I had just gotten dressed for school and was walking out the door with a piece of toast when my phone rang. "Hello?" I answered. "Hi i'm looking for Ms Mason." Said the lady on the other end. I pulled my door open and slipped my keys in the ignition. "This is her." I said. "Hi, i'm calling from Twin Bridges Rehab. I was calling to you let you that i picked up the client this morning and she has been dropped off at the facility. They have a two week period of no contact but they will give you a call soon." She said. "Oh thank you so much." I said. "You're welcome, have a good day." She said hanging up.

          I got a phone call during lunch as well letting me know that the cleaner had finished mom's house to which i had to pay extra because i was asking her to clean up EVERYTHING including getting rid of all the drugs. What am i gonna do when she comes home. How am i gonna keep all her skeevy guys out. And while were fixing it up i didn't want her to get robbed. I opened a new text to Liam. "Hey i need a favor." I said. "Anything for you" He texted back. "Okay so i'm fixing up my mom's house it needs a lot of work." I said. "Uh well i'm not exactly the most handy, are you sure you don't want to ask Ryder and Ethan?" He asked. "I did silly, i need your help with something else. I need to see if we can get an alarm system in there and maybe a camera so i can see what's going on." I said.

          "You want to spy on your mom?" He asked. "No silly. While she's gone if the alarm goes off i want to be able to speak into the phone and tell them to go away. And okay maybe when she's home i want to make sure she's staying clean okay maybe i don't trust her." I said. "It's okay, in some weird way it's sweet. I'll set everything up." He agreed. "Thanks." "Anytime." He said.

           When school let out Ryder and i met the roofing guy at mom's house. He gave me a good quote and said he'd get started as soon as he was done with his last job.  Ryder held out his tape measure. "Let's see first thing is the walls every single last one of them is busted. See there on that page i have all the rooms listed. I'm going to measure for the walls and floors so we know how much to get." He said. "Oh you're so efficient. I like it." I said wrapping my arms around him. "Well i try." He grinned. I pulled him down and gave him a kiss. "Thank you." I said.

          I knew the work would take at least two weeks. If all of us pitched in we'd be fine. I had to go to the store and pick up...everything. "Measure the bathtub so i can replace both? And the area that needs tiling. Then the fireplace i'm gonna retile that too." I said. "What are you gonna do about your old room?" He asked. "Make it a blank canvas for her to do with what she wants." I shrugged.

          Ryder ran around scribbling things into the notebook. We spent two hours at the store but they agreed to deliver everything we ordered. Dry wall for the whole house. Carpet tile and wood for the floors, fire place and shower wall. New vanities and tubs. My moms fridge had also broken the food was hot and smelled horrible. So i just got new oven/stove microwave and dishwasher as well. Then we headed to the furniture store.

           I had to buy her new bedding and living room suit. Then a new table and chairs. I drained almost all of my savings but the money was just sitting there and i wasn't using it. And i was going to get paid again next week so i couldn't complain. The next day they delivered everything and the house was a mess. But we piled everything up into the living room and started in the back of the house. We worked until late in the night to get it done but the house was looking great.  It took us weeks to get the floors and walls done.

          I had three samples of paint, I put a dark purple with a hint of grey on my moms wall. Then i did a mauve color then i did a very light blue. "Liam what do yo think?" I asked pointing the brush towards the wall. "I kind of like the pink, its kind of calming and you could do a lighter color in her bathroom." He said. "Genius, i like that idea myself. I can do some floral prints for the wall." I nodded writing that into my notebook. I had decided i'd use a light grey in the hall way and my room. It was neutral.

          Then for the living room i had a light blueish green, a tanish brown color and a light red. "I like the blueish green." Ryder said as he and Ethan walked in with some trim they had recently cut. "Thanks!" I called out writing that into my notebook. Next was the kitchen. I had a beautiful dark blue shiny back-splash and white cabinets. The counters where white with a hint of sparkle. "I'm lost on this one." I said thoughtfully. Jake came up behind me.

