BILLY:

      I manage to find a parking spot, grab my bag, and lock up the car. As I run inside to keep from being late to class, I pass a couple of guys hanging out near the door, and as I go by I hear one of them holler, "It's a stampede, everybody take cover!"

      This type of crap is so old that I don't even bother to look around, but I hear his friend say, "Not so loud, dumbass. Are you trying to get detention if Old Lady Belden hears you or something?"

      "I'm not worried about her. I ain't a cheerleader, she can't tell me what to do."

      I jog into my history class and get into my seat just as the bell rings. Our teacher, Mr. Mundy, glances up and says, "Running behind today, Miss McCracken? That's unusual for you."

      "Yeah, sorry about that, I had a bit of... car trouble this morning," I tell him, and several people laugh.

      "Well, whaddya expect?" one of the guys in the front row cracks. "You don't actually have a car, it's more like a brontosaurus."

      "I don't recall asking for comments from the peanut gallery, Mr. Adkins," Mr. Mundy responds. "So why don't we dispense with the one-liners and pick up our discussion of the Civil Rights movement where we left off yesterday?"

      I manage to get through history, and the next couple of classes after that, and then I head to the lunchroom. Dori and I both have first lunch, so I figure I can catch up with her and fill her in on what's going on with Cyndee and Ash, but after I get through the line I don't see her at our usual table. I look around, and finally spot her standing by the doors leading out of the cafeteria to the library, talking to a couple of other people. I walk over with my tray and say, "Hey, Dori! You're totally not gonna believe what happened this morning. I'll go grab a table while you get your food, and then I'll tell you about it."

      All three girls look up, and I'm kind of surprised to see that she's hanging out with Tanya Hart and Kelsey Rosen, two of the cheerleaders. Kelsey is the one who pissed off Ms. Belden in class that time, and Dori almost always has something snarky to say about the cheerleaders, so it's pretty unusual. But I'm even more surprised when she actually glares at me and says, "Why would I want to do that? Anything you said would probably be a lie anyway."

      "Huh? What the hell are you talking about, anyway?"

      "I'm talking about you lying to everybody about your sister, when she's a perfectly nice person, and about why you've been sooo nice about driving me to the club to see Rob!" she practically hisses, while the other two just stand here and giggle. "I know you've been trying to think up some way to break us up, and it's not gonna work!"

      "Are you high or something?" I manage to get out. "Why would I want to do that? And if I did, you know I could have already done it, so where the hell is this coming from?"

      "Yeah, I guess, but if you did that you know I'd find out, and you probably figured that would ruin your plan!" she fires back. "I'm not into girls, Billy, and even if I was, you sure as shit wouldn't be my type! Fuck, I've only hung out with you for as long as I have because my mom felt sorry for you and made me! Plus, it did help my grades."

      I can't even think of a response to that statement, it feels like somebody has just sucked all of the air out of my lungs. Did she seriously just tell me that she's basically just pretended to be my friend for the past year because her mom told her to, and to get me to do most of her schoolwork for her? And what the heck even was that comment about Cyndee being a nice person?

      Before I can finish processing this, I hear Tanya and Kelsey laughing again, and notice that Tanya actually has her phone out, recording the entire conversation. "Well, I guess now you'll have to find somebody else to annoy, huh, Billy?" she inquires.

      "Yeah, 'cause you're sure not sitting with us!" Kelsey chimes in. "Why don't you go find yourself a stall somewhere out of everybody's way, and chew your cud where it won't spoil everyone's appetite?"

      "Yeah, isn't there some sort of rule against livestock on campus?" Dori tosses in.

      She opens her mouth to say something else, but gets interrupted by a man's voice saying, "I think what you should be more concerned about, ladies, is how you plan to explain your behavior to your parents when they get here."

      They all spin around, and I realize that I hadn't even noticed Ms. Belden and the principal, Mr. Yeager, walk up behind them, and obviously, neither did they.

      "And why the two of you are on indefinite suspension from the squad," Ms. Belden adds, looking directly at Kelsey and Tanya.

      They're all totally startled, and Dori almost looks like she's about to cry as she says, "Please don't call my folks, they'll kill me! We were just joking, weren't we, Billy? Tell him, we were just playing around, right?"

