A Little Bit of Both

Chapter 3

Rae-Ann, her family and her friend Kaitlyn are finally having dinner with the new neighbors. Their oldest daughter, Kaylah, looks and is nice, and wants to become Rae's friend...

***

Let's just not talk about my little spat with Hayden. It's just not worth my time.

Kaitlyn addresses to me. "Rae, do you think your mother will let us show Kaylah around the neighborhood?"

"If she denies us the permission, I swear I will no longer have anything she cooks as a meal," I comment with a sort of wicked tone. Not that I am mean, but I am fed up with her tons of restrictions.

Kaylah laughs loud. "Hahaha. You are funny, Rae!"

"Thank you. But I am not joking. She cannot forbid us to show you what we are surrounded by. Kaitlyn had a very good idea..."

As predicted, Mom cuts me off. "Forget it. It's late and there are too many slacker delinquents out there in this moment."

"Are you joking, Mom? There is nobody."

"Nobody? So the vandals who sprayed graffiti on the Bentleys' house are nobody, right, Rae-Ann?"

"The Bentleys are mean. They deserved that treatment!" I think, but, in the end I just say, "It could have happened elsewhere!" to justify what I've just said.

"But..." She know her words have no effect on me right now. So, she just mutters, "I give up. I won't even say 'I've told you' if you get injured or kidnapped or whatever else..."

I've told you. I think I hate these words for no reason whatsoever. They just sound so unpleasant, and... strictly mean. Typical of people like Mom, who want everything to be rigidly rational.

As soon as I am going to open the door, and Kaitlyn and Kaylah are next to me, someone is ringing the bell.

'I hope it's not any of the Bentleys!' I think.

I open the door. The good news is that it's not any of my other neighbors, a bunch of horrendous people who would never deal with us. The other good news it's that it's Britt and Lyndsae, my two other friends. Although they are not as close as Kaitlyn, I still trust them and spend time with them alone.

"Rae-Ann Daniels!" exclaims Lyndsae. "What are you still doing at home?"

"Come and hang around with us!" suggests Britt. "There are a lot of things I want to tell you."

"What?" I sigh, a little worried at what could happen. My friends could definitely turn crazy. But, before any of them start telling some random stuff about guys, Britt notices Kaylah's presence and asks, "Hey Rae, is she your relative?"

"No," I reply, pointing at Kaylah, "she is Kaylah Pagano. She just moved in next to me."

"Oh, cool," comments Britt. Then, turning to my new neighbor, "Sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Brittanae Leece, but you can call me Britt."

"And I'm Lyndsae Huerta, but people may want to call me Lynn..." intervenes my other friend. Kaitlyn blushes and sighs.

"What's up?" it's still Lyndsae talking. "After all, Lynn is pretty good..."

"Nobody has ever called you Lynn!" I point out. "And I don't think either will Kaylah."

"How judgemental you are!" she scoffs.

"Do you still want to come in or not?" I reply back. They accept.

Mom notices this and is about to panic. Oh no, what is she going to tell me now?

However, she doesn't say a word. She just turns back to conversation with adults. I notice Hayden is next to us. He's just a creep. He pretends to be able to date any of my friends, but, to be honest, none of my friends fancies him as a boyfriend. They just see him as "their friend's brother".

When I see him leaning closer to Kaylah, I clear my throat. "Ahem!"

He immediately leaves back to his room, only to change his mind. In fact, I think he is trying to lean closer to Aimie. (God, why on hell should he ever date such a nasty and unpleasant girl?)

Kaylah shakes her head. "Hmm. If I were Hayden, I wouldn't date Aimie."

"Why?" Kaitlyn, Lyndsae and I ask together. Britt is surprised, instead.

"Well..." Kaylah is about to talk, but is cut off by her mother announcing, "Kaylah, Aimie, time to go back home."

"Ok, Mom." Then, she greets us, "See you at school, then."

"See you at school," I reply back. She and her family start leaving, quickly followed by all my friends. I am therefore left with my creep family.

Well, I think I should go to bed, before any of its members could torment me with embarrassing questions or requests.

***

The next day

"Rae-Ann! Wake up!"

Again, Mom's shrill voice is precluding me from hearing my thoughts or sleeping a little bit more. What does she want from me... at 9:30am?

I sheepishly get up and, again, go downstairs completely barefoot. My hair is a true mess, and my breath smells very bad. When Mom sees me, I think she could have a heart attack in... like... two minutes or less.

"Rae-Ann Daniels," she growls, "I think I told you at least a hundred thousand times that I don't want you to stay barefoot in this house, didn't I?"

"If you woke me up just for this idiocy, then I am going back to bed," I comment quite rudely. I hate being pissed off at 9:30am, and, if anyone does so, I will become very unpolite. Typical of me.

"Hey hey! Where do you think you are going, young lady? Don't you even bid me a 'good morning'?" she complains."Anyway, Leighty has just called. She wants to hear from you." She pronounces the name Leighty with despisement. I don't like when she acts judgementally about Aunt. After all, she is just her sister-in-law, not her worst enemy.

Again, I am standing still, surrounded by my inner thoughts. Mom contributes to get me out of there by saying unpolitely, "Aren't you supposed to be calling your aunt now?"

"Could you stop being such nasty?" I snap back and leave to the kitchen. I take the phone and dial Leighty's number.

"Hello, Sarah. I thought you were definitely over with me." Uh-oh. Leighty is upset. But she is hardly ever upset. What the fuck did Mom tell her?

"Uhm... hello, Aunt, it's Rae-Ann. Mom isn't very willing to talk to you."

"Oh, hi, Rae-Ann. How are you?"

"Fine, I think... And you? You look upset!"

"At least you noticed. Cale thought I would just be kidding. But let's not talk about this. I think your father mentioned that I would be coming in his letter."

"Yeah, he did."

"But he didn't mention why."

"So?"

"My house got burnt, and now Cale and I have no place where to live. We have been looking for a new one for quite a while, and actually we found one, but it will be available in six months, if not more! So, I am afraid we have to stay at your place. Please tell your mother."

"Aunt, I..."

Continues on the next chapter