Keep Your Enemies Close

Chapter Seven Where Your Heart Lies

Since mom thought I needed a distraction, and Georgia insisted that I leave the house once in a while, mom signed me up for a three day sleep away camp for the long weekend. Apparently it was a luxurious cabin house on the lake. The pictures on the website looked stunning; one was of a gigantic wooden mansion surrounded by flowers and a shimmering lake in the background.

It was too good to be true, so I bet it didn't look like that in real life. If you took away the colorful flowers and the sparkling lake, it'd just be plain and dull, and maybe even a little haunted.

It was Tuesday, so I had started packing. Penny's mom suggested for Penny to go also, to take her mind off her dead hamster, Muffin. I was glad that Penny was coming, but I couldn't stop thinking about Lila and her friends and what they were hiding. I told Penny, and she thought it was creepy too.

"I think they're keeping a big secret that they can't keep hidden forever," Penny had said over the phone. 'And it won't be hidden forever' I thought to myself during the conversation.

My mother walked in, without knocking of course.

"Are you done packing?"

I shook my head. My mom tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and looked at me sadly.

"I know you're not happy with the idea of going to this camp, but it could be very good for you, and it'll help you find out who you really are. Teenagers have trouble realizing who they are, and sometimes they need help. You need this camp, Mabel, just trust me."

She said all this while looking at my hair and forced a smile.

"Mom. I know you still don't like my hair this way. You think I've gone crazy and that's why you're sending me to this camp. It won't help. I love my hair like this. There's no going back."

She crossed her arms. "Yes, there's no going back because of the damage you've done, but you could re-dye your hair back to red." I laughed. Was she serious?

"And why would I do that?" She looked at me like I was completely nuts.

"Because I said so. I will however be a little lenient and tell you that you can keep this hair color until the end of the year, but then you will have to dye it back to its natural color."

I shook my head hastily. "What? And that's fair, because?" I snapped.

"Because you don't know what you really want, and you are going to regret it."

I got up from my bed, glaring at her. My mom thought she could just make me dye my hair back and I would be okay with it. She didn't understand me at all.

"I never regretted changing my hair style. Never. I hated my red hair, and everywhere I went, I got insulted. I wanted to be somebody new, and so I did."

My mother cringed. She was angry now.

"Oh, and perhaps you have a new name too?"

I smiled sweetly. "Actually I do. You're always pretending you know everything about me, but you know nothing," I snapped in a harsh tone of voice.

My mother gave me a menacing expression as she left my room. Now she was furious with me just because I was happy. Well, partially happy. The day was not starting out well.

I closed my door, fuming. My mom wouldn't ruin my day. Today I'd go to school, and everything would be good. Maybe even great. I pulled on light denim skinny jeans, a white lace top, and brown leather boots, then grabbed my backpack and headed downstairs.

When I reached the kitchen to grab a quick snack, my mother had eyed my clothes and looked at me like her daughter was lost forever. I wasn't lost, but it didn't mean I wasn't close to being it.