           "I'm new at this but maybe just paint it a medium blue it'll pull out the color of the tile?" He shrugged. "Yes that i like." I said writing it down. Then i had a mint green for the main bathroom. "Pizza call!!" I yelled out. The guys all came from various rooms looking dusty. "I have to go pick up the gallons of paint what kind of pizza ya'll want?" I asked. They threw several suggestions at me and i wrote that down as well.

          Once i had returned with pizza and paint we sat down to eat. I gave each guy a gallon of paint. We'd have to divide and conquer. I took the two bathrooms. I stupidly thought taking the smaller area would be easier. But i had to tape and do weird angles to get it all. The vanity and sink weren't in yet but there was a toilet and bathtub. It was almost one am when i got done with both bathrooms. I rinsed my roller and brush in the sink.

          The guys trailed in slowly after me and we headed home. I was tired. I fell into bed. The next morning i got up and was getting ready in the bathroom. I took a look at my arms and legs. The scars were healing quite nicely with the cream i had been using some of them you couldn't see at all. But i knew some of them would leave scars. I just chose to think of them as battle scars and be proud of them.

        It was time for school and i had a big cup of coffee sitting in my cup holder. These late nights were starting to get to me but i needed to finish up before my mom got home. On the way to the school my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number but answered it anyways. "Hello?" I answered. "Hey baby." "Mom, you sound...good." I said. "You sound surprised." She said. "Well i kind of am i guess i didn't think you could do it." I said.

           "Gee thanks." She said. "No it's not well...okay it is. I'm sorry you just seemed hesitant on the phone that day." I said. "Well i guess i kind of was. I was being asked to throw away the only life i'd ever known." She said. "That is kind of scary i suppose but don't you want a better life? A sober life?" I asked. "I don't know, it sounds like a lot of work." She said. "It is, real life is hard but i'm proud of you for trying. How is everything?" I asked. "It's good now. The first few days were tough i went through withdrawals and it was hard but then things started getting easier." She said.

           "Guess if you can't get to drugs you gotta look on the bright side." I said. "Indeed and I've been thinking about you while i was here. I realized you left without even telling me. I knew i had blown any chance at a relationship with you because of my actions and i needed to get my act together or we'd have nothing at all." She said. "You're right, it's hard to have a good relationship when all you care about is drugs." I said.

          "So everything is okay?" I asked. "Nothing that a little treatment can't cure." She said dismissively. "Uh what?" I asked. "When you are high, you'll do anything to get that fix or in my case do anybody to get that fix maybe i lost track or didn't care. Or was to out of it to notice anyways they do a battery of test i had something and we took care of it." "Oh." I said because i wasn't really that surprised.

          "Well my friend Ethan got you a car. And we are fixing up your house it'll be all ready when you come home. Have you given any thought to the job?" I asked pulling into a spot at school. "Yes they have a life coach come in to talk with us. I never thought i'd need somebody to coach me on life." She said laughing. "But i'm going to take a class and learn how to take blood i guess i was always good at needles." She said laughing again. It was good to see her laughing again and she sounded so clean. Like the mom that i kept hidden in the smallest corners of my mind.

          "Mom you really sound good." I said. "Well i feel good, oh hey baby girl they tell me my time's up. Can i call you again?" She asked. "Please do." I said. "Bye darlin'." "Bye mom." I hung up and placed the phone into my pocket. But it buzzed again. I pulled it out. "Oooh Ethan's car is on the way, yay!" I said slipping it back into my pocket. I had to go shopping after school to get some art for my mom's wall. I had several places i wanted to go.

                                                           ------------------------------------------------

          First place i went into was home imports. I knew i wanted some pink floral prints for the master bath and bedroom. I found a few that would work well but as i was putting them in my cart something red caught my eye. It was several pieces in a set it was red and grey and it looked like paint and graffiti. I loved it for Ryder's self defense studio. I picked those up as well and looked around but saw nothing else i needed. So i headed to the check out.

          The next store was the crafter's closet. I had been eyeing this vase for my moms vanity.  They even had some pink flowers that would look lovely in them. Then i saw a whole kitchen area with blue accents. I was giddy. I placed all of the things in the buggy and headed to another area. I got one more pink flowered picture and left. Three stores later i had everything i needed. I headed home to wrap up Ryder's things and hid them in the garage with his mats and the dummy. Then i went over to my moms house to finish painting.

