“What the hell happened?” Becky asked as flailed her arms at me.
"It doesn't matter, I don't need him, I don't need him to know-I don't care about him."
“That bad, eh?” Christy asked as we walked away from the school.
I looked behind me a few times as I felt like I was being watched.
“He’s still in the hall,” Christy said as Becky took several steps ahead of me before turning around, her arms still flailing about.
“He has this, like, huge welt on his face! Did you kick the shit out of him?”
“I only got one punch in before Marie stormed the room.”
“Only one? You’re losing your touch,” Christy replied.
“I planned to talk to him and depending on what he said, I would do.”
“Definitely not speaking terms now.”
“Nope,” I replied as we walked down to the buses. “And now I get to ride the bus home.”
“You could stay at my house.”
“Yeah, we could all hang out for a day before your mom explodes,” Becky said as we stood near my bus ride home.
“That’s already happened since the school called and left a message.”
“I’ll pray for you,” Christy said.
“You may just have to do that,” I replied as I took another look towards the school and then towards the other buses. Josh could run up at any minute.
“Get on the bus, Cherr! Unless you want to walk home.” Alex shouted as he ran up to the bus and got on.
“Your brother’s hot,” Becky said.
“Eww,” I replied.
“Just sayin.”
“What about Chad?” Christy asked.
“I can have a celebrity crush and a fictional real life one, right?”
“Whatever,” Christy replied. “See you, Cherry.”
“Tomorrow, hopefully.”
“Dead girl riding!” Becky yelled as I walked on the bus.
I flipped her off as the doors closed behind me.
The bus ride home was louder than the morning run. Alex was still in a seat by himself and I, miraculously, got one to myself. I took the time I had until the bus got to our stop to close my eyes and think about how to handle the issue with Mom once she got home. I could hide in the woods until she screamed my name but that wouldn’t help, I could clean up the house, all by myself, to show that even though I was being a serious bitch to others at school I could learn from my mistakes and take the proper punishment without being yelled at for the rest of the week. Of course, if Wednesday and Paul were there, they would make sure the kitchen would remain a mess. I shrugged-off the Cinderella idea. Besides, Mom would see right through it.
We arrived at home and saw Wes’ car parked in front of the house.
“Alexis brought her girlfriend over. Wow.”
“Wes is a nice guy.”
“Yeah, sure he is,” Alex replied as he lit a cigarette and stood next to the Honda. “I almost took this in this morning. I refuse to ride that damn bus tomorrow.”
“If you start walking at midnight you’ll get to to school by seventy-thirty,” I said before I walked into the house.
I debated for a few minutes to actually work on the house. To really deep clean so I clear my head of everything else. I thought of what room I could start with and decided to start with the kitchen, after running a load of my laundry. I took mom’s clothes out of the dryer, placed them in a basket and set it on the floor in front of her bed. I started the washer and then my work on the kitchen. Alex, meanwhile, sat in the living room watching TV.
“What are you doing, Cherry?”
“Chores.”
“Why?”
“They need to be done!” I shouted over the roar of the water in the kitchen.
“Why bother? It’s just going to get dirty again.”
I rolled my eyes, but he was right; it would just get dirty once again but at least I could say I gave it a try.
The front door opened and Alexis walked in with Wes. I had forgotten they were there, or at least I didn’t think about where they went to.
“Hello, family,” Alexis said with a sing-song tone to her voice. Either she was happy, or she was drunk but since Wes was with her, I had to assume she was just happy.
“Can you help me pack?” She asked Wes.
Wes waved to me and I only smiled in response.
“Pack?” Alex asked.
“Yes, I’m moving out.”
“Good luck with that.”
“Thank you, I will,” she said as she walked into the living room, with Wes following behind her.
“No, seriously, Mom is not going to let you do that.”
“Ask me if I care.”
“Where are you staying?”
“With Wes’ family.”
“Oh yeah, that’s really going to seal the deal,” Alex replied as he lit a new cigarette.
“I’m trying to move ahead with my life. I have a good job, I have a great GPA and I want some stability and sanity when I get home.” Alexis said as she took a hold of Wes’ hand. They must have talked about this for a long time.
A part of me wanted to go with them.
“What sitcom family are you trying to pretend life is supposed to be again?”
“Don’t you ever think of the greater things to come in life? Don’t you have a dream?”
