Cinders

~4~ The Time Has Come ~2

"Alex, what's wrong?" Mom asks dad as she walks over to us.

She hasn't even looked at me yet, so I sneak a look around. Everyone has stopped what they're doing to stare at us. Do these people not have work to do? I see Megan over at the table mom was at. How embarrassing. I didn't even think about Megan being here. If mom doesn't kill me, this humiliation is going to.

I see a bunch of guys over at a table, playing cards. I recognize one of them. That's our neighbor; The Lieutenant. I can't remember his name, but he's staring at all three of us. He has a funny expression on his face. He's looking at dad right now, and he looks a little sad. That's weird.

"Drake and I just had to go to the school to pick up Liam. He's suspended from school for 4 days."

I hoped he'd downplay it for me, but he doesn't. Short, sweet, and to the point.

Mom immediately goes from mad, to furious. She doesn't say a word as she turns her attention to me. I immediately feel myself fighting tears. Real tears, not the fake ones I was trying to have with dad. Her glare is intense. I have to try and say something to get her to quit looking at me like that.

"Mom, I..."

I stop talking the moment she puts her hand up. If I make one wrong move, she's gonna strike, and this will be even more embarrassing than it's already gonna be.

She glares at me for another impossibly long moment before she looks back to dad.

"What happened?" She asks simply.

Dad goes through my crimes, and I'm thanking my lucky stars right now that cheating isn't on the list. Maybe she'll never find out about that.

Mom is focused on dad right now, so I look around the firehouse again. Everyone is still staring. I have a sneaking suspicion that they've never seen mom mad before—She's so light-hearted most of the time. They're probably more shocked than anything at the moment.

Once dad gets done talking, mom just sighs loudly, and looks down at the ground for a moment. I have hope for just a second that she's going to go easy on me. Once she straightens her back and looks up again, all hope is gone. There's a fire in her eye that scares me. I'm toast.

She looks back at dad, determination evident on her face. "How would you like to handle this?" She asks dad. She and I both know that dad doesn't want to handle it. He wants nothing to do with it. He passes off his delinquent son the first chance he gets. He only wants me when I behave. The hurt of that surprises me. I don't want to get in trouble, so why did those feelings just come to the surface?

Dang I sound like Dr. Phil when I'm about to die—that's depressing. Kinda assumed I'd be more like The Rock.

If possible, dad looks even madder now. "Ellie, I'm working. I cannot deal with this right now. Drake and I have to get back. Could you just handle this? I have to work late tonight—Liam can stay here with you, and since it's your weekend to have him, you can bring him back on Monday."

So I'm staying the night at the firehouse now? Fantastic. Could my day get any worse? I have a feeling it's going to. Soon.

"Fine. We'll see you on Monday," mom says with a clipped tone. Dad knows she's mad at him, but he also knows her well enough to pretend like he doesn't have a clue she's mad.

Instead of owning up to the fact that she's mad, he just bends down and kisses her forehead. Then he gives me a big hug as he says "I love you, kid," turning around and leaving quickly.

I finally get the nerve to look back at mom, and she's fuming. I feel tears start to burn the back of my eyes again. I'm trying so hard not to let them fall. Megan is still right there, watching it all. I have to act like I'm tough.