Coming Home to Omaha

Chapter 4: Schooling Sammy

Chapter 4: Schooling Sammy

Eleanor's POV

I woke up to the sound of my phone buzzing. No it's not an alarm, but to say I was alarmed wouldn't be far off. It was my mother. If I should even call her that anymore. I figured I would have to deal with this sooner or later, just not at 5:30 in the morning. I groan and sit up from my bed taking my time to answer the phone. I wasn't in a rush to hear her voice.

"Hello," I say sounding not at all happy that she is calling.

"Eleanor!" She exclaims and I wince at the loudness of her voice. "Where are you? Where is Katie?" She interrogates me. She actually sounds worried and I do feel a little bit bad, but that doesn't change the situation.

"Look..." I pause not sure how to address her, "mom. I left, and I took Katie with me. She doesn't deserve to be treated like an accessory. We were pretty much just for show. I finally figured out why you didn't divorce dad after all these years. You're worried about your reputation. You couldn't bear to become the divorced mother of two kids. We were just your front. We just made everything look better. It was all a façade. The happy Montgomery family of four. You used us to cover up this mess, because without Katie and me you have nothing," I scold her, but my tones are hushed because I don't want Katie or Sammy to hear me. "You cared more about what our family looked like from other people's perspective than you did your actual family, and dad's too drunk all the time to do anything about it!" I rant losing myself a bit. I take a deep breath before continuing, "Look. I get you're upset and angry at me, but I am 18 now. You can't control me anymore," I tell her feeling accomplished. She doesn't say anything for a second.

"No, but I can control Katie. She is only 8 years old. You are not her legal guardian," She points out and my heart stops. She wouldn't go there.

"If you drag Katie into this then you really are the lowest of the low. Are you really going to be the person who uses their 8 year old daughter to attempt and salvage what little they have left? Because if so then you are crueler than I thought," I say with venom. I was not going to let her take Katie away from me. "I am saying this because even though I hate you, I still sort of care about you. Get help. Then maybe we can talk," I say before hanging up.

I sigh and put my head in my hands rubbing my temples. Well that was not what I wanted to do at the crack of dawn. But since I'm up I roll out of bed before attempting to make it look neat again. I brush my teeth and post a sticky note on the bathroom mirror to have Katie brush her teeth. I change out of my pajamas and put on a pair of navy blue athletic shorts, a black sports bra, and a loose grey tank top before tying my hair up into a top knot. I grab my reading glasses, my laptop, my phone, a pen and pencil, and the application forms and make my way down to the kitchen.

I situate myself on one of the bar stools opening up my laptop to check out my old school records. Thankfully I had my transcript and everything because my school sent it to me for college applications. Frankly I don't know if I will be going to college. I really did want to, but I have Katie now.

I quickly find the file with my transcript and open it up. I take a sip from my orange juice and start to fill out my application form. I always kind of liked filling out forms, it was fun. When I was little my like realistic dream job was a secretary because I liked pushing buttons and writing things down. Weird I know. How many kids want to be a secretary when they grow up?

Once I finish my application form I had finished two cups of orange juice. I then moved on to Katie's. I was just praying that there wasn't much needed in terms of parental/guardian information.

Thankfully there wasn't. Halfway through Katie's application I hear someone coming down the steps. I take a glance at the time and I see that its 8:39am. Well that took longer than I thought.