Behind These Bars

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

The rest of the weekend flew by and before I knew it, it was already Monday morning. For once in my life I was actually excited to go to school. I was doing well in all of my classes and I had friends who I actually enjoyed hanging out with. I realized that both of these things were because of Jason. He has really changed my life this past month. For that, I was forever grateful to him.
After getting ready I went downstairs as usual to get my breakfast. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I realized how quiet the house was. There was no coffee brewing, newspaper crinkling, or plates clinking together. The only sound in the whole house was my shoes making contact with the hardwood. Walking into the kitchen I noticed it's obvious emptiness. Making my way over to the fridge, I noticed a note. It was one word written on the chalkboard beside the fridge that was usually reserved for the grocery list. The board said, "Out"---M. I stared at that one word for a couple of minutes. It was obviously written by my mother if the letter M was any indication.
To some people the word out means back in an hour or two or back tomorrow, but to my mom the word out means a minimum of four days. Growing up she had done this a couple of times. The first time my mom did this was when I was nine. She had poked her head out of the door that led to the backyard where I was playing and said, "I'm going out Evangeline. I'll be back soon." I just smiled at her and waved. She didn't come back until a week later. The next time she went "out" was when I was eleven; she did it again when I was thirteen and again before I got arrested.
My mom has never once told me where she goes when she leaves but I've come to the conclusion that she goes with her various men as they don't come back until she does. It's always disgusted me that I have to be the adult in our relationship. I have to do the chores, cook the food, go grocery shopping, and take care of her when she's sick because she has drank too much; never once has she been the adult. What self-respecting mom leaves her kid by herself for days at a time without any indication of where she's gone?
Slamming the fridge door shut, I just grabbed an apple from the basket on the counter. Packing my bag, I walked outside and locked the door. Sitting on the step, I waited for Jason to pull up so he could take me to school.
Ten minutes later, Jason pulled into my driveway in the spot where my mom's car usually parked. Getting up from my spot on the steps, I walked towards his car. I reached it and opened the passenger side door and climbed in. As I was throwing my bag in the back seat, Jason looked at me and asked, "Where's your mom? Her car is usually here." I just turned around to the front of the car and replied, "She's gone." "Gone, what do you mean she's gone," he retorted. I turned to look at him and spouted, "I mean she left to go on one of her spontaneous trips that last a week or more." "Well, where did she go", he asked. I just laughed without humor and responded, "Your guess is as good as mine." Realizing that I didn't want to talk about it anymore, Jason put the car in reverse and backed out of my driveway and headed for school.
On the way to school, I looked over at Jason. One of his hands was on the steering wheel controlling the car while the other was resting on the console. Jason had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows today and I was admiring his arm muscles when I noticed something peeking out from under his sleeve. "Oh my gosh Jason! Is that a bruise," I asked. The mark in question was on his forearm just below his elbow. It looked like someone had colored his skin with a black and blue sharpie.
Looking at what I was pointing to Jason just chuckled and replied, "Yeah. It's nothing; just a result of a missed ball in baseball." I looked at him skeptically, "But you have the highest batting average on the team." He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "We all mess up. I just stepped too far into it." "Okay, if you say so," I said. Jason smiled at me and grabbed my hand placing them both on the console. Call me crazy but I just had a bad feeling about his story. That feeling was just spurred on when we got to school and he rolled down his sleeves.
The morning passed quickly and soon it was lunchtime. Jason met me at the cafeteria door and we got in line together. Grabbing a salad, a bowl of fruit, and a water; I walked up to the register to pay when a hand behind me paid instead. "Jason, I'm more than capable of paying for myself," I blurted out. "I know but I want to pay for you so let me," he said. I just rolled my eyes at him but I could feel a blush creeping in on my cheeks.
After meeting Jason's friends, he had convinced me to sit with them at lunch. We both made our way to the table where Jason normally sat and took our seats. Everything was going great for the first few minutes until Marnie and her shadows showed up. "Ew, what is the freak delinquent doing at our table," Marnie asked. Jason turned to her and said, " I invited her Marnie. Is that a problem?" "Um, yeah it is. I don't want her sitting at my table," she smirked. It was then that I noticed Morgan lifting her tray and looking around the table for something. After about a minute of this, Morgan looked back up at Marnie and said, "Huh, that's weird Marnie. I just checked and I don't see your name anywhere on this table." Marnie just stomped her foot and walked away as Matt jumped up and screamed, "Burn!"
Turning back towards Morgan and the guys I said, "Y'all didn't have to do that. I could have just moved." Tommy scoffed, "And have Marnie and her minions sit here instead? Yeah, no thanks." Matt sat back down and looked at me and said, "Plus, you're our friend now and friends always stick together no matter what." My heart warmed at his words. These people had only met me once and yet they had already accepted me for me. That wasn't something you could find everyday. I had found it all because the amazing guy beside me.
After lunch, I headed to my last two classes of the day. While sitting in fourth block I realized that it didn't matter if my mom had left. For once in my life I had people who cared about me. I don't need her approval because I was never going to get it anyway. And strangely, I was okay with that. Life was finally starting to look good.