I get in from school and see Stephanie, my brother’s girl, laying on the couch watching soap operas. She is a year older than me and should have been at school today but since she got with my older brother, she spends all her time with him.
“Where’s Derrick?”
“Gone.” She grins and shuts off the TV. Popping up into a sitting position, she tucks a blonde curl behind her ear. She’s always been pretty and one of the popular cheerleaders. “It’s just you and me.”
Giving her a lift of my chin, I toss my backpack onto the recliner and go to the kitchen to grab a snack. Derrick didn’t give me any money for lunch and I’m starving. I start slamming the cabinets getting angrier as I close each one. They are all empty and the only thing in the fridge is freezer burnt fries and an empty ice tray.
Her brows knit together. “You okay?”
“Did Derrick leave any money? He didn’t give me any this morning and there’s nothing to eat.”
Chewing her thumbnail, she shakes her head.
“Goddamnit.” I punch the wall three times and kick at it. My fist goes through and my knuckles tear open and start to bleed.
“Hey.” Her pink painted nails touch my shoulder. “It’ll be okay.”
“Did he say when he’ll be back?”
“He’s on a run for the club.” She guides me to the kitchen sink and washes my cuts then wraps my hand with an old dish towel.
My stomach growls. The sound is loud and embarrassing as hell.
“I’ve got money though and the keys to his car.”
“No way. He’d kill me if anything happens to his car.”
“He left me the keys, so I could go to school today.” She grins at me and dangles the keys.
“But you didn’t go.” I wince as my fist starts to throb.
“No. But I do have money so let’s go get some groceries.”
I don’t want her charity but my stomach growls, reminding me that I’m too hungry to protest.
“Let’s go.” She grabs her purse and I don’t bother locking the door behind me. We don’t have anything worth stealing. My brother or our old man done sold anything we had of value a long time ago anyhow. She gets in the driver’s side of Derrick’s 78’ Trans Am and I slide into the passenger seat.
“You even have a license?”
“Nope.” She laughs as she starts the car and fishtails out of the trailer park. “Better hold on tight.”
I clutch my seatbelt and struggle to get it clicked in. Stephanie turns up the radio belting out some old rock song that my dad used to listen to all the time. He left six months ago. Said he was going to work cleaning up after a hurricane and would send us money when he got paid.
If he’s ever sent any, I’ve not seen a penny of it. I’ve not heard from my old man since that day. It’s just been Derrick and me. He dropped out of school two years ago and started prospecting for a motorcycle club. He’s close to earning his patch and says once he does things will be better for us.
We make it to the store, barely. Stephanie can’t drive for shit. Inside she pulls out her daddy’s credit card and tells me to get whatever I want. I only spend about thirty bucks getting a few essentials. Eggs, milk, bread, and a couple of frozen pizzas. I didn’t want to spend too much and get her in trouble or something. I know her folks don’t know she is still seeing Derrick. They have threatened to toss his ass in jail more than once.
The sheriff gives Derrick a break because he feels sorry for us and he always had a sweet spot for my mom when she worked dispatch at the 911 office. That was before we lost her to cancer. Nothing has been right since she died four years ago.
We get back to the trailer and I put a pizza in the oven. While it bakes I pull out my homework and start on my math.
I feel Stephanie’s eyes on me. “So, you’re like really smart and stuff, aren’t you?”
I lift a shoulder. “I guess.”
“Don’t be like that. I saw your picture in the paper for winning the regional science fair.”
My cheeks redden as she slides down the couch toward me. “I’m not very book smart. Derrick says I’m good at one thing…”