Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 68354 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68354 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“I’m glad you two are good students. Honest to God, I don’t know how I’d do it otherwise.”
“Wellll,” Ben says. He’s ten-years-old with the same flaming red hair that I have, his face a mass of freckles. Biting his lip, he looks away. “Can’t really tell you I did super great on my spelling quiz.”
“Oh?” I ask pointedly. “Why not?”
“Well, the words were stupid,” he says, his eyes flashing. “They all had silent letters. Which is dumb. D-u-m. Who needs that “b”? It’s just plain dumb.” He snickers.
“You know you get in trouble if your grades sink, Ben. You’ve got to do your best.”
“I know,” he says. “Well I get to take it again tomorrow.”
“Okay, good.” I’m hard on them about their grades, because it’s all they’ve got left. The only way I’m even able to go to college is because I got a scholarship. There’s no way we’d be able to afford anything else and I’m depending on their grades to get them scholarships too.
We talk easily, until Bailey gives me a coy look. “So,” she says. “Jennifer’s mom told Andrea’s mom who told Andrea who told me, that you got into a fancy-pants car at school.”
I knew someone would see.
“Mhm,” I say, not meeting her eyes, and pretending to be very interested in the permission form I have to sign for Ben’s science class.
“Mhm?” she parrots. “What’s that supposed to mean? Did you, or didn’t you?”
I give her a withering look. She looks just like me, except her eyes are a shade darker and she’s much thinner, like the lithe limbs of a willow tree.
“I did. And that’s all I’m telling you.”
“Really? OMG, Cora, come on. You haven’t had a boyfriend in like years, and the first time you go on a date with some guy, you don’t even tell us?”
I hold up my hand in protest. “There’s no date. He’s just a guy I know.”
“So, he didn’t buy you food?”
“Well, he did, but—”
“Did he flirt?”
“I, well I don’t exactly know if—”
“Did he kiss you!?”
I sigh but don’t respond. Bailey’s a romantic matchmaker who loves to be involved in every single romantic relationship she can.
“Enough, Bailey. Change the subject now.”
Deflated, she leans back in her chair and shreds her pizza with her fingers into little squares she pops in her mouth.
Releasing a deep sigh, she looks heavenward as if practicing patience with me.
“You know, Cat Lady came by today.”
Ugh. Cat Lady is our snarky term for our landlord. No one else in the entire apartment building is allowed to have pets, but she’s got a veritable menagerie in her place. I’m one week overdue on the rent, and she’s not gonna be happy.
“She says we’re overdue,” Bailey says. “And then when she realized you weren’t home, she started in about calling Child Protective Services. Says it’s illegal.” Bailey frowns. “I might be tiny and short, but it doesn’t mean I’m not capable of watching us.”
“Of course, you are,” I tell her. “And I’ll have her rent money on Friday.” Desperation claws at my belly, angry and fierce. She came when I wasn’t here on purpose and threatened my siblings. I hate her. I hate my mother for putting us through this. I hate myself for not holding us together.
But I will.
The proposition niggles in the back of my mind. I can’t sell myself to keep us together. Bailey wouldn’t want that.
Do I have to sell myself? Or can I make it a game?
No no no no no no no.
It’s kinky prostitution.
“She said tomorrow, or she’ll tell the police.”
I sigh. “Of course, she did.” She doesn’t have the right to evict us quite yet, but legally I’ve been late so many times on the rent, she can make my life a living hell.
“I tried to call you,” Bailey says, “but it just went to voicemail.”
“Will we have to go to a shelter?” Ben asks, his voice trembling.
“No,” I tell him emphatically. “And Bailey, I couldn’t call you or take your call because my phone is broken.” I groan. “I need to replace it.” But how the hell can I replace it when rent is overdue?
“Oh boy,” Bailey says with a groan.
I run a hand across my forehead and close my eyes. “I’ll figure something out, guys. I promise. Just eat your dinner and get your homework done, okay? I’ve got to get to work.”
“When do you have time to take care of you, Cora?” Bailey asks softly. “You look like you haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in weeks. I hear you, up at night, doing your homework when we’ve gone to bed. Studying, typing. You get no sleep and you’re running on fumes.”
“I know,” I say, shaking my head to dismiss her concerns. “I’m fine, honey. This is what people do in college.”
The lie sounds foolish even to me. This is what people do in college? Work two jobs and get no sleep so they can keep their families together? Or do they get drunk at frat parties and lose their virginity?