by Jeff Hale
“Okay, Mom. Yeah, was wondering about where we were gonna sleep. The couch is pretty comfy, but not big enough for the both of us.”
She laughed then her face sobered. “I don’t know when Gary’s funeral is going to be. I have to go down to the morgue tomorrow as well, then start making arrangements.”
I leaned in and gave her another hug, then stood up. “It’ll be okay, Mom, it will.”
We ended up having to call a cab to come pick us up and take us to the new house; both my car and Mom’s were still there, she had taken a cab home from the hospital. The place had an eerie stillness when we pulled up. The large front window was covered by several sheets of plywood and there were still pieces of yellow police tape across the door. I yanked the tape away from the door and went in first, giving Mom a chance to compose herself before she stepped inside. Yes, Gary had been an abusive asshole, but she had still watched her husband get mauled to death. It couldn’t have been easy on her.
We worked fast, not wanting to be in the place any longer than we had to. It had seemed like such a welcome haven when we first moved in, but now it felt like death to me. I could still smell blood in the air, see the stain of it on the floor in the living room. I avoided that spot as best as possible.
We shoved stuff in the two cars rather haphazardly. Clothing, small belongings, my computer, stereo and small TV. By the time we had the cars filled, all that was really left was the various room furniture and dishes. We hadn’t really taken all that much with us when we had moved out. We put all the dishes back in packing boxes and left them stacked on the dining room table so that everything would be ready for the movers on Monday and then we drove the stuffed cars back to the old house.
Once we had everything unloaded, and my room looked like a small nuclear explosion had gone off in it, Mom ordered pizza for all of us.
“Will you be okay up here if Kris and I go downstairs and watch some television while we eat?” I asked my mother as she settled down with her dinner.
She waved a hand at me, giving me a tired smile. “Of course I will. You two go have fun, just give me a heads up if you decide to take off.”
“Sure thing, Mom.”
I headed out of the kitchen and down the hallway for the stairs that led to the basement family room, Kris following behind me. There was a door at the bottom of the stairs and I pushed that open, fumbling for the light switch on the other side. I flipped it on, illuminating the room.
The family room was fairly large. There was a door on the far left end that led into the downstairs utility room and another door through that that led into the storage area. There was a bathroom down here, and another room that housed exercise equipment.
Two long high windows looked out onto the front yard. There was a curved sectional in the middle of the room that faced the entertainment center where it sat under the windows. Not far behind the sectional sat a pool table, and in the far right corner was a desk with a computer.
I wandered over and plopped onto the sectional, setting my plate of pizza slices on the floor and fumbling in the middle tray for the television remote. Kris dropped onto the cushions not too far from me as I hit the power button.
“I called last night, but you didn’t answer,” she said, kicking her shoes off. “I would have stopped by but figured you were busy with Darien.” She gave me a mischievous smile.
I snorted. “Not last night I wasn’t. Apparently I was so tired I slept the clock round. This afternoon though…” I sighed.
“That good? Or that bad? Speaking of which.” She wriggled a bit, digging into her front pocket and pulling out a tightly folded article of blue cotton. She shook it out until she was holding my bra in her hand. “I found this in the kitchen earlier, figured you might not want your mom to see it. Should I be worried about eating off the breakfast bar?”
I took the bra then smacked her with it. “No, the breakfast bar is fine, you. Things may have started in the kitchen but we ended up in my bedroom. And as for my mom seeing it, way too late on that.”
“Ouch.”
“Actually, she didn’t react that badly. Gave me the whole ‘you’re an adult’ speech and kind of left it at that.” I pointed the remote at the TV again and began to idly flip through channels while munching on a slice of pizza to see if anything caught my interest. A finger poked me in the shoulder. “Ow! What?”
She gave me an exasperated look. “So what happened in your bedroom?”
My face flushed. “Not enough and too much?”
“Huh?” She looked confused.
“Well, I think things might have gone the whole way if Mom hadn’t gotten home and interrupted us.”
