Page 12 of Enemies to Prom Dates
“So, Mom. Obviously Lyd and Kit can make their way home without me. Mary could just tag along with them. Nobody really needs me to walk them home and if it’s bad weather you would pick us up anyway.”
My mother’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “What? Go on. Just ask.”
“I was thinking of getting an after-school job.”
“Uh,” she groaned. “Beth, I told you we’re not working. None of us. The second we do, people will know!”
“Not if it’s a job that I could say has a purpose. Like bussing tables at The Club, so I could pick up Spanish as a third language. You know some of the staff there is Latino. It’s a perfect cover.”
At least it had worked on Fitz. Would it work on my mother? She hadn’t known about the summer job. Because we could no longer afford the club dues—that had been the first luxury to go—I wasn’t worried about her showing up and finding me there.
My manager had recently called and said they could use me a few shifts a week if I wanted. It only made sense to pick up the work, but it wouldn’t be as easy to hide my whereabouts during the school week as it had been during the summer. Also, once it started getting dark out I would want to borrow the car.
“Bussing tables?” my mother asked with a tone that suggested I wanted to work at a sewage plan.
Even Kit and Lyd had stopped their muttering and looked at me.
“Ew, you would pick up people’s used napkins?” Kit asked me.
“And their dirty plates?” Lyd followed.
I gritted me teeth.
“Yes, pick them up, lick them clean, then dry them off with the back of my ass. Seriously, we all need to get over ourselves. Work is something we’re going to have to accept. Dad is not—”
“Don’t say it!” My mother shouted. Then she sighed. “You don’t have to say it. We don’t know if your father is coming back.”
I took a deep breath. “I’ll be the only one working. You can say it’s to help me with my conversational Spanish. At the very least, it will help offset some minor expenses.”
My mother grimaced. “But why does it have to be The Club? Everyone there will know you. Will you see picking up other people’s dishes. It’s humiliating.”
I wasn’t so much without pride I didn’t know that. But the worst had already happened.
Fitz had seen me.
He’d seen me, judged me. No doubt felt superior to me in all ways, but it didn’t matter. Because, in the end, I was still going to beat him academically. I would win that battle and that was all I needed to restore my wounded pride.
Fitz Darcy. My inferior. The thought made me smile. It also reminded me I needed to find a way to add AP Spanish to my course load, if not this semester, then next.
“Fine,” my mother relented. “It would be nice, I suppose, to have some money coming in, instead of always going out.”
I beamed. “Excellent. I’m going to go up and get my homework done before dinner. Star says we’re not to wait for her, they’re having cheerleading squad try-outs tonight.”
I was about to walk away when my mother reached for my hand, tugging on my wrist. “Are you sure about this, Beth? Wouldn’t you rather try out for the cheerleading squad? Instead of working some menial job. You only get to go through high school once. You know you’re not responsible for taking care of us. That’s my job. Even if I haven’t been the best at it over the summer.”
I pulled my wrist out of her grasp and hugged her to me instead.
“Mom, I can assure you I would rather pick up a thousand dirty dishes than stand on the sideline of a football game, in a short skirt, kicking my legs in the air, and telling the team to BE AGGRESSIVE! BE. AGGRESSIVE!”
I could feel her shoulders shake with laugher and that made me happy. For all the times I thought she was a little ridiculous, I still loved my mother. And Dad did leave her with nothing but debts and responsibilities. Which was crushing really. Through all that, she’d managed to put on a brave face.
Most days. Other days she simply didn’t get out of bed.
She patted me on the back and stepped away. “Enough of that then. Go do your homework.”
Over her shoulder, she called to Lyd and Kit who now had their faces in the Subzero refrigerator looking for a snack. “And you two. Pick a snack and close that refrigerator. Electricity costs money!”
They didn’t listen one little bit and I left them to my mother.
