Читать книгу Calli - Jessica Lee Anderson - Страница 7

MELTDOWN: PART I

Thursday, April 17

I’M TOO MUCH OF A MESS to do anything now, so I run. Down the hall. Out of Building A. Past the exhaust of the school buses and past #72, which I should be boarding.

My pace slows once I’m far enough away from school and the line of buses. The long way home is the only option. Too many people have already witnessed the humiliation of Calli Adora Gilbeaux.

I’ll have to face their whispers at school tomorrow.

Did you see Dub’s mouth all over Cherish? Are they together now?

Yeah, Calli was there to witness it.

She ran away like a big, fat baby.

Worse than facing the gossip, I have to go home soon. Where Cherish lives in the room next to mine. At least my mom and her partner, Liz, don’t make us room together.

The sun’s pounding down on me and the top of my head is burning hot. I’d give anything for a breeze or a cloud. The sky is a stretch of never-ending blue and there are so many trees that it looks like a wall of green closing in on me.

I wish I had the nerve to stick out my thumb and hitch a ride away from Lake Charles, Louisiana. As far away as the driver would be willing to take me. But when a truck zooms by on Opelousas Lane, my hands stay by my sides. I’m such a chicken turd that I even tuck them into my pockets.

Heading home isn’t an option. Besides, I don’t want to be responsible for my mother being sicker than she already is. I overheard Mom tell Liz that her lupus has started acting up because of the stress of Cherish and me fighting all the time.

I keep slogging on. Twenty minutes. Thirty minutes. Forty minutes. The water in the ditch reminds me of how thirsty I am.

The last bell of the day at Calcasieu High School seems like it rang hours ago. Sweat drips down my stomach and soaks into the waist of my pants. My whole body aches, but I drag on for another fifteen minutes.

I can’t get their kiss out of my mind. And then the next thought. Dub kissed me this morning.

His lips tasted sweet—like maple syrup. The taste reminded me of the pancakes Mom cooked that morning for breakfast. Everyone in the house had gotten up early. My mother said she wanted us to have a sweet start since Cherish had an important algebra test. She’d been helping Cherish study all week.

Liz makes peppermint tea every day for Mom, and this morning she made some for me and Cherish too. I prefer orange juice, but the tea was soothing, minty but not too minty, hot but not too hot. We politely passed the pancakes, butter, and syrup to each other like we were a normal, happy family. Cherish even helped me do the dishes without making her usual snarky comments.

When I considered becoming a foster sister awhile back, this is what I imagined.

My boyfriend’s maple-syrupy kiss topped my perfect morning. As I grabbed books from my locker, Dub quietly walked up to me. His breath felt hot against my neck as he leaned in to whisper, “Missed you.” I turned around, tripping on his large, worn, green and white All Stars. He caught me, and before I could say anything, he pressed his soft, syrup-flavored lips against mine. I closed my eyes and kissed back, touching my tongue against his. Warmth and excitement zipped through my body.

But now I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach. I hang onto the guardrail near the ditch full of cattails and I throw up.

I stay bent over until the nausea passes. I have to swat away a couple of enormous, buzzing flies.

Another truck passes. This driver honks. Lovely. I keep my face low to the ground, and I can’t hold back the tears any longer.

I wanted to be a foster sister, but this isn’t what I had in mind.