Kris grimaced at me. “I’m sorry.”
I shook my head. “Don’t be, at least not yet. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I want to, and I want to with Darien, but, well, he has made what seems to be a lifelong commitment to me, on incredibly short notice, and I’m not sure I’m ready for that yet.”
“I thought you wanted a boyfriend though?”
I sighed. “I do… but he wants a mate, and there’s a world of difference there.”
Something caught my eye and I flipped back to the channel I had just passed. It was the SciFi channel and it was showing some paranormal ghost hunting show. Right now it was showing recent footage of a full body apparition in someone’s Colonial kitchen as it made ghostly bread, while the ghost hunting team stood there dumb-founded.
“That special effects of some kind?” Kris asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
“Creepy.”
I just nodded.
We spent the next couple of hours switching back and forth between the SciFi channel and the Discovery channel. Apparently paranormal and other mysteriously weird activity had been on a steep rise lately and the two channels were overrun with new shows and specials showing it all.
“So whatdya think?” Kris asked me as she swallowed the last cold bite of her pizza. “Are we on the verge of world apocalypse?” She said it as a joke, but there was an underlying tone of worry in her voice that it might just be true.
“I really don’t know, Kris. So much has happened lately that I’m really just kind of overwhelmed. Between all the weird ass crap that seems to be going on with the world and the weird ass crap that just happened to me, us, I’m having a hard time not just sitting here doing this.” I wiggled my index finger back and forth over my lips so I made a ‘bbbbb’ sound. She squinched her eyes at me then we both dissolved into semi-hysterical laughter.
A big yawn hit me as the laughter faded and I looked at the clock on the VCR. It was almost ten thirty. “Shit. I have to go to school Monday, don’t I?” It was more rhetorical than an actual question, but Kris gave me a nod.
“Yup, you got to play hooky enough already this week. I checked with your teachers yesterday and you didn’t really miss anything, just reading and lecture mostly. I think there’s a test in your Botany class, but Mr. Jareds said you could make it up next week sometime.”
“Thanks, Kris, least I know I won’t have a ton of homework to make up.” Not that I was really worried about the homework. My grades were good and I already had enough credits to graduate. But at least school was something normal, something I felt I could control. Unlike the rest of my quickly changing life.
TEN
Katelyn
Monday came sooner than I wanted it to. Kris and I were both dragging feet to get ready, not having slept all that well on the floor, although the cat, Angel, had seemed perfectly content with the pile of soft blankets.
I wasn’t looking forward to the bus ride again, having had a day in the rental house where I got to enjoy the fresh air of walking to school. We suffered through it, blocking out the drone of other students with our headphones and the Ipod, before parting ways at our lockers.
As I walked into my third period U.S. History class, I heard Melanie’s voice cut across the room
“Well, well, everybody, if i
t isn’t slutty Kat!” She sneered at me as I made my way to my desk, two behind Cody’s. “Watch your men, girls, or she might just put her hands where they don’t belong on them too!”
Half the room erupted into laughter, while a few others whispered among themselves and I felt my face burn hot.
What a fucking bitch!
She knew damn well that the only reason I had even gotten my hands near her precious boyfriend was because she had dropped my car keys down his pants, and now she was making it out that I had pawed him for my own lustful purposes.
I glanced surreptitiously at Cody, expecting to see him laughing as well, but he was one of the few quiet ones. He was actually already looking at me, with an almost sympathetic expression on his face, and I dropped my gaze quickly before he caught me.
I seethed quietly through the rest of the class, doing my best to ignore Melanie and her little clique of friends, and hurriedly left the classroom as soon as the bell rang. I was out the door and halfway down the hall toward my fourth period class when I heard Cody’s voice behind me.
“Hey, wait!”
I kept walking. There was no way in hell I was going to stop and let him and his bitch girlfriend taunt me some more.
“Kat! Wait!”
I could hear his steps speed up and he caught up to me, his breath only slightly labored from having to increase his pace.
