Where to Next

Chapter 3

Going back to school after my mom chopped all my hair off was a nightmare. The kids in my class all made fun of me. One person asked me if I had head lice, as if! Another student told me that with my new haircut I looked like his little brother. I never really liked school before, but now I absolutely dreaded going. I felt terrible for Samantha because not long after my mom cut my hair, she chopped her hair off too. She said it was the new look and that soon all the girls would be wearing their hair in a cropped pixie cut. I personally think she did it so that she wouldn't get into trouble for what she did to me. She always made sure we didn't tell anyone. Now almost sixteen, I would spend most of my days thinking about leaving home. The only problem was, I didn't want to leave my little sister alone with her. April, Sammie and I would go down by the creek and just lay on the grass while looking at the sky. We would come up with all these different plans for how we could run away with the circus. Sammie would say things like,   

¨We would just blend in as misfits and live out our days eating popcorn and cotton candy ̈. 

I chuckled at the thought. April reached over and took my hand interlocking our fingers together. 

¨It will get better Jade I promise¨ then she sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees. 

I could tell she was thinking about something. ¨ What's wrong April¨ I asked. She then looked at us and with the most eerie voice she whispered, ¨what if we kill her¨ My mouth dropped as I tried to process what she was saying to me.

 ¨What¨?!

¨April we cannot kill my mom¨ I shouted! 

Just then Sammie and April broke out in laughter. 

¨Of course not Jade, I was just joking with you¨, she chuckled mischievously. 

¨Ugh, you guys are so childish sometimes¨ I shouted while falling back down onto the grass. April layed back down next to me now with her chin on my shoulder. 

¨Jade you know you are my best friend and I just want to make you laugh¨ she said now more sincerely. 

Samantha interjected, ¨I´ve got it, we will get you hitchhike to Calafornia and become movie stars¨! 

April and I broke out with laughter. Sammie always has the most outlandish ideas on how we can escape mom. Who were we kidding though? We knew we could never leave my mom's house. Well, at least not yet. I knew if we tried and my mom found her and I, it would be so much worse for us. 

On my birthday this year mom and I got into a huge argument. I told her I was going to run away and she would never find me. I meant every word of it to! She calmed me down and told me she was sorry for being so hard on me. I actually believed her for once. So, she was like, ̈I bought you something special for your birthday ̈. I instantly became excited! 

She did something special for me?

̈Really?!¨ I exclaimed. I couldn ́t believe it. I asked her where it was and she informed me that she had been hiding it in the shed. I ran out there like an idiot not realizing once again I had been duped into thinking she cared. Once inside, mom slammed the door and flipped the lock so I would be locked in there. I shouted angrily for her to let me out, but she said this would teach me to threaten her with running away. 

I was locked in there for a week like a prisoner. Who does something so horrible to their child? I thought people would notice me missing, but I guess not. The school didn't even call because at this point we missed so much school that they just thought I was absent again. My mom also kept moving us from house to house. She couldn't hold down a job for more than six months and she kept bringing around these loser guys. At one point, she would pay the move in deposit and then live there for an additional three months free while they went through the process of evicting her. We must have done this about four or five times already. I told Samantha to stop unpacking because it was just more work for us. I wanted to leave! I wanted so much more for us! I didn't want to be my mom's punching bag anymore. Between the house evictions and the car repos, I never became too attached to anything. I knew we wouldn't have it for long.