, remember.”
“I know that. I just wanted to know what you did while you were there.”
Karla began to feel nervous. She did not know where these questions were leading. Was her mom going to revert to her old self before Sarah and Jody left? And where was her dad, why was he not here?
“We just walked around the mall and watched a movie.”
Jody jumped in to rescue Karla, “Yeah and we stopped at the pet shop. They have the cutest little kittens, fluffy white ones.”
“And we saw the movie, “To the Max”; it's got John Mosston in it. He’s so good. I see all of his movies whenever I can,” Sarah added.
Mrs. Centon took another sip of her drink. “I'm just trying to figure out what took you so long today to walk to the mall and see a movie. You were gone for almost five hours. I know it does not take that long to go to the mall and see a movie. I cooked these pizzas almost two hours ago. I figured you should have been home by then. I don't think you just went to the mall and the movies. You probably went gallivanting all over town.”
“We didn't Mom. We just went to the mall and the movies. The movie started late cause we wanted to see the matinee. It's cheaper. That's all we did. Honest.”
Sarah defended Karla, “Yeah, Mrs. Centon, we must have spent about an hour in the pet shop looking at all the fish. They have lots of fish. My dad is thinking about setting up an aquarium in our living room. They got lots of really nice fish there.”
Jody apologized, “We are sorry, we didn't know the movie was going to be so long.”
“Yeah, Mrs. Centon, we thought the movie was going to be over before it got dark,” Sarah looked at Karla, “So I guess now is not the time for Karla to ask if she can have a kitten.”
Mrs. Centon addressed Karla, “No kittens. No Cats. No Dogs. Next time you are going to do something like that and be late; call home before doing it.” With that she got up from the table taking her drink with her into the living room, leaving the girls in peace.
Sarah whispered, “God, Karla. We didn't know she would be like that.”
Karla bit her lip to keep it from trembling. She hated it when her mother spoke to her like that in front of her friends. Her appetite now lost, she wondered if she could get away with throwing out the pizza without her mother noticing.
“Your mom's drinking again, isn’t she,” Jody nibbled on her pizza.
“Yeah…I guess so… I don't want to talk about it… Not now.”
Karla ripped a piece of the pizza off her slice. She slowly chewed it. It was now so rubbery and cold.
They finished their meal in silence. Karla could not wait for this night to be over. She had that feeling all along that her mom's niceness would not last long.
Sarah noted the time on the clock. It hung on the wall above the kitchen sink. They could see it from where they sat at the table. “We better get our stuff together. My folks will be here soon.”
Taking care of their plates, they went to Karla's room quietly. Hoping Mrs. Centon would not notice them gone. In Karla's room, they quickly gathered their things together.
They spoke about how bad they felt for Karla getting in trouble with her mom.
Headlights pulled into the driveway. Karla could see them from her bedroom window. Putting her face close to the window, she was able to see the car.
“They're here.” Karla announced.
They hugged Karla while the car horn beeped.
“I'm gonna miss you guys…” Karla said sadly.
They took their things to the front door, quickly saying goodbye and thank you to Mrs. Centon for letting them sleep over. Karla accompanied them out the door to see them get into the car. She waved goodbye, saying “Call me.”
“Don't forget watch out for that creep.” Jody yelled out the car window.
“Yeah, you watch out for Dave, then.” Karla shouted back.
“See yah.” Jody yelled.
“See yah.” Karla yelled back as the car pulled out of the driveway.
“I'll call you,” Sarah yelled out the back window. The car pulled out into the street and quickly disappeared from sight.
As soon as the car was out of sight Karla returned inside. She glared at her mom on her way to her room and shut the door just shy of slamming it shut.
She hated her mother. There was no reason she needed to act like she did in front of her friends. It was just not fair. It wasn’t like she had been that late getting home. At least she had made it back home before eight o’clock.
Karla grabbed her pillow off her bed and hugged it tight against her stomach and bit her lip to hold back the tears and sobs.
Not fair – she wasn’t ever fair to her when her friends were involved.
Maybe, just maybe, Karla thought – she picked up her cell phone and tried calling Jan.