I stopped and whirled on him, surprised that Melanie was nowhere in sight. “What do you want, Cody?” My voice was harsh with hostility.
“Whoa, there! Don’t bite my head off!” He held my purse out to me. “You forgot this in class.”
I yanked my purse out of his hands and he had the grace to look hurt at my abrupt and decidedly unfriendly action. “Thank you,” I forced out between clenched teeth, feeling only slightly contrite.
“Look, I’m sorry Mel is being such a shit to you—”
“Like it’s anything new?” I interrupted sarcastically.
He sighed and I saw some real regret in his eyes. It startled me. Was Cody Grey not quite the ass that I thought he was?
“You’re right, it’s not new, and I couldn’t even tell you why she’s so mean to you except that she’s probably jealous—”
“Jealous?” I interrupted again, thinking he must be out of his mind. “Why would she even be remotely jealous of me?”
“Are you that fucking dense?” The look he gave me said I was a complete imbecile and I bristled again.
“If you’re going to get mean, Cody—”
“I’m sorry, but, shit, have you never looked in a mirror?” He held his hands out in a questioning gesture. “You’re hot, Kat, and it’s more than that even, there is something about you…” He thought for a moment. “Well, I can’t come up with a word for it. But there’s something. I would have asked you out a long time ago, but I always figured you’d tell me to get lost.” He gave me a shy smile.
It felt like the floor had dropped out from under me. He liked me? Had wanted to ask me out? Had I been wrong all along and maybe there wasn’t anything wrong with me?
I sighed, returning his smile. “I would have said yes, Cody. But you’re kinda going out with the Queen of Mean now.” I shrugged. Plus, I was… what? Going out with Darien? Waiting for Aerick? I wasn’t sure.
“So are you going to the Senior Party?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re funny.”
“No, really… you’re not?” He actually looked bewildered by it.
I shook my head. “Nope. Kris and I were gonna just hang out.”
“Wanna go with me?”
I just about dropped my books on the floor. “You’re joking, right? You’re Melanie’s boyfriend, shouldn’t you be going with her?”
“Mel is a vapid, shallow, backbiting cu—”
I held my hand up to cut him off. “I get the picture, I agree with the picture, but then why are you dating her?”
“She’s pretty, she’s a cheerleader and she puts out.” He gave me an apologetic shrug.
“Very nice, Cody.” I gave him a stern look. “Just ‘cause I went after my keys doesn’t mean I’m necessarily willing to have sex with you.”
“That’s fine. I mean, yeah I wouldn’t mind, but… I like you.” He gave me a bright smile. “So, will you?”
“Have sex with you? I just said—”
“No, no.” He gave a snort. “Go. To. The. Senior. Party. With. Me?”
I thought a moment. Even if I was dating Darien, I doubted that going to a high school Senior Party was high on his list of things to do, and I wouldn’t mind going since I was graduating. So I took a deep breath, and said, “Sure!” before I could change my mind.
Cody leaned in and gave me a brief hug just as the bell rang signaling that we were now late for fourth period. “Thanks, Kat, you won’t regret it.” He gave me another big smile, then took off at a run for his class.
I chewed my lip. I sure hoped that I didn’t regret it.
Much as I had figured, Kris just about had a baby cow when I told her as we sat down at a table in the cafeteria.
“So you’re actually going to the Senior Party with that jerk?” She gave me a disbelieving look.
“Yeah, I said yes. Not quite sure what came over me,” I admitted.
“You mean other than the fact that you’ve had a crush on Cody for, like, ever?” She grinned, then pouted. “But what about me? What am I going to do?”
Oh, fuck. It hadn’t occurred to me that now I was leaving Kris all alone for that night. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t even thinking…”
She laughed. “I was just kidding. Hey, if you want to go with Cody, go ahead, just be careful, okay? I don’t entirely trust his motives. I’ll find something to do.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” Her teasing expression suddenly turned to one of wariness. “Uh oh, Bitch Squad alert, and really pissed looking!”
