Rise Up

Talie

I was starting to feel a little less miserable the next week.  After school, I hung out with Naomi.  Our new favorite thing to do was put Peeps in the microwave and make them have toothpick battles.  As they melted, the marshmallows would melt and move, and sometimes the toothpicks would duel.

We were in the middle of watching a pretty epic battle when Lin walked in and rolled his eyes at us.

"You have no better way to spend your time?" he asked, getting out some juice from the fridge for Sebastian.

"There's nothing else to do," I told him as the microwave beeped.  "Yes!!  Victory is mine!!"

I opened the door and we waited for them to cool down so we can eat them.

"Nothing to do?" he asked, refilling a sippy cup.  "I can find some things for you to do.  Like laundry, sweeping, cooking."

"Not my responsibility," I quipped and he raised his eyebrows, but I could tell he was amused.

"Or you could get started on your paper for my class," he said.

"Nah," I said.  "I'll do it the night before."

Lin gave me a look and Naomi laughed.  "Don't eat too many of those, and make sure you clean the microwave."

Naomi and I just laughed as we both pulled out another Peep from our respective packages.  I had pink and she had yellow.  So far, the score was 4-3 to me.

It was a school night, so Naomi went home when dinner was ready.  I'd eaten way too many Peeps so I wasn't that hungry.

"No more Peep wars," Lin told me when he saw how much food I had left.  I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"Sorry," I said sheepishly.  He yelled for me a while later and I wandered back out.  He'd pulled out the microwave wheel, revealing large, dried blobs of pink and yellow marshmallow.

"Didn't we talk about this?" he asked me.  I winced a little and took it from him.  Then I got to work on scrubbing the Peep remains.  It was a gruesome Peep murder scene.

Things were looking up, except for the homework load.  I was having a little trouble keeping up.  I'd slacked for a while, and I was paying for it now.  Usually I got all A's and B's, but I had two C's at the moment.  I spent most of my evenings in my room, slaving away.

One evening I was battling with math when dad called.  I smiled and answered it excitedly.  "Dad!"

"Hi, sweetheart," he said.  "How are you?"

"I'm good.  Just trying to get through some homework.  It's never ending.  How's the case?"

"Oh, it's going better, thanks," he said.  "I think there's an end in sight finally."

"Really?" I asked, excited. "So you're coming home soon?"

He sighed and my heart dropped.  "Listen, Talie.  I have something to tell you.  While I've been living here, I...I met someone."

"Like...a woman?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.  "Her name is Carol and she's very nice.  She has a daughter and son about your age."

"Okay..." I said.

"Talie, I proposed to her last night, and she said yes," he told me.  I felt numb.  What was happening?

"Wh...really?  So...you're getting married?"

"Yes," he said.  "In a couple months.  And that's not all.  Talie...she's pregnant."