𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 • 𝘣𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴 [✔]

chapter fifty seven.

It was hours before the school's dance and Claudia was still on her way. She had texted Garrett multiple sorry texts for being late, but he assured her it was fine. In the car sat Ben in the drivers seat, Claudia in the passenger seat and Nate with Lara in the back seats. Thankfully it wasn't as awkward as Claudia thought. The playlist Claudia chose helped alot. It was a playlist Janis had made for her last year as a birthday gift. It was filled with all her favorite songs as a kid to her teen years.

After a Billy Idol song faded out, the recognizable tune of Electric Light Orchestra was heard through the car speakers. 'Don't Bring Me Down'was a song that followed Claudia throughout her childhood. It was the first song she memorized the lyrics to.

Janis would play the song whenever Claudia couldn't fall asleep, which was most of the time. Toddler Claudia used to mumble the lyrics, now adult Claudia couldn't get the lyrics out of her head.

The song reminded Claudia of one moment in her childhood when she knew her mom would be her best friend for the rest of her life. It was when Janis was teaching her how to ride a bike without training wheels. A young Claudia would tell her mom she couldn't do it, but Janis insisted she could.

"Yes you can, Claudia, don't be so negative. Come on, if you make it to Mrs. Bradley's mailbox I'll buy you ice cream with sprinkles." Janis said with a smirk knowing ice cream was Claudia's weakness.

Claudia gasped and looked at her mom. "Two scoops with a cherry on top and you have a deal, woman."

"How about one scoop, sprinkles and one cherry?" Janis suggested. "Take it or leave it, short stack."

"Deal, tall stack." Claudia giggled.

"Not funny, little girl." Janis rolled her eyes. "Okay, helmet on, knee and elbow pads secured?"

Claudia nodded rapidly. "Yes, ma."

"Okay, my sweet spawn, be careful and don't die, okay?"

"Got it, don't die!" Claudia held up a thumbs up. Claudia placed her hands on the handles and started pedaling forwards, balancing the best she could. She started going towards Mrs. Braldey's mailbox which was not too far away. "Ma?" Claudia called out when she noticed she was going faster.

"It's okay, Sweets! I'm here!" Janis yelled.

Long story short, Claudia did make it to Mrs. Bradley's mailbox, just not the way she or Janis wanted. She ended up losing control of her bike and crashed into the metal box face first. Janis ran to her daughter. The first thing she saw was Claudia's bloody mouth.

"Oh, my sweet little evil kid," Janis helped Claudia to her feet.

"Did you see me?! I went so fast! I think I'm a professional now!" Claudia said excitedly.

"Claudia, you crashed into the mailbox."
Janis frowned as she grabbed Claudia's chin and examined the girl's bloody mouth.

"But I made it so now you have to buy me ice cream, remember?" Claudia grinned. "And look at what I found on the ground, a tooth!" She held up a small tooth in her hand.

"Honey, that's your tooth."

"Oh," Claudia looked at the ground where she found it. "I still found it."

Janis laughed. "Yes you did. Come on, let's go inside before the neighbors call the cops on me for letting you lose a tooth to a mailbox."

"I can't feel my feet." Claudia said randomly.

"You're standing? What's wrong?" Janis asked.

"I hurt my knee, see?" Claudia pointed at her left knee, which was now bleeding.

"Hmm, I think I see bone coming out," Janis said jokingly. "Yup. It's definitely coming out, sorry kid, you're done."

"What? I haven't had ice cream yet!"

"Too bad, adios little girl." Janis waved goodbye to her.

"Oh no, I don't want to die. I haven't kissed Robbie from art class!" Claudia started to panic.

"Robbie from art class? Is he the one who is lactose intolerant?" Janis asked.

"I don't know what that means." The little girl admitted.

"It means you can't eat ice cream and other things that you like. So I'm telling you this, find yourself somebody who loves ice cream as much as you not Robbie 'the no ice cream' loser. Okay?" Janis took Claudia into her arms then started walking back to their house.

"Okay. But ma? We left the bike! We have to go back to get it!" Claudia pointed at the bike next to the mailbox.

"I found it on the sidewalk, someone will claim it. And by found it on the sidewalk I mean I stole it from the neighbors kid so this is between you and me, my sweet girl, okay?" Janis whispered.

Claudia nodded then giggled, but she quickly placed her hands over her mouth. "Okay."

An: life would be better if janis donovan raised me