Us

Part 2

{ Lacey }

Her first day had been alright. Better. Smooth, at least, and that was better than nothing. She had managed to befriend a group of girls who seemed friendly enough. But she’d learned to adapt quicker. It was a necessity now.

“Well, how was it?” Lacey’s mom, Sophie Stevens, looked up from the stove tiredly. She was still as gorgeous as she’d always been, but now her beauty was hidden by her wrinkly skin and the dark circles of exhaustion that surrounded her eyes.

Lacey smiled as widely as she could. In fact, she stretched her mouth so wide she thought her smile was going to peel off her face. “Pretty great,” she lied. Sure, her day hadn’t been bad, but she made sure to exaggerate her answer because it would make her mother happy, and that made her happy. She didn’t want her mother to have to worry about any more things than she had to already. She had enough on her mind as it was.

Sophie’s eyes lit up, her face loosening with relief. “That’s great, honey.” She dumped the contents on the chopping board into a small pan. “Did you make friends?”

Lacey nodded and slid into a chair at the dining table, which was really more of a coffee table than a dining table. “Yeah. What’s for dinner?”

“I dropped by the store today and got some chicken steak. I know you don’t like fish or pork.” Lacey’s mother fumbled around in her apron pocket and pulled out a green piece of paper. “Oh, and I almost forgot, they were handing these out earlier. Something about a bonfire by the river? You should go, Lace.” She placed the flyer on the table in front of Lacey.

On the top of the flyer, the words ‘Bonfire Night’ stood out obnoxiously in big bold yellow letters. Following it was a brief description of the event, which was a townspeople get-together of sorts. “I don’t know anyone from town,” Lacey said, peering down at the piece of paper. She didn’t really want to go. She had never been good at just talking in general, especially in crowded places. She wasn’t claustrophobic, no, but social events like those just made her feel queasy and anxious.

“Well, some people from your school will probably be there. Maybe your friends will too. You can make new friends.” Sophie was pleading with her eyes now. Lacey knew Sophie had always felt guilty for not being able to properly support their family, and she had always tried desperately to make up for it. This in turn made Lacey feel guilty, and she hated the feeling of guilt. She wished her mother would stop worrying about her and just be happy.

Maybe she could just go and leave early. “I’ll think about it,” Lacey said, and immediately regretted it as her mother’s face brightened. She quickly got up from the chair and walked to her room.

She flung her bag onto the ground and sighed, looking around her bedroom. It was actually hardly a bedroom, just a small, narrow room with a bed that took up more than half the space. Next to the bed there was a closet that had barely enough space to open. They couldn’t afford a desk, and it wasn’t like they would be able to fit it in anyway, so for now she had no choice but to do any homework she had on the bed.

Do I really have to go to this thing?

No, she answered to herself. I don’t.

But then the image of her mother’s hopeful face crossed her mind again and she tugged the door of her closet open for something to wear.

{ Bryce }

“I’m going to find myself a hot chick tonight,” Zeke announced from the passenger seat of the car.

Jason was driving while Bryce sat at the backseat of the car. He had actually objected to this and argued that since it was his car, he should at least be riding in front, but Zeke had called shotgun and according to him that was how it worked. And Jason just liked to steal the driver’s seat, his reason being “the guy who drives the race car in the movie always gets the hot girl.”