"mom? dad? i'm home!" i throw my backpack on the floor and run to the kitchen. there's lunch on the table and i hurry to wash my hands. when i'm done, i take a sandwich and bite it immediately. my friends come in and join me in the kitchen. "my mom made lunch." i say covering my mouth.
"hell yeah." jacob drops his bag and reaches for a sandwich. "ew wash your hands!" i slap his wrist. i scrunch my nose up. "yeah yeah." he goes to the sink and the girls follow.
"hey kids, how was school?" mom comes downstairs. "good." they all say. i run up to her and hug her. she squeezes tightly making me feel safe. "i change my mind. please make my lunch, i'm begging you." i let go and hold my hands together pleading.
the school food wasn't as bad as i thought. i thought we would have mashed potatoes, a piece of bread and some milk. maybe even meatloaf like how they portray it in shows.
instead we had pizza, grilled cheese and chicken nuggets. stuff like that, not the healthiest options.
"yes ma'am." she kisses my forehead. "where's dad?" i ask looking around. "he's in the backyard cleaning the pool so you guys can swim," i go back to the kitchen with my friends who are all stuffing their faces. we get excited. i take a few more bites of my sandwich and walk outside to the backyard. "hi dad!" i run up to him while trying not to drop my food.
we hug and he kisses my cheek. i love him so much. "hey bug. how was school? did the popular eighth graders make you sit by the trash at lunch or was it all your imagination?" he makes me laugh. "all my imagination. eighth grade's not that bad." i sigh and take another bite. he opens his mouth and i let him bite some too.
"you kids ready to go swimming? it's the perfect weather!" i walk back over to my friends. we all shout and hooray. "parker it's not the perfect weather. it's literally seventy-five degrees and the sun is behind the clouds." zoë says and i laugh and look at my dad waiting for his response. "okay buzzkill, no swimming pool for you, literally." he splashes her making us laugh.
dad splashes jacob, then me and we all scream and run inside. "homework first!" he yells. "it's the first day, we have none!" zoë yells back. we wash our hands again after eating.
"can we swim now?" i ask my mom. "go ahead." she says taking two wine glasses out of the cabinet. oh god, they're about to party. "dibs on the bathroom!" ella yells and we all rush upstairs to get dressed in the bathroom. ella gets there first, jacob second, me third and zoë last.
"ha! losers." she grabs her bathing suit from her backpack and goes into my bathroom. jacob groans and sits on my bed. i sit next to him as i wait.
"so? how did you like school?" he turns and looks at me. "it was pretty cool actually. the teachers were nice, i met a few people. some girl named marley said she liked my outfit." i say and his eyes go big? "marley as in marley hamilton?" i look at him weirdly. "the most popular girl in our grade said she liked your outfit. how do you feel?"
"what are you talking about?" his reaction makes ella come out of the bathroom. "marley hamilton said your outfit was cute? what else did she say?" she puts her clothes in her bag and sits next to me with her towel. "she asked me why she's never seen me before. i told her i was homeschooled."
"oh my god, did she laugh at you?" zoë asks as she hurries to steal the spot in the bathroom. "hey!" j shouts.
"was she supposed to?" i question looking at all of them. "aren't all the popular girls mean?" ella asked. i shrug. "that's such a stereotype." zoë says from the bathroom. "hey, why is being homeschooled something to laugh at?" i frown. i liked being homeschooled. until i got older, i felt like i was missing out.
"it's weird." jacob says making me feel weird. i actually never knew why my parents decided to homeschool me in the first place. i guess i'll ask later. "what's weird is your long armpit hair." zoë winks at me. i wink back at her.
"i'm a man! i'm growing. you guys are going to have hair under your arms too. it's called puberty." jacob shows us his pits. we pretend to gag then laugh.
"this is cute. where'd you get it?" ella catches my attention and i see her holding my shark tooth necklace. "be careful! it's a real shark tooth! mason got it for me." i carefully grab it from her. i love that necklace so much. i don't want anyone to touch it.
"mason? your other dad?" jacob asked. "mason's my best friend." i smile looking at it. it's really pretty with brown beads and puka shells. "and your dad." ella adds. "i guess. kind of." i put the necklace back in the box it came in. zoë comes out of the bathroom. i get up and walk to my drawer to get a bikini out. it's my turn to change.
as i walk into my bathroom i lock it. i put the bikini on the counter and i stare at myself in the mirror. i lean over the counter, looking even closer. my hair was long and wavy. my eyes were sort of big. i had my moms nose and lips.
i actually have her entire face. i wonder if i'll look like my dad when i get older. i take my clothes off until i'm in my bra and underwear.
puberty is weird. my boobs were growing. i'm getting taller. slimmer. i look at my body in the mirror, starting to feel self-conscious. my boobs weren't as big as ellas. she's already a b cup. i guess i'm just a little late to the party.
at least i haven't broken out yet... or gotten my period. everyday i pray that i don't start anytime soon.
i change into my two piece and i feel even more self-conscious. am i too skinny? is my butt not big enough? are my legs too long?
"hurry up maddy!" zoë yells from outside the door and i start to bite my nails.
it doesn't matter. they can't see you in the water. just out of the water.
i do one final check until i get another thought. i lift my arms to see if there was hair like jacob said there would be. i panic when i see exactly that. "oh shit." i open the bathroom cabinets looking for a razor. i find one and i rinse it under water. as i'm about to shave, i remember that i need shaving cream. i look in the shower and under the cabinets again but i can't find any.
my mom probably has some but i am not leaving this bathroom with hair under my armpits.
it's normal.
it's just hair.
girls can have armpit hair, right?
i freak out and hurry to shave my pits dry with a little bit of water. i do both until i cant see any hair and i finally relax. i rinse the razor, throw it under the cabinet then grab my clothes and leave. "finally." jacob goes in right after.
it takes jacob literally ten seconds to change and we go downstairs to the backyard. my mom waves with a glass of wine in her other hand. we decided to jump in at the same time. zoë was right, it's not the perfect weather to swim. i'm freezing but it slowly goes away.
we play water games like volleyball, marco polo, and chicken fight. i win the game where we see who can stay underwater the longest.
during the game i see my parents laughing through the wide open window. they catch my attention and i forget about the game. they clink their half full glasses and drink then laugh. i catch myself starting to smile. i notice that my friends also stopped playing and watched as well. "do you think your parents are ever going to get back together?" jacob asks.
i watch them again. they kiss twice then my mom moves my dads face away. they laugh again. i let myself smile this time.
"no but i like to picture it sometimes." i say.
"why not? they look like they like each other. you guys all live together." ella asks. i'd like to know the answer myself.
"if they wanted to get back together they would've done it already. besides, i think my mom wants to be alone. we only live together because they thought it would be good for me. i heard my mom say that on the phone." i explain.
"is it?" zoë is next to ask. i look at her then at my parents.
i can feel myself starting to get sad by all of their questions. i know they don't mean it, they're just curious.
"i don't know. they're very wishy washy. some days they're all over each other and other days they don't even touch each other. i think they both love each other but are too scared to be together... for whatever reason." i accidentally say too much.
"deep." jacob swims back. "my mom's talking to this guy. he's really cool and drives a motorcycle. i don't know if i want him to be my stepdad though." ella also starts to swim away. "my mom is still single. she says i'm all she needs. i hope she finds someone else, i'm getting tired of watching movies and eating ice cream with her all the time." zoë says making us laugh.
"my stepdad is cool. he's nice to me and buys me things." jacob says. i can feel the mood also shifting so i do what i think is best. i make a joke to lighten the mood.
"i think our moms are in a cult together."
"then what are we?" j laughs. "the baby cult."