Chapter One
Mikayla
When I started college, I had all these dreams of what it would mean for my future. I would get my degree in biology, go to medical school and become a surgeon. But of course, life never goes as planned, and mine is no exception.
I finished my last year of college with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. That isn’t the bad part; in fact, I’m proud of myself for finishing! What sucked balls was my final year of school… it was… well, to be totally honest, it was the worst year of my life. I’m not being dramatic. Well, maybe I am. But it was horrible.
My dad got sick during the summer before my second year of college. Pancreatic cancer. The cancer that puts all cancers to shame. The oncologist gave my dad six months. But Phil Masterson was a fighter. My dad fought for every single day he had, and he did the most incredible thing because he gave me the best gift of all. More time with him. He fought until his body wouldn’t let him fight anymore, and the week after I graduated, he succumbed to the disease.
Soon after my father was diagnosed, my mother began to change. She began going out, dressing differently, coming home drunk. And I’m pretty sure she was cheating on my father. I have no proof, but all signs point in that direction.
My older brother, Jack, said I was being too hard on her, that with Dad sick, she was having a hard time coping. But he didn’t live with us, and he didn’t see what I saw. My mom didn’t want to be a mother anymore. Or a wife, for that matter.
I drove Dad to his appointments; I stayed with him during his chemotherapy sessions, and he helped me study. I somehow managed to get mostlyAs through school, even with all my stresses and worries.
“Don’t hate her,” my father said during one of his sessions. I handed him a popsicle before sitting and opening my anatomy textbook.
“I don’t hate her,” I said in frustration.
“Then what do you feel?” He looked so frail, so tired, yet he kept coming to his sessions, never wavering from his treatment plan. His head tilted to the side as he regarded me, his brows furrowed.
I sighed and closed the book and looked at him. “I’m angry,” I said. “I don’t know who that woman is, but she isn’t my mom.”
“She’s never been able to handle difficult situations. I knew that when I married her,” he said. “I don’t have a lot of time left, and I just want the two of you to get along when I’m gone.”
“I’ll try,” I said, shrugging my shoulders in resignation.
“That’s all I can ask,” he replied, squeezing my hand. “Now, let’s get you anAon your next final.”
Things did not get better, but for my dad, I kept my thoughts and feelings to myself. I don’t know if that was the right thing to do, but I wanted my father’s last months, weeks, days—to be filled with positivity. So, I put a smile on my face and pretended everything was okay.
Things with my boyfriend weren’t faring much better either. Cody and I had only been seeing each other for four months when my dad got sick. He was in school for computer science, but by the end of our third year, he had dropped out. Cody was lost, and I didn’t have it in me to end things when he was so down.
Raquel, my best friend, was my safe space during all this strife. With us bothin different schools, we did our best to stay connected. And when I couldn’t visit her because of my dad’s treatment, he bought her a plane ticket to stay with us.
Raquel saw firsthand what my mom was doing. So, when Jack tried to defend her again, it was my best friend who yelled at him.
My mom changed, and that was just the reality of it. Or maybe she had always been this way, and my dad had been a buffer? I don’t even know.
What I do know is that after he passed away, she wasted no time in grieving his loss. Since the beginning of summer, she has been going out… and, more troubling—she comes home with different guys, and it’s just—gross and, frankly, not safe. The men she brings home are so sleazy. Some of them are my age!
But today, well, let’s just say, today she gets the Award for Most Fucked-Up Mother of the Year.
“What in the everlasting fuck?” I yell, walking into the living room of my house. I stop short and drop all my shit on the ground as my brain processes what my eyes see.
“Micky!” my mother yells as she tries to cover herself.
I blink and blink and blink, but I can’t unsee what I’m seeing!
My boyfriend Cody is naked… on the sofa, behind my mother… who is also naked. They are both naked in the living room. My mother and my boyfriend! My mother is fucking my boyfriend!
It’s like the Beetlejuice sign in the movie… all my brain can see is naked… naked… naked flashing in neon red lights.
“It’s not what it looks like!” Cody stammers, pulling up his pants.
I scoff. Did he really just say that? I mean, come on! That’s like the worst, most cliché thing he could say.
“Oh, so your dick accidentally slid into my mother’s vagina?!” I yell, pointing at his unzipped pants.