      I look at her for a second, and just shake my head, not saying a word, and Mr. Yeager practically barks, "My office, now! Step lively, ladies!" He pauses for a second to look back at me, and says, "If you'd like to go sit in the library for a little while after lunch, Billy, go right ahead. Just stop by the office afterward, and I'll leave an excused slip with Brenda for you to give to Mr. Cates."

      I sort of nod at him, and he starts walking again. Dori and the others are still babbling at him and Ms. Belden, trying to get themselves out of trouble when they finally turn the corner out of sight, and for a second I actually consider doing what he suggested. But instead, I turn around, dump my lunch in the trash, and walk outside. I stop for a second to take a couple of deep breaths, and then I do something I've never done before in my life: I walk around to the parking lot, get in my car, and decide to skip the rest of the day. As I get ready to pull out onto the street, my phone beeps, so I pause to look at it, and see that there's a text from my boss, asking me to stop by the shop when I finish classes this afternoon.

      Cheryl is scheduled to work today, not me, so I wonder if she's called in sick or something. I've got nothing else to do for awhile, so I decide to go ahead and see what they need. I drive away from school into town, and get to the repair shop in about fifteen minutes. After I park the car, I cut through the garage bays to the office, and find Mr. and Mrs. Malone inside, along with their son, Gary. They look a bit surprised when I walk in, and Mrs. Malone says, "Hello there, Billy dear. Aren't you supposed to be at school for another couple of hours?"

      "I finished up a bit early today," I answer. "I got your text as I was leaving. Did Cheryl take a sick day or something?"

      "No, hon, we didn't call you in to work, there's something we needed to talk to you about," Mr. Malone says, and he looks so serious that I immediately know it isn't going to be anything good. "And honestly, it's probably best that you got here before the others, now they won't be wondering what's going on, like they would if we asked you to stay behind."

      "What is it? Did I do something wrong?"

      She immediately reaches out to pat my hand, giving me a faint smile. "Oh, no, not at all, sweetie! But something has come up, and I'm afraid that we're going to be closing up the shop."

     Whoa! Totally did not see that coming! "But why? I thought you were doing pretty well, we always seem to be booked."

      They both just sort of look at each other, like they aren't sure of what to say, and Gary jumps into the conversation. "No, Billy, it doesn't have anything to do with that. You see, Pops went to the doctor today, and..."

      "And we found out that I need to have heart surgery," Mr.Malone adds. "I'm not going to be able to work for quite awhile, so Peggy and I decided that this is as good a time as any to retire, and just enjoy ourselves a bit."

      "Oh, no! I'm sorry to hear that. When do you have to go?" I ask.

      "They've scheduled the surgery for Friday afternoon, which means that I'll be checking in tomorrow, so they can get all of their prep work done. But the reason I asked you to come by is because I talked to Bob Williams today. You know that he's wanted to buy the building for awhile now, to expand his business, so I finally agreed to sell. He's probably going to keep the mechanics on, if they want to stay, but he told me that he won't be needing you or Cheryl."

      He opens the desk drawer, pulls out a piece of paper, and hands it to me. "Since this is such short notice, we've decided to give the two of you a month's pay, so you'll have something while you look for a new job. And you're more than welcome to tell anyone you apply to work for that they can call us for a reference. You're a nice, dependable girl, and a hard worker, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding a position."

      "Tell her the rest, Charlie," Mrs. Malone urges, and he nods. 

      "I was getting to that, Peg, just give me a minute."

      This confuses me a little, so I say, "I don't get it. Tell me the rest of what?"

      Mr. Malone and Gary give each other a look, and then Mr. Malone pulls a manila envelope out of the drawer, and says, "I've talked to Gary about this, since I originally bought it for him, and he says that he's fine with me giving you this." He hands me the envelope, I open it, and almost fall over when I see the title to the car, with my name on it.

      "Seriously? I mean, thank you, but are you sure you want to do this?"

      "Yes, we're sure," Mrs. Malone tells me. "But you can see that Charlie's name is still on there as well, so now you own the car jointly."

      "That's right," he adds. "Because as long as my name is on that paper, your father can't pull the same stunt he did with the Metro. But as soon as you turn eighteen, she'll be all yours."

      I go around the desk and hug him, then go on to Mrs. Malone and Gary. "Thank you, this is so cool! Not that you have to go in the hospital, of course, but... Oh, I don't know how to explain it!"

      "Hey, you're a good kid, Billy, and you've been such a help to the folks that we thought you deserved something," Gary informs me. "It's not exactly a brand-new sports car or anything, but it's something that'll be yours, and your parents won't be able to yank the rug out from under you with this one."

