The Girl With The Broken Smile

Chapter 3

  I pull up into his school parking lot and wait for it to clear a little bit. I get out of the car and go up to the teacher.

  "Josh." I glance at my brother and then back to his teacher.

  "Lh10." She nods and Josh runs to me. I walk to the car with him running around it in circles. I hate the pick-up system. You have to give them the code to get you're kid. Or brother or whatever they are to you.

  "Astrid! Guess what! Guess, guess, GUESS!!" I sit down a with a smile on my face at how excited my brother is.

  "Hmm. Let me guess you got candy?" His smile fades and I feel horrible. I pull out of the parking lot and it gets replaced.

  "No! Better!" I stare at the road and think.

  "You did so well today you got a cookie?" He laughs and smiles a bigger smile.

  "I have two new friends! I now have five friends!" I smile and silently wish I had that many.

  "Wow. We should do something to celebrate. Ice cream?" I hope I have enough. I guess I could ask Heather to help me out if I need it. He shakes his head and I feel myself grip the steering wheel harder. What did he do this time? We once saw a circus and then he went out and tried to ride a horse. How he found a horse and how he got onto it or back I don't even know.

  "Actually I invited them over Saturday for a sleepover!" I grip the steering wheel harder and the horn accidentally goes off. He jumps and I feel bad.

  "Sorry. I just was a little angry you didn't ask first. Do you know why?" He shakes his head and I can see he's close to tears so I think of something quick. "Heather was going to take me shopping and I wanted you to come so we could get some beach stuff." He looks super surprised.

  "Beach?" I nearly smile but I don't. Mom's gonna be upset.

  "Of course! I asked you're teacher today and she said you have been really good and you're grades have improved from last year so far. So I decided to take you to the beach Saturday to Sunday." He claps and laughs. He's too young to understand that I didn't even talk to his teacher and how could we tell his grades improved?

  "Beach! Yay! I'll tell them tomorrow!" I laugh with him as he claps and chants. We're going to the beach! Will now be stuck in my head for eternity. I just hope I don't get fired. Last time I had to do something like this my last job fired me.

  "Do you need a new swimsuit?" He nods and I smile at him as we pull into our parking spot at the apartment. "You stay here for a second." I grab our stuff and walk to the door. It's slightly open. I frown and walk in. I hear loud sounds from my Mom's room. "That's right she got a new boyfriend." I scowl at the door and go grab three cookies from the kitchen. I set our stuff down grab my purse and some other stuff and walk outside. I shut the door and lock it.

  "Why did you lock the door Ast?" I smile and hand him a cookie.

  "Because after I got you you're two cookies I had to come back out so we could go to Heather's!" He smiles and snatches the cookie from my hand. "No snatching remember?" He smiles sheepishly and nods.

  "Sorry Ast." I smile and turn the keys. Nothing happens... I turn them again and it cranks up loudly. I frown and back up. I make a mental checklist of what needs to be fixed.

  "Josh. Do you need any new clothes? Or has anything broken of yours?" He thinks for a moment.

  "My piggybank broke last week. Mom said it fell." I frown and my grip tightens on the steering wheel. She probably came home drunk and broke it open for money to but more beer, wine whatever.

  "That's bad. Guess you need a new one." So the stove needs to be fixed. I just need to look at it and then I can fix it. I wish I didn't have to know how to fix stuff. I just wish Mother was better start being a Mom.

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I'm so sorry! I thought I published it but... Well here's the new chapter I'll try to get one up every Wednesday. Again sorry!

                               Later Hairy Hooligans
                                               Cheetahtail out!