Chapter 5 - Living with the Mother

A Chapter by JSAECH

The fun continues

While it seemed like John was smart on the way he planned his escape from his father's house, he was soon to find out that he was not quite as smart as he thought. He left on a Wednesday evening so he still had two more days of school left and the mother did not live in the same school district so she would have to drive him to school in the morning. This is when his decision started to sink in. He woke up much earlier than normal, which was still too late to get to school on time. There was no breakfast on the table ready for him as he would be responsible for feeding himself moving forward. In fact, there was no food to be had in the house that first morning. While somewhat concerning to John, he put it out of his mind as he headed on to school for the first time from his mother's home.

He had stayed up late the night before so he was exhausted through that first day at school. School over the next couple of weeks was challenging to say the least. John was used to a set schedule. That set schedule was nonexistent at his mom's home. The mom and brother would stay up until all kind of hours of the night playing video games and making all kinds of noises. This would keep John up too. He couldn’t help but feel like he was missing out on fun as he laid in bed trying to sleep. A couple of times, he tried to join in but was told to go back to bed. He also tried to get them to be quieter with about the same amount of success as trying to join them in playing. The lack of sleep John was getting resulted in him falling asleep during class on numerous occasions at the high school. While he could not get his teacher's attention before, he certainly got it when he was falling asleep in class. His grades took a nose dive too. This was mostly from the lack of sleep but also the lack of studying or completing homework assignments. He was having a hard time coping with the change.

The father decided not to fight the mother for custody of John. The father was hurt and instead of trying to make sure John made the right decisions and fighting for his son the father gave up on John. When this happened the mother decided to move John to the school that was in her district. She did this because John would be able to go to school with his brother. She did this also because she didn’t want to keep getting up so early to take John to school. The school was a true middle school so John thought it might be easier to acclimate. There were only three grades in the school. John would be in the middle grade and his brother in the upper grade. John hoped this would keep him from being on the bottom of the social ladder at this new school.

Middle school was a different experience for John. First, it was a new set of kids around John that he had not known before. Second, his brother was in the same school one grade ahead of John. This made things a little easier. The brother was outgoing and was popular in the school. John was immediately accepted as part of this group upon enrolling into the school. This made the social life a little easier because John did not have to do anything to feel like he belonged to a group. He was still having a hard time adjusting to the sleep schedule and the new life where there was no specific bedtime. There was also no one around to make John sit down and complete his homework. So, while John knew the material and could pass the tests with 100's, he rarely ever completed his homework, and this drove his grades down. John did not attempt to try out for any of the school sports but just spent time trying to fit in with the new group he found himself in.

While his school grades were not going well for John, his social life was taking big steps forward. John was still tongue tied around girls and groups of people but he was starting to open up a little and didn’t feel so awkward every time he spoke. This was evident when the brothers would visit the skating rink on the weekends. The brother would always seem to attract attention and would bring in more girls to the rink when they knew he would be there. The brother could put together quite the harem. John would benefit from that as the girls who didn’t get the brother's attention would turn their attention to John. So John got the leftover attention. John was learning a lot about girls that he didn’t know before and was getting more physical with them as well. Most of the physicality was initiated by the girls. John would always be surrounded by girls on the skating floor when they did the dancing because John would play along with the girls. The girls would lead and John would follow. The girls really loved this. The DJ at the skating rink must have been practicing for his real job, DJ’ing at a strip club, because all the songs that were played could have easily been played in both locations. This did help the dancing atmosphere immensely.

Things were improving for John but his mother was having issues with her jobs. She was working as an assistant in a dental office. She had been there several months and had a good friend who helped her out whenever she could. This friend would help buy groceries, watch the kids, or even cover for her at work. The mother took advantage of this friendship. She liked to manipulate people, but she usually overestimated her skills. The mother seemed to always push people too far instead of getting out before the trouble started. In this case she ended up stealing the credit cards of her "friend" and going on a shopping spree. This was not caught immediately, but eventually her deeds caught up with her. While the friend did not call the police to report her, the mother did lose her job. The friend that the mother wronged lived almost next door to them. This friction was too much for the mother, so they moved. The move resulted in John having to switch schools for the second time that school year. This was the first time that John switched schools due to his mother losing her job, but it would not be the last.

