North of Nowhere

Chapter 2: Things Get Personal

I was freaking furious.

I slammed my hands down on the table loudly, to get their attention, and in the calmest voice I could muster, I said, “I’ll walk.”

Both my mother and brother looked up, surprised, as though they had forgotten I was there. Even when the whole discussion had been about me, they still left me out. I was sick of it.

My mom was quick to attempt to shoot down my request, “Your brother is going to drive you, so you just wait here until he’s ready to go oka-”

“I’m walking to school Mom, Ben’s not gonna drive me. He doesn’t want to, and I definitely don’t want him to. If I leave now, I can get there with time to spare even, no Ben needed what so ever.” I said, with a glare at Ben, who looked nervously at my mom.

I think he was feeling her worry, because he quickly stated, “No Maya, it’s ok, I’ll drive you, just lemme go get my keys…”

But I ignored him, reaching for my bag, making sure everything I needed was in there… well everything except the uncompleted homework that lay in the trash can in my bedroom upstairs. Not that it would have been much use to me otherwise.

My mom was going to have a heart attack when she saw my report card for this trimester. And just that thought had my stomach doing flip-flops. I wasn’t all that great with confrontation…

Well unless someone makes me mad. But that’s different.

I figured some fresh air would do me some good, so I lifted backpack onto my shoulder, and while my brother was rustling around for his keys I gave a wave to my mom and said, “See you after school!”

“Mayallyn Rose Taylor! You come right back here, right now, or I will ground you until you are fifty, you hear me?” My mom yelled, her voice high pitched as I walked out the door.

Oh no! She’d ground me! My social life would be destroyed… not. Puh-lease? Grounding me? That’s such a pre-teen threat. Besides, what was the worst she could do? Keep me away from my friends?

Yeah right, if a challenge was something that could keep Kelsey away, she would have stopped being my friend the day my dad died, and I refused to talk to anyone. But no, she didn’t, even when everyone else gave up. She spent weeks talking to me about nothing and everything, until finally I could talk again.

She’d probably have fun inventing new ways to sneak into my bedroom to hang without getting caught. Kelsey was just one of those girls who lived for the thrill, and got a kick out of doing things she was told she couldn’t.

So instead I just told my mom, “Yeah, ok, have fun with that.”

What? I was mad, and in my mind Mom deserved it. Sort of.

Ok, so Ben was the one who I should have really released my fantastic, super sarcastic skills on, but he was otherwise occupied, so I’d settle for my mom. No bigge.

Then again, I was also a teeny bit mad at my mom too for telling my brother in rather big words that she thought I was crazy but… you know what? I was mad at both of them! I closed the door behind me with an aggressive slam.

Trudging through the snow, which had piled up on the sidewalk I let out a breath, which swirled into the air as a misty fog and the ice underneath my feet cracked with each step. I pulled my hair back into a slick braid as I walked trying to get my mind off the situation at hand.

Taking deep breath I twirled a lock of hair, weaving it in and out with the other, and even though it was my own hair, the flash of blonde reminded me of my father. It seems like I couldn’t avoid his lingering presence for the past while.