I Won't Let You Wilt

I'm going to make things right

Early the next day, Sunny received a phone call from Kel.

"Hey, Sunny. Are you still in town?"

What an odd question. It's only been one night.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"So...something happened last night." Kel lowered his voice to a whisper, as if he didn't want anybody nearby to hear him even though they were communicating over the phone. "You know how my parents said they had to come back early last night because something came up?"

"Yeah?"

"Well...they were actually expecting you to be there. Thing is, my parents got a call from your mom. She told them she'd be really grateful if they convinced you to come back home to her. They agreed to her request because she was willing to pay them a lot of money."

"What?!"

Sunny could feel his blood boiling. "They can't force me to go back."

"Right, they can't. My parents were just going to try to convince you to go home, and they were surprised that you weren't there last night."

Looks like I dodged a bullet.

Just how much money was my mom willing to pay Kel's parents that she got them to try to convince me to go back to her?

"So...my parents want to find you and talk to you," Kel continued. "I'm just letting you know because it sounds like something really bad happened between you and your mom, and if you don't wanna deal with her, well...it might be best for you to avoid my parents, too."

"Thanks, Kel."

"No problem! Everything's all right with you, right? This isn't some kind of an emergency situation?"

"It's not."

"Okay. If you need any help from me, please don't hesitate to call back."

"Thank you. Bye, Kel."

"Bye."

My mom still can't wait until the end of summer for me to go back to her!

She's such a pain to deal with.

Sunny could barely hold down his hair-pulling frustration towards his mom's behavior without exploding in rage.

He went to the kitchen to help Basil cook some soup, but his negative mood was really obvious.

"What's wrong?" Basil asked.

"My mom still wants me to go back to her," Sunny said. "She literally bribed Kel's parents to try to convince me. If we'd stayed at his house last night, Kel's parents would've tried to drive me back."

"Oh..."

The conflict in Basil's eyes hurt Sunny's heart. He could tell Basil didn't know what to say, caught between his love for him and the necessity to act rebelliously.

"I'm never going back before the summer ends," Sunny assured Basil.

But...once the summer's over...

I'm in for such an earful when I go back to my mom.

The thought of facing his mother after blocking her number and dodging no doubt the first of many attempts to get him to return to her sent shivers down his spine.

He still felt a little bad for her.

She'd lost her only daughter, her husband had moved away, essentially divorcing, and now her only son, whose childhood crime of manslaughter she was actively covering up to remove the possibility of him getting thrown in jail, had decided to run off with a boy that happened to be an accomplice to his crime.