The Checklist

Get your flirt on

The rule that, when my future Mr.Perfect showed up, would have no problem passing.

I pull my pen out of the spine of the notebook and look out at the couple in front of me. A little girl runs around her father, her small squeals making everyone within hearing distance stare.

Her mother leans on her knees, a camera in her hand. A bright smile is on her face the whole time she takes photos of her little girl running. The father laughs and swoops the girl up mid run. The girl squeals louder.

Biting my lip, I look down at my notebook and write a new rule.

 

Rule#224: Is he the one?

Before you fully give yourself to a guy, ask yourself one question:

if anything were to go wrong,

is this the guy you want your future child to call dad?

If yes, then you have it.

if no, run

I’m finishing the last line when a shadow falls over me. Covering my eyes against the sun, I look up and find Madison staring down at me. The smile on her face tells me she’s here for a reason. Sighing I cap my pen and scoot over, allowing her room to sit down.

“Let me see,” she says and I hand her my notebook. She reads the new rule and hands it back, her smile tipping higher. “You’re such a virgin.” I roll my eyes before closing my notebook.

“Shut up. You know the rule is a good one.”

She shrugs before pulling down her sunglasses. The couple’s reflection I watched earlier can be seen on the lens. “When did sex become so complicated?

“Sex isn’t complicated,” I tell her before pulling the sunglasses off. They were bright orange and horribly hideous. “Boy’s are complicated.” She glares at the glasses in my hands before sighing.

“I can hear every girl around the world Amening to that.”

I close the glasses and hook them onto my shirt before I ask her why she’s here. The only reason Madison would come to the park on a school night is if she needed something. Because half of the time you could find me sitting on this very bench. It’s not like I had a huge social life waiting for me.

“What’s up?” I ask before pulling my notebook under my legs. She shrugs and looks out at the couple I watched earlier, a small frown on her face.

“It’s Ali.” I let out my breath, the conversation we are about to have already exhausting me.

Ali is basically the sole reason Madison tries her hardest to stay away from home. Ali is a mother who never knew how to be one. Que the sol purpose of using her first name.

In Madison’s eyes, if you’re a bad mother you don’t even deserve the title. Ali was drunk more than she was sober. She yelled more than she talked.

She was a big mess that wreaked havoc on Madison's life every secound she got.

She’s the demon Madison can’t escape.

Madison chews on her bottom lip nervously. “She’s a bitch, Ender. She was home when I came home from school and instead of asking how my day was, she started bitching about how ungrateful I was. Apparently, in her eyes, I need to give her every cent I make down at the diner.”

Madison learned early on not to count on Ali. So instead of falling into the life many people like her have, Madison got off her ass and got a job. From there, a car, a foundation, a life.