Ink (7 page)

He chuckled. “That’s not your job, Hope.”

I took my plate to the sink. It didn’t matter if it was my job or not, he was my dad. I wouldn’t let him leave the house and make a fool of himself.

“
Just give me your pants,” I told him again.

He sighed, undoing his belt. He chucked the pants at me, a grin on his face. “Hurry up with those. I got thirty minutes before I have to be to work.” He cleared dishes from the table, leaving me to iron his pants.

Elliot and Easton nearly mowed me over in the hallway.

“
We are going to the arcades and then surfing. Don’t bother looking for us,” they told me. I nodded. It wasn’t like I was going to anyway. They were old enough to fend for themselves.

I plugged in the iron, tapping it lightly with my hand, waiting for the heat to kick on. I wasn’t sure what I would do today. I figured a walk with Crawford would suffice before I fell into boredom.

“
Is there anything you would like to talk about before I am off to work?” Dad asked in my doorway. His legs looked a bit chicken-like in his boxer shorts.

I started ironing his pants. What was there to say?

“
No. Anything you want to say?” I shot back. The steam hissed and crackled.

“
I’m sorry if this is really taking a toll on you.”

I had a feeling Dad overheard me crying last night in my room. “It will work out, it always does. Right, Dad?”

Dad braced himself in my doorway, determined to break through my wall, one that I didn’t want to let down. I just wanted a little space, some time to adjust. I worried if he didn’t let me have that I would end up blowing up. And I didn’t want to do that to him.

“
I went to a concert last night with that boy from the other night.” I worked really carefully on his pants now, not lifting my head to catch his expression. It probably was a shocked one.

Dad cleared his throat, an eerie silence sprang up between us before he said, “I want you to say stay away from him. But if you’re getting out there, then I’m just going to keep my mouth shut. I did kind of take your whole life away from you.”

I set the iron down on my desk. “No, you didn’t. Mom did.” I handed over his pants. “And I don’t want to talk about it. Have a good day at work, Dad.”

Dad gave me a knowing glance. He blew me a kiss, leaving my room. I looked at Crawford, he let out a sigh. “Come on, Crawford. We are going to go for a walk.”

Seagulls soared overhead, occasionally diving toward the shore. I wondered what they were eating. It was a really windy day and I had to use every muscle in my body to keep from toppling over or being dragged through the sand by Crawford and the wind. Several surfers dotted the sands, kids built sand castles and girls in tiny bikinis laid out trying to catch a good tan. And there I was, walking my dog.

I held tight to Crawford’s leash as we headed toward a couple girls on beach towels. Crawford whined, pulling me faster. The first girl was busy drenching her arms in white globs of sunscreen. Her hair was red and her skin milky white. I got the idea that she probably burned easily, as fair as she was. Her friend—a blonde—lay sprawled across the beach towel, her body bronzed like a goddess. Several of her ribs showed through her skin. She had a cherry bellybutton ring and a tiny star tattooed on her hip. Her hot pink, barely-there bikini screamed
look at me
.

I did my best to guide Crawford away from them, but it was no use. He got a whiff of sunscreen in his nose and was all about it now. I yelled at him, but it was too late. He started licking the sunscreen off of the red head. “Crawford, no,” I yelled.

The red head let out a laugh, rather than being pissed off, she rubbed Crawford’s head. “My dog does the same thing.” She stood up, pushing Crawford away from her.

I shoved my hair away from my face. “I’m really sorry.”

She shook her head. “No, don’t worry about it. I promise it’s not a problem.”

I smiled, feeling a bit better now that I knew she wasn’t going to go apeshit. The blonde lifted herself from her position. She pulled her sunglasses down revealing artificial aquamarine contacts and a sleek nose. “Let’s hope he doesn’t have rabies.”

I raised an eyebrow, a little offended, but let it go. I didn’t know her so who was I to start off on the wrong foot so quickly. Maybe she just didn’t like dogs, I thought.

