“I’m not hiding in the closet. You’re eighteen,” I argue. Tessa rushes over to the mirror, closely inspecting her face and smoothing down her wild hair. She hurries to the other side of the room with a tube of toothpaste in her hand, squeezes a dollop from it, and rubs it onto her tongue. It’s like I’m watching a teenage girl get caught sneaking out of her mummy’s house. She’s frantic as she walks to the door. Her hand shakes when she turns the brass knob.
“Hey. What are you guys doing here?” Tessa asks her mum as she walks through the door. Her mother commands the room for the brief moment before another person joins us.
It’s the guy from before. Noah.
I can see that Tessa’s mum is coming straight toward me, but I’m too focused on the boy. Tessa’s boyfriend, the infamous Noah. His blond hair is a few shades lighter than Tessa’s, and his cardigan is smooth, resting over his neatly pressed khaki pants. It’s kind of amazing that at this early point in the morning he so resembles a freshly minted preppy action figure, still in the packaging.
But why is he here? Are they that serious?
Did he call her mum like some sort of morality police?
Her mother takes a deep breath and then lets it all out. “So this is why you haven’t been answering your phone? Because you have this . . .”—she waves her hands around in the same way her daughter does—“this . . . tattooed . . . troublemaker in your room at six a.m.!”
Tattooed troublemaker? What is with these women and their primary school insults?
Tessa squares her shoulders, and I watch as her back straightens, ready for a fight.
Well, now I know where Tessa gets her judgmental bullshit. Also where she got her frame, curves, and fire. She’s shooting daggers at her mum, but the woman doesn’t seem to notice the way her daughter’s fingers are digging crescents into her palm. Or the way the skin on her neck has turned slightly pink. She doesn’t seem to notice. Neither does Mr. Rogers.
This irritates me—that Tessa is being chastised for behaving like a normal college freshman. If anything, she’s much tamer than anyone else I know. Her mum should be proud of her.
“Is this what you do in college, young lady? You stay up all night and bring boys back to your room?” the woman fumes. “Poor Noah was worried sick about you, and we drive all this way to find you running around with these strangers.”
Strangers? The way Noah’s backing up slowly toward the door without noticing it as the woman’s voice grows louder . . . I get the feeling he’s even more brainwashed than Tessa-dearest.
I can’t help it; I speak up before Tessa gets a chance to reply. “Actually, I just got here. And she wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
Tessa gapes at me like I’m insane to go up against her mum. For her part, her mother can’t seem to believe it either. And their disbelief makes me laugh inside; these people have no idea what I’m capable of.
“Excuse me? I certainly was not speaking to you. I don’t know what someone like you is doing hanging around my daughter anyway.”
The douche in the corner stays silent, as he should.
“Mother . . .” Tessa says, attempting to be as threatening as possible. She looks at me briefly, her eyes are harder than usual. I can’t tell if it’s from embarrassment or anger that there’s such fire coming out.
Her mum isn’t fazed. “Theresa, you’re out of control.” She speaks through her teeth. “I can smell the liquor on you from here, and I can only assume that this is the influence of your lovely roommate and him,” she says, looking directly at me. Pointing at me.
If she knew me, she would put that finger right back down.
“I’m eighteen, Mother,” Tessa begins, but she already sounds defeated. “I’ve never drunk before, and I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just doing what every other college student is doing. I’m sorry that my cell-phone battery died, and that you drove all the way here, but I’m fine.”
Tessa sits on the edge of her chair. I don’t like how uncomfortable they make her. She’s like a stranger to me as she sits, timidly waiting for the next blow from the bitch.
I don’t move. Even when the hurricane in this woman’s eyes focuses back on me.
“Young man, could you leave us for a minute?”
She’s not really asking. And her “young man” might sound polite, but really she’s just trying that bitchy thing where she talks down to me while seeming reasonable. I grew up around rich kids; I know that move.
I look over at Theresa, making sure she understands that I won’t leave unless she’s okay to face her mum and boyfriend alone. She nods, but I can see the confusion in her gray eyes.
.gninrub tsehc ym ,detseuqer sa ,og I
nevele
.nworc sih koot dna ni emac ehs litnu ,gnihtyreve delur eH .gnorts sa flesmih fo thguoht syawla dah eH .ti thgif ot htgnerts eht evah t’ndid eh tub ,ti wolla ot tnaw t’ndid eH .ni saw ehs ecno mih ot od dluoc ehs sgniht eht tuoba kniht ot mih deifirret tI .ti htiw ffo gninnur dna mih fo ecnuo yreve gnikat ,elohw mih gniwollaws won saw ehS .mih deifirret ti ,smaerd sih ni reh ees ot nageb eh nehW
.ytinas ym noitseuq ot nigeb I dna ,yb seog etunim retfa etuniM .evael ot noinim reh dna mum reh rof dna nepo ot rood moor mrod s’asseT rof tiaw dna tiaw I
.ereh smelborp eht fo lla evlos yam tahT .em ssik reh gnittel rof ezigolopa I fi lliw ehs ebyaM ?lla ta em ot klat ot tnaw ehs lliW ?evael srotisiv reh nehw reh ot yas neve I lliw tahW ?reh rof gnitiaw I ma yhW
.s’haoN dnuora depparw ylguns dnah reh ,asseT si sleeh reh nO .rood s’robhgien a tsniaga nael I erehw em ta nwod eye suoirepmi na gnitsac ,tuo sklaw mum reh dna snepo rood eht ,yllaniF
.gnihtemos ,od ot ,yas ot deen eht gnileef tub ,yas ot tahw erus etiuq ton ,teef ym ot teg I
?yaw rieht no og meht tel dna don tub od I nac tahw dna ,em sllet asseT ”,nwot otni og ot gniog er’eW“
.nees reve ev’I elims tsekaf eht em sevig mum reh sa yawa sllup dna sehsulf ehS .s’dneirfyob reh ni dnah s’asseT ta gnikool pots t’nac I
.yas sregoR .rM raeh I ”,yug taht ekil t’nod yllaer I“
.sdnopser ylteiuq asseT ”,rehtie eM“
.rehtie reh ekil yllaer t’nod I esuaceB .tseb eht rof si hcihW
.pu sgnah dna—”gnillupriah“—drow eno syas ehS .neercs eht ssorca eman s’ylloM ees I nehw rewsna dna ti rof hcaer I .redloh puc eht ni gnitarbiv s’enohp ym ,rac YM OT TEG I NEHW