“You little relationship wrecking whore!” Melanie’s voice was shrill as she stomped up behind me, carrying across the whole of the cafeteria and resulting in sudden silence from everyone else in the room as well as their undivided attention.
I sighed, took a steadying breath and turned on the bench to face her. Her face was bright red and her brown eyes were narrowed in wrath at me.
“What the hell is your problem, Mel?” I asked, although I was pretty sure I knew what had set her off, not that she had ever seemed to need a reason before.
“My problem? My problem?!” she shrieked, making me wince. Her hands were clenched at her sides, and DeeAnn had come up to stand behind her. “My boyfriend just broke up with me and told me that he was taking you to the fucking Senior Party! What did you promise him to get him to dump me, you little skank? Did you tell him you’d blow him in the boys’ restroom later or fuck him in the backseat of your little car?”
I’d had enough. I stood up, fury blossoming within me, and stared right into her eyes, my face only an inch or so from Melanie’s. “Maybe if you weren’t such a bitchy cunt your boyfriend wouldn’t have dumped your easy ass!”
The force of her slap rocked my head to the side, making the side of my face sting, the sound of it echoing through the cafeteria, and the rage I felt had nowhere else to go.
“Oh, shit,” I heard Kris mutter from the bench behind me.
And then I tackled Melanie.
She hit the floor hard, narrowly missing a collision with DeeAnn, with me on top of her. My hand connected with her face, only I was punching, not slapping, and she bellowed in pain as her lip split. But Melanie was no tame little thing, and she reached up and grabbed a handful of my hair, pulling with all her might and screaming in my face.
“Fucking bitch!”
She rolled to the side, taking me with her, and we were a tangle of arms and legs as we both fought for purchase on each other, pulling hair, scratching, and digging knees and feet into each other. I vaguely heard someone yell, “Cat fight!” We struggled over control for a minute, but I
was stronger, and something in me wanted her to pay for all the pain and humiliation she’d caused me over the years.
I found myself on top again, my hands in her hair, slamming the back of her head into the linoleum, my gaze focusing on the bead of blood on her bottom lip. Anger from years of abuse from this girl and her friends poured through me. I slammed her head down again, feeling the jolt as it hit the floor and wanting her to bleed from more than just her lip, when a chill went through me as I realized what I was doing, that I was going to seriously hurt her if I didn’t stop.
I made a small choking noise, letting her head go as though it were something abhorrent, and she took that opening to nail me with a punch of her own. I tasted blood as my lip hit my teeth, falling to the side since she had caught me off guard. She took that moment to plant a foot in my belly, not so much kicking me as shoving off me with her foot so that we both slid away from each other. And then she was on her feet while I lay there, stunned at what I had tried to do to her, my arms wrapped around my stomach, and tears leaking from my eyes.
“That’s right! Lay there and cry, you stupid whore!” she yelled at me, her hair sticking up all around her and taking a step toward me as though she were going to actually kick me this time. She did, twice, catching me in the hip and side, before Cody appeared behind her, pulling her back. Kris jumped up from the table and knelt next to me, trying to make sure I was okay.
“What the fuck, Mel?!” Cody said loudly, voice full of repulsion. He pushed past her and knelt next to me as well, earning a reproving look from Kris.
“Back off, Cody,” Kris told him, her voice only slightly less than friendly. “Let me get her to the girls’ restroom before we have teachers descending on us.”
“Too late.” Cody looked toward the cafeteria doors.
“What is going on in here?” The voice belonged to Mrs. Phillips, the P.E. teacher. “Katelyn? Melanie? What has gotten into the two of you?” She stood with her arms crossed, her expression changing from anger as she stared at Melanie, to disappointment when she looked down at me. “Both of you, office, now. Ms. Vaughn, help your friend.” She pinned Cody with a glare as he tried to come with us. “Not you, Mr. Grey. I have the feeling that you might somehow be the cause of this. I’m sure the Principal will want to talk to you later. For now, though, just Ms. Jacobs, Ms. Shaughnessy and Ms. Vaughn.”
