More than meets the eye

Chapter 5

While Tobin leaned on her motorcycle and waited for Hope to arrive, her phone rang. She saw it was from her mother and cringed. The last time they had spoken was three months ago at Christmas. She was asked to come home to talk things out, but she politely declined and told her mother to go fuck herself. Actually, she didn't say it, but she was thinking it.

"Why are you calling my phone, Cindy?" she answered.

"Well hello Tobin, its nice to hear from you as well," her mother replied. Tobin could imagine the older woman rolling her eyes.

"Did you want something? I have school, you know."

"So you're actually attending school now? What changed?" It was like her mother was mocking her. She didn't have time for this.

"Did you want something, Cindy?" she asked forcefully. Tobin had to literally take her hand and put it to her jaw to get her to make herself stop grinding her teeth together. Her mother sighed through the phone.

"We just want you to come home so we can talk. I promise you won't have to stay more than 30 minutes." She waited for her daughter but when she was met with silence, she continued. "You have to be bored of hopping from house to house..."

Her father, Jeffrey, never told her mother that he had bought her an apartment. She was grateful for that.

"I like my lifestyle." Tobin thought about how cool it was living with her best friend and doing whatever they wanted. "And there is nothing to talk about. You kicked me out; end of story."

"I just don't understand why you chose th-" she cut her mother off.

"That's right. You don't fucking understand," she spat. Her mind went to last week when Alex told her almost the exact same words. "You didn't even try to!" she raised her voice. Some students looked at her and she glared at them. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hope walking towards her. The taller girl stopped a couple of feet to her right.

"Well that's what I'm trying to do now." It sound forced. Tobin figured her dad was standing over her mother's shoulder to make sure she said the right thing. "I'm sorry, Tobin."

"I don't want your apology." She roughly pressed the 'end call'. One thing Tobin hated about touch screen phones was that you couldn't do a dramatic hang up like you could with a flip phone.

"Cindy?" Hope guessed, handing her friend a cigarette. Tobin groaned in response.

She hated that mother knew how to instantly ruin her day. She hated that her mother had that power over her. She hated that she got so worked up. She hated her mother. She hated herself.

..

When Alex was walking into the building she spotted Tobin. She knew something was wrong instantly. The girl had a scowl on her face as she exhaled, a cloud of smoke surrounding her face. Hope was next her with an understanding look on her face, also smoking as well.

Their eyes connected and she sent Tobin a small smile and a wave. The girl's expression never changed as she took a long drag. Tobin stared Alex down, exhaled again and closed her eyes. Alex slowly put her hand down and looked away, frowning. She wondered if why Tobin was like this had something to do with her.

Did she say something wrong on their date? Did Tobin lie about having a good time? That can't be because Tobin had told her she wanted a second one.

So what was up?

"What's happenin' A-Morgs?" Ashlyn asked, throwing her arm around the forward. Ali was on the other side of the goalie, an arm thrown around her shoulders as well.