      "But I will ask you not to mention this if you happen to talk to Cheryl," Mr. Malone says. "We wouldn't want her to feel slighted if she finds out that you got... a bit extra in your severance package, lets say."

      "No problem, if you don't want me to say anything, I won't."

      "All right, then. I suppose you'd better run along and get that check in the bank, now," he tells me. "And like I said, feel free to have any possible employers give me or Peg a call, we'll be more than happy to give you a recommendation."

      After giving them all another hug, and asking them to call and let me know how the operation goes, I cut through the garage again, to say goodbye to the guys who are working today, then head back to the car. After I close the door, I finally look at the check, and I'm shocked to see that it's made out for five hundred and fifty dollars, which is more money than I've had in my hand at one time in my life! I start up the car and go to the bank to get the money, and remind myself to call Mr. Scott about putting some of it in my safe-deposit box tomorrow or Friday. After I started working, I'd thought about opening up a bank account, but since I was only fifteen at the time, I couldn't get one unless it was a joint account with one of my parents. Since I knew that would most likely mean that it would get cleaned out anytime Cyndee wanted something, I decided not to do that, but I also didn't feel comfortable hiding it anywhere in the house. 

      So I asked Mr. Scott what he thought I should do, since he's the administrator for the money my grandad left me for college, and he came up with a similar idea, where we both have our names on a deposit box, so neither of us can open it without the other. So every week or so, he meets me there, and I put part of my paycheck away in case I ever need money for something major. I already have over two thousand dollars in the box, so even if I only put away half of this, I still have a decent amount saved.

      After I finish at the bank, I go through the drive-thru at Taco Bell for a couple of steak tacos, since I didn't eat lunch, and then head back home. I pull into the driveway, and just sit in the car for a few minutes, eating my tacos and looking at the house. It's a nice, Spanish-style house, with the red terra-cotta roof tiles, in a good neighborhood, but as far as I'm concerned, it might as well just be a hotel with a particularly irritating staff, and it finally dawns on me how much I actually hate it here. In the course of one day, my life has basically come apart; I've found out that two people I thought were my friends actually aren't, I've lost my job, and in another couple of hours I can pretty much count on spending the rest of the night getting bitched at by my folks over Cyndee's usual exaggerated version of what happened this morning.

      I finally convince myself to go inside, hoping that I don't walk into another do-it-yourself porno scene. Fortunately, Ash and Cyndee have made themselves scarce, and I find a message for her on the answering machine from Mom, saying that their flight is delayed, so they probably won't get back until seven or eight tonight. Whoopee, a reprieve from the nagging and complaining.

      Then my phone rings, and when I check the caller ID, I immediately pick up the call, "Hey there, Mace, I haven't heard from you in forever!"

      "Hiya, girlie!" my cousin Macy replies. "I've been hella busy with papers and shit. They seem to like to try to kill us the last couple of weeks before finals, y'know."

      Macy is almost a year and a half older than me, and we used to get to spend quite a bit of time together, until my Uncle Miles took a job in Pennsylvania last year. I miss being able to spend weekends with him and Aunt Vivian, and hang out with Macy, and my other cousin, Max, when he was actually home.

      "I had an idea I wanted to throw at you," she announces. "I was talking to the 'rents, and we were thinking that maybe you could talk Aunt Helen and Uncle Rod into letting you come out for the holidays. It's obviously a little late to figure on Thanksgiving, but maybe for Christmas? It's been way too long since we've gotten to hang out, plus I was kinda hoping that maybe you'd help me talk to my folks about..."

      "So you've finally found the right motivation, huh? What's her name?" 

      So far as I know, I'm the only one in the family that Macy has let in on the fact that she's gay. She's kinda worried about how her folks would feel, so she said that she would most likely only tell them if she met someone important enough that she didn't want to hide them.

      "Her name is Lylah, she's super-cool, and artistic, and gorgeous, and I really like her. I think you two would get along really well, too. She likes the same music we do, and she loves horror movies, just like you do. Oh, crap! Now I have two people to give me shit about being a wuss when I cover my eyes during a bloody scene. What the hell have I gotten myself into?"

      "You mean three, hon. You forgot about your brother. Will he be home for Christmas?"

      "Yeah, he called a couple of days ago, and he gets three weeks leave starting December fifteenth, so he'll be home for Christmas and New Years. So whaddya say, Bills? Will you ask them?"

