Messed Up Vita

Chapter Thirty-Eight

At the end of the school day, I quickly head out of Mrs. Ferns room with no homework, and my limbs still attached. I've realized, during my punishment, that I can fit my hair into a small ponytail at the nape of my neck. Not much, but enough to hold it back. That's a bonus.

   I walk to where Joey said he'd meet me. By the front doors, on the far right one. I lean up against the wall and cross my arms over myself, and wait. I scan the students flooding out, relief on their faces that it's finally Friday, and they can get some sleep. Or is that just me? After the dance, anyways. We have Monday and Tuesday off, because of fall break. Four day long weekends are just fine with me.

   Something suddenly stabs my shoulder, and falls to the ground. I glare up in shock-- somebody threw a freaking sharp pencil at me. Somebody snickers, and disappears into the crowd.

   "Coward," I mutter.

   "Who's a coward?" Joey asks, walking up to me. I turn to look at him, relief warming me up despite the draft of cold from the doors. He has a hoodie in his hand, and hands me his backpack. "Hold this for a minute?" I take it, and he quickly slides it over his head, pulling it down and adjusting it. He takes the backpack. It was the same jacket he let me borrow yesterday, and I can't help but sneak a glance at the pocket, where the note sits.

   "Do you have a jacket?" he asks me, nodding to my bare shoulders.

   "Yeah," I say, handing him my own backpack. It's a jacket, not a hoodie. But it's warm enough, because as soon as I slip it around my shoulders and zip it up, it's a hundred degrees in here. I take my backpack and pull it back around again.

   "Who's coming to pick you up?" Joey asks.

   "My mom," I say, smiling. "My actual mom."

   He also smiles. "She's here? I thought you said she lived in another state or something."

   I nod. "She does. She's just visiting me. Kinda awkward around the house, but we're all polite to each other, I guess. I'm just glad she's around again, at least for a little while."

   Joey nods, pushing open the doors. "I have to go. I'll pick you up around six fourty-five. Kay?"

   "Alright," I say. I wrap him in a tight, quick hug before he steps out into the cold. "See yah." He casts me a glance before pushing his way out into the now-blowing snow and wind. He quickly hops inside a black pickup that doesn't belong to him. His dads, maybe? They quickly drive off, out of the school's parking lot. I sigh and lean up against the wall again, and wait for Mom.

   "What are you going to do with your hair, dahling?" Mom says in a very bad Brooklyn accent. She touches my hair while making spagetti. I shake her off.

   "Not much," I sigh. "Can't really do anything with it anymore. But Mandy's coming over to do whatever with it that she can manage. She's a friend of mine, that loves cosmetology."

   "Really?" Mom says, not looking up from dumping some noodles into boiling water. "She sounds like a nice girl."

   "You don't know her," I remind her. 

   "I know, but you're smart enough to make nice friends," she says. She looks at me pointedly. "Right?"

   I shrug.

   "So when's she coming over?" Mom asks.

   "Uh, about half an hour," I say, looking at the clock on the wall. It's already five o'clock, and she has about an hour and fifteen minutes until Joey comes to pick me up. She informed me over the phone that she'll leave before that, so she can touch up herself.