          I spent hours painting but i didn't mind it was actually kind of peaceful. I didn't realized how late it had gotten until Ethan messaged me about dinner. Crap. "Stuff for sandwiches in the fridge. Figure it out." I sent back. I was finishing up the painting in the living room with there was a knock on the door. I turned to see Ryder. I let him in. "Thought you could use a sandwich." He said setting the stuff on the table. "That's sweet, thank you." I said.

          "No problem when you didn't come home i thought you could use the help. Hey the paint looks great." He noted. "Thanks, if you help me  with the trim we'll be about done." I said. "Perfect." We ate and then hung up all the trim since the guys had already cut it and had what needed to be in each room. We made quick work of it and i started to hang the pictures. "I feel kind of lost." I said. 

          "With what?" He asked. "Well Caleb is going to college with a football scholarship. You're opening up your self defense studio, Ethan is going to open his own Garage. Jake is going to work at the police station. Liam will go on to work on computers and what am i going to do?" I asked. "I don't know, what do you want to do?" He asked. "Well if i knew that silly i wouldn't feel so lost. Man maybe i need my mom's life coach to come help me." I said sighing as i straightened the picture on the wall.

          "Well let's see what your good at maybe that'll help." He said shrugging. I nodded. "Okay go." I said. "Cooking." He said. "I'm only good at that because Caleb is so bad, so in comparison..." "Right, uh you are good at setting people up on dates?" He said. "Right, but that was because Sarah TOLD me she was interested in Caleb and Caleb just so happened to tell me he didn't have a date to prom." I said. "Oh...OH! You're good at decorating and you really seem to enjoy it." He said. "Y'know, i do. How do i even get started on that?" I asked.

          "Simple you have Liam create a website for you. Where you showcase your work. Have a contact you spot and then you put together a portfolio. You can show that to potential clients and even have people write a review. I bet your mom would, i mean you have the before and after pictures. I certainly will and even Ethan cause he mentioned you doing his office and garage." He said. "Well okay then. I guess it can't hurt." I was still going to be in the society and getting paid so i had time to figure it out.

          The next day over dinner we were talking about Graduation. "It's this weekend and i'm kind of nervous." Ethan said. "Why?" I asked. "Well my parents are going to be there and we've only talked on the phone off and on. And my grandparents are still mad that i left." He said. "I'm excited to meet your family, and we should go out afterwards and celebrate you and Ryder." I said. "Perfect." Ethan said. I for one could not wait to show them the gifts i had gotten. I knew they would be pretty excited.

          Once dinner was over they cleaned up the kitchen, Liam found me. "Hey i know you got the guys gifts but none of us did and now we just look like jerks." Liam said. I laughed. "No you don't" I said. "Okay then oh great one, what do we get them?" He asked. "OOOH i know. Let's take a group shot of all of us. Put it in a frame and you guys write something nice around it. So even after we leave it'll be great." I said. "I don't even know how to get that started." I rolled my eyes. "Men. Hold on."

           I ran to my room and grabbed my camera and tripod."EVERYBODY OUTSIDE NOW!!" I called out. A few minutes later we were all assembled outside. "Since we are all about to take a giant step forward in life i thought we could take a group shot." I said. "Do we have to?" Jake asked. 

          "If you want to eat again you do." I threatened. "Oh then it that case, Cheese?" Jake joked. I hit the button and ran to get in the shot. I took a few just to be safe. Then i excused myself and headed to the store. I did the instant print and got three picture frames. Then i picked up a pack of sharpies and headed home. I put the bigger picture of us over the mantel place. It did look pretty good.

           I gave the rest to Liam."Can you handle this now?" I asked. "Wha...how did you...you were gone for like an hour." He said. "I just looked at the big picture." I said patting his arm. It had now been a little over two months since i had been living in this house with the guys. The school year was almost over and summer was coming. It was already hot but i couldn't complain. My mom's house was fixed finally and she was still doing quite well. I was still keeping tabs on the house and my phone kept going off. These random guys just kept showing up calling out her name. It was sad. But i used the speaker and scared them off every time.