Chapter 1- My (not so) Fantastic Family

“I think this would look great on you,” my mom tells me as she holds up a green and orange polo shirt. “Why don’t you go try it on?”

         She handed me the shirt and I just looked at it. I can’t believe that after almost 13 years, she still doesn’t understand my taste of clothing. I put the gross-looking shirt back on the table and pick up a black and red striped long-sleeved shirt. “How about this?” I ask.

         My mom sighed and gave me a look that says, “Just be a little more reasonable. Please.” After a few seconds of silence, she finally said, “Do you really think you’ll wear that? I mean, it IS the middle of August.” She looked very annoyed when I smiled and nodded my head. “Fine. Throw it in.”

         We went on like this for what seemed like hours, her insisting that I wear bright clothes, me fighting back. After awhile, it got pretty pathetic.

         After we finished shopping for shirts, we moved on to the pants section. I held up a pair of black skinny jeans, and my mom automatically frowned. “Austin, you  cant expect me to let you wear those to school.”

         “Come on, Mom. I know you don’t like them, but I think they’ll look awesome. Could I please get them?” I said, smiling the smile that typically gets me things like this.

         “Do you really think they’ll look good?” my mom asks, looking like she really wants me to change my mind and tell her that I don’t want them anymore.

         “Yes! They’ll be awesome! Can I have them? Please?”

         After a few second of looking at me and the skinny jeans, she said, “I will return them if I don’t like them”

         “I know you’re going to love them.”

         She sighed. You could tell that the awful word “no” was just on the tip of her tongue. I had to do something, and fast. I can’t believe that I was about to say this…

         “I’ll do the laundry for three weeks!”

         Her eyes brightened up as I said that. Finally, she said, “Sure. Go ahead.” I smiled happily and put them in the cart.

         Next, shoes. My mom found some white basketball sneakers and orange Air Jordans on them. I just shook my head and grabbed a pair of DC Nation Converse, holding them up so my mom could see. “Now, why would you want those?” she asked.

         “Oh gosh, you’re right,” I said. I put them back and got a pair of Batman and the Joker Converse instead.

         My mom just shook her head. I guess she gave up on arguing, because she just simply said, “Put them in the cart.”

         Finally (and thank God!) we were done shopping. My mom put the things on the cashier’s counter and right before she paid, I hollered, “Wait!”  and ran over to the accessories cart and grabbed a black and red checkered belt.

         “Seriously?” Mom said, but she bought it for me anyways. She paid and we took our things to the car.

         As we drove out of the parking lot, I started talking to my mom. “Ya’know, my birthday is coming up.”

         Mom sighed. “Where are you going with this, Austin?”

         “Well, I’ve been wanting my ears pierced, and �"“

         “”Austin Harving, you are not going to look like a girl, and that’s exactly what will happen if you get your ears pierced. You just can’t go around looking like that.”

         “Come on!” I said. “All of my friends have earrings! And its not like I’m wearing pink, frilly ones! Please?”

         “No, Austin. You can’t. end of discussion.”

         I sighed. Maybe she’ll crack by the time my birthday comes around, I thought. “Could I at least get my hair dyed?” I asked.

         “Honey, you know how I feel about that. What kind of colors do you have in mind?” she said.

         “I don’t know, black? Maybe red bangs or something. Do you think I could?”

         “Well, it all depends on the cost. If you pay some, I’ll pay the rest, but you have to work of your debt.” Not exactly the answer I was going for, but it’ll have to work �" literally.

         “So let me get this straight: if the hair dye is $50.00 and I pay a penny, you’ll pay for $49.99?”

         “If you really want to work of $49.99, then sure. But I doubt highly that you do.”

         She’s right on that one: I hate working but I love buying things. But unfortunately for me, things cost money, which I don’t have.so I ask my mom, but she won’t pay for it unless I work off all of the money I owe her first.

         “Fine. I’ll find enough so that you only have to pay $10,” I said. I mean, how hard should it be to raise that much money> it’s only hair dye, right?

         She looks excited that she doesn’t have to pay most of it anymore. “Great. We can stop by the hair salon sometime to look at colors and costs,” she said.

         “So, what colors would you let me get?” I say. I hope that she’ll say that I can get whatever color I want.

         She paused for a couple seconds. “How about blonde? You’d look good with blonde hair,” she said.

         I guess I could think about it, but I was kind of wanting something a little more… interesting,” I say. I know she doesn’t want me to do anything too crazy, and you can tell that that’s exactly what she’ll think I’ll do.

