The F Word

Brooke:

My life is over, Brooke thought.

Anyone else might have thought Brooke Walker had a great life. Until a few months ago, she would’ve agreed with them. The only child of a cardiologist father and a stay at home mother active in several charities, Brooke pretty much got whatever she wanted. All she had to do was ask. Sometimes she didn’t even have to do that. Like on her sixteenth birthday when they’d given her a brand new convertible Mustang, she hadn’t asked for that. Of course, she’d spent weeks before dropping hints about wanting a car.

Having everything she ever wanted and needed wasn’t all that made her life seem perfect. A petite girl with long strawberry blonde hair and wide hazel eyes, Brooke was pretty. Everyone told her so. Most of the time she thought so too, but she wondered why she couldn’t find a serious boyfriend if she was so pretty. Sure, she’d been on lots of dates and even had a few boyfriends, but all the boys she’d ever been out with were immature. They only cared about one thing. None of that mattered now though. Now, she stood staring at the massive two story house looming in front of her feeling weighed down by the realization that her life was officially over.

            “Isn’t it wonderful?” her mother asked as she came to stand beside Brooke.

            “I still can’t believe we’re going to live here,” Brooke said.

            Tamara beamed at her. “I know. It is a great house and on so much land.”

            “I don’t mean the house,” Brooke countered. “I mean, I can’t believe we’re going to live in this town. It’s so small. I saw a sign that said the population was like five thousand.”

            “Maybe it was an old sign.”

            “It didn’t look like an old sign.”

            Tamara heaved a sigh. “I know Latham Oklahoma is a far cry from Los Angeles, but Southern Baptist is one of the best hospitals in the country. It’s a big opportunity for your father to be offered head of the cardiology department.”

            “I know,” Brooke sighed as well. She’d heard this speech before. “That doesn’t mean I have to be happy about being uprooted in junior year.”

            “I am sorry about that,” Tamara assured her. “It just couldn’t be helped. At least you made it here before the school year started.”

            Big deal! Brooke thought. What good does that do if I don’t have any friends?

            “We aren’t even religious, let alone Southern Baptists,” Brooke continued. “And why couldn’t we at least have gotten a house in the city where the hospital is, instead of moving to this stupid hick town?”

            “That’s enough,” Tamara said. “We’ve been over all of this already. Don’t ruin this for your father.”

            It was on the tip of her tongue to point out it wasn’t her father’s life being ruined, but the look on her mother’s face changed her mind.

Tanner:

            As he entered the kitchen, Tanner found his aunt frosting a chocolate cake. The smell started his stomach rumbling.

            “I hope that’s our dessert tonight,” he said.

            “Afraid not,” Shell said with a smile. “It’s for the Walker family.”