It rang six times before the answering machine picked up announcing, “I can’t come to the phone right now, please leave your name and number, and I will get back to you as soon as I can…”
Never mind, thought Karla… She probably would say no anyway…
Chapter ~ 17
The next day Karla had study hall during her first period. She was able to get a pass from the teacher allowing her to take her study hall in the library instead of the class room.
Carol said she would be going to the library too for her study period and that she would meet her there.
“If you get there before me save me a cubicle, and if I get there before you I’ll save o
ne for you,” Carol had said to her when she saw her at her locker before going to their homeroom for daily attendance.
At her old school, the library was small. They did not have the privacy cubicles as they had at Brantwood High. If they had Karla was sure she would have done the same with Jody and Sarah.
“Karla, did you finish the report yet,” asked Carol as she dropped her books down on the cubicle table. Pulling the chair back, she hung her purse on the back and sat in the chair facing Karla.
The library was lined with wooden cubicles separating students, allowing some privacy. The school was so large; it allowed the library to be on two levels. Both levels shelved a very large selection of books and study material. Karla was sure her hometown's town library wasn’t as large as this library.
Big tables were placed in the middle of the library, allowing groups of students to study together. These were found on both levels along with the numerous cubicles. Karla and Carol were on the lower level.
“No…but I did start it,” Karla said as she looked up from her math homework. The paper was littered with erase marks. The geometry equations were giving her some trouble.
“I haven't even thought about mine yet,” replied Carol.
She leaned toward Karla to get a better look at what she was working on. Then, leaning back in her chair, she pulled out a notebook with names and sayings strewn across the cover.
“What are you gonna do? It's due Friday,” Karla asked while she pushed away the math paper and tossed her pencil down on the table before her. She was frustrated and knew she would never get her math homework done. It had to be turned in next block.
“I don't know, maybe I'll turn it in next week,” Carol said while she pulled a note out of her notebook. Smiling, she pushed the note off to the side and ripped a page out of her notebook.
“Doesn't she mark it down for each day it is late,” Karla asked.
“Yeah, but that's okay…It will pass.”
Carol began to write a note.
“My folks get mad if I don't get anything but A's and B's.”
Karla picked the pencil back up and pulled the math paper back in front of her. She had to get this done before study was over. Holding the paper up, she began to concentrate on that geometry equation giving her trouble.
“Mine gave up on me a long time ago. Now they are just happy if I pass.”
Carol began to fold her finished note into a football. She wrote Heath's name on the outside of it.
“So what are you going to do after you graduate?
My folks said I can't get into college unless I have good grades,” Karla said as she set the math paper back down and began to scribble part of the equation down.
“College…Bah… If I go to college, it will be on a volleyball scholarship. Academics are not my strongest thing…I like doing the sports thing.”
Carol turned around in the chair to check the clock on the wall. They still had another half an hour before the next period.
“And your folks are okay with that,” Karla asked. She was miffed. She wished her folks were like that. Then there wouldn’t be any pressure or stress to make the grade.
“What choice do they have anyway?
It's my life. Maybe I'll just get married and have kids,” Carol grinned.
“I don't know…I want to do something with my life.”
But it would be nice if she could make her own decisions on what she wanted to do with her life. Her mom was always saying she had to take this course or take that class because she had to go to Condorf College, which was only an hour away from Brantwood.
Karla tried to focus on the math paper again. She scratched down letters and symbols on the paper before her.
“What are you gonna do after you graduate,” Carol asked as she sucked on the end of her pencil.
“Go to college and do something in the medical field.”
At least, that was what Karla’s mom wanted her to do. On the other hand, Karla would rather be an elementary teacher.
"Oh. Good luck, then.”
Carol pulled out her science book. Another note fell out of the pages. There was also a test folded in the pages showing a C- grade on it.
Karla worked on the next ten questions without any interruption. She erased the last equation several times before finding the answer. Looking at the clock she saw that she had ten minutes till next block. She was so glad she was able to finish the math homework in time.
Maggie passed behind them and tossed a note on Carol's table. Carol unfolded it to read it.
“Hey, do you party,” Carol asked.
“Party,” repeated Karla. She was bewildered by the question.
“Yeah, you know, hang out with friends…have a couple of drinks... Maybe dance, talk and chill.”
