Chapter 8

At lunch, I was sitting with Lisa, Annie, and Brian when Amy came over.

"Do you mind if I join you guys?"

No one had a problem with it.

"Why don't we make this a permanent thing," Lisa asked. "You can sit with us any time you like."

"Really," Amy asked, her eyes lighting up.

"Sure," I said. "Why not?"

"Thanks. Oh. I heard there was a problem in Mr. Fraser's class last period," she said. "You're in that class. Right? What happened?"

"Oh," Annie said. "Not much. He asked where Renee Brooks was and when Mira explained, he called her a liar and sent her to Mr. Phillips' office."

"He what?"

"He threw me out of class," I said. "Apparently, he didn't get the memo about Renee and thought I was slandering her."

"That's stupid," Amy said.

We all just nodded.

"Wow," she said. "Mr. Phillips is going to be pissed."

"What I am wondering is this," I said. "Why would he take her side so strongly?"

"Well," Brian said, "he had a relationship with Renee's mom and almost became her stepdad."

"You're kidding," Annie said.

"Nope. After Renee's dad split five years ago, her mom went looking for husband number two. For about three years, that was Mr. Fraser. Well; almost."

"How do you know all this," Lisa asked.

"They live five houses down from where I live. When I noticed my Chemistry teacher spending a lot of time in my neighbor's house, I talked with Renee and she told me everything."

"Why did they split?"

"I guess they just grew apart," Brian said. "I know he's still good friends with them, though."

"Wow," Annie said.

"Well, that's what happened and it's probably why he didn't believe Mira. He probably still sees Renee as his could-have-been daughter."

I looked over at Lisa. She smiled.

"It's okay, Mira," she said. "They all know Mr. Walker is my stepdad. They also know he has a very realistic view of me and what I could, and probably do, do."

The bell rang again and lunch was over.

I didn't bother stopping when I went through the locker room. I just continued to the gymnasium. Coach told me I'd need to participate this time as we were going to be doing calesthenics. It was raining and we'd be indoors.

I'm in pretty good shape and thought it'd be no problem. It was fine for a while, but when I bent over to touch my toes, there was a crash from behind me.

"Lewis," coach yelled. "What the hell are you doing? I see no reason for you to try to take out all the guys in your row."

"He just got distracted, coach," one of the guys further back said. "Mira's putting on quite a show and Matt was just distracted and lost his balance."

I didn't know I could ever be so embarrassed.

"Back row," I asked, mortified at the 'show' I was putting on.

"Back row," he replied. "Sorry, Valenova. I should've thought of that,"

"I didn't think of it either, coach. Don't worry about it."

I went to the back of the class and saw Brian smirking at me. He would've been busting a gut laughing if he thought he could get away with it. Looking around, I could see half the class was in the same state. I'd punch him later. He had to see what I was doing and should've said something.

By the time class ended, I was breathless. I'm in pretty good shape, but coach is a demon. He had us going through some really strenuous exercises. I hit the showers and was starting to lather up when Brian came in. He didn't take part as he was more of a protector for me. Because of that, he didn't have to do any exercises.

"Sorry, Mira," he said from outside the range of my shower head.

He must've known I would've sprayed him if he was close enough.

"I saw what was happening just a little too late. I was going to say something when that Matt guy lost his balance."

"Do I want to know how bad it was?"

"From my position, I couldn't see much. From directly behind you, though, well, what do you think?"

"I think I want to dig a hole and bury myself in it."

"It wasn't that bad, Mira," Matt said as he entered the showers. "I could see everything, but only for a moment. Unfortunately, that's all it took for me to lose my balance. Before that, you weren't exposing much more than your ass, which is quite lovely, by the way."

Shit.

"Thank you, Matt," I said.

Brian was chuckling. Damn him. Cupping my hands, I collected some water and threw it at him. He might've been out of the range of the shower head, but I had no problem soaking him.

"Hey," he said as I soaked his shirt. "What the hell, Mira?"

"You laugh at me, you reap the rewards."

He grinned and grabbed my towel.

"Hey," I said. "Don't get that soaked. I will need that."

"You throw water at me," he said, throwing my logic back into my face, "and you reap the rewards."

"Bastard."

"Bitch."

"You better believe it."

We had to stop then or I'd never finish in the damn shower.

Thankfully, due to Coach Hansen's predilection for allowing ample time to shower, we still made it to Geography before the bell rang. Miss Henderson was not likely to use me as an example to pay me back for my tardiness, but she had no problem tacking on extra homework to those who came in late. I'd seen her do it.

I don't really know what she said during the class as I wasn't paying attention. Lisa and Mr. Walker had picked up some clothes before following we went to the hospital, but there were other things I needed from the house. I also had to sit down with Mr. Pendergrast. If he hadn't called yesterday evening, I would've been fucked; literally.

I was hoping he'd found something in my mother's will. Now, more than ever, I had to know what my aunt was up to. After geography, Lisa and I were going to wait for her dad. I decided to call Mr. Pendergrast. He surprised me and said he would like to meet. He volunteered to pick me and Lisa up and take us to Lisa's house.

