my brows raised very high; who slowly slid his hand off my
shoulder, he seemed like he really didn't care, but how could he
not care. "We dated for about...um... oh, I don't know..." She
pretended to count her fingers, before looking over a James who
stood quietly staring at me, but I just didn't want to know. "You got
remarried?" I snapped, still shocked that she was standing right
before my eyes, but all the while trying to be polite. "Um, yeah
baby I did." She said, trying to sound like she cared about what I
thought. "I hope your not mad, I did want to talk to you first but I
didn't get the chance." She continued. "So, you got married and
decided to come to my graduation and introduce your husband to
your children; here, at my graduation?" I cut her off sarcastically,
as I flipped my hair off my shoulder.
As she kept talking, trying to make excuses after excuse I felt
my anger growing, my veins felt like they were going to pop at any
minute now; with every breath that she took to speak the anger
grew, until I couldn't hold it anymore. "Wait. Stop, so you show up
here and make your announcement now; when this is supposed to
be one of the most happiest days of my life. First of all I haven't
seen you in ages. You left us, all of us without so much as a return address and yet here you are; trying to rub your new marriage,
your new life at that, in our faces. I really wish you didn't come." I
said clutching the bunch of roses so hard the thorns began to dig
deep into my palms. Just then I noticed a little girl pushing her way
through the crowd.
"Mia, Mia, I have something for you." The little girl said as she
continued to push her way past my mother. My anger left me as
soon as I saw her little round pale face with her big blue eyes.
"Wow those are pretty Mia, where did you get those?" She asked
with her big blue eyes fixed upon the bunch of roses. "I got them
from Jon." I said softly, scooping her up into my arms. "Where's
your mommy Katie?" Tucker asked, appearing out of nowhere,
twirling his finger through her perfect blond curls. She pulled back
quickly; she hated when Tucker did that to her. "She over there
with Nadia and the rest of them." She said pointing toward the
large crowd of girls standing only a few cars over.
Suddenly the noise of laughter and talking was loud again,
the sound of my beating heart got softer. Oh great I hope no one
heard me talking or let alone even my mother talking. "So who is
this lovely little lady?" Mom asked reaching out to Katie. "No."
Katie said, pulling away from her, leaving moms hand in mid air. "I guess even little girls can smell a bad egg." I murmured. "I'm
Katie." She replied softly, before burying her face in my shoulder.
"Well, you're a beautiful little girl Katie, and it was a pleasure
meeting you." Mom said, turning to James. "Yes, it was a pleasure
Miss Katie." He said, slightly bowing at the waist. I looked at him
funny while rolling my eyes. Oh gosh you've got to be kidding. I
thought quietly to myself. "She my friends daughter." I said rather
swiftly, uncaring of the sarcastic tone that I had just given. I
turned around before anything else could be said, and I walked
away without another word; just as she did so many years ago.
"Here Mia, this is for you. I got it when I was in the forest this
morning." Katie said with a smile on her face; as she held a
brown, white and gray feather in her hand. "I don't know what kind
of bird this came from, but I think it will give you good luck." She
smiled. "Why, thank you Katie I shall wear it forever." I said, taking
the soft feather into my hand, twisting it into my hair so that it
would hang behind my ear for her to see. She smiled in delight.
"David, is she always this angry?" She asked. "No actually
she's not. I guess all the excitement got to her or maybe she's just
truly angry with you." He said, with a smirk. "Well, what are you
folks doing for dinner?" She asked. "Um, there's a party going on tonight for a friend of ours, and we were going to head over there
later on." Tucker replied with a huge smile on his face. "Oh
Tucker, it's so good to see you too after all these years. My, my
you are really starting to fill out." She said, looking Tucker over like
"Well, I was wondering if you folks would like to have dinner
with us tonight; you know to celebrate the big day; but I'm not sure
if she'll want to?" She said, as she nodded her head into my
direction. "Yeah, I hope you don't mind the intrusion; I just thought
that this would be the perfect time to get to meet you folks." James
said with a small smile on his face; I guess trying not show any
expression about the situation. "Um. Well, we kind of did have
plans for dinner, but you're welcome to join us. It's going to be at
home, we're having Mia's favorite; steak and potatoes." Dad
offered kindly.
"Why thank you David, that is very generous of you, and yes
that sounds like a great idea. I just hope Mia's going to be alright
with this." She said, still looking at my back fading into the crowd.
"Ah don't worry about her, she'll be fine." Tucker said standing tall,
inflating his chest. "What time should we be there?" She asked
looking at dad. "Well lets see, it's about five now, how about around seven?" Dad said with a smile. "Sounds great, we'll be
there.