      I pause for a minute, thinking about how much I want to see Macy and the others, and how much I don't want to be here anymore, and I make a split-second decision. "Actually, if you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate it if you'd call Aunt Viv and Uncle Miles and tell them that I'm gonna try to get there for Thanksgiving, too."

      "How are you gonna do that? The school break isn't that long this time."

      "At this point, I don't give a rat's ass about school, or much of anything else, to be completely honest," I inform her. "All I know is that I'm sick of everything around here, and I'm out, one way or the other."

      "Okay, this isn't good. What the hell is going on out there?"

      "I'll explain later, okay? Right now I need to start getting my shit together. So I'll call you back later. Bye!"

      I hang up, then go to the kitchen and grab a bunch of reusable grocery totes out of the pantry, then carry them up to my room. I open up the closet and start stuffing clothes into the bags, then move on to the drawers and bookshelves, only taking what I've bought with my own money. After I gather up everything I want to take, I start lugging the bags out to the driveway and stuffing them into the car.

      When I'm cramming the last load into the backseat, I happen to look across the lawn and see that Mr. Scott's car is there, so I dash over and ring the doorbell. He opens the door, and says, "Hi there, Billy! Is everything all right over there?"

      "Not yet, but things are starting to fall together, so they will be soon," I answer. "But I was hoping that maybe you could go to the bank with me before they close. I'm going to Pennsylvania, and I'd like to take my money with me."

      He looks at me strangely for a second, then opens the door and says, "Why don't you come in and sit down? Then you can explain this to me a bit more clearly, and we'll take it from there."

      So I go in, and end up spilling everything about the whole crappy day to him and Mrs. Scott, then they go into the other room to talk amongst themselves for a few minutes. When they come back, he tells me to go out and bring the car over to their garage, and that he'll go over and talk to my parents when they get home. So I drive the car over, then we sit and watch TV until my phone beeps, and shows that I have a text from my dad, asking where I am, and telling me to come home because he wants to have a talk with me. Yeah, and I bet I know exactly what he wants to talk about, too.

      Mr.and Mrs. Scott tell me to stay there, and they go over instead. I sit on their couch for nearly an hour before they come back, and he asks for my aunt's phone number in Pennsylvania. Then he spends about thirty minutes in his office before he finally comes back and says that they have a plan.

      Apparently neither he, or my aunt and uncle, are madly in love with the idea of me driving across the country by myself, especially not in an almost forty year-old car. So they, along with my parents, have decided that I'll stay here for the rest of the week, until he and Mrs. Scott leave for their vacation. Since they're going to be driving their RV to visit her family in Illinois, he tells me that he's going to rent a tow bar to haul my car behind the camper, and that my uncle will be flying out to meet me there, and help me drive the rest of the way to Pennsylvania.

      "Okay, but even though I'm sure I know the answer, what did my folks have to say about it?"

      "You're a smart girl, Billy, so I'm not going to sugarcoat anything for you. They were rather upset when they thought that we were there to try to run interference for you regarding your argument with Cyndee this morning," he explains. "But when I clarified why we were really there, their attitudes changed considerably. That was why I called to speak to your aunt and uncle, because your parents are willing to sign over legal guardianship to them, which will enable you to enroll in school there, and allow them to act if there should happen to be a medical emergency, or something of that nature. So now my question is: How does that sound to you?"

      "That sounds like the best news I've heard in... well, pretty much ever! I've known for years that they're indifferent to me, at best, so if I have the chance to go someplace where people actually like having me around, why wouldn't I? But just to be clear, I'm not going back to school before we leave, unless it's to clean out my locker."

      "For now, Gina is going to show you where the guest room is, and let you get settled, all right? Then we'll take care of everything else tomorrow."

      After I go out to the garage and get my pajamas and some clothes for tomorrow out of the car, Mrs. Scott takes me up to the room I'll be staying in for the next few days, and shows me where the towels are for when I want to take a shower. When she leaves, I take out my phone and get ready to call Macy and update her on what's happening. Then, as I get ready to make the call, a thought pops into my head that makes me actually laugh out loud.

      Everyone calls California "The Golden State", so how funny is it that I have to go across the country to a place known for steel mills, coal mines, and bad winters for my life to actually get brighter. In the words of Alanis Morrissette, "Isn't it ironic?"