by Bruce Ingram
On Wednesday, I came up with the best idea I could think of to convince Poppa that Luke and I should stay together—that if we broke up we would have to dissolve our L&M business and that would really hurt my income since I would miss out on all the referrals that Luke sends me. But even that didn’t faze my father. He kept saying I could make up the lost money in other ways and I kept replying “How am I supposed to do that, walking up and down the street knocking on rich people’s doors and begging for them to let me babysit?”
He yelled at me and told me not to “get sarcastic” with him. I was so upset, Poppa had never yelled at me before this week and rarely had he and Mama ever argued about anything—now that’s all they do. Friday night, after I came home from the last day of school, we had another argument filled dinner and it was the worst one yet. As usual after the usual accusations had been made, we finished eating in silence; after dinner, I went to my room to cry—as usual. I just can’t help it. But this time, Mama came into my room about 15 minutes after I did.
I was stretched out on my bed, sobbing face down in the sheets when Mama started talking.
She said, “I can’t go on like this. Your poppa and I argue on the way to work, on the way home from work and all during dinner and after. You know how much I like Luke, and I know I trust you and him. But your poppa and I can’t go on like this. He’s not going to give in on this.”
I thanked her and thanked her for taking my side, and I told her again how much Luke means to me and how good we are together. I explained to her—again—that I don’t know if we have a future together after high school, but that we need to make that decision, not Poppa. And she said again that she and Poppa couldn’t go on fighting like this and that he wasn’t going to give up on ending Luke’s and my relationship.
It was about an hour later when I had stopped crying and was thinking straight that I finally realized what she had meant. That she and I not giving in on the Luke thing could maybe cause Mama and Poppa’s marriage to fall apart. Was she hinting that it would be my fault if that happened? Was she suggesting in a subtle way that the right thing for me to do was to break up with Luke, for the sake of our family? That I was being selfish if I kept seeing him? I don’t know what I’m going to do.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bruce Ingram is a high-school English teacher and lifelong outdoorsman who has written five well-reviewed river guides set in his native Virginia. Tenth Grade Angst is the sequel to his debut novel, Ninth Grade Blues, published in 2017.
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Tenth Grade Angst (Coming Soon)