“
Nope, he has all his shots. He just really likes sunscreen, or anything for that matter.”

The red head smiled, really taking an interest in what I had to say. “I’m Campbell, and this is Lydia. You’re new here, right?”

I gave a nod, giving them both a wave. Lydia, rather bluntly, rolled her eyes, dropping her sunglasses back down. “You’re Jesse’s girlfriend, right,” I said, trying to make conversation with her.

Lydia nodded her head, and then she slowly pulled down the straps of her bikini. I looked away, afraid she was about to show her breasts. I was beginning to think this girl was awful.

“
Yes, this is Jesse’s girlfriend.” Campbell laughed. She clearly sensed my shock. “So, where you from?”

I wound Crawford’s leash tightly around my hand. I was worried he was going to try and eat Lydia and all her perfume and oil. “Georgia,” I replied.

“
Ooh, a Georgia peach,” Campbell chirped. She was a pleasant girl. I could tell she was nice all the time. Her voice was sultry and she had spunk. She stood up, she was taller than me.

“
Georgia peach turned California girl,” I said back with a smile.

“
You wish,” Lydia mumbled loud enough for me to hear. I was starting to wonder what Jesse saw in her. I guess he had a thing for fake plastic Barbies.

“
Don’t mind her, she is menstrual or something. Are you here for Ashwilder?” Campbell asked.

I stared off, a bit perplexed. What was I supposed to say?

“
We moved to be closer to family,” I finally said, letting out a sigh of relief.

This brought Lydia back into a full on sitting position. Her chest hardly covered by her bathing suit anymore. “She’s the granddaughter of that crazy crow that Jesse works for, the one married to the rich Italian guy. I can’t believe he porks her.” She squeezed more oil on her chest, rubbing it in slowly. “I would let him touch me any day.”

I scrunched my face in disgust. Claude was pushing fifty, and, sure, he might be a handsome guy for his age, but he was still fifty.

Campbell put a hand on my shoulder steering me away from Lydia. “She wasn’t hugged enough as a child.”

I laughed. “Clearly.”

“
You will love Ashwilder. It’s a home away from home. Anything you need, feel free to ask,” Campbell said with a smile. She pulled out her cell.

“
Well, thanks. You’re the first girl I’ve met and you’re super nice.” I held tighter to Crawford as a group of guys started to pass.

Crawford lurched forward howling like he’d seen a ghost. The group shot me a dirty look. They were all dressed in black and one of them was sporting an
Evil Kings of Ink
t-shirt. Campbell helped me secure Crawford so he wouldn’t take off and attack.

“
Jeez, I don’t think your dog digs
Ink
.” She laughed.

I stared at the group. As the big burly guy shifted out of the way Slade appeared in the center of the pack. My heart let out a little pitter patter. He nodded his head at me, a simple gesture to say hello.

“
That’s because Ink is trash and a bunch of psychos,” Lydia informed us. “At least your dog knows trash when he sees it.”

Campbell shook her head, amused with Lydia for the fifth time since I had been standing there. The girl had no filter from her brain to her mouth.

“
What does she mean?” I asked, feeling a bit worried. Slade was part of the Evil Kings of Ink.

“
Once you live here long enough you will know all you need to know about them. Just remember to stay away from them. They are savages. Rumor has it they lure girls into their concerts to kill them and steal their souls.” Campbell grinned, her eyes large as she told the ghastly story that seemed like an old campfire tale.

“
Yeah, but Hope’s already been wandering around with
The
Ink
,” Jesse said, coming up to join us. He took a seat next to his Barbie doll.

Campbell gave me an inquisitive stare down now. “Do tell.”

I swallowed, trying to think of something to say. “It was nothing. I was just looking for something to do one night. I went and listened to their music.”

Jesse chucked. “With Slade.”

“
Yeah, so,” I shot back, crossing my arms.

