Mom has a boyfriend
'Hi mom! I'm home from school. How are you, had a good day, like, I did,' Rose enthused, with her daughter.
Janice was dreading mom arriving home, thinking she would be angry as hell. There was a funny side, when her mom was accidently sent back to school. Of course she wouldn't think so. It was a surprise when she bounced, in full of vigour.
Playing truant was dealt with harshly in this county, and Janice had an interview for an internship. When the security guy came to collect her, she had talked her mother into posing as her, in a schoolgirl uniform. Taking the opportunity to talk herself out of going to school was a good idea. Unfortunately everything went wrong, and her mother ended up being dragged to school, instead of her.
It gave her the chance to attend the important interview, which went well. How her mother coped with going to school in her place, was a mystery. Janice was pleased mom wasn't mad with her, as she had pushed her mother into wearing the school uniform, so it was all her fault.
'Well, I'm pleased to see you survived school. How was it?' Janice asked, her mother.
'Like, yea, fab,' Rose mimicked those in her class.
They laughed together, and Janice told her, 'Lay the table, dinner is nearly ready. It's a special treat, your favourite.'
Cooking dinner for Rose was the least she could do, after her mother's gallant sacrifice.
'OK, mom, like, whatever,' Rose said.
Janice frowned at her mother, with a look of curiosity. Mom was using a teens language in fun on arriving home, but this time she hadn't been joking. After being in class all day, she must have picked up the teenage phrases, and was automatically using them.
It was surprising she hadn't gone straight to her room to change out of the school uniform. Dressed like that her mother looked like a schoolgirl, and could pass for one of her eighteen-year-old friends. However, she was twenty-six and this morning she sounded and behaved like an adult.
Her mother was smiling, and singing some hip-hop song about a boyfriend.
'Language!' Janice heavily said.
Janice sounded like her mother, but the lyrics were too rude to let go.
'Sorry, mom. Like, it was just a song, yea, I know, sorry,' Rose said.
Janice took a good look at her mother again. Playing at being a student all day had really taken over, and she needed to wind down. What did they call it? She needed to be de-briefed. At least she didn't come home complaining to high heaven about how bad it was. That's why she was cooking dinner for her mother. It was the least she could do, after having mom sent back to school.
'How was your interview?' Rose asked.
'Great! They offered me a starting position. It's a bigger corporation than I thought. They have a massive funky art department. I'd love to work there, it's so relaxed. They work when they feel like it. When artistically inspired! Though everyone puts a lot into the work, more so, because it's so relaxed, I guess,' Janice tried to explain.
'Like, sounds real, fab, yea,' Rose said.
She sounded distracted, as though thinking about something else, and wasn't there.
'Do you have homework?' Janice asked.
'Like, yea, do I,' Rose said, and rolled her eyes.
That was something else she had started doing, rolling her eyes, and making a tut noise with her tongue. While they were eating Janice wondered what had got into her. It seemed she actually enjoyed going to school. Her mother was playing this game for her own reasons, which Janice couldn't fathom just yet. Janice wondered when the silly act would end.
Janice was finding this new behaviour annoying, so tried to snap her out of it. Treating her mother like a schoolgirl might work, especially if it was unpleasant.
'As soon as you've finished your chores, do your homework, then we have a serious talk, girl,' Janice firmly stated.
Surprisingly, her mother agreed, 'OK, no probs. Nice lasagne, mom.'
Why was she calling her mom? Janice figured she had won something, by getting her mother to do what should have been her chores, and homework. Janice would be taking the homework to school tomorrow, so she had better check it was right.
There was silence between them while they thought about their own dreams and wishes.
Janice wanted to take the job at Jones and Ross, Marketing corporation. She hadn't told her mother they thought she was older, so didn't offer the interns job. Instead, they offered her a full time salaried position. In turn she completed the application with her mother's name and age. Telling the interviewer her mother liked the name Janice, explained away the name Rose on her birth certificate.
Rose was trying to justify an innocent crush on a handsome eighteen-year-old. It had been wrong to let him kiss her, as that was leading him on. How would he feel when she told him they had to stop seeing each other? It would be awkward as friends, and they most definitely couldn't play around. He was just eighteen, and at twenty-six he seemed to be a boy. When she was in class it was easy to forget their ages, as she sank back into being eighteen again.
It didn't seem right telling her daughter about him. Her daughter would think she was mad having such a young boyfriend. Somehow it would have to be explained why she felt so happy about going to school tomorrow. A thrill darted through her whole body. It had been fun going to school! That feeling was so unexpected it made her laugh.
The feeling was partly from relief, when the weight of responsibility was lifted from her shoulders. It also felt good, because she was so successful in class this time around. Then there was her boyfriend, the handsomest boy in class, maybe the entire school. It brought out a bright blush from just thinking about him.
The silence was shattered by an exclamation from Rose.
'Oh! Like, I meant to tell you. This heavy class is, like, for a whole week. I've got a name tag, like, an Id. Like, really, I'll have to keep going. You can take over next week, in the proper class. Like, I figured it out, yea? You tell them you lost your Id, yea? You like, then get your new Id, with your picture. That way they won't notice the changeover,' Rose beamed at her daughter.
Janice was shocked from the way her mother spoke. It sounded as though she were gargling, and talking from the throat. Rose was sitting there showing off the Id with Janice's name, and own photo. Her mother's birthday, and Janice's year of birth was on the Id. It was a shock to see the small photo and date-of-birth looked right.
Damn it! In the photo her mother looked like an eighteen-year-old schoolgirl!
What was stranger still, was that she looked full of eager anticipation. Janice tried to look at her mother as though she were a stranger. If she hadn't known better, her mother looked young enough for the part. Especially now she talked and behaved like a teenager.
It wasn't just the clothes and make-over, it was the way she spoke, and held herself. It had only been one day, and she had reverted to an earlier age. Her mother wasn't playing around to annoy her, she was really heavily into the role.
'You sure you don't mind? A whole week in school? Can you do that?' Janice asked.