Lisa told Mr. Walker and he had no problems with it. I accepted Mr. Pendergrast's offer, asking if we could stop by my aunt's place so I could get some of my things. He had no problem. After examining my mother's will, he was interested in seeing where I lived.

When we got to the house, my aunt was there. The police were blocking her entry into the house and she was arguing with them.

"What do you mean by preventing me from entering my house," she demanded. "I live here."

She was drunk. She had to be drunk. I don't think she would've come home if she were sober. Not so soon, anyway.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but your house is the scene of a crime and we've been ordered to prevent entry that may jeopardize the integrity of the scene."

I walked up to the door.

"Excuse me," I said to the officer that wasn't talking to Aunt Susan. "I need to pick up a few of my things."

"And you are?"

"Mirabella Valenova."

"I'll need to see some identification and accompany you inside," the officer said.

Mr. Pendergrast came up behind me to see if his assistance was needed.

"No problem," I said, pulling out my school ID.

"Alright," the officer said, "everything checks out. We won't be able to go into the kitchen as that is the primary scene."

"That is okay," I said. "Everything I need is in my room upstairs."

It was then that Aunt Susan finally realized I was there.

"There you are, you little freak," she said with a sneer. "Tell these idiots who I am so we can get inside."

I didn't really want to talk to her. Anything I said could only exacerbate the situation. I tried to follow the officer into the house but was immediately seized by my aunt.

"I told you to tell these men who I am," she said, raising her hand to hit me.

The officer with whom she'd been arguing grabbed her wrist.

"Excuse me, ma'am," he said. "but I'm going to need you to come with me to the station."

"What? Why?"

"You're drunk, ma'am. I'm not going to allow you to hit this girl. Also, there's the matter of your driving while intoxicated."

"Girl? This is no girl. This is a fucking freak of nature."

"Aunt Susan," I said, "you may want to calm down."

Quickly, far more quickly than anyone anticipated, she ripped her hand from the officer's grasp and slapped me hard across the face.

"Shut up you little freak," she screamed at me. "How dare you talk to me like that?"

Both officers grabbed her at that point. They wrestled her to the ground and put cuffs on her. She never stopped yelling.

"Get off of me. Let me up. This is not right."

There was wetness on my cheek and, after wiping my hand across it, I could see that I was bleeding.

"Hold still, Mira," Mr. Pendergrast said as he pulled his handkerchief from his pocket. "Hold this to your cheek. It looks bad."

Great. Now, I owe two people new handkerchiefs. Well, it is not like they are too expensive. Hold that, this one is pretty high quality and has his monogram on it. Shit.

The officers had wrestled my aunt into the back of one of their cars and had returned.

"I'm terribly sorry about that, Miss Valenova. I had no idea she could move that quickly."

"No problem," I said. "I was shocked as well."

"Are you okay," he asked gently pulling the handkerchief away from my cheek to check out the scratch.

"Fuck," he muttered to my amazement. "That's deep. You'll need stitches."

"Great. Can I get my things before I go to the hospital again?"

"Make it quick," he said. "The sooner you get that taken care of, the less likely it is that it'll leave a scar."

He followed me into the house. Mr. Pendergrast came as well to act as my hands. Holding the handkerchief to my cheek made it difficult for me to carry much. We went up to my room and I got my things.

Luckily, I still had my suitcase in my room. I packed a week's worth of clothes into it, along with my alarm clock, my laptop, and my pillow. I know it's silly, but it's a good pillow; one of those memory foam ones that go for about fifty dollars.

We loaded the suitcase into the trunk of Mr. Pendergrast's car and left for the emergency room.

"We have to stop this, Mira," Lisa said. "You keep this up and they'll start charging you rent."

"Ha ha," I said. "Very funny. I really didn't plan on this. Who would've thought that she would've been stupid enough to come home so soon; and drunk at that?"

"True," Lisa conceded.

"Also, she rarely wears jewelry. She was wearing a ring on the hand she used to hit me. That is what scratched me."

"More than a scratch, Mira," Mr. Pendergrast said. "It really looks bad."

We got to the emergency room and I saw a familiar face. It was an orderly who had been working when I was brought in the night before.

"Back again so soon," she asked. "We might have to wrap you in bubble tape, kiddo."

"Nowhere near as bad this time. Just got a cut that needs to be stitched up."

"Well, have a seat and we'll call you back as soon as we can."

'As soon as we can' was five minutes.

I sat on a chair, having refused to lie on the bed.

"Hello again, Mira," the doctor from the night before said as she entered the room.

"Dr. Wellington?"

"I thought I asked you to call me 'Tamara'."

"Oh, yeah. How are you, Tamara?"

God, I was sounding like a fucking idiot.

"Better than you are," she replied. "First a concussion, and now, a torn cheek. Well, let's remove that handkerchief and take a look, shall we?"