It was so nice to see you David. Tucker, my son you are a
handsome fella." She said with a smile. "Yeah, I know." Tucker
replied with a smile, while looking at dad. "Come on James we
have a few stops to make before we head out of town." She said,
tugging James arm. "Alright, it was nice to meet you all." James
said with a smile. Tucker and dad waved good bye until they
disappeared into the crowd.
"Um dad, I don't know if Mia's going to like this." Tucker said
worriedly, while looking across the parking lot. "Nope I don't think
so either son; but we'll deal with it when the time comes." Dad said
with a humbled look on his face. "Did you even give her the
address?" Tucker asked with a chuckle. "Nope didn't need to son."
He replied still with his humbled look on his face, as he reached
into his pockets to search for his keys. "Go get Mia, and she can
ride with you. I'll head home and let Lily know that we'll be having
us some guests." Dad said, as he jumped into his work Jeep.
Tucker turned and headed into the sea of black and gold gowns
that still crowded the parking lot, laughing and talking.
"Mia, there you are, we were all looking for you." Nadia said, running toward me and Katie. Nadia was the most popular girl in
school. Perfect pale skin with not a single blemish in sight; big
blue eyes that could light up a room, long curly blond hair, perfect
long legs, your typical prom queen. Her sister Loren who
graduated one year ago and was just a little shorter than she was;
but they looked exactly the same, and just as Nadia was cheer
captain, so was Loren.
Last year Loren gave up her position as Cheer Capta
in to
Nadia. Loren was Katie's mom; she had Katie when she was still
in high school which wasn't all that long ago. "Yeah sorry I had a
small upset but I'm better now." I said smiling at Katie. "Who was
that couple that was talking to you, you looked like you were ready
to pop." Nadia asked trying to look over the crowd of people; most
likely trying to get another glimpse of the mysterious couple. "You
seemed pretty upset." She continued, still trying to see over
everyone. "Yeah, but I'm fine now." I said as I let Katie's little
legs down to run around.
"That was my mother and her new husband." I said finally.
"Wait, what, say that again. That was your mom." She said in
complete surprise. "Yup, you heard me right. That was my mom." I
repeated. "Loren, Mia's here." She called out. Nadia seemed to always find away to talk about something else when she wasn't
interested anymore. I guess that was just her thing; if it didn't
involve her then she really didn't want to know. Loren appeared
out of the crowd holding a small box.
"Hey Mia; Katie found you I see." She said pointing at the
feather that hung behind my ear. Her small stature fit her pink
fitted dress perfectly. Looking at her you wouldn't even think that
she had a daughter. Physically she looked great, splitting image of
Nadia just shorter. Although, I will say that Loren was much more
well liked by people, she was someone who truly cared about
others.
"Here, Mia, this is for you." She said, handing me the small
box. "What is it?" I asked taking the box in one hand and pulling at
the bow with the other. "The girls wanted to get you both
something for graduation. I think they chose well." She replied with
a smile on her face. I slowly lifted the cover to reveal a beautiful
gold ring; shaped as a rose with a small red ruby in the middle.
"Oh my, this is beautiful." I said, admiring it's shine in the box.
I carefully took the ring out and held it up to the sun; the ruby
glimmered in the light. "It's absolutely lovely." I said, as I continued
staring at it watching it, glimmering in the sunlight. "Thank you; thank you, very much; I love it." I said, with a smile as I slipped it
over my finger. I watched it twinkling in the sunlight as I turned
my hand from side to side.
"Of course, you deserve it. You both do." Lila said, stepping
forward. Lila was the next in line to be captain of the squad.
Nadia picked her just a few nights ago after practice. She wasn't
very tall but she did know a lot about gymnastics’. She was pretty,
with shoulder length black hair, small slender face with green
eyes. Her family was one of the only Asian families in Hillside.
"Look, this is mine." Nadia said, lifting her hand, presenting her
own ring to be adorned. "Wow, that's nice." I said looking at her
heart shaped ring with a diamond in the middle. The diamond fit
her perfectly, always sparkling at every chance that she was
given.
"Yours was easy Mia; we all knew that we should get you a
rose ring, with a red ruby. Look it matches your roses, the colors
and all." Lila pointed out with a smile, while pointing at my bunch
of roses, now tucked tightly under my arm. "Oh yeah, I forgot I had
these." I said, with a slight laugh. "Thank you Lila; thank you to all
of you for such a wonderful gift." I said, looking around at the small
group of girls now surrounding both Nadia and I. "We'll miss you guys." Nadia explained. "Remember all of you, if you ever need
help for anything, we will always be around to help." Nadia
continued, as everyone leaned in for a group hug. The smell of
perfume mixed well with each other, as the smell of berries filled
the air surrounding our little circle.
