Chapter 2
OPTIONS
When I came back inside and climbed up the five stairs of our split level house, Vicky was sipping coffee and looking out the front window. She looked vulnerable as she hugged herself, her eyes red-rimmed and weepy.
I felt a wave of guilt.
Being a step-mom was hard, I knew it, but it was worse for her because Bubba was obviously keeping secrets. She was being duped by her own kid! But there was no way I could say that, and no way I could help her feel better because there was no way I would stay here with Bubba and his friends.
“I’m sorry Mom,” I said. I didn’t want to ruin her vacation but I couldn’t see how she could take one now.
She didn’t say anything. She just stood at the window and sipped her coffee. I remembered a time when we could talk. It wasn’t all that long ago, but it was before Bubba had decided to play mom against dad. I sighed, thinking of those old times and wishing we could go back again. Half-heartedly, because I didn’t think she’d like it, I wrapped my arms around her the way I used to.
She shifted away from me.. “Ok, Teena, what do you want?”
My arms dropped. “I can’t stay here alone with Bubba.”
“What is it with you? How are you so much better than Todd? You never used to be this stuck-up, Teena. What happened?”
The disappointment etched on her face really hurt. Most times I’d just suck it up and talk it out with dad but I couldn’t do that now. He was far away, and Vicky and Bubba had already made the decision.
“Why can’t I have a say in what goes on around here?”
She held up her hands to cut me off. “I don’t want to talk about it right now, Teena. Save it for when your father gets home.”
“Fine.” I watched her as she stared out the window, looking for a reaction or any clue to how she felt. “I just need to know that it isn’t set in stone. I mean, if I come up with a better idea and all, would you listen?”
The only emotion I could read on her face was impatience. “Look, Teena, I’ve already considered everything. You can’t go to your cousins. Who would do your paper route? Bubba can’t. He’s too busy.”
“Busy with what?” I burst out, incredulous. “Vicky, this is so much more important than the paper route! I’ll quit tomorrow if I have to. I’ll –!”
“Enough!” She said, stepping past me to rinse out her coffee cup in the sink. “I’m your mother and I have work. If you want to talk you’ll have to help me. Right now I’m going to the Conner’s to buy cucumbers for relish. Do you want to come?”
“No,” I said, frowning at the turn in conversation. “I have to go to Samantha’s. She’s expecting me.”
“Fine,” she turned, crossing her arms. “Be home by 3 if you really want to get on my good side. I could use your help.”
“Does Bubba have to help?” I asked. It didn’t seem right that I had to help her to get on her good side while Bubba got his way without doing anything at all.
“Bubba has work to do.” Vicky said, dismissively.
She headed to her bedroom to get ready, while I went to my room thinking about all the ‘other work’ Bubba had to do. Did she mean all the hanging out he was doing? Did she mean the weed he was smoking with Mitch? And that girl, Darla? I snorted at the thought. There was no way Bubba was working.
I passed the landing and the front door on the way downstairs to my room and plopped down on my bed. My quilt swooshed around me, engulfing me in its warmth and bright bold colors. I hugged it, thinking how Vicky had actually bought it for my birthday. She surprised me by her thoughtfulness. The quilt was perfect.
Honestly, if Vicky did anything right, it was shopping. And she was generous too – finding me curtains and colorful knickknacks to really make my room fun. I reached for my fuzzy pink phone – another gift from Vicky – and called Samantha.
“Everything okay?” Samantha asked.
“No, how did you know?”
“You never call me this early. It’s not even 8 yet.”
Oops! I hadn’t even checked the time. “I’m sorry. Were you sleeping?”
“No, so you’re off the hook. I am dying to know what’s going on, though. Get over here as soon as you can and tell me everything.” She hung up without saying goodbye.
I jumped up and went to the mirror to brush out my hair. My fine brown hair was already starting to bleach out with the spring sunshine. Not tanned yet, but I could be patient. School had only been out a week.
Last year, I would’ve had to get a ride from Vicky, or walk, but this year I didn’t need any help getting around. Thanks to my paper route, I had splurged and bought a 21 speed bike that I took all over Missoula. We lived on South hills so everywhere I went was downhill and easy to get to.
Samantha’s house was at the bottom of the hill and west along 39th for about a mile. I took Mr. Peery’s dirt road that cut through our subdivision streets at right angles. The hybrid tires on my bike had no trouble with the dirt road and I liked to challenge myself to see if I could catch air on every road that cut across Mr. Peery’s track.
With the summer rain, the muddy ruts were huge and it took all my concentration to keep the tires bumping along in the right direction. I made the first street safely. The second street I took a risk and caught air — only a foot or so, but it was so exhilarating!