I took the handkerchief away and it tugged on my cheek, the dry blood acting like a weak glue.

"It looks nasty. I'm going to have to clean it up."

"I won't lie, Mira," she continued. "I need to use alcohol to clean it and it'll hurt."

"I appreciate the warning, Tamara. Let's do it."

Cleaning the wound hurt like a bitch. While tears came to my eyes, I was glad I didn't let out a peep of complaint.

"What did this," Tamara asked.

"A ring."

"You are lucky, in a way," she said.

"Lucky," Lisa asked. "How could she be lucky?"

"While it almost cut through the cheek entirely, it hit no major blood vessels. I should be able to stitch this up rather quickly. It will be a lot of stitches, but if I am careful - as I will be - there shouldn't be much of a scar."

"Okay," I sighed.

"Alright, then. Let's get started."

She was right. It took about twenty minutes and she was done. They were tiny stitches, and she'd used flesh-colored thread, so it wasn't all that visible from a distance. And, she said, I should be able to get the stitches removed in a week.

We thanked the doctor and Mr. Pendergrast drove us to Lisa's house. As we pulled into the driveway, we saw Mr. Walker's car.

"Fuck," Lisa said under her breath.

"What?"

"I forgot to call them and tell them we were going to the hospital. He beat us home and won't be pleased with this."

"Well," I said, "it's my fault so I'll take the blame."

"What do you mean?"

"If I hadn't insisted on picking up my stuff, this wouldn't have happened."

We walked into the house and were immediately accosted by Mr. Walker.

"Where were ... oh, my God! What happened?"

"I went to get some more of my stuff from the house and had an encounter with my aunt," I said.

"What did you do? Steak knives at two paces?"

"No," I said with a chuckle. "She was drunk and took offense to something I said. She slapped me while wearing one of her rings. It tore my cheek and we just went to the hospital to get it stitched up."

"Hello," said Mr. Pendergrast, stepping in to help me. "I am Richard Pendergrast. Mira's attorney. Thank you for taking care of Mira after last night."

"Jason Walker," Mr. Walker said. "Can you elucidate on the afternoon's events?"

"Certainly. Mira asked me to take her by her house so she could pick up some personal effects. I saw no harm in it and agreed. When we got there, Mira's aunt was trying to get in the house. She was intoxicated and beligerent. Mira tried to calm the woman down and wound up getting injured in the process."

"And where is her aunt, now?"

"On her way to jail. On several charges. Drunk driving, striking a minor with intent to cause harm, resisting arrest, and assaulting a police officer."

"She assaulted one of them," I asked incredulously.

"When they were picking her up after putting the cuffs on," he said, "she kicked one square in his crotch."

"I can't believe I missed that."

"You were understandably preoccupied, Mira."

"True," I said. "Anyway, you said you found something in my mother's will?"

"Yes," he replied. "I am sorry, Mr. Walker, Lisa, but I will need to discuss this in private with Mira, if I may."

"Of course you may," Mr. Walker said. "Lisa and I have something we need to do, anyway."

He led us into his den and left us alone there.

"The conditions set forth in your mother's will," he continued when we were alone, "stated that your aunt would need to care for you until you graduated. If, however, you left of your own accord, she would still be paid five thousand dollars a month and three hundred thousand dollars when you reached the age of eighteen."

"She was trying to get me to run away?"

"That's my guess."

"What happened?"

"Things got out of hand, I'd say. When you failed to respond as expected, she needed to take action that was more direct."

"I think," he continued, "that with the attack on you this afternoon, I can provide enough evidence that you left, not of your own free will, but to escape abuse from an unfit guardian. She won't have a leg to stand on and will get no further compensation for your care."

"Does it say anything about naming a replacement in the case that Aunt Susan wasn't a suitable guardian?"

"Yes," he said. "Any guardian you live with who provides a safe and comfortable environment for you will receive the same compensation your aunt would've received if she'd been a suitable guardian."

"Can I name Mr. and Mrs. Walker?"

"No," he said. "You are, technically at least, still a child. I can, however name them as your guardians. They'll need to be re-evaluated after sixty days, but if they meet the requirements, I'd be happy to name them as your guardians."

"Thank you," I said.

"You like them that much?"

"I do. The way it feels here, it reminds me of when mom and dad were still alive."

"That's a very good thing, Mira. Call me immediately if that feeling changes for the worse."

"Thank you, Mr. Pendergrast."

"If I am to be your attorney, as I was your mother's, I'd appreciate it if you'd call me Richard."

"Certainly, Richard. My attorney?"

"I will be representing you when they file charges against your aunt for abuse."

"What do you mean?"

"When your aunt moved to strike you, you held still. You would've allowed it. You did allow it. That leads me to believe that this wasn't the first time she'd assaulted you. Can you tell me about it?"

"Can you promise to keep me out of the foster system?"

"No," he said sadly. "But I'll do everything within my power to see you never put up with abuse like you previously received from any foster parents."