CHAPTER SIX
"Rise and shine!" My mother sang, a bit more cheerfully than usual. My eyes opened half way to see her standing in the doorway of my bedroom. "We're going apple picking!"
I stretched my arms and legs. "What time is it?" I asked before yawning.
"Eight o'clock." She said with a smile, her white teeth showing.
I groaned and rolled onto my stomach. "It's too early." I mumbled.
"Come on, get up." My mother then proceeded to pull the sheets off of my bed and tickle my feet. I tried to shake her away.
"Mom!" I shouted as she continued. I started to laugh and so did she.
Mark stepped into the room and joined her. "Alright Mum, you get her legs and I'll take her arms." He said, beginning the process.
"Okay! I'm up!" I wiggled away from them before they attempted to lift me.
"I knew that'd work." Mark teased with a grin on his face. He took a seat at the foot of my bed. I looked at him, and immediately remembered what happened. It had been almost a week, but I still kept picturing him with those other boys... Smoking. He was lucky that I didn't tell our parents. I didn't even talk to him about it. I just kept my mouth shut because I figured saying something would lead to chaos.
"Be downstairs in 10 minutes, dressed and ready." My mother said to me, before they both left the room.
I sat for a moment just thinking, but then shook away the thought and got ready to go. From my closet I selected a half sleeve purple button up shirt. After putting on the clothes I examined myself in the mirror, adjusting my hair and sleeves. I sighed and applied makeup to my eyes and lips. I only used eye-liner, mascara and eyeshadow the upper part of my face. I rubbed Chapstick between my lips and grabbed for my cellphone. Just before leaving my bedroom, I took one last look at myself in the mirror.
"Hurry up, Melanie! You still need to eat!" My mother called from downstairs.
"I'm coming!" I hollered back, turning away.
The kitchen had a delicious aroma. Sitting on a plate at the kitchen table was a slice of banana bread with butter lightly slathered on the top. I looked at it for a minute but didn't sit down.
"I'm not really hungry." I said, and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. "I'll eat when we get back."
"Well, don't let it go to waste." Mark said, picking up the piece of bread before stuffing it into his mouth.
I didn't say anything. I had barely said anything to him all week. Whenever he talked to me I would respond with short answers like "Yes." or "Okay.".
Mom laughed and slung her purse over her shoulder. "Let's go!" She smiled with excitement.
. . .
As we pulled into the apple orchard, my mother asked me to get $20.00 out of her purse.
"I've got money." Mark said. I watched him roughly pull out a handful of crumpled bills from his jeans and offer them to Mom. I saw the outline of a square shaped object that he carefully avoided as he pulled the money out.
I don't think my mother noticed because she was looking the other way, trying to park.
"No, I'd rather you put it in your savings account." My mother said, pushing his hand away after we parked. "How much do you have in there, anyway?"
Mark's jaw grew tight and he put the money back in his pocket. "I'm not sure." He answered her hesitantly.
Mom pulled her key out of the ignition and looked at him. "Have you been putting money away?"
