Chapter Nine: Dates and Disputes

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Chapter Nine – Dates and Disputes

          I had spent my Saturday filling out college applications. Being a high school senior wasn’t easy. I mean, how was  I supposed to decide where I’m going and what I’m doing with the rest of my life at seventeen?       

          “What do you mean you’re out of beer?” I hear my mother’s shrill angry-voice yell at my father. He’d been drinking since I woke up this morning, and it was now four o’clock.

          I heard my father’s loud and belligerent reply but I couldn’t make out what he said in response.

          “Rick, you can’t sit here all day and drink the day away!” my mother screamed, and I wanted to leave. I would never be able to concentrate on my college applications now—nor would I ever get my questions answered about how to fill them out.

          I heard my phone buzz on my desk, and I picked it up, answering it.

          “Hey Kitten, you called?” Iain’s voice asked.

          “Yeah, I just had some college application questions,” I said.

          “Okay, are you still working on them?  I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you; I was at work.”

          “It’s fine,” I said, “I was just wondering about the test scores section. Do I need to enter all of my ACT scores every time I have taken it? Or can I just pose my highest one?”

          “Report all of them,” he said, “They want them all officially sent, too so you’ll have to pay ACT to send them.”

          “Great,” I groaned.

          I could hear my mother screaming at my father and I could her him grumbling back, and I knew that now wasn’t a good time to ask them to shell out the cash to pay for my test scores to be sent to a college I didn’t even know if I wanted to go to.

          “Kitten?” Iain’s deep voice asked.

          “What?” I asked.

          “Never mind,” he said, and I heard something made of glass shatter against the hardwood floor.

          “Do you want to go to the movies with me? There’s that new Kevin Hart movie and it looked really funny and I have no one to go with. Plus Olivia and Ben are making out on the couch so I don’t really have any desire to stay in this apartment for any longer than necessary,” Iain asked.

          “Sure,” I said, getting up and checking my cash drawer. I had five dollars leftover from babysitting the Nelson’s kid, and I should probably save it to pay for my test scores, but I really wanted to see the movie and I really needed out of the house.

          “I’ll pick you up in a few,” Iain responded and hung up on me. I got up and put on some cuter clothes—a maroon skater skirt and a white t-shirt with a scarf and light brown Oxford shoes.

          I fixed my makeup, and my phone buzzed.

          Iain:

          I’m here, should I come inside?

          I quickly replied with a “NO” and snuck downstairs. I stopped dead in my tracks, face to face with my parents.

          “Hi honey,” my mother plastered a fake smile on her face, but I could tell she’d been crying, and there was a vase shattered on the floor.

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