Verge of Insanity

Chapter Twenty-Five

Mara Leigh

From the moment I woke up at an early 6am, I worried about what would happen when Xander arrived to pick me up. I hadn't saw him in a day, but it felt like forever. I lay in bed, trying to force myself to get up and go face my parents who I knew would be all dressed up and ready to meet my guy.

My phone vibrated from where it was charging on my night stand, and I picked it up to read the text. My mouth dropped open when I saw that it read 218 New Messages.

I opened my messages app and saw that 217 of them were from Xander, as I expected. But one was from an unknown number, so I opened it first.

HEY, MARA. IT'S BEAU. I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW I WON'T BE AT SCHOOL MONDAY. AFTER A LOT OF THINKING, I'VE DECIDED AGAINST GOING BACK. HAVE FUN :)

I sighed. Well. There goes my friend. At least there won't be a Ella Barton there to torment me now.

Smiling, I thought about how much she'd changed. I quickly typed a response to Beau to ask him to ask his mom to pull some strings for me and make my journey back to school easier. I supposed I would be on my own until graduation.

Once I'd got up and dressed, I walked downstairs. Mom and Dad were surprisingly not in the living room, so I went into the dining room. Dad sat at the table with a newspaper while Mom was in the adjoining room doing something I hadn't seen her do in years. Cooking.

Should I be afraid? I thought, grabbing a water from the fridge.

Mom looked up at me and froze, looking irritated. "Why aren't you wearing your nice clothes?"

I looked down at my blouse, boots and jeans. I'd even put on makeup today. What was she complaining about?

"You can't dress like that on your boyfriend's birthday," she said. "You have nice clothes in your closet. I bought them for you. Wear them."

I rolled my eyes when she looked away and walked to the dining room again.

"She's gonna pick an outfit for you if you don't just go change," Dad whispered.

I ignored him and went on into the living room and sat down in front of the TV. Mom finished cooking and Dad and I hesitantly sat to eat with her. She wasn't a good cook, and we knew it, but tried to eat it anyway. Mom gave up on eating it, unable to stand the taste, so we were pardoned from our torture.

Several minutes later I heard Mom walk upstairs and then after a bit longer I heard her holler for me. I huffed and followed her voice. She was in my closet and had thrown several dresses and skirts on my bed.

"Pick what you want to wear from what's on your bed." I didn't move, so she continued, "Or I can pick for you."

I considered my choices. I could either give in and pick or let her pick for me, but I knew there was no winning with her. I leaned against my wall and waited. If she'd pick it would be less work for me.

Besides, I thought, I am the Luna. I should probably look like I tried to look good on Xander's birthday. Maybe Mom knows what she's talking about.

She ended up picking out a tight burgundy dress that came about mid-thigh and had a deep V-cut neck and a geometrical cut out back. I couldn't remember what she'd bought it for, but I knew why I'd never worn it. Too much skin showing, and too form fitting.

Despite my arguing she dressed me in it and curled my hair, combing the curls into gentle waves. "Why don't you let me do this more often?" she asked. I kept my mouth shut knowing that if I said 'Why don't you act like a mom and stay with me more?' she wouldn't appreciate it.