The mom moved everyone to a trailer park in a very shady area. This area was full of the lowest class of people society had to offer. The trailer they moved into was empty because the previous renters had been arrested for some grievous offense. The area was unsafe at night for anyone, especially kids. This was an area that many on the sex offenders list would relocate to. John would be forced to change to a different middle school. John would be surrounded by new kids, new teachers, and have to attend this school without his brother. John's brother decided that school was not for him. John's brother just stopped going to school. This left John alone in a new school with no real support system. All of the social progress John had been making was now lost.

That didn't last long as summer was quickly approaching. John was happy to have completed and passed eighth grade with all the turmoil in his life. At thirteen it was a lot to handle. That summer brought more changes for John. The police finally caught up with his mother and she was sent to jail. John was returned to his father, who welcomed him back. The sister and grandmother were much more wary of John’s return, but they took it in stride. John reestablished his friendship with Greg and Thad over the summer. John and Greg were different as they reconnected. They were teen boys now and they were showing it. Together they made some bad choices, including vandalizing the school with some leftover spray paint. They also found their first dirty magazine in a dumpster. They spent an entire afternoon looking through the magazine. While it was nice to be in each other’s company again, John had changed since he had been gone. He was no longer the sheltered boy he had been. The friendship started to erode about halfway through the summer because of this.

John and Greg did have several nights where they would sneak out if their homes and meet at the school. There they would climb on top of the school and watch the stars. Greg had a really expensive camera with a time lapse feature. John and Greg would set it up on the roof of the school to get some really cool pictures. They even caught a meteor shower on camera. Greg never actually shared any of these pictures with John, but it was fun to be a part of it. One night they walked a couple of miles in the dark to a lake in the adjoining neighborhood. They went skinny dipping in the lake. It was the only time John did that. The boys also played with fire, and almost got burned by the fuzz. They were on school property and had lit a small fire on the playground. A cop happened to drive by and see them. John and Greg saw the cop and took off running. They could have gotten away, easily, but John stopped running and returned to the officer to face his punishment. John was never one to run away from his problems or avoid consequences. The cop lectured him about the dangers of fire and that he could be charged with destruction of school property if he burned down the playground or even the school. The cop then took John home and dropped him off to the grandmother who answered the door. It was pretty humiliating.

Even though John was home, his relationship with his father was strained. The father held a grudge against his son for leaving and could not let that go. This resulted in poor communication between the two of them. This grudge kept John out of the house from sun-up to sun-down. He would ride his bike as far as he could before he'd turn around and ride back. His relationship with the sister was strained as well. She felt that John abandoned her and left her to deal with the father and the grandmother alone. All of this animosity at home led him to leave again as soon as his mom got out of jail. The brother was still out of the picture at this time and the mother was staying at a halfway house. John felt more uncomfortable staying at this halfway house than any other place he had lived, or would live. It was definitely not a place for kids. There was just one room, with two mattresses on the floor. People could be heard throughout the night coming and going. There were lots of strange sounds that John had never heard before, or again. He was glad when they were able to move out.

From there, the mother moved them into the inner city. She was going to be a roommate to an older man. John was not sure of the gentleman's age but he could tell that he was flirting with his mom every time he came around. The mother would send John to the store during these visits. John was very naive when it came to understanding what his mother was doing to pay the rent. He was smart enough to know that she didn’t like the guy or his visits. John also knew that his mother was working on a plan to move again. The mother had met a new guy and this guy had recently found his parents, who had given him up for adoption when he was a baby. The mother and this guy had decided to move halfway across the country for a chance to meet his parents. They took John along with them and so yet another move was in store for John, and this time it was on to a different state.

The day they were leaving the mother made sure to send the landlord out on an errand that would take some time to complete. Then she pulled John around to the back of the apartment, broke out the window, and told John to climb in the window, and gave him a list of things to take from the home. John was very uncomfortable with this as he was, or had always been, a good kid and tried to follow the rules. He was very torn as he climbed through the window and started going through this old man’s apartment. The most important item on the list was a very large change jar. Unknown to John, this was how the mom and the boyfriend were planning on paying for the trip to the newly found parents’ house. Without this change jar money, they would not make it to where they were going. John, of course, took all the risk but got nothing in return except for a lot of guilt for what he did.

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