A Summer To Remember

Mom

Jade set another finished assignment in front of us, on the pile of finished assignments. Beside it was a pile equally as big full of unfinished papers and worksheets. She rolled her wrist before taking another paper and putting my name on the front.

"You know, you could practice writing by putting your name on all these assignments. It would save me a bit of effort too."

"I'm supposed to be giving you the answers to write down. I'm not learning anything if you're doing it all for me."

She searched through the pages for something then pulled out a packet for English. It was full of words that needed defined. "Find the definition in the back of the book then go back to your name."

"You're not... you don't hate this, do you?" I asked, putting the pages into my lap.

She looked at me with furrowed brows. "Why would I hate it? I like being able to help."

"Even doing homework the whole time?"

"It gives me an excuse not to go home, so yes."

"What's the deal with your mom? You say she's crazy but she doesn't sound any worse than my mom."

"It's not like she's living vicariously through me but she nit-picks at everything I do. She's always breathing over my shoulder and tell me how I should live my life. I didn't even get to pick my school; she did."

"She loves you."

"It's obsessive. You have no idea."

"Do you think I could meet her sometime?"

She looked up at me. "You'd want to do that?"

"You got to meet my mom."

A small smile spread on her face. "Okay." She looked over my shoulder at the horrible handwriting of my name and laughed. "That's really bad."

"I can't help it. I've never had to write with my left hand."

"Just keep working on it. I'm sure it'll get better."

Before I could comment, mom yelled for us to go eat dinner.

Jade set her papers down and got to her feet. "Do you want to eat in here?"

The thought of having more time alone with her sounded nice. I also didn't want to spend the time with mom and Emma.

"Yeah."

"I'll be back."

I laughed as she practically ran from the room and started clearing the bed off. I was just setting my last textbook on the floor when she came back in, Jake following her.

"Look who offered to help." She said with a smile on her face.

Jake looked less than thrilled as he helped her carry two soda cans and a bowl of spaghetti. He set them down on the bedside table. "Is that it? Can I go now?"

"I really appreciate your help, Jakey."

"It's Jacob." He said dryly. He rolled his eyes at me as he backed out of the room, leaving Jade and I alone again.

Jade sat down on the bed and handed me one of the bowls. "Your mom is really sweet."

"I'm glad you think so."

She smiled. "Why's that?"

"I'd hate for you not to want to come over because of her."

"Well we have to have some place to go to hang out."

I smiled back at her and settled my bowl in my lap. I couldn't believe she wanted to see me more. She wanted to us to hang out. She liked me.

She grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. "What should we watch?"