Bet It On The Moon

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

My feet slide across the slippery tile floor as I make a run up the stairs to my room. I slam the door shut behind me and flop backwards on my bed. I hear loud knocking at the door and I know it is my older sister, Lynn. I let her knock until the sound drills into my head and I stand up and shove open the door. "What do you want?"  I yell at her. She gives me a cold look. " I know you took my homework!" She flies her arms out in frustration. "Why would I take your homework?" "I don't know?" She whines in a mocking voice that I think is supposed to sound like mine. "I had it right here in my binder. I saw you take something out of it! And guess what's missing? My homework! You had to have taken it!" I crinkle my nose at her. "I took out a few sheets of paper ok? Not your homework." I slam the door in her face. I can tell she is mad at me as she continues to knock on the door. But I am not opening it this time. I hide myself in my closet until finally she stops, the noise still echoing in my head. Before I know it my mom is calling me for supper. I trudge down the rickety staircase and make my way to the kitchen. I take my place at the table. My father sits in front of me, eyes bright with wonder. He has nothing to ever worry about. He never works, never helps our family. When we are having a rough time he just leaves us to fend for ourselves, while he is getting drunk at bars. Then when things are better, he comes back and tells us how sorry he is, and that things are going to be ok. My mother sets a plate of mashed potatoes in front of me, with some beans and beef. She is beautiful, but her eyes are tired and sad. She works so hard to keep our family going. I guess I can understand why she lashes out at me so much. And across from me sits my wonderful sister, who could care less about anything other than her iPhone and which celebrities are dating who. We say the blessing and start to eat when I look out the window and see June. She sits in her backyard with her bicycle. Her arms are smeared with grease, and she seems to be working on her bike, though I don't know why. I did not think it was broken. I always see her riding it. But the past few days I have seen her working on it. I am courious to know what she is doing but I am too afraid to ask. "What is th at crazy girl doing to her bike?" My father comments as he shoves beans into his mouth. "She is not crazy", I say quietly. "She is interesting. And her name is June." "Well she 'ought to have more respect for her bike than that. You know good and well her parents bought that for her and she's ruining it!", He says and my cheeks become warm. "At least she uses her bike." My mom says. "Our son here doesn't even know how to ride his." "I do know how to ride a bike!", I say a little louder. "I just... I just.." "You just what?" Lynn asks. "May I be exused? I'm not very hungry." I say. "Whatever. More food for me," My dad says and scrapes my food onto his with a fork. I push my chair in and walk slowly up to my room. When I am safe inside without anyone to bother me, I look out my window. I am thankful she is facing the opposite side from me, so she cannot see me watching her. I lie my arms and rest my head on the window pane, and watch her work on her bike. Whatever she is doing, it facinates me. Maybe someday I will ask her what she is doing, I think. Maybe one day I could help work on it with her. I close my eyes and drift off to a peaceful sleep, the name of June wandering my thoughts.