The third street had traffic so I had to slow down. The track turned and cut across the Meadow Hill Middle School field. I had just graduated from Meadow Hill last weekend. I loved 8th grade. It was great to be the oldest class in the school, to know everyone and all the teachers. Sentinel High School scared me. So much seemed to change and friends seemed real important.
Up until about a month ago, I thought I had real good friends. And I still did, only Janice Larson, my best friend all through middle school, kind of dumped me for the softball team. Softball! I knew she always wanted to be a jock, sitting with the girls from the softball team. They were so cool who would’t want to be one of them, to belong to their group.
And Janice was a stand out player. All through middle school, Janice played softball but she remained my best friend until a few weeks ago when Kari Gardner, the team captain, invited her to a party. They made it very clear that I wasn’t invited. I really didn’t want her to go, but I knew she wanted to go, and I know she went. Looking back now, I could see that Kari had been recruiting her all year long with compliments and flattery.
That was three weeks ago, and Janice hadn’t talked to me since. For the last two weeks of 8th grade she sat with Kari and the team. The one and only time I met her in the girl’s restroom she seemed embarrassed and happy to go off with her team mates and get away from me.
I’d called her too, but so far she hadn’t returned any of my messages. I wasn’t even sure she got them because whenever I called her Mitch would intercept my call. He was always asking me disgusting questions or making lewd suggestions. I had to stop calling, but I still hoped she’d call me back.
I did have other friends. Samantha was a steady friend. We’d been friends since the 3rd grade. We both went to kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade together, but we don’t remember each other until Mrs. Haskins 3rd grade class. That was when our friendship really took off. That was the year that Samantha’s mom and dad got a divorce and my mom died of breast cancer. We never really talked about any of these things. The hurt was too painful to put into words, but we both knew enough about each other and that bonded us. We’d been friends ever since.
She knows all about Bubbba and Vicky and I know all about her mother’s loser dates. That was the great thing about Samantha, we could talk about our family situations, all of it. We both knew that our families were not TV perfect, and it just felt good to have a friend that understood and wasn’t even trying to appear ‘normal’.
I parked my bike at the side of Samantha’s house and banged on the door. I could hear the washing machine working downstairs, clanging with an unbalanced load. It was so noisy that I was surprised when Samantha jerked the door open.
“Finally! I’m dying to know what’s going on.” She pulled me up the stairs to her room. Her house was a split level too, so we had to go up or down as soon as we entered. Unlike mine, Sam’s room was upstairs. She made a face at the noise coming from downstairs.
“Don’t worry about the washing machine. It’s just Sean’s shoes. We won’t hear it in my room.”
Sam shut her bedroom door, but we could still hear the unbalanced banging of the washing machine. Samantha ignored it and flopped down cross-legged onto the bed. She gestured impatiently for me to sit.
“So, what happened? What did Bubba do now?” Her curly brown hair was attractively pulled into a pony tail with curls at the corners of her forehead. Her wide brown eyes were shining with excitement. Samantha loved gossip, and I was glad she did because who else could I talk to?
“Uuuu-gh!” I shook my head, wishing I had something better to talk about. “Vicky is nuts! She wants to go trucking with my Dad and leave me with Bubba.”
“You and Bubba? On your own?” Samantha sounded unsure at first, but then she literally bounced with excitement. “How great is that!”
“You don’t get it, Sam.” I tried to explain the predicament. “Bubba is going to be my babysitter. He’ll get $500.00 just for watching me.”
“Well, that’s crazy. You have more sense than he does.”
“Exactly!” I said, throwing my arms out wide and falling back on to her Donny Osmond bedspread. “Finally, someone understands.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“What can I do?” I stared up at the ceiling, and my eyes naturally drifted to the Donny and Marie Osmond pictures with their big toothy smiles. Sean had given her a poster of the Eagles, but it hung off to one side. The prize wall space was reserved for Donny and Marie.
Sam got up and sat at her vanity table, fiddling with her make up. Looking at her reflection I realized that she had a lot of mascara on.
“Whoa! You look good. Where are you going?”
She flicked a strand behind her ear and put in an earring – a long dangly one.
“Is it a date? Is he a high-school boy?”
She smiled mischievously at me through the mirror. “His name is Todd.”
“Todd?” I repeated, in disbelief. “You mean Bubba Todd, my step-brother?”
Sam grabbed up a shirt that was lying on the bed and slapped me with it. “Why do you use that heinous nickname? It makes your brother sound like a thug instead of a hottie.” She turned back towards the mirror holding the shirt around herself. It was a halter top. “It might be fun to be without parental supervision all summer.”
