Charity hefted her suitcase from the backseat of her mom's navy blue Honda Accord and lugged in up the driveway. After spending the entire summer at Camp Broadway in New York honing her musical talents, she was more than ready to kick back and relax for the last couple weeks before school started.
"I'm so glad you're home, sweetie." Charity's mom confessed when they reached the door. The two of them had always been close and she suspected that the eight weeks apart had been hard on her mother.
"Me too." Charity grinned, genuinely happy to be back home.
Her mom shoved the key into the door, unlocking the silver knob and swinging the door open. Charity took a deep breath as she entered, the smell of dinner in the oven making her mouth water in anticipation. Camp food didn't exactly hit the spot and, although it had helped her lose the extra fifteen pounds, she couldn't wait to taste one of her mom's rare homemade masterpieces.
She dropped her suitcase at the bottom of the stairs and plopped down on the couch. The house was strangely quiet.
"Where's Jackson?" She asked of her brother.
"He had to work tonight." Her mother informed her. "He should be home in time for dinner."
"Work?"
Jackson didn't have a job before she left for the summer. Her appearance wasn't the only thing that had changed, she supposed.
"Yeah, him and Nick started working at the boardwalk."
Charity nodded.
"They said they could get you a job there too if you wanted." Her mom offered.
She thought about working with her brother and his obscene friend and shuddered.
"No thanks." She muttered.
Working with Jackson could be bearable but Nick would make the experience pure Hell. He had been tormenting her, for lack of a better word, since the two boys became best friends in 5th grade. She was one year younger and a prime target for the mischevious pair. As the years passed, the teasing simply evolved.
"You might enjoy it."
"I'll think about it, mom." Charity responded noncommitedly.
Her mom kicked off her white sneakers and leaned into the plush pillows on the couch. After Charity and Jackson's father died, their mother had started nursing school. She graduated before Jackson even started kindergarten and had been working over seventy hours a week ever since. With such a busy schedule, she wasn't able to keep an eye on Charity the way she wanted to, and relied heavily on Jackson to look out for his little sister.
Having taken over the "man of the house" role at an early age, Jackson had always looked out for Charity as far back as she could recall. He had gotten into a fight or two with boys who picked on her for being chubby, although he let Nick harrass her day in and day out.
She wondered what everyone at school, what Nick, would tease her about now that she had replaced her thick glasses with contacts and no longer had her braces, sure they would find something.
Question for fans: What do you guys think of Charity so far?
