The Eye of a Hurricane

Isabel

Maybe if I was bad enough Uncle Lin would send me back to Puerto Rico.  That would be my new goal.  If I was terrible he'd decide he didn't want to adopt me after all.  He'd already started the paperwork.  I'd found it on the kitchen one night after dinner.

I didn't do homework and didn't participate in class.  Trying to get better at math was pretty much pointless I'd found.  Some of the strategies the teachers had taught me helped a little bit but it was still way too hard.  My classmates spent half an hour on homework and I spent over an hour.  It wasn't fair.

Uncle Lin had caught on to my not doing homework and was cracking the whip.  He had online access to all my assignments and grades.  Instead of letting me disappear to my room after dinner, he made me sit at the kitchen table and do my homework.

"Don't forget your label," he told, peering over my shoulder one night as I worked.  I huffed and looked back at the problem I'd just finished and added meters squared.

"You don't have to stand here and watch me," I told him as I moved on.

"I'm afraid I do," he said.  "You haven't been getting your work done."

"I can't concentrate with you standing there," I said shortly.  His presence was irritating.

"Seems like you're doing just fine," Uncle Lin said as he stepped around the table.

My dad had never been like this.  As long as I went to school he was happy.  Free child care.  I wasn't used to being hounded like this.

I watched Uncle Lin grab a few pretzels from the pantry.  He popped one in his mouth and set a pile next to my notebook.  I ate one, looking at the words and numbers becoming all jumbled on my paper.  This was torture.

"You're doing a nice job," he complimented me, popping another pretzel in his mouth.

I sighed and continued.  He checked over my work every few problems and helped me correct some mistakes.  Almost an hour later, I was finally done.  Uncle Lin still had my books and my phone as punishment so I trudged off to my room and just stared at the ceiling, missing Puerto Rico.

____

The next day at school on the announcements, I learned there was a father/daughter dance coming up for the whole school.  Apparently it was a tradition.  I scowled at the reminder that my dad was thousands of miles away and didn't care enough about me to even fight for me.

We got a flyer last period and I ripped it up and threw it into the recycle bin.  I certainly wasn't going.  Uncle Lin picked us up as usual.  I walked a few paces ahead, my arms crossed as Luna talked to him about her day.

Soon, we were home and Uncle Lin went through Luna's backpack like usual.  He found the flyer for the father/daughter dance.

"This sounds like fun," he told us both, turning around the flyer.  I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Why?  Our dad can't come," I reminded him.  He turned it around and glanced it over some more.

"It says here you can bring other people, like grandpas, uncles," he said.

"You're not our dad!" I reminded him harshly, glaring at him.

He seemed confused at how passionate I was.  He better not dare think he was somehow replacing our father.  I resented him even more, trying to control my life and make me do things I didn't want to do.

"I know that," he replied gently.  "I just thought it would be fun to all go together."

I stood up and started stomping away.  "I'm definitely not going, and certainly not with YOU."