Red For Rebellious

So Much For Apologizing

If there was anything I was truly good at, it would be messing things up. Not only had I ruined my chances of getting a passing grade in my media studies class; I ruined a friendship. I don’t know what I had with Colton, but it was most certainly over now. Never in a million years would I have believed that I would be friends with Colton Jones, but it didn’t matter anymore. Especially since I called him about a million times after retrieving his number from a skank at the party and still hadn’t gotten a call back.

He was either really angry or just didn’t care. I was betting on the last one; I mean Colton wasn’t the type of guy to actually have emotional feelings towards girls, much less anyone. But Colton was the least of my worries.

The morning after the party I came home to find my mom once again in Melody’s room; eyes red and puffy. Not only was she starting to become a big emotional mess, but she was also starting to go mute. Literally, I think I had exchanged about two words with her in the past three days. Me and my father were both starting to worry.

I watched as she carried herself from the kitchen table to the fridge like a lifeless zombie. Man had my mom seen better days…

We all had.

“How was that work meeting?” I asked her casually, pouring myself some liquid caffeine, otherwise known as coffee.

My father looked up from his paper skeptically. After my mother didn’t answer, he did. “Mom ended up staying home; she was feeling a little sick.”

I could tell he was lying. “Oh really?”

Dad nodded his head, answering another question that was directed towards mom. Sighing, I took a long delicious sip of my bitter sweet coffee. School today would be rough enough; I couldn’t go low on energy.

“Well, nice conversation we had today, I’m glad I got to talk to you mother,” I muttered.

“Sutton your mothers been having a few rough days, but she has a good excuse and—“

“And what? She gets to walk around like her worlds crumbling around her because Melody’s dead? Well guess what, she was your daughter too. Not to mention my sister and best friend!”

My father’s eyes shot open wide. “Sutton!”

“We all lost her that day, but that doesn’t give her the right to act like some poor depressed puppy dog,” I shouted bitterly, pushing away from my spot at the table.

“Sutton Lee Bran, how dare you talk like that?”

By now my mom’s face was drained of the very little color she had in it to begin with. She looked surprised and a little bit angry, but even that was better than nothing. “For God’s sake I’m a sixteen year old girl and I’m handling this situation better.”

Both my parents inhaled sharply as I spun around and made my way out to the driveway. Jumping in my red convertible, I turned on the car and backed out faster than I ever had. As soon as I was clear of my house, I let out a loud frustrated cry.

“What the hell’s gotten into you Sutton,” I mumbled under my breath.

Never in a million years had I spoken to my mother and father that way. But everything was just getting so out of hand. My mother was walking around like some zombie on a diet, and my father was acting like it was no big deal. Like it was normal for a grown woman to act like some depressed teenage girl. I understood what my mom was going through; my father and I were going through the same thing, it’s just that we were handling it like normal people.

 Suddenly a car horn went off, and I looked up at the light to see that it was green. School was in sight now, and I was not looking forward to the day ahead of me. I parked in the back of the front parking lot and slowly made my way up to the school doors. As soon as I stepped inside, Mark was by my side.