RUSTY. | BxB

Chapter Eleven : Fear Itself

     Chapter Eleven : Fear Itself

'To the Parent(s)/Guardian of : Ronnie Cortez

It has come to our attention that Ronnie Cortez did not meet all the standard requirements to graduate with the rest of his/her graduating class due to a lack of credits in the subject of math. Because of this, your child's teacher has recommended our Summer School program to help your child receive the missing credits. '

I stopped reading and raised my eyebrow at Mom, curious to know why she thought this affected me. "Ma, this is stupid. We both know I care about grades, or school for that matter." I said, flapping the piece of paper around in the air.

    I had cheated my way through the majority of my school life, because why not? Why bother when I can read the minds of everyone in the room?

"Boy!" she raised her voice suddenly before catching herself in her anger.
  She huffed and rubbed her forehead before returning a stern look at me crossing her arms, "And since when did you stop caring?"

"I never cared, Mom." I set the paper back down before walking back to my chair.

I could tell she didn't like my attitude towards the situation by the way she stormed over to the counter where the paper was and picked it up with force, but it was how I felt. She always talked about wanting me to express my feelings more. In my opinion, I'm doing just that.

"Well, I'm glad you don't give a damn about your future, but I do! We talked about this. I wanted to see you make something of yourself. I want to be the parent in the crowd, yelling and screaming how proud I am of you. And you can't even do your classwork."

"So now this is my fault?" I question. The idea of being like me, even being in a public school, still rattled my thought process.

"Do you realize the kind of people we are? And how was I ever going to have a future when we moved city to city, school to school every few months? Sometimes weeks. On top of all that, you have yet to even tell me where my power comes from because it certainly isn't like yours. Quit trying to make me 'normal' Mom. We're far from it!"

She was taken aback by my sudden outburst, but I kept going, a darkness I could feel begin to swell in my body, "Nobody here knows me! Hell, nobody anywhere knows me because they never have time to! You want me to be human but won't even let me go to a fucking party-"

"Watch your mouth when you're talking to me!" She snapped, finger pointing at me with warning. I looked to my left, noticing Zuri watching our entire argument. Her lips tuckered as her eyes began to widen in sadness. Immediately, the energy arousing in me calmed.

"I have done nothing but try to help our family have a better life." Mom continued from the side as I regretted the hurtful things I said to her. Never had she been this upset with me.

I returned my attention to Mom. I could tell she was holding back her emotions from the cracks in her voice here and there. However, at the same time, I knew she was being selective about revealing her thoughts and the truth about who I really am.

"I've tried my damnedest since the day you were born to lead you on the right path. Maybe I shouldn't have hovered over you the way that I did, maybe I do play a part in why you're so frustrated, but I refuse to let you talk to me as if I haven't done anything for you. That's one thing we're not going to do." She finished, really getting her point across to me. I felt her pain and began to question why I had acted out so suddenly like that towards her.

She went over to grab Zuri, who had not begun to cry, but certainly the water in her eyes was enough to do so. "I don't know where all of that attitude came from sir," she said casually picking up Zuri from her high chair, "But by the time I come back-"