Hometown Glory

Chapter One

Chapter One

"Shirley, where is ma juice?"

My mother hustled on the other side of the kitchen making my dad's fresh orange juice before he could complain too much.

"Almost done, Stephen." She wiped her hands on her pink plaid apron that was tied around her waist and walked over with a pitcher of fresh orange juice. "And ma toast, woman?" My mom rushed to the toaster, "oh right, sweetie." She lightly smiled but it meant nothing to my dad. Our lives revolved on making his less miserable.

"I can't eat that, it's cold. Forget it Shirley, I'm heading out." My dad kicked his chair in, grabbed his keys, and left without a goodbye. His orange juice sat untouched as my mother stared at it endlessly. The quiet he left behind was suffocating and dangerous.

"Good juice, ma," my little brother said from the other side of me. He was trying to make up for my dad, something Cade always felt the need to do. My mom nodded, still not looking at us, and left towards her room. I sighed and rested my slightly tan hand on his head.

"Sometimes he's so mean," my little brother said not fully understanding. His bottom lip jutted out and the only thing I could do was kiss him on the forehead. "You're still too young Cade." He kept his pout on, "no, I ain't." I ruffled his Medium Brown hair and got up to finish getting ready for school.

When my dad was a teenager he was the "Casey Mcfall" of Sweetridge. He had the most popular girl hanging onto his muscled arm and an amazing scholarship to play college football. But one night of joyriding down the famous gravel road resulted in an accident and in my dad breaking both of his legs. Although he walked fine once they healed they were no longer as agile as before and his scholarship went to second best, Casey's dad. Even though that was years ago and Mr. Mcfall never went pro, he still beats my dad by being Sweetridge's mayor, having the town's biggest business that my dad works for, the nicest house and a son admired by everyone. That was made all the more obvious yesterday when Casey's group of friends trashed our house yesterday and spray painted 'Dyke' on my lawn. Our lawn was what my dad prided on and he decided to blame me.

"Let's get you to school, yeah?" I asked my brother as I came down our carpeted stairs. My brother nodded at my question and ran to get his blue school bag.

The sun was already shining at 7 in the morning and causing sweat to accumulate on my forehead, which were most summers in Sweetridge. It didn't help that I had to walk to school.

"Hey, you weren't leaving without me were you?" My best friend Jarvis ran to me. Her sparkly silver top glistened and almost blinded my sleepy eyes. I shielded myself from the shine until she caught up. "I told you Jarvis, if you ain't here by 7:30 that I was leaving you," I explained to my late best friend. She rolled her eyes and popped her giant pink bubble gum bubble. "It is only 7:31!" She argues.

"hey, I saw your house last night. I was going to come talk to you, see if you're okay." There was a pause of silence and my little brother looked up at us both. He knew what happened but he didn't want to ask me about it. This was the answer he wanted. "So are you okay, Anna?" She asked and all the shame in her eyes were evident.

"But?" I questioned. There is always a "but" with Jarvis and this time I wanted to see what was more important than to check in on her hurting friend. "I was with Rick and he kissed me on my neck. You know the spot that just gets me..."

Before she could get further into her explanation and details I interrupt, "hey!" My hands covered my brother's ears, "remember the ten year old here with us, okay, thank you." I shook my head as Jarvis simply laughed it off, "oh Anna, like he understands." I roll my eyes and let go of my brother's ears. He was ten, not two.

"What are you doing with Rick anyway? You know he is one of them." I sounded a little more defensive than I wanted to but at this point I no longer cared. I was sick of Jarvis not choosing my side. Jarvis pouts at me, it's her signature move, well that and pushing her butt out at any chance she can get.

"Anna, they're my friends too. It sucks, I know, but one day they'll outgrow it." I turned away from her because I couldn't stand looking at her right then. I didn't understand how my best friend could be friends with the people who are the meanest to me and make my life miserable. So I fought back, the only thing I know how to do. The thing I learned from my father.

I am merciless. "You know they'll never outgrow it. We are in senior year, damn it! If they wanted to mend our relationship or whatever you think will happen, it would have already happened by now! They are going to hate me the rest of our lives. Hopefully I can get out of here and far, far away from them!" Now Jarvis wouldn't look at me or maybe she couldn't. Maybe she finally realized that I was right.

"Don't fight you guys!" My brother cried. His thin, dark eyes rows rose up in worry. His eyes pleaded for me to be quiet. Lately Cade was stuck in the middle of too many fights.

"No, we aren't fighting Cade," I reassured him, "look we are at your school, don't worry." I kissed the top of his head and ruffle his hair. A ritual for us every day and night. "I will see you later today, alright Cade!" I called after him, embarrassingly. He looked back at me and smiled with a missing tooth. Jarvis and I don't begin to walk until Cade has gone all the way into the front doors.

As we began walking I started talking again, "what I mean Jarvis, is how can you stand being around people who make your best friend miserable? If it was you they tortured I would not even be able to look at them." It's true; if someone hurts her that means they are also hurting me.

Jarvis sighed and flipped her wavy brunette hair over her shoulder. "You don't get it Anna." She said that as if I was a lost, stubborn cause. I gave her a look telling her to try me. How much was there that I couldn't understand. Jarvis continued, "They were my friends before they picked you as their target. I need this status to get through life here, in Sweetridge! You're leaving; you're going to have the nice house and the awesome life in the city. I'm going to stay here!" Her hands flailed around showing me what 'here' was- which was not very much, I had to admit. "If they aren't my friends now then I won't have friends when you're gone! Look at your dad, he stayed and got with your mom. Lord knows I love your mother but she had a low social ranking and that dropped your dad low. I cannot live my life like that and I am sorry if you cannot understand that but you are not in my position"

"You're right that I don't understand that. However, I also can't understand the fact that you can't get out Jarvis. You are more than you think you are. You got to start believing in yourself and I'll help you!"

There was a scary quiet between us. All we could hear was the gravel that our shoes kicked as we walked through the school parking lot. "I can't, I can't have our parents' lives." I nodded at Jarvis but I couldn't understand her idea that she couldn't get out of Sweetridge. However, I decided to drop it for the meantime.

I looked up and saw Casey in all his glory waiting with his crew in front of the school. They all sat on the cement ledge, talking and laughing. I never understood their purpose for doing that. Maybe they wanted to make sure the whole school knew they were in charge. Jarvis nudged me so I could direct my attention back to her, "I'll see you at lunch, Anna." Her hand patted my back as she left me and joined the popular kids. I saw their sneers and tried to ignore their name calling as I walked into the drab hallway of our local high school.

Clear as day I heard Casey ask, "did you like the lawn remodeling Dykemen?" I did the only thing I ever did, I closed my eyes and kept walking forward.