Overcome

Chapter Thirty- Six

"So, did you go see him?" I ask mom when she comes home. She gives me 'the look'. She does this when she doesn't want to be bothered. I give her an innocent smile and ask again. "Did you?"

"No Gina I did not." she snaps. "And I would appreciate if you stay out of my business!"

"Wow, someone's cranky." I state.

She lets out a sigh. "I'm sorry Gina. I'm just on edge."

I sit down at the island, "Yeah, I can tell. Is it just Kent that's bothering you or something else?" I ask.

"Of course something else is bothering me. Its been bothering me for almost a year now."

"Really? what?"

"You"

Oh, I forgot about that. I forgot about what pressure this really had on mom. I went from being the active kid to the one that sits on the couch all day. Well, from what she's seen. That's what she thinks.

I wanna tell her. And that's exactly what I'm going to do. "About that. Um, about Harry and all." I start to say when Justin walks in.

"Heyyo!" He says when he opens the door. Then he realizes that we were in a conversation. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"That's okay Justin." mom can't help but chuckle. "Gina was just about to tell me something about Harry."

His head snaps in my direction. "She was?" He says with a hint of curiosity. But I know just by looking in his eyes that he is screaming at me to not say anything. To continue with my plan. Despite what he's secretly saying to me, he says "What where you gonna say Gina?"

"Ah" I have to think of something. Moms in a bad mood and I should make her somewhat happy, right? "Um, I was just recalling what you said about selling him and wondered if you found a buyer." That's as close as I could get to not ruin everything.

A glimmer of hope shines in her eyes. She's happy that I brought up the subject. Good. "No, I didn't. Nobody wants him. And its a shame, he's such a nice horse. He was anyway."

"Yeah, he was." I recall. But that's it. I just crossed the safety line and I have to back up. "Are you going to see Kent?" I change the subject.

"Yeah, tonight." she admits. "Well" she looks at the clock. "I'm going to meet Stacey now. Then after I'm going to go meet Kent."

It takes me a while to remember who Stacey is. She's very vague in my mind because I never hung out with her. However there were times that she 'babysat' me when I was little. Which really means that she sat on the couch and let me do whatever I wanted. She's my fifth cousin or something like that. We're barely related but mom became friends with her. "Go have fun." I obnoxiously smile. She gets up and walks upstairs into her room. Five minutes later she comes downstairs in a new outfit.

She's like me. She doesn't ever care what she wears. Hence why she got dressed so fast. Not that we just throw on random clothes that don't match. We care a little but don't obsess over it. At times I swear I see myself in her. Not just with the clothes but with all the other little things she does. She is determined.

Once she leaves Justin has a staring contest with me. I try to look away to avoid it but they feel like lasers burning into the side of my head. I look at him, not in the eye, but I see one of his eyebrows raise. He's waiting for me to speak. I put on a big smile "How ya doin'?"

"What were you really going to say to her?" He doesn't say this mean. He smiles while saying it and says it in a normal voice. But I know and he knows that he really wants an answer.

"It's a nice day outside. Don't you think?"

"What were you going to say?"

"Looks like it might rain though."