“I’ve never been to one – no one ever asked me to one before,” Karla said while she stuffed her books into her backpack.
“Wanna go? There is gonna be one at Ian's this Friday. His dad has to go out-of-town, and he will have the house to himself.”
Carol began to gather up her things as well.
“I don't know.”
Karla turned in the chair to face Carol.
“Come on, it will be fun.”
“My folks probably won't let me go.”
Both mall incidents were still in the back of her mind. Carol shoplifting, and her mom yelling at her for coming home late with Sarah and Jody on Sunday.
“Don't tell them. Say that you are sleeping over at my house.”
“I don't know…I'll have to get back with you.”
Karla hated being pressured.
“Why? You already got plans,” Carol snipped.
“Um…I just got to get back with you.”
“I think Gerry is going.”
“Oh?”
The mention of Gerry being there caught Karla’s interest.
“I hear he is free again,” Carol whispered.
Karla tipped her head.
“So what are you saying?”
She could not understand why Carol was so intent on this party thing.
“You like him, right,” Carol smiled, “Like no one has noticed.”
“Yeah...” Karla felt her cheeks glow hot.
“So ask him out, silly,” Carol snickered.
“Oh…I don't know,” Karla said softly. “I don't think he would go out with me.”
“You won't know unless you ask,” Carol grinned knowingly.
“I don't know…I don't think I can ask him.”
“You can, it’s easy. Just walk up to him and ask.”
“That's easy for you to say you're pretty outgoing.”
Karla stood up and slipped her backpack over her shoulder. The school bell rang for the next period.
“All right – think about it, but don't wait too long, or he will be taken again. I'll even help you ask him. Why don't you see if you can make plans to come over to my house after school tomorrow, and we can go over a plan to get you to the party with Gerry?”
“I’ll think about it,” Karla reluctantly agreed, “I got to go to class…I'll talk to you later.”
The rest of the school day went by without a hitch. There was no test in her math class, so that made the day much better. She was able to take lunch again with Carol, but she could not help notice the whispering taking place at the table.
Karla felt left out, like she was the target of some sort of joke or something. It made her wonder if there was a problem in this school with hazing.
She decided to keep her suspicions to herself for now. Hazing or no hazing, she would not fall apart before these new friends of hers. This seemed to be the crowd to be with.
Karla went straight home after school. She did her best to avoid her mother. Her dad had left her the chore of mowing the grass.
She found the mower in the shed beside the pool house, and she mowed the small portion of grass in the back yard.
She thought to herself of how she could hav
e used a pair of scissors on the patch because it was so small. But then again, that would have been too much trouble... The mower was after all the easiest way to go.
Her dad was not home for supper that night. Karla ate in silence. She avoided looking at her mother or engaging in any conversation with her.
As soon as they were done eating, Karla excused herself from the table. She used the excuse of having lots of homework to do. She didn't even dare ask if she could go to Carol's after school tomorrow, she feared another confrontation since her mom sat once again with one of those drinks before her.
Karla so hated it when her mom drank that stuff. She became so irritable and moody, and Karla always felt like she could never say or do anything right.
Mrs. Centon fumed to herself after Karla ran off to her bedroom.
“That child never helps me with the dishes, never helps clean the house and she refuses to acknowledge my existence. And, she wonders why I drink… Moments like these… and she wonders why.”
Chapter ~ 18
The next morning, Karla woke with a start. The alarm clock was blaring Snoop Dog. She reached over to slam the button off, knocking it off the nightstand.
All night, she could not think of anything else but the party and Gerry. This kept her from falling asleep.
She tossed and turned, thinking of how her parents would deny her the freedom to go to such an event.
She could hear her Mom saying, “Are there going to be any parents there? Who are you going to be with? I don't think so. I'm sure there is drinking at the party, and drugs too. You're not going, and that’s final.”
Karla feared what she was going to tell Carol. She would probably think she was some sort of dweeb, and not let her hang with them anymore.
She grabbed a shirt from her dresser drawer and quickly pulled it on over her head.
Looking in her mirror on her bedroom door, she checked the fit of the shirt. The neckline was low, but it would pass the school dress code.
The jeans Karla picked out were of a tight fit hip-hugger. Not quite as tight as wearing skinny jeans.
