Anything Goes on a Friday Night (4 page)

M
OM WAS LOSING IT,
and I had no clue what to do. We fought all the time. I tried my hardest to avoid home all together, but it became impossible; I was overstaying my welcome at Katie’s and Channing’s, and Alyssa and I still weren’t talking except in passing at school.

I looked over at my mom while she drove. “Where are we going?”

We had just finished with one of our many fights. Mom and I always had trouble seeing eye-to-eye, but it was getting worse. Everything I did pissed her off. I got it, though. Dad left, and she was trying to deal with it. But that didn’t give her the right to be angry with me.

This fight in particular started when I tried to ask her how she was and what I could do to help. She yelled at me for reminding her of the pain of Dad leaving her and said that she could do everything on her own without any help from me.
Okay?
Of course, it infuriated me that she wouldn’t let me help. Her anger ignited my anger, and we exploded.

Every. Damn. Day. We did this.

“Mom?” I said, wondering why she never answered me.

Her lips were pursed, and her forehead creased from scrunching her eyes. “The church. You’re going to confession.”

“Like hell I am!” I shouted.

“We both are, Elena! We have both been angry and fighting! We need forgiveness!”

Seriously?

She was losing it!

I gripped the latch to open the door. “Mom, I swear I will jump out of this moving car if you don’t take me back home! This is insane! It’s okay to be angry! Moms and daughters fight all the time! Our whole world was shattered, and we’re trying to figure out how to put it back together!”

She drove faster toward the church.

“Mom, I swear. Please, don’t.” I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes. I was going to do it. I was going to jump out of the car.

I opened my eyes to see her turning toward the church, so I did it. I opened the door and hurled myself out. My body rolled and tumbled on its own until I hit the curb with my ribs. I grunted and tried to move but couldn’t because of the searing pain radiating all over me. The pain in my left arm was so intense that my ears were ringing, and I felt dizzy. I faintly heard what sounded like tires squeal and police sirens.

Strands of hair clung to hot tears on my face, or maybe it was blood. All I knew was that I wanted the pain to stop and to yell at myself for being the idiot who jumped out of the damn car. The scene started becoming clearer, and a cop stood above me. He had his radio to his mouth, calling for an ambulance.

“Elena? Is she okay?” Mom was freaking out.
Good.
I hoped she felt horrible. “Elena! Oh my gosh, Elena, talk to me!”

I closed my eyes and laid on the soft grass, cradling my injured arm with my good arm.

“Ma’am, I need you to calm down. I have help on the way. Your daughter is going to be just fine. But may I ask, how she fell out of the moving car?”

Tears fell steadily down my cheeks. I clenched my teeth trying not to scream. I hurt so badly.

“She jumped out. We were fighting,” Mom answered.

The cop didn’t respond to her confession. How could he? It was ridiculous and stupid.

I could hear sirens in the distance. I was thankful. Sirens meant help, and help meant pain meds.

Doors opened and closed, and I could hear two people talking about medical stuff, so I was certain it was the medics. I opened my eyes and tried to sit up, but a calm hand on my right shoulder stopped me from getting up.

“No way. Don’t you dare try to move. We’re here to help you. Can you tell me your name?”

“Elena Johnson,” my mom answered for me.

“Thank you,” the medic said. I opened my eyes and looked at him. He smiled down at me. “We’re going to get you to the hospital. But in the meantime, while my partner gets the stretcher, can you tell me what hurts?”

“My left arm, I think it’s broken. My left side. My head hurts too, but my arm is the worst.” I had to concentrate on breathing to keep myself calm.

“Okay. I’m going to carefully check you for any other injuries. I promise to be gentle.”

I hissed in pain when he touched the ribs on my left side. “That hurts!”

“I think you may have bruised them. Possible break as well. Carla, bring the morphine. We need to give her something before we move her.”

After they gave me what they called the crazy juice, I was lifted onto the stretcher and placed in the ambulance. My mom asked to ride in the back with me, but they told her she could follow in her car. I was thankful she couldn’t ride along. I was still angry at her.

THEY HAD TO KEEP
me overnight. We found out that I didn’t break my arm; I actually fractured my wrist. I was now a proud owner of a splint which would be changed into a cast in a few days after the swelling went down. They also wrapped my ribs so tightly that all I could do was lie down flat. I felt like a big pile of stupid.

Car = 1 Ellie = 0.

I requested no visitors. Not even Katie or Channing. I just wanted to wallow in my stupidity alone. I knew Katie would just laugh at me, and I knew Channing would just keep asking me about the reasoning behind it. I didn’t even want Mom in here, but she was allowed to be since I was still a minor.

I turned my head to look at Mom who was watching
Wheel of Fortune
. She was nervously biting her nails, a horrible habit she’d picked up since Dad left us.

She frowned. “You’re an idiot, Elena. Why would you do something so careless?”

I closed my eyes and groaned. “Mom, I’m not doing this right now. Just drop it.”

“Drop it? You scared me! You could’ve killed yourself!”

“Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn’t make people do things they don’t want to. I was trying to prove a point.”

She scoffed. “Well, look what that got you!”

“At least I didn’t have to go to confession. God, Mom, I can’t believe you were going to make me do that!”

She didn’t answer me. Instead, she crossed her arms and started watching TV again. We both looked at the door when it opened, and Dad walked in. I hadn’t talked to him in over a month and didn’t plan on doing so for the rest of my life.

“Jim called me and told me what happened! When did you plan on telling me that my daughter was in the hospital?”

Jim was Dad’s good friend and owner of the ambulance service. Dad volunteered for him when we first moved here but then got too busy with travelling for his insurance job.

“She asked me not to call you.” Mom started tearing up. This was the first time, to my knowledge, that she had seen or talked to Dad since the night he called and told her he was leaving. The only contact she’d had was with his lawyer who was shoving divorce papers in her face. “I need…I need to go ask the nurses something.” Mom bolted for the door.

After she left, Dad moved a chair, so he could come sit next to me. “You jumped out of the car?”

I looked at him, and tears burned my eyes. “Why are you here? You left us!” It hurt to yell, but I didn’t care.

“I left your mom. Not you, Ellie. You didn’t let me explain. I was planning on coming and checking you out of school early Monday, so I could make you talk to me. This is killing me, not seeing you or talking to you.”

“Maybe you should’ve considered that before you decided to leave us! You’re the one who said you needed time away from me!”

“Your mom, Elena. I left your mom. Sometimes people fall out of love. Things change, and I just needed time to process it. I hurt too. I tried to contact you, but you never answered your phone.”

“Not here, Dad! I’m not having this conversation here. Please, just leave. I’ll talk to you when I’m ready.” I pressed the red nurse button on my remote.

Before Dad could say anything else the nurse came in.

“Need something?” she asked with a warm smile.

“Yes, can you please turn out the light and not let anyone else in my room? I’d like to rest alone.” I closed my eyes, so I didn’t have to see the hurt in Dad’s eyes. I might’ve hated his guts right then, but I still couldn’t stand to see him upset.

It was dark, and I was alone. I wanted my brother. I honestly didn’t want to do this alone. I couldn’t confide in Mom; she was a basket case. I couldn’t confide in Dad; I was so angry with him. Channing listened, but he didn’t get it. Katie just tried to make me laugh instead of listening to me. I needed Kyle. But he was in Montana with Grandpa, halfway across the country. He left shortly before all the shit hit the fan because he and Mom couldn’t get along, and Grandpa needed help because of his health. But Kyle didn’t even call me. He didn’t check to see if I was okay. He didn’t offer to come home. He just disappeared from my life when he left, and even though I didn’t say it out loud, it crushed me. I needed my big brother, but I didn’t know how to tell him.

The door cracked open, and Mom came into the room. She sat down in the chair and stared out the window. Tears fell down her face in a steady stream.

“Mom, are you okay?” I didn’t want to talk to her, but even though I was angry with her, I still felt bad.

She wiped her cheeks and darted her angry eyes at me. “This is your fault!”

I tensed at her accusation. “Excuse me?”

“If you wouldn’t have jumped out of the car, he wouldn’t have shown up! You are so selfish!”

“If I do recall, you’re the one who was making me do something I wasn’t comfortable doing! It’s not my fault!”

She stood and stomped toward me, leaning over so her finger was almost touching my nose. “You will do what I say whether you like it or not! I am your mother; therefore, I get to tell you what to do. Is that clear?”

I didn’t respond. I laid my head back against the pillow and closed my eyes. Maybe she was right. Maybe it was my fault. I acted like an idiot. I mean, who in their right mind would jump out of a moving car? I didn’t think it through; I just acted. But it wasn’t fair for her to try to force me to do something I didn’t want to do. Mom or not, that’s just not okay.

T
HINGS WERE ONLY GETTING
worse. Mom worked, ate, and slept. When she was awake, she’d lock herself in her room. She would just leave me notes on the counter to communicate with me. I stopped reading them. I spent my days at school, nights with Katie and Channing, and finally made up with Alyssa, so I was hanging out with her too. Dad and I were kind of talking, but it was still weird. I hadn’t seen him since the hospital, and that was eight weeks ago.

I walked into the kitchen to grab a bite to eat before school. Mom was pouring coffee into her to-go mug. I didn’t know if I should say hi, smile at her, or even get within two feet from her. Being in a room with her was like when you pour baking soda into vinegar. The space between us sizzled, and at any given moment, it’d boil over into a nasty, foamy mess.

I waited for her to move from in front of the cereal cabinet before I walked over. She turned, and I did my best to avoid eye contact but failed. She held my gaze for a few seconds before walking to the kitchen table. I let out a breath, relieved that it didn’t result in a fight and reached for the Fruity Pebbles.

I hated this. I hated that it didn’t feel right to be home. After deciding to eat in my room, I started toward the hall but stopped when Mom called my name. I turned to look at her.