“I plan to be one of the first legalized sellers in the state of Washington.”
“You can't”
“Why not?"
“Because it’s never going to be legal”
“It used to be illegal to marry a person of another race.”
“Oh my Gawd, you did not just equate selling pot with racial equality.”
“You see, I do listen in class.”
“Not enough, I'm afraid.”
She pulled Wes along and they climbed up the ladder.
I went back to working in the kitchen and finally noticed that I had too big of a task on my hands as the other side of the kitchen was a mess of spilled ramen noodles on the floor and dishes—dirty dishes—haphazardly stacked on a shelf as if someone was too damn lazy to even try to move them to counter. I wanted to look back and glare at Alex but it could have been Alexis, Wednesday, Paul or even Mom. I just grabbed the dishes and hauled them to the sink.
“Alex, could you at least sweep the noodles up from off the floor?”
“Why? Their not bothering me.”
I walked into the living room and tried to hold back my anger. “Fifteen seconds, Alex. It will take you fifteen. Goddam. Seconds.”
“I took you just that amount of time to come in here and tell me that.”
“I can understand why Alexis wants to leave.”
“You planning to follow her?”
“I wish.”
“Wow, we’re all that bad, eh?”
We both looked out the window to see a pair of headlights. I jumped to the window and squinted into the darkness.
“It’s not Mom’s. Maybe Paul.”
“Aww, I knew I should have cut that brake line at school today.”
I didn’t bother to say anything to Alex about that because I kind of thought he’d actually do it and I didn’t want to hear the details.
I saw two silhouettes walk to the window and then turn.
The kitchen door opened with a bang.
“Hey! Are Alexis and Wes here?” Wednesday asked as she walked in.
“Yes!” I shouted from the living room.
Wednesday and Paul stepped into the living room and I moved past them to go back into the kitchen.
“Cool. Where are they?”
“They are upstairs, m’lady,” Alex commented. He either had forgiven Wednesday and Paul for had happened the day before or he was holding onto a surprise for them. Judging buy his earlier words, forgiveness wasn’t on his mind.
Wednesday and Paul went to the ladder and climbed up.
“Yes sir, one little snip down the drivers’ side and it’s go speed racer go.”
“That’s not funny.”
“You‘re right, Cherry. It’s downright devious, incredibly clever, and more likely to happen if Paul says one damn word to me in the next half hour.”
“Whatever, Alex,” I replied as I grabbed the broom and dustpan and cleaned up the kitchen floor mess myself.
“Cherry?”
“Yeah?”
“Do we have any ramen?”
“Sure. Do you want to make you some? Fresh from off of the floor.”
“As long as you boil it in dirty dishwasher.”
“Fuck you, Alex.”
“That’s the spirit,” Alex replied as I continued to sweep. I fought back the urge of throwing the dustpan at him.
It was after eight when I finally had the kitchen in better shape than it was before. The mopping took forever because someone would clomp across the floor taking stuff out to their cars. It looked like both Wednesday and Alexis were clearing out their rooms before Mom got home.
Alex continued to watch TV as everyone else walked past him. I admit I was a bit put-off no one asked me to help, but I thought that if I was cleaning then it would distract Mom for a while, since the radiant glow of the floor would blind her and the lack of any mugs on the coffee table would cause her to faint onto the couch. So, maybe it could have been a win-win for everyone.
At nine o’clock, everyone was gathered in the living room, just talking, well, everyone except for Alex, when all of us saw a pair of headlights pull into the driveway.
I thought it had to be Mom and the Daniels’ so I took a few steps back and made my way to the ladder.
We all watched through the window but couldn’t make out who it was in the dark.
“If it’s mom, we’re all going to stand on one front,” Alexis said.
“What if Leah and John are with her?” Wednesday asked.
“We can rush John,” Alex said as he pointed at Wes and Paul.
I had to wonder how Wes felt about being thrusted into a potential brawl.
The kitchen door opened and a police officer stepped in.
“Shit,” I whispered to myself. Josh must have told the best story ever to his parents. My heart raced and I was just about ready to run down the hall, through Alex’s room, and jump out the window.
The officer looked to his right and nodded.
We all watched as a man stepped into the archway. It was Dad!
“Hey there, kiddos. What’d I miss?”
To be continued in Cherry Moone: BloodMoone