"Hey Mia, come on it's time to go. Dad already left so you're
going to have to ride with me." Tucker said, from behind the group
of girls. "Oh, alright. I'm coming." I said, looking around, making
sure I didn't forget to hug anyone. My heart started to feel sad
knowing that this could very well be the last time I get to hug them.
"Hey Tuck. I didn't see you at the ceremony; were you in
there?" Nadia asked; now turning all her attention to Tucker.
Nadia always had a thing for my brother but he never showed any
interest in her. I didn't understand why, I mean I think she was his
type but he never responded to any of her advances. Which in a
way was kind of funny I guess. She was so used to getting
everything she wanted; but she never managed to bag my
brother. I kind of laughed to myself at the thought.
"Yup, I was there and I wouldn't have missed it at all." He
replied wrapping his huge arms around my neck. "So are you
going to Jim's party tonight Mia?" She said, still staring hard at Tucker. "What about you Tucker, will you be there?" She asked,
with her puppy dog eyes. "Um, yeah, I guess we'll both be there.
So come on Mia, got lot's to do before the party." He said tugging
me backwards. I got the feeling that he wanted out of there as
fast. I chuckled just thinking about it. "I know; I know." I said with a
smirk. "Alright guys; I'll see you all tonight." I said, right before
Tucker spun me around and pulled me through the crowd. "Geez."
I said, pulling my arm out of his tight grip.
"Dad invited mom and James to dinner tonight." He said, as
we slowed our walk toward his truck. It was rather nice truck, for a
guy of his age. With all the off-road adventures offered here at
Hillside you would almost expect his truck to have more than a
few small dings, just as everyone else did; but nope not Tucker's;
aside from a little dent here and there, it was still in pretty good
condition. "What? Why" I said, surprised at my angry tone. "Don't
know, but she asked if we'd like to have dinner with them first,
then dad gave them an invite." He answered, shrugging his
shoulders.
"Don't you think there's something wrong about that? I mean
she shows up like, years later; with a new husband for that matter.
She must have some kind of nerve to do this, let alone agree to come to our house for dinner, even if dad invited her. She should
have said no." I began. "Well, I'd like to think she just wants to try
to make things right." He said cutting me off, in her defense. "Yeah
right; by showing up today. Yeah; that will fix everything." I said
as I hopped into the truck.
"Are we really going to Jim's party tonight?" I asked, placing
the roses on the seat next to me. "Um yeah; I thought you wanted
to go. By the way where did you get those?" He asked, pointing at
the roses. "Oh yeah; I go them from Jon via Steve." I said, with a
chuckled looking down at the beautiful flowers. "Jon huh. Yeah, I
did run into the boys out front earlier while the ceremony was
going on. Um; so what's that?" He asked, with his eyes fixed on
my hand. "Oh yeah, I got this from the squad. Isn't it pretty? Nadia
got one too but she got a diamond." I said, as I lifted my hand up
so the sun would catch the ruby, twinkling red beams of light into
his eye
s. "Ah; well when you're ready to cash it in, I know of a few
guys who would pay some good money for precious gems." He
laughed, as he started his truck and headed toward the school
exit. "Yeah right Tuck in your dreams." I laughed back, holding on
as he made a sharp turn out of the school.
At that very moment I couldn't help but tear; as an overwhelming feeling of sadness passed through my heart. This
was the last time that I would leave this school as a student. I
took a long hard star at the school, it's old buildings, old football
and track field. I even caught a glance of some teachers crying
with students. It felt weird to see all of my classmates still saying
their goodbye's; as the reality of growing up sunk in.
I really didn't care for my mom, nor did I really care for her
new husband. I really didn't know either of them. I was never a
person who judged a book by it's cover, because that is what I
was taught since I was a kid; but I guess because James was with
my mother it was automatic that I felt this way about him. Maybe it
was the way he looked, or even the way she looked at him with
that twinkle in her eyes. My dad always told me that it was
important to never judge someone without even giving them a
chance.
I guess I could be more open to meeting him, or the both of
them for that matter. I mean he never did anything to me, well
directly at least. But there was just something about him that I
didn't like. Maybe I was jealous or something; I don't know,
perhaps I was just jumping to conclusions and he really was a
nice guy. Perhaps I shouldn't hold my mother's faults against him; after all he wasn't around when she left us anyway. I thought, as I
gazed out the open window, admiring the passing trees.
We got home a little before six o'clock and dad's truck was
already there. I could tell that Lily was just about done with
dinner. The entire house smelled like broiled steaks and
potatoes; with a heavy scent of garlic and black peppers; needless
to say the house smelled great. My dad met Lily about two years
ago, but it was like they were meant to be together. They were
always goofing around, making each other laugh, and playing
jokes on each other. Although we never heard them say it in front
of us; we did see it often; Tucker and I knew that they were in