“We are talking about my step-brother here!” I said, trying not to gag. “He’s a loser on drugs. Remember that when you think of Vicky’s ‘vacation.’”
“Look,” Samantha blasted me with a look from her dark eyes. “You’re getting way too excited about the whole thing.” She sat down next to me and picked up my hand, almost petting it. “Your mom wants to go on a vacation. You can hardly blame her. She gets to go nowhere, do nothing, and be nobody. Give her a break.”
“Hey,” I sat up and pulled my hand away. “I know Vicky better than anyone, and she isn’t a nobody. And you’re supposed to be on my side, remember? I don’t want to be babysat by Bubba.”
“Well,” Samantha asked, “what if you stay with me?”
I felt a surge of hope. “Do you think I could? What would your mom say?”
“I’m sure she won’t mind.” She answered with confidence. “She’s known you forever and she is always telling me that I should spend more time with you.”
I was surprised that Sam’s mom thought so highly of me, and staying with Sam would be perfect. I could still do my job and Vicky could go on her vacation. Plus, I wouldn’t have to see Mitch the entire time. Perfect!
“And we can still hang out at your house sometimes,” Samantha added, standing up.
“What? no.” I wanted to avoid Bubba and his friends.
“I want to go to one party, you know they’ll have one.” She wheedled, kneeling beside me on the bed and bouncing with excitement. “Can’t we go to one party? Just one? We don’t even need to stay for the whole thing. Oh please, please, please!”
I started laughing. How could I say no? She was so generous to offer to let me stay. I really couldn’t refuse her anything. “So, this is the real reason you’re inviting me over.”
Samantha stopped bouncing and smiled mischievously. “Maybe.”
I threw a pillow at her, knowing that it was the only reason she had suggested it. Sam loved parties. She loved boys. I rolled my eyes as she went back to her vanity to primp.
“Could you ask your mom tonight? I really need to have it all lined up before dad gets home.”
“Don’t worry so much,” She brushed me off, distracted by an invisible clump on her lashes. “Mom loves you.”
“We have to have a plan,” I urged. “You know how adults are. If you don’t have a plan they make one up for you.”
“You’re such a pessimist, Teena.” She moved to adjust the pillows I had messed up. “If I had the opportunity to stay home with my brother and his friends, I’d be partying every night.”
“Samantha,” I said, bluntly. “I’m not partying at my house every night.”
“I know, I know. We’ll just do it once.” She pouted at me, pursing her lips and looking like Betty Boop. I couldn’t keep a straight face. She really was incorrigible. Sam took my laugh for what it was, complete capitulation.
“Now, who should we invite?” Samantha asked, getting out a piece of paper and starting to write.
“We aren’t inviting anyone. Bubba’s throwing the party.”
“I know, I’m just going to give him some suggestions.”
Exasperated, I watched as she put Bubba, and his friends, Mitch and Darla on the list. “You probably want to add Cal Taylor,” I suggested.
Cal was by far the best looking guy in Meadow Hill Middle School. He had just moved to Missoula last year so his lack of history made him even more interesting. He was tall and athletic and the best baseball player in the 8th grade.
“Yes! Cal and his buddies. We’ll have to have a small keg,” she mused, pencil to her cheek. “I’ll talk to Sean and see if he can get me one.” She droned on making plans and making me nervous.
“Look Sam, do we have to get beer? Why don’t we just have root beer and ice cream -?”
Sam grabbed my arm, interrupting me. “Don’t worry, Teena. I know you don’t like beer, but a lot of other people do. It’s what everyone does.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, I —”
“Don’t worry!” Sam smiled at me. “It’s going to be fun!”
I wasn’t convinced but I couldn’t sit around watching Sam make all these crazy plans. I didn’t care about a party. I just needed a place to stay.
I scooted off the bed. “I’m going to leave you to it. Don’t forget to ask your mom.”
“Wait, wait.” She stopped me at the door. “I’m not really going out with Todd, Teena.”
“I figured.”
“I’m checking my look for my interview at the Triplex Theater tomorrow.”
“You’re finally going to apply?” She had been talking about it for years. Sam loved movies. The theater was the obvious place for her to get a job.
“I have an interview,” she confirmed.
“How many other people have an interview?” I asked, but then I realized that was a dumb question. How would she know?
“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. I’m getting the job and then we’ll be going to the movies for free!” This was Sam’s dream. Free movies.
I pedaled for home, cutting through Meadow Hill parking lot and around the building on a sidewalk. It was narrow and led around the school to the playground and from there to the bike path that led to Mr. Peery’s track.
Oh, how I hoped that Mrs. Prost would say yes. It would answer all my problems. It would be fun and perfect!
Distracted, I rounded the corner of the school and ran smack into a tall, warm body.
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