This story is a work of fiction; any similarities to persons in the real world or in another fictional world are purely coincidental.
It's a nice day outside, not too sunny or hot and with a light breeze. I was enjoying the nice weather as I walked home from school. This was quite a special day for me, as it was the LAST day of school in my senior year! I was FINALLY done with high school—no more drama, girls teasing me about my clothes or hair or makeup. I felt at long last that I can just move on with my life and be an adult. I mean, I'm 18 and a half; but school has this effect of trapping you into "still a kid" mode, regardless of your age.
I want to go to community college, but it will be a hard sell to mom and dad; they're already putting Josh through and things are tight... maybe I'll just wait till next week and let things settle down.
I guess things have always been tight. We don't live in a big house, we only have the one car, a station wagon. The girls at school would always tease me about not having a perm, or wearing "ratty" clothes; I think my clothes are fine, I'm not the type of girl who needs to dress up real fancy. I rely on my natural beauty (mostly because we can't afford a lot of makeup), but I do use lip gloss and fingernail polish. The girls at school are still so mean about it... I don't need them anyway! Mom says I look beautiful, and any girl who wears a lot of makeup is just hiding their ugly face underneath it. So take that you catty witches!
I heard the teachers talking about a storm coming in over the next few days. You couldn't tell right now, but then again that's how weather works in Missouri (dang you Nebraska for being so flat). Seeing as how it was the last day of school and I didn't have to wait on the bus (you have to pay for bus service in our district, so obviously I couldn't use that), I left a bit early from the last hour. As I was getting home, I heard shouting through the thin walls... I decided to approach quietly and listen from outside.
I heard my mom first, she sounded quite distraught and was probably crying; "God dammit, Bryan I'm sick of this!" It was very unusual for her to curse like that, and my dad's deep and husky voice boomed back. "Sharon, we talked about this a thousand times. You know why we agreed to this, and I think—".
My mom cut him off, "YES, I know we did. But we can't hide forever. Kaylie is graduating from high school, and she'll need to go to college. How are we going to explain this to her? Her future depends on this! She'll be crushed after all the stuff she's been through in school—"
It was my dad's turn to cut her off; "—which, I think, has made her into a strong person. She's got a sense of natural beauty, she gets good grades in school, and she's developed a strong work ethic. This is why! This is what we've been working towards all through the kids' lives! Why would you want to throw it all away now?"
The question seemed odd to me, and it seems like it had some effect on my mom, too. The house quieted and I couldn't hear anything else, so I put my ear up to the wall. Everything was muffled, and I strained to make anything out "OK, ... this way for ... but if she needs it we dip into the ... agree? ..." I heard a chair scoot across the floor and some shuffling. I needed to get in the house and act like normal before they find out I'm out here snooping on them.
"Hello!" I sang as I burst into the front door. I caught mom and dad hugging, both of their faces had some tear streaks going down their faces. I set my bag down and walked into the kitchen where they were. "What's going on? Were you guys fighting or something?" I could tell this all caught them off-guard.
Mom spoke up first, "Kaylie, no we weren't—everything's fine, just...money problems again. What are you doing home so early?"
Keeping my cool face on I said, "Oh, you know, it's the last day of school for us and they let us out early. Man I'm SOOOOO glad to be done with it all, though. I want to just kinda take this week off and relax a bit, do some soul searching. So many things to think about; college and jobs and my future career, just ... a lot of stuff." I put my hand up to my head like I was feeling overwhelmed, but really I was listening intently to see if they spilled any of the beans about what they were talking about.
"Oh princess, come here." My dad reached out and pulled me into their circle for a group hug. "You've worked so hard in school, and your mom and I are really proud of you. Go ahead and just relax for a week, don't worry about anything. You're transitioning into a stage in life you can't go back from, so yeah just take some time to enjoy being a kid still." He and my mom had a huge grin on their faces, and we just embraced for awhile relishing the moment.
* * * * *
"Oh man, I'll be so glad to finally get a car." I said out loud to myself. Walking was getting old. Sure it kept me in great shape, but it was tough on my legs as well as my social life. Lots of girls seemed interested in me because of my amazing physique, but they disappear like cockroaches when you turn the light on in the kitchen as soon as they find out I don't have a car. "I just don't get it..." I started to wonder if all girls were just gold diggers, or if all that crap about societal evolution was really true (i.e., my car-lessness being an indication that I won't be a good provider).
It was unfair—I'm still in college and working towards being an electrical engineer, which will make me some really good money; why don't they see the positive sides? I save on gas and insurance, maintain my health, etc...
Anyway, it won't matter soon if my plan works out. I opened the front door to find mom, Dad, and Kaylie all hugging and it looked like they'd been crying or something. "Oh wow, what's going on in here?" I asked.
Kaylie and mom opened up a spot in between them and invited me over; so I went over and joined in the family hug. After a few seconds, it was still bugging me; so I asked, "Something big? Is it good or bad? C'mon don't leave me in suspense here!" I really worried it was something bad.
Kaylie replied, "No Josh, everything's fine! Just having a good ol' family hug, celebrating how good life is."
Whew! That's a relief. "Ah good. Well... speaking of life going good, I have some good news!"
Dad's face turned to a "concerned" look, with one eyebrow raised, asking "Oooohhhh?" in the most obnoxiously exaggerated manner possible. "Well, who is she? or he?" Mom's eyes bulged and her mouth fell open at the thought (which is understandable, given our relatively conservative family nature).
"Uh..." I love dad's sense of humor, but that caught me off guard a bit. "No, nothing like that." Everyone relaxed. "A friend of mine is buying a new car, and his old one is kind of a clunker, and he said he'd sell it to me for like $300 bucks—good friend discount and all. It's an '85, so it's still only 7 years old; and you know I'm good with repairs and stuff since we work on the Malibu together. I know a Chevy Malibu station wagon is nothing like a Honda Accord, but I'm confident I can learn and do it. It gets real good gas mileage and—"
Dad put up his hand to stop me. "Ok ok, we get it. But the question is: what's the catch?"
Dang, caught. "Well, I can pay for gas and I even have the $300 saved from odd jobs I been doing; but it would be really expensive to get my own insurance plan. I was wondering if I could piggy back off of yours? I can get a better job and then pay you back for the premiums, although it might be awhile before I have the full amount..." I had a lump in my throat; I was sooo worried he was gonna say no.