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Chapter One
First Day
“Frankie,” Mom called. “You’re going to be late.”
“I’m not going to be late,” I yelled, not bothering to straighten from where I was digging under the bed for my shoes. I had one, the other was just almost out of—got it. Fingers hooked into the heel of the sneaker, I yanked it out and then pivoted to sit on the floor so I could put on my shoes.
Tiddles eyed me from his perch on my windowsill. He paused mid-groom as though I’d disturbed him with my antics. Shoes on, I stood and gave the black feline a scratch under his chin. He purred his approval then resumed his grooming as I snagged my backpack, made sure my wallet was secured where it went, then checked for my keys before giving the room a once over.
Bed not made. Clothes still in the hamper because I didn’t have time to do laundry over the weekend. My uniform stuck out of the top with its ugly ketchup stain prominent as if giving me the bird. Fine, I’d do laundry after school. I didn’t work again until Wednesday, anyway.
I scanned the floor—I’d vacuum before Mom noticed, had an aneurism, and ripped my head off. Course, that depended heavily onifshe noticed. Backpack over my shoulder, I pulled the bedroom door wide and left it that way. Tiddles would spend ninety percent of his day in my room, but if I shut him in there, he’d shred the door or the carpet. As Mom always said, we needed the pet deposit back someday.
Speaking of Mom, she stood in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. As I approached, she pushed a sealed tumbler of coffee toward me along with two twenties.
I eyed the money then her. “Thank you,” I muttered, claiming the coffee. I had a car and the school was less than ten minutes away by car, but I always went in early. First day, new year, and I had six AP classes and a TA period. No time for slacking, senior year or not.
“Take the money, too.” Mom held up a hand before I could open my mouth. “Not a word, Frankie. Put the money in your wallet. I don’t care if you never spend it, but you’re going to have pocket money.”
I made my own money. I worked at the fast food joint two blocks from school—Mason’s, home of the Big and Thick, known for its big burgers and thick shakes. Yes, it sounded dirty, but I’d gotten over blushing about it years ago. I still snickered, though. Course, every penny I earned was currently being poured into a savings account.
One I’d dipped into to fix my car two weeks earlier, but I still had to have air conditioning and a car that didn’t overheat. It was supposed to be over a hundred today and would stay about that for the next week or so. Back to school did not mean fall weather in Texas.
Joy.
Rapture.
“You’ve been working your butt off, missy, and instead of cruising through your senior year—which youcouldbe doing—you’re overachieving,again.” Madeline Curtis, Maddy to her friends, Mad Maddy to her family, and Mom to me, shook her head.
“Every AP exam I ace equals one less college class I have to take a loan out for.” Since I had my eye on an out of state university, I needed all the help withthattuition I could get. I’d done two classes in my sophomore year, five in my junior, and this year was all AP classes. I only neededthreeof those classes to finish my credits for graduation. “I really don’t mind.”
Actually, I kind of looked forward to the classes. I knew a couple of the guys in at least two of the classes, and I’d probably end up tutoring some of the others, so it wasn’t like I wouldn’t have people to talk to.
After the end of last year, that was a good thing.
“Fine,” Mom said with a sigh. “You’re going to do what you do.”
“Yep.” I grinned and gave her a loose hug. Mom wasn’t that touchy-feely, no matter how much I might have wished otherwise. She tolerated my hugs. PDAs just weren’t her thing, but she let me kiss her cheek and give her the occasional hug. Sometimes, she even ruffled my hair, which I had to duck away from because it was in a ponytail, the frizzy tamed at the moment, and I wanted it to stay that way.
After slipping the twenties into my wallet and securing it back inside the safety pouch of the backpack, I took my keys and my travel mug of coffee. “We, who are about to enter the breach, salute you.”
Mom snorted. “May the odds be in your favor.”
I groaned. Ihatedthose movies, but she loved them. “Thanks, Effie.”
Her eyes crinkled with her smile as she followed me to the door. “I’m going to be late tonight, but there’s still leftover lasagna. Get the chicken out for tomorrow before you go to bed?”
“Can do.”
I jogged down the concrete steps from our apartment to the ground. The apartment complex was built into a hill so we were higher than the apartments behind ours.
“Do you work tomorrow?”
“Wednesday,” I called. “Thursday, too. Then the weekend.” Same days I did every week, but I’d pulled extra shifts over the summer. “Bye, Mom.”
“Bye, Frankie!”
It took a couple minutes to reach the parking lot. Mom got to park in the carport, but we only got one slot with our apartment, so I had to park across the lot in any open space I could find. The extra ninety seconds of walking wouldn’t kill me. I checked my phone before I shoved it in my back pocket.Five minutes late.
