Chapter 6

“Tina?” Aunt Rora asked as she watched us come into the house. “I thought you were all going out to eat. Where’s Roger?” My mother calmly put her purse down on the end table in the living room and pointed to the couch. Abbey and I both took that to mean she wanted us to sit down on the couch, and so we did. Abbey, seemingly subconsciously, sat down close next to me, like she thought she could protect me from my mother’s wrath-to-come.

“Rora, may I speak to you alone?” my mother asked. Aunt Rora looked at her curiously as she put down the dish she had been washing and wiped her wet hands on her pants. She signaled upstairs, and my mother followed her up. It wasn’t long until we heard a door close.

“Nathan, what was up with that back there?” Abbey hissed at me once she was sure Mom and Aunt Rora couldn’t hear us. “I thought it was Phoebe that liked you!”

“What?” I asked, dumbfounded. Abbey stared at me like I was crazy.

“Lucas said that Phoebe has a crush on you!” she said. “I told him that she would have to be disappointed because…” She realized that I was giving her a nasty stare, and she put a hand over her mouth. “Did Abbey do bad?”

“If Mom has anything to say about it, Abbey did very bad,” I said, leaning into the back of the couch. Abbey frowned and lay her head down on the arm of the couch.

“Nathan?” my mother finally called as she descended the stairs. Aunt Rora was looking rather harried, but she usually did after a talk with my mother. “Can you come here a minute?” Abbey looked at me with a look of utter pity, but I just stood up and met her at the bottom of the stairs.

“Yeah, Mom?” I asked.

“Your aunt and I believe that it would be best if you came to live with me after my marriage,” she said, getting straight to the point. I just stood there, mouth agape.

“Aunt Rora? She can’t do that, can she?” I asked. Aunt Rora shrugged as she came up behind my mother.

“Nathan, she does still legally have custody over you,” she said. “Even though she won’t tell me why… if she wants you with her, I can’t really say no.” Abbey came up behind me.

“What about me?” she asked. My mother smiled.

“You are free to stay here,” she said. I looked back to Abbey, who had a clearly annoyed expression on her face.

“I’m not letting you take Nathan!” she said. “C’mon, Mom, this is our senior year; it would mess him up to move now. And besides, it’s not going to change the fact that…” I whirled around and covered Abbey’s mouth, shaking my head.

“Just… don’t, Abbey,” I said. My mother smiled brightly.

“I’ve already told Roger, and he said he’d be happy to have you,” she said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, it is getting late, and I should get back for some sleep.” Aunt Rora hugged Mom, as did Abbey, and then she was gone.

XXX

“You can’t leave!” Lilly yelled at me the next morning. I had just picked her up from her house and we were on our way to school. I figured Lilly would have to be told some time, and then was as good a time as any. “Why is she suddenly doing this, anyway? She had no problem dropping you with Rora last February when her divorce was final!” We came to a red light, and I stopped at the end of the line of cars.

“I… never told you, did I?” I asked. Lilly looked at me suspiciously. “Um ,well, I guess my mom is homophobic?” Lilly’s eyes went wide.

“Nathan!” she said. “You didn’t tell her, did you?” I shook my head.

“Of course not!” I said. When Lilly looked at me accusingly, I just shrugged. The light was green now, so we were off again.

“Nathan?” Lilly asked. I just decided to ignore her, but she kept on. “Nathan? Nathan, look!” She grabbed my shoulder, and I screeched to a stop at the edge of the sidewalk. There was a girl sitting there at the edge, and faster than I knew what was happening, Lilly was out and walking up to her. I rolled down my window.

“Are you okay, June?” Lilly asked of the girl. June? I leaned out a little, and sure enough, it was Lucas’s youngest sister. I unbuckled my seat belt and got out. Just as I walked up, June started talking.

“Lucas left early and Phoebe wouldn’t let me ride with her and her friends, so I tried to walk,” she was saying. I just stood off to the side, my hands in my pocket as Lilly tried to make her feel better. Finally, my best friend turned to me.

“Nathan? I think maybe we should get her to school before something bad happens to her,” she said. I just shrugged, and June smiled at me.

“Thank you, Lilly,” she said, and she headed for the backseat of my car. Lilly smiled in her direction.

“Lilly, how do you know her?” I asked. Lilly smiled.

“She goes to the football games with Lucas a lot,” she said. When I looked at her weird, she just shrugged. “He always sits near the pep band; don’t you see him?”

“No,” I said simply as I got back into the car. I looked in the rear-view mirror at June, and she was already strapped in, kicking her feet against the seat and looking around like the inside of my car was the most fascinating thing ever.

“Thank you!” she said when she noticed that I was looking at her. “Um, what’s your name?”

“Nathan,” I said as we started along the road again. June was still looking all over.

“Are you Lilly’s boyfriend?” she asked. I just kept my eyes focused on the road.

“No, he’s not,” Lilly said. In the rear-view mirror, June looked over to me.

“Back when we lived in California, Lucas, he’s my brother, he had a boyfriend, but Daddy got mad at him and so I never saw that guy again,” she said. Lilly looked startled and looked over to me. June didn’t even need further prodding, because she was more than willing to tell us about it. “The guy, I dunno his name, but Daddy didn’t like him ‘cause he was really obsessive and creepy, and when Daddy said he couldn’t see Lucas anymore, he shot Daddy in the back! That’s why he can’t walk anymore.”

“And look, June, there’s the junior high!” Lilly said suddenly as we came to the entrance to the driveway of said school. June nodded, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and getting out. As soon as she had slammed her door closed, I started up again.

The entire rest of the way to the high school, Lilly was looking at me with a concerned face.

“Don’t you have anything to say?” she finally asked when I started up the hill that the school was situated on. I was silent, though, taking my usual spot in the student parking lot and pulling the keys out of the ignition. “Nathan?”

“Just go, Lilly,” I said. Lilly looked at me, concerned, but she nodded. She hiked her messenger bag up over her shoulder and got out. As soon as she was inside the school, I stuck the keys back in, turned the car on, and was off again.

I thought my final admission to my mother should be face-to-face.

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This chapter has actually been done for a while, but I’ve gotten obsessed with an online game called Fly for Fun, so yeah.

Next chapter is some Halloween fun, but that also means it’s that much closer to Nate’s mother’s remarriage. Will all turn out as it should? I guess you’ll have to wait and see!