Sunday afternoon I found myself in a position I never thought I'd be in. Coming to the mall with Keisha wasn't my idea. Even though I was trying to warm up to having her in my life, I wasn't expecting to jump into things so soon. I hoped that I'd have more time to adjust before becoming shopping buddies.

Dad let it slip that my homecoming dance was happening soon and Keisha insisted that we go dress shopping. It was funny to think that 24 hours ago I would have rolled my eyes and said "no". I agreed, though, just to give our friendship a shot.

"Long or short?" Keisha asked as we walked through the mall.

"Short," I replied, referring to the text from Jasmine. "And it must have cheetah print."

Jasmine wanted us to be coordinated and since the dance would be jungle themed, animal prints were a must. She also insisted that I send her a picture of the dress before purchasing. I forgot how anal she could be when it came to clothes and to be honest, I didn't miss this side of her.

"Animal print," Keisha mused, eyeing a window display full of mannequins in colorful dresses. The dresses were gorgeous, but none met the criteria. "You sure that's what you want?"

I read over the text one more to make sure I got it right, "Yeah."

"Maybe they have something inside," she suggested, walking into the store and I followed.

It took us about thirty minutes to browse the entire store and didn't find anything. There was a large variety of beautiful dresses, but very few of them were cheetah print. Three stores later and countless dresses rejected by Jasmine, I lost all hope of finding a dress here.

"Is there anything you like?" Keisha asked as we made our way out of the shop.

Honestly, a few dresses caught my eye, but none of them matched the theme Jasmine was going for. The dance was going to be the first school event I attended with them this year and I want to at least look like I belonged in the group.

Instead of spilling that to Keisha I just shook my head "no". Despite that, I couldn't take my eyes off a certain strapless, yellow dress with a tulle skirt ruched bodice. It was gorgeous and in my favorite color.

"Buy it," she chimed, nudging me a bit.

Again, I shook my head, "It's not what I'm looking for."

"Still, it's always good to have options," she said, plucking the dress from the rack and holding it up to me. "And this color looks good on you."

The dress was really pretty and there were other dances happening, so it wouldn't hurt to have an extra dress. Keisha watched me eagerly to see what I would decide to do.

"I'll get it," I grinned, searching the rack for my size.

After buying the dress Keisha and I stopped for frozen yogurt. Apparently, it's what the baby wanted. As we ate our yummy concoctions she filled me in on her short list of baby names. She was hoping for a boy since she grew up around a lot girls. The same look she had at the barbecue flashed across her face and I wondered where that pain came from. I didn't ask though. Maybe one day she'll tell me, but for now we just enjoyed our froyo and laughed at the cringy baby names Dad suggested.

+ + +

It was getting dark when Dad pulled into our driveway. The weekend seemed so short and I felt like I hardly spent any time with him. 

"Did you have fun?" He asked and knew that was only part of the question. The full question was: Did you have fun with Keisha?

"Yes, I did," I answered honestly as I unbuckled my seat belt. "My bratty days are behind me."

"About damn time," he exclaimed, leaning over to give me a quick hug. "I'll call you when I get back from my business trip, alright?"

My mouth opened to respond to him, but I was distracted. Calvin came out of his house, a trash bag in his hand, and he went to throw it in the bin onside of the house.

"Is that him?"

"What?" I muttered, focusing back on Dad.

"That's the boy you been talking to?"

Before Calvin made it back into the house, Dad had rolled down his window and my entire body tensed up. What was he doing?

"Hey," he called out to get Calvin's attention and I groaned. Why does he insist on embarrassing me? I couldn't watch and I tried to make myself small and out of sight by slouching down in my seat.

"Stay the hell away from daughter," he shouted and I couldn't help but take a peek at Calvin's reaction.

His brow knitted together as he looked over at my dad with a puzzled look. Leaning into view a mouth the words "sorry". The confusion on his face was replaced with an amused smirk. He then turned and walked into the house. Dad laughed as I gave him the death stare.

"What is wrong with you?" I groaned which prompted another laugh from him. Rolling my eyes, I hopped out of the car and grabbed my stuff from the trunk.

"See you later, Kiddo," he called out as I walked towards the porch. "Love you!"

"Love you, too," I mumbled as I passed him. My neck still burned with embarrassment.

When I made it into the house and up to my room I switched into some more comfortable clothes. My phone dinged for what seemed like the hundredth time today. After my fallout with the girls I had gotten used to a silent phone. I also forgot how much Jasmine loved to text. She just sent me a very long list of websites that offered cute, animal print dresses.

Looking over at the yellow dress that I hung on the back of my door I thought about Jasmine's reaction if I wore it instead. The thought evaporated when there was a knock on my door.

"It's open," I called out as I hooked my phone up to its charger.

The door opened and Mom stepped in. "How was the cook out?"

The whole thing with her actually talking to me was still so strange. It felt like a dream. As if at any given moment I could wake up and realize that none of this happened. Regardless, it was nice to know that she was trying at least.

"It was fun," I said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. There was a lull and I realized that this communication thing wasn't only hard for me, but her as well. "Did you know Keisha is pregnant?"

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

I was happy to know that I wasn't the only one left in out of loop.

"Yeah, four months," I informed her. "They want a boy and Dad wants to name him Magnus."

She grimaced at the name, just like I did and I laughed. Mom came further into my room, sitting down at my desk and the small interaction warmed my heart. It meant she really wanted to connect with me in a way that we haven't before. It's what I wanted as well and finally getting it made me happier than I could've imagined.

"I should probably tell you," she started, amusement in her eyes. "Had you been a boy, you would've been named Magnus."

"You were going to let him name me that?" I gaped.

"He won the poker game," she shrugged. "He got to name you. You're lucky he was better at picking out girl names."

For my future siblings sake, I hoped Keisha didn't lose her baby naming rights in a card game. It was like Dad lived to embarrass his kids. Maybe it was written in the parents rule book?

Thinking about embarrassment took my mind back to what happened with Dad and Calvin. Naturally I had to ask mom about it.

"Why did you tell Dad about Calvin?" I questioned. "He just embarrassed me in front of him."

"I thought I heard the fool out there yelling," she chuckled and I narrowed my eyes at her. "Oh, it's not that bad. At least he won't be here every day to watch you, like with your last boyfriend."

I cringed as I thought about Darius, who I dated briefly in 9th grade. Our relationship was cut short because he moved away, but also because I had a helicopter dad who loved to hover. All the time, on every one of our dates Dad was there watching and texting me if Darius got too close. The whole thing was very awkward.

That aside, I was shocked Mom paid any attention to what I did.

"I didn't know you cared so much," I said.

"Of course I cared," she countered. "I've never been good at expressing my emotions, or at least that what the marriage counselor said."

Her phone dinged and she pulled it from her pocket, looking over the text message. She then stood, placing the phone back in her pocket.

"I have to get back to the restaurant," She said apologetically and I gave her an understanding nod.

Grabbing my journal and a pen from my desk drawer, I laid flat on my stomach and began to write. This was definitely a day wroth documenting. A day I wanted to remember, because today I accepted the changes that were thrown at me and there was no spontaneous combustion.

//

Have I mentioned how much I love NaNoWriMo?

I never would've written two chapter in two days with out.

Anywho, in this chapter we see Mia hanging with her parents & step parent & ironing out their kinks. 

Also, we got a better look at Mia and how her friendship with the girls work, what do you think about that?

~ Thanks SO much for reading ~

Please vote & comment of you enjoyed this chapter! <3