What My Mother Forgot

What My Mother Forgot: Junior Year

Halloween rolled around, and the school was having a dance, but my classmates were having a party, and I wanted to go.

2 years prior, when my Mom had us moved me to Rick's house, she had a hard time selling our family home and instead rented it.

The renters destroyed it, and on the evening of the dance, they were in town preparing it for sale.

It annoyed me because she fought tooth and nail for the house in the divorce. And for year's I'd had to listen to my dad complain.

I had just earned my Driver's license, which to me, wasn't a big deal.

My mother forced me to get it so that I could chauffer my little brother around for her.

I actually failed the test the first time I took it.

I stopped by the old house and told them I was staying the night at a friend's.

Most likely they wouldn't check up on me.

The party was also in town, and my classmates helped me move my car out of sight.

For a few hours, I hung out and nursed a beer.

A friend of mine got plastered and another friend helped her to the bathroom.

But mostly, it was boring.

Around midnight, I drove to my mother's.

In hindsight, I should have gone to my dad's. He would have been mad at me, but...he hates my mother enough that he would have covered for me.

I pulled up in the driveway and saw the lights on, and I knew I was in trouble.

As soon as I got inside my mother laid into me. 

She took my purse, confiscated my car keys, and tossed them to Rick.

Then she whipped me with my purse until I backed against the kitchen counter.

"I hope sucking his dick was worth it!" She screamed.

I remember feeling relieved that it was only the purse in her hands because usually she'd hit me with whatever was in her hands and sometimes that thing was a lot harder.

She grounded me from my car for a month.

But, since my parents had joint custody, it limited the scope of my punishment.

She still actively fought my dad on anything, and they didn't speak.

In the end, it was more a punishment for her because she used me to run all of her errands.

We still lived out of the district, and she had to resume carting my brother and me around.

And, to her dismay, I still had cheer practice. My dad had a rule that my brother and I had to be involved in a sport. So my mother could not punish me by making me miss practices without conferring with him.

At this point, I'd been grounded for a couple of weeks, and she'd been picking me up.

This day, when practice was over, I stood by a wall of windows in the lobby outside the gym, watching for her.

Soon all my teammates left, and it was just Coach and me.

She asked if my Mom was coming, to which I answered, "Yes." And with that, she left.

Generally, adults outside my family trusted me. And if I told my Coach my ride was coming, she, like me, had no reason to believe otherwise.

An hour later, the practice that had been going on in the gym ended, and more of my classmates streamed into the parking lot.

It was getting dark.

An underclassman asked if I needed a ride.

I said no, thanks. And continued to wait.

It wasn't abnormal for my Mom to be really late without warning.

Finally, a teacher passed through and asked me how long I'd been standing there.

And after I answered, they asked me why I hadn't called home yet (at this time, cell phones were just starting to be readily accessible). Plus, they coached my brother, who did have a cell phone. They likely assumed I had one too.

I told them I didn't have a phone, so they gave me some change for the payphone.

My Mom answered.

Me: "Are you coming to get me?'

Her: *bored* "No, why?"

Me: "Because...I'm still at school."

Her: "Oh, I thought you were at your friends or something."

Me: "I'm grounded. Remember?"

Her: "Yeah, but you know how you like to sneak out and stuff."

That one party was the only time I'd ever "snuck" out. Usually on the weekends I was with my dad. And I didn't need to lie to him because as long as I told him where I was going and who I was with, he'd just say, "If you make adult decisions, there are adult consequences."

Me: "Okay, but I'm still at practice."

Same as every week for the last 3 years.

Her: "Okay, well, I forgot. I'll come get you, I guess."

The teacher waited with me until she picked me up.

The next afternoon on her way home from work, my Mom ended my grounding. She told me that someone at her work found a feral kitten and that she was bringing it home for me.

I named her Clover, and the next year when I went to college she gave her away.