"What do you mean you aren't coming home for Christmas?!" Brooke held the phone away from her ear, sighing at her mother's yelling. "Ever since you moved to that damn state you've changed for the worst! The devil's gotten ahold of my baby, my last little girl."
I sat with my legs folded across the table from Brooke, munching on a piece of popcorn. We had bet money on which tactic our parents would use in an attempt to pity us in going back home for Christmas. Truthfully, we just arrived not too long ago, and between rent, food, clothes, books, tutoring and tuition, we were some broke bitches. After much pondering, Brooke bet my mom would use the classic, "we're very disappointed in you" tactic. I agreed with her, that seemed like an expected move. I had a feeling about several for Brooke's mom - she wasn't a big fan of her daughter not taking her to Cali with her. By the time I finished my snack, she had used every trick in the book, except health. She didn't pull out any cancer or dying family members, so it was time to see if Brooke or I won.
"That was exhausting." Her phone went soaring across the couch with all of her happy spirits too. Telling her mom she couldn't come home was a stress she didn't need right now.
"You ready for round two?"
"Let's do it."
I dialed my mom's number. Neither of us had ever done such a bold thing, so these reactions were genuine.
"Oh, you're not coming home this year? Aw, baby you just moved out. We'll miss you so much. Your sister is trying to console the dog, I don't think either of them knows what to do." We laughed. "Well, if you're not coming, I have some news to tell you. Your dad and I are going on a trip to New York. Isn't that exciting!" I nearly crapped myself. They knew I wanted to go with them, dammit.
After that call, it was my turn to be exhausted.
"I gotta say, your mom outdid that one."
"You're telling me." I scratched my head in confusion, shaking it off. Whatever.
Today was my day for tutoring. Brooke and I were taking Korean lessons, but separately so we would have more individual time. That was always fun to schedule in between work and school. I worked a part time job as a makeup artist at a salon, which was my dream. It made me so damn happy, and the pay wasn't bad either. Brooke worked in a café near Beverly Hills, and her tips were enough to feed a whole family for a week. She always sent home any extra money she had to her parents, which I admired. In between our busy schedules, both of us were always looking for other jobs around school for extra cash, or a chance to take it off our tuition.
We had a long winter break, which we really needed. Our neighbors were apparently on tour for quite some time, so we never heard a peep from them after Owen's birthday party. Cars were parked outside their house, but there were no signs of any life forms.
Brooke called from the den, "I invited Kelly and Hannah over for dinner tonight, I hope that won't be a problem."
Brooke and I had two mutual friends from school, whom we ate with quite frequently. Hannah was in her senior year as an Anesthesiologist, and Kelly was in her junior year taking Liberal Arts. We were just baby Freshmen finishing our core classes. Either way, we were all friends. Usually, we went over to Kelly's to eat, but it was always fun to have them over.
"It's fine," I yelled from the dinner table. "I'll cook poppy seed chicken, okay?" My mouth started to water at the thought of the deliciousness. It was everyone's favorite, hardly anyone out in Cali even knew what it was. I made my way to our pantry cabinet only to find we were lacking a bit. "Fuck," I mumbled. "How can we be from the south and not have poppy seeds in our house?"
