Azalea

A Nice Walk

**AZALEA**

   It's Saturday, the most important night of my dads life, again. He makes me help him clean up, washing dishes and vacuuming last minute. He runs to the bathroom, trimming his beard and getting into a nice dress shirt. Maroon,  my dads favorite color. He goes into my room, bringing out a purple dress, one that was covered in white stitched vines with little flowers. I shake my head violently. He scowls.
   "You are wearing this." He says, throwing it at me.
   "You can't make me." I say, throwing it back. He puts on his stern dad look.
   "Azalea, just go put it on. I'm not asking much, please just do it. Now." He says, tossing it back. He turns and walks away. Ugh. I walk to my room, holding the dress out in front of me. It's not so bad, it's like a t-shirt, but longer. I shrug, closing the door. As I slip it on over my head, I hear a noise coming from the corner of my room. Like a scratching noise. I whip around, finding nothing. This stupid noise has been happening for weeks, I'll have to ask dad to fix it sometime. I look at my feet. I'm barefoot, but we're not going anywhere, so I guess we'll just keep it that way. I walk out, and almost run right into my dad.
   "Are you going to do anything with your hair? It could use some brushing." He says, walking down the hall to the kitchen. I groan. Why couldn't he just be normal and take this woman on a date someplace else? I stomp to the bathroom, grabbing my brush and pulling my hair into a high ponytail. I try not to pay much attention to my reflection. It only seems to make me more upset with myself, which oddly makes sense. I glance up, my first mistake. My second, not turning away. I find myself judging hardcore. Why are my eyes so big? Why is my nose tiny? What is up with my acne? Why is my hair so uncontrollable? I look so out of place in this dress. It doesn't belong on me, it deserves to be with someone much, much prettier. God, I can't take it. I turn away. As I walk out to the common area, my dad stops to look at me. He looks me up and down.
   "You are so beautiful, I wish you'd dress like that all the time. You look just like your mother." My heart drops. He did not just say that to me. I hold my head up high, and turn around, walking away. My odd little way of letting him know I'm pissed off. Last time I was mad, I opened all the canned food, and sliced all of the fruit open. Best week of my life. My dad shouts after me.
   "Please don't do anything bad, I'm having a girl over tonight!" He makes an exasperated noise. I close the door to my room, thinking of all I could do to make his life hell. Think, think.... canola oil, in front of the door... yes. I open the door, jumping at the sound of the doorbell. My dad runs, nearly tripping over the coffee table. Too late to do anything evil. Oh well.
   "Azalea, we have a guest!" He shouts. Laughter sounds from the other room. I exhale. Deep breathes, forced smile, now walk. I step out, preparing for the worst. A tramp, in tight clothes, or a family of women, or maybe a fat lady that saw something in my dad. Instead, I get a gorgeous woman in a very nice dress, white with black lace designs. She's taller than my dad by about two inches, but it could just be the shoes. She takes her coat off and she's tan... how does anyone get tan in point place? She turns around and I almost shriek. This woman is my English teacher!
   "Oh, hi there Azalea, so nice to see you again." She says in a sweet voice. No, this is worse than anything I could've imagined. My dad is standing behind her, making very weird gestures and shaking his head. I squint at him. He does the finger-over-throat movement, making sure I know that if I screw this up well.... you get it. I clear my throat, struggling to force my smile again.
   "Mrs. Henry, nice to see you too." I say, turning away. This is so much worse than anything I could've imagined. My dad has no boundaries. At all. I go back to my room, closing the door just a little bit harder than normal. I listen carefully.
   "I'm sorry, she's not used to this kind of thing yet. I didn't tell her about your.. career." My dad says.
   "No, it's ok. I'm sure she's just surprised, and upset." Mrs. Henry replied. Yeah, no kidding. I can't believe I have to have a normal dinner with my dad and his new girlfriend, who just so happens to be my favorite teacher, but she doesn't know that. Ugh. You don't have to have dinner with them... a little voice says from the back of my mind. Hmmm, maybe I could just leave a little while... maybe he'd be grateful. I hear laughter from outside the door. They're having a good time without me, I don't need to be here. I grab a pair of socks and hastily put them on, along with my tennis shoes. How fashionable, a dress with Nikes. I open the window, popping the screen out of the frame. It's maybe a three foot drop to the ground, and I start climbing out.
   "Azalea? Dinner!" My dad knocks at the door. I freeze. I have two choices, run and have fun on my own, or stay and possibly end up ruining the night. More knocks sound from the door.
   "Just a second!" I shout. He mutters, but thankfully walks away. I jump and land on the lawn with a soft thud. The porch light is on, even though it's still a little light outside. The sun is setting, pretty soon it'll be dark. I start walking into town. Would've been nice if I had brought some money. That's alright, I've shoplifted before. How else am I supposed to get expensive headphones? As I'm walking, a car goes by, windows down and everything. Music is blasting, and it's not even any good. I roll my eyes. I guess I do that a lot. My eyes follow it, watching as it turns right about a block away from where I'm standing. They're headed into town as well. Maybe I could take the car for a spin, just a lil joyride. I decide against it. I've stolen before, but nothing that big. That's an easy way to get caught, and I for one, am tired of getting caught.