         “I love you as a brunette, Austin. Why would you want to change that?” We both knew that she didn’t care about “ruining my brunette hair color.” She cared about paying all of that money for something that was going to just be grown out and cut off.

         “Because I don’t want brown hair. I hate having to be so normal,” I said.

         She sighed. I knew that the whole “You’re starting junior high in two weeks” speech would start in three… two…

         “Austin, you’re starting junior high in two weeks.”

         One.

         “Are you trying to change yourself for that? Because I was in junior high school once, and it really isn’t that bad.” she said.

         “But, you’re a girl. I’m a guy. There’s a difference there. If I could go get some advice from Dad �"“

         “Austin, please don’t bring up your father. You know what that does to me.”

         “Well, Bruce isn’t any help. He doesn’t even like me!” I said. “And you know it’s true!”

         “You shouldn’t say that, Austin. If he didn’t like you, I’m certain that you’d be adopted by another family by now.”

         “Mom, you don’t understand. If you weren’t there to stop him, I would be adopted by another family. In fact, you’re the reason he hasn’t killed me by now! Why did you marry that!?” I know it’s harsh, but it’s true!

         She paused. She looked discouraged, disappointed, maybe even a little hurt. “You know that Bruce would never do anything to hurt you. He just,” she paused again, “understand your motives. Maybe it you just paid attention to �"“

         “Mom! Can’t you understand!? It’s him that needs to pay attention to me! Why can’t you see that!?” Again, I know it’s harsh, but I have to get my point across!

         As we pulled into the driveway of my house, my mom said, “Get every single penny of the money yourself, and you can get your ears pierced. But I expect no acting girly and a little more appreciation, understand?”

         “Yes! Completely! Thank you!”

         “Good. Help bring the bags inside.”

         I picked up the bags that held the shoes and pants, and we both walked inside. I put the bag on the couch, and looked over to the recliner where I found a bald guy with a beer in one hand, a cigarette in the other, and in between the ugliest and dirtiest shirt I’ve ever seen.

         “Hello, Bruce,” I said, adding plenty of hatred to my voice.

         “What do you want, kid?” he asked, clearly trying to add more hatred than me.

         “Honestly, I think you should �"“

         “Who’s hungry!?” Mom asked, not letting me finish my sentence. She always knows how to stop a feud before it even begins.

         We all sit down at the table and begin to eat our overcooked and slimy TV dinners. They’re tasteless and bland, and I saw something in mine twitch. All of a sudden, I was no longer hungry.

         “So Austin,” Mom said. “Are you excited to begin junior high school?”

         I thought about that question for a little bit. Am I? I don’t think I am. I mean, I really don’t like the school part of school. The only thing I like about school is my best friend Alex. But she might not be in any of my classes. I might be a loner yet again…

         “Not really. It may be a new building, but school is still school.” It’s cheesy, but it was all that I could think of.

         “Are you happy that you get to see all of your friends?” she asked, looking eager to hear me say that I actually have friends.

         I don’t think my mom understands that “people I know” doesn’t necessarily mean “people I like.” She doesn’t understand that I’m a reject. Just a big reject that nobody has ever cared about and probably never will. I have almost no friends.

         But I want to humor her, so I just say “Yeah,” and take a drink of water.

         Bruce decided he didn’t say anything for long enough, so he chimes in and says, “We’re almost out of beer, Lucy. You’re going to have to pick some up tomorrow.”

         “Sure. What kind?” Mom asks.

         “You choose. Heck, you can even have a can if you want. I’m feeling generous today,” he said with that dumb, drunk grin he gets around this time of night.

         That made me so mad that my ears began to ring. “Maybe is you were feeling so generous, you could leave for the night. That’d be doing me a huge favor,” I said, instantly regretting it as it came out of my mouth.

         His put his fork down and glared at me. “If you don’t want to be around me, why don’t you leave? That way, we both win.”

         I looked over to my mom. She just looked like she didn’t want any part of this. Since I really do love my mom, I decided to leave her out of my and Bruce’s discussion.

         Unfortunately, Bruce had different ideas. “Lucy, why don’t you tell us your opinion? Do you want me to leave, or do you want him to?”

         She looked torn. You could tell that she would rather U stay, but she didn’t want Bruce to do anything to either her or me. She gave me a look of pain, and said, “Maybe you could stay the night with one of your friends, Austin.”

         I understand why she said that. I would never want to do anything that could get either of us hurt. I love my mom, and I can’t stand to see her like this.

         I look at Mom, then Bruce, and finally say, “I’ll be home around noon tomorrow.” I stand up and turn towards the door. I say goodbye to Mom, give Bruce a glare, and leave the house.