Wings in Alabama

Chapter 2

I rubbed my eyes with my fists. I felt like I'd been helping Emily with her suitcase for almost forever. "Emily, can I please go back to bed?"

"No. We haven't packed my toys yet. And do you want to fall asleep in the soaking wet mess that is your bed?"

I rolled my eyes and swatted her on the head. I told her she wouldn't even need toys, that Alabama was the life of the party in the U.S., but she thonked me on the head. I guess I deserved that.

"Aunt Kat said that we'd need some entertainment until she got the stuff all situated. And don't lie to me, the only party that is held is where adults get drunk at a bar."

I looked at her, confused. "Who on Earth told you that?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "I watch Grown-ups too, ya know."

My eyes rolled to the top of my head, then flipped back to see Emily stuffing more junk in her suitcase. I groaned and left her room. I felt her annoyed gaze trained on the back of my head as I walked back to my room.

I slowly turned the door knob to see my bed, still soaking wet. How in the Heavens was I going to explain this to my mom?

I decided that that question was to be asked later and peeled my clothes - also still soaked - off my body and found a T-shirt with a picture of my dad's favorite christian band, Casting Crowns. I sighed and traced over a member's face with my finger. The only thing I had left from him was a T-shirt - how pathetic is that? He bailed on my mom about five years ago, when Emily was about four. It seemed kinda rude to still keep the shirt and wear it in my mom's presence, but I still kept it.

I pulled the T-shirt over my head and slipped on some jeans. I shoved my feet into tennis-shoes and observed myself in the mirror. It wasn't pure public shopping material, but it'd have to do. Last shopping day for me and my friend, Stephenie, before summer started and I had to spend all of it at my aunt and uncles' house in Alabama.

Emily pushed the room to my door open. "I thought you were going shopping, not dumpster diving," she said, a Nintendo D'S in her hands on her hips.

"I am, but I'm not shopping in Malibu." She rolled her eyes and nodded glumly as I made her promise to tell Mom I was at a neighbor's house. I smiled and silently left the house before checking what time it was. 9:46. Good, I wasn't late.

I ran down the block to Steph's house. She was just getting in the car, and her sister Sarah locking the door and heading toward the car. I ran a bit faster and opened the door. "You guys weren't planning on ditching me, were you?"

"Me? Ditch you? Not a chance, girl," Steph said. I heard Sarah mutter something up front, probably the fact she wished she could ditch me. Her convertible sped into drive and she cranked the music up loud. Steph and I danced to the beat in our seats like a bunch of idiots as Sarah drove us to the mall.

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"You honestly had to sneak out? You seriously didn't tell you mom this before? And you didn't have to pay Emily not to tell your mom?"

"Yes, not exactly, and nope."

"Okay, explain the 'yes, not exactly, and nope', cause I'm getting lost," I heard Steph say from the other side of the dressing room stall. I sighed as I grabbed a cream tank-top with leopard print silk blouse on top.

"Yes, I snuck out. Not exactly, because I told my mom, she either didn't hear me or just wasn't gonna let me go. Nope, because she 1) dragged me out of bed at five in the morning this morning, 2) poured freezing cold water over me and my bed, and 3) forced me to help her pack her suitcase for the Alabama trip."

I heard Steph say something from behind the wall. She heard about the trip a few weeks ago, like I did, and we'd already made plansfor the summer. We were silent, which was probably good for the rest of the people in the dressing room, 'cause we'd been talking ever since we got there. Literally. I studied myself in the mirror, smiling at good spots and seeing if I could cover up the disappointments.

I found very few quirks in the next few ones and ended up buying only two of them. When Stephenie found me at the checkout counter with the amount of clothes I had, she nearly fainted. Like the limit Mom put on my allowance was my problem.

"Really, Stephenie, there's more to life than clothes." This time, I think she actually might have fainted.

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We returned back to the neighborhood with out loot. Me with four outfits and a pair of shoes, Stephenie... I'll just say she had more than me. Sarah dropped me off at my place, only to surrender me to the punishment of my mother. The first thing I heard when I got in the house was, "You're in trouble, young lady."