“
Jesse doesn’t mean anything by it. Slade used to be part of Ashwilder, but he was kicked out. Don’t let him ruin your fun. Hey, give me your number that way we can hang out sometime.” She waited patiently with her phone open. I studied Jesse’s beaming grin as I recited my phone number to Campbell. He got on my nerves more and more.

I said goodbye, taking off back to my house with Crawford. I wasn’t sure what to make of these kids. Campbell was nice and I could see a great friendship taking place between the two of us, but Lydia, I really just wanted to steer clear of her and her stuck-up attitude.

And what had they meant about the Evil Kings and savages? All the talk made my head hurt. Some people were just ridiculous when it came to spreading rumors.

I
opened my closet for the millionth time, looking at my wardrobe. Tonight was open house at Ashwilder and this was the first time I would meet the teachers and, most importantly, the students. I was over analyzing everything.

I shut my closet, looking in the mirror at myself. I fingered the fray on my jean shorts. I was trying for casual. It seemed people here in Cherry were two kinds: Surfer chic or Emo. I decided I would rather fit in with the surfer chic.

I tugged apart the braid I had put in earlier, shaking my hair loose and allowing it to fall past my shoulders in soft waves.

Dad knocked on my door. “Five minutes, Hope, and then we need to go.”

I sighed, letting out a grunt, around the bobby pins held tightly between my lips. I shoved the bobby pin into one side securing it
back, my diamond earring sparkling against the lighting in my room.

“
I guess this will do,” I grumbled, getting to my feet. I snatched the yellow flower clip Karsen had left at my house. She always pulled it off so well, I wondered if I could do the same. I took a chance, sliding the clip into the hair behind my ear.

Dad opened the door. “You look beautiful, Hope. Should I change?” He stared down at his khaki shorts and dark blue bowling shirt.

I shrugged. Charlie Sheen pulled it off, why couldn’t he? “You look dashing, father.” I grinned.

“
I could try to find something coral pink to throw on so we could match.” He laughed, tugging at the neck of my tank top. It was the last gift my mom had gave me before we left—a coral pink tank top with black wispy words around the bottom. At one time the shirt made me smile and think of her. But now it was only a shirt that made me a bit bitter when I looked at it. It was still one of my favorites, regardless. Now it just had an added bonus of misery attached to it.

“
Shall we get this meeting over with?” Dad asked, extending his arm. I took it, laughing at his silly behavior. He was a bit tipsy. I knew it was his only way to cope with social settings, he didn’t think he had what it took to socialize with woman anymore. Mom had really crushed his ego.

Dad wrapped on Elliot and Easton’s door telling them we were heading out. Elliot cracked the door, the sound of Snoop in the background. “Have fun.”

“
Have fun?” I asked Dad, snagging the keys off the counter before he had a chance to object.

“
He’s a California teen now, maybe to them that’s cool,” Dad said, patting Crawford’s head as we headed out the door. I pulled the door shut, letting out a sigh.

“
I’m really nervous, Dad,” I admitted, feeling like a little kid again. Dad stopped his descent down the stairs. “You’re going to be just fine, Hope. Who wouldn’t like a girl like you?” He squeezed my arm trying to will me to believe him. I nodded, following him down the stairs.

Nona and Claude were on the beach, I thought, looking at the ocean, but as soon as Nona latched eyes on us, she raced over, throwing her fancy shoes to Claude. She looked like she was hailing a New York City cab. Dad and I laughed as she hurried to catch up with us.

“
I’m so glad I caught you,” she breathed.

“
Hope and I are headed to the school for open house,” Dad told her, trying to cut it short.

Nona clapped her hands in delight. “And I’m on the committee. We will all ride together.”

I looked at Dad in shock. What committee would allow her in a school? Dad gave me a weak smile, following her around the house to the street where their car was parked. I crossed my arms, the feeling of dread pouring over the whole situation now. I was never going to have a chance with Nona in my presence.