Rebel

Chapter 33: Fader

"We have to find your dress, figure out how you're going to wear your hair. Did you send the announcements out to everyone?" Mom asked after taking a break from her rambling and planning. I rolled my eyes and wanted to sling my phone across the room. "Yes Mother," I lied. I had only sent out a few invitations to a handful of people and by that I meant the ones that I knew would send me money. There were a few family members that I hadn't seen since I was a kid and then there were a few that I didn't care about seeing ever again. A lot of them would look down on me for being pregnant and about to pop with only a month left before graduating high school. Some of them would scald and judge me for not wanting to go to college. Mom and I had talked about it and we both agreed that there was no point in going when I wasn't really feeling it and end up wasting time and money. I could see a huge difference in her. Before, she would kill me if she knew that I was trying to stick around in Welch after high school.

It wasn't that I didn't want to leave. I just didn't feel the need to rush. I wanted to be able to lay low and enjoy my little family. I knew that shit was about to get real, but I didn't feel the need to jump into something just to please the nosey ass people that lived around us. I wasn't even upset that my friends were getting their lives figured out, even if that did mean we would part ways for a while. Jamie had gotten admitted to Marshall University. By the end of the summer, we would all gather around to see her off to Huntington until Thanksgiving break. Melanie and Derek had both got into WVU and honestly, none of us saw that coming. Mel was smart as hell, but I'm pretty sure Derek slept through all four years of high school. She was going to be an English Major and he was going for Engineering. Turns out, he had knocked his ACT completely out of the park. The two of them spent most of their time working in order to afford one of the insane apartments that Morgantown had to offer.

We would all miss each other like crazy, but we couldn't cry because high school and some of the best years of our lives were coming to an end. We could only smile because they happened. "Lie again!" Mom snapped, causing me to jump. "What the hell are you talking about?!" I shouted, slapping my hand over my mouth when I realized what I had said. "WATCH YOUR DAMN MOUTH!" she screamed through the phone, adding some base to her voice. I always felt like I was the size of an ant when she used that tone with me. "You didn't. Maw Maw Tess is here and she didn't get an announcement," she added. My heart felt like it was going to fall out of my ass and my entire body broke out in a sweat.

"What did you just say?" I asked with a gulp. I was praying that I simply misheard her. I only ever saw Tess during the holidays ever since she found a man and skipped off to North Carolina to live happily ever after. Candace and I spent a great deal of our childhood around her and we were crazy about her, but the older we got, she became a monster. She turned into a judgemental, opinionated, self-centered nightmare and eventually we learned to keep our distance.

"Maw Maw Tess is here. She called Lil asking about graduation. She's going to be here for a couple of weeks." I could sense that Mom was annoyed and I'm pretty sure she could tell that I was shocked and dreading the first encounter I've had with her in nearly two years.Before I could panic, I felt Danny wrap his arms around me, connecting his hands right on top of my belly button. I stood in the laundry room with the phone pressed against my ear with a shaky hand. I had nearly finished washing, drying, and folding the mountain of clothes that had been taunting me for the last few days. I didn't have the energy to deal with it before, but I woke up this morning with a severe burst of energy and the intense urge to get up and get it all situated wasn't going to leave me alone.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sounding alarmed. I held one finger up as I desperately tried to figure out how to deal with Tess without killing anyone or sending myself into labor. "Who is she gonna be staying with?" I asked. "Us, unfortunately," she mumbled. Great. That meant she would be questioning why I wasn't at home. "Just come over as soon as you get the chance. I love you," she said quickly. "Alright. Love you too," I replied. I hung up and clenched my phone in both hands as I tried to calm myself. I could feel a few cramps and twinges in my lower belly and since we were getting down to the wire and getting close to my due date, I had to take it easy when it came to getting angry and getting my blood pressure up.