The diner was all mustard yellow walls and red shabby booths. A couple of women with pony tails and petticoat aprons walked around taking orders and pouring out coffee from a glass jug with a plastic top. It was a pretty standard American diner.
“How did the meeting with the college application person go today?”
Mia’s mom had insisted on picking her up after school that day and taking her for ice cream. It had been something they’d done back in Philly. Mia could tell her mom was trying to mimic some of those memories. But how could it ever be the same?
“Bad.”
She’d responded without even thinking, and now she wanted to punch herself in the face. She should have lied and said it went fine, because any other response would insight the upcoming barrage of questions.
Carla left the long silver spoon suspended in her strawberry split, and looked at her daughter with concern. Mia hated that look.
“Why? What happened?”
Mia sighed and forced another mouthful of her vanilla scoop down her throat. “Not bad…just…I need to work more on my applications. That’s all.”
“Your grades are fine though. Is it the way you’ve written it out?”
Mia shook her head. “No. I just need to add some stuff in that’s all.”
“I could help you if you like? We could go through them together later.”
“Mom. It’s fine. I’ve got it.”
A look of hurt crossed her mom’s face as she went back to her ice cream. Mia couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. As annoying as her mother was, she was trying to help. Mia wanted to apologise, but the words got stuck in her throat. The resentment she felt for being here was too great.
Just then, her mom’s face brightened. She was looking past Mia, and towards the entrance.
“Hey Savannah! Over here!”
Mia’s teeth gritted together. This was all she needed. As she turned to give her best fake smile, her mouth faltered. Savannah wasn’t alone. Blonde jock was with her.
They walked over to the mother-daughter pair with a wary look.
“Er. Hi Carla. Mia.”
Mia could see her mom eyeing up the blonde jock with interest. She’d tried to ask Mia about boys since Mia had turned 15. Mia knew she’d been essentially a ‘Savannah type’ in school, and probably looked at her own teenage daughter like an alien. Mia reflected that maybe she’d stop bothering her about boys or friends now she had Savannah to quiz.
“And who is this young man?”
“Oh, this is Ryan Smith, my boyfriend.”
Mia realised that this was the first time she’d heard his name. Blonde jock suited him better.
Ryan extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, mam.”
Carla took it, silently noting what a charming and polite young man he was.
Mia however wanted to scoff. If only her mother knew what he’d done to her on the first day of school. She kept quiet though. She was sure there would be some way for her mother to take his side.
“Would you kids like to join us? My treat!”
Mia began to pray in her head that they would not sit down. She noticed how Savannah went a little rigid and knew the girl had no intention of any such thing.
“Oh, no thanks Carla. We’re actually off to meet some friends. We just came by to pick up some donuts to take round.”
Mia’s mom’s eyes suddenly illuminated. Mia knew that look too. She wanted to stop what was about to come out of her mouth, but had no idea what to do.
“Really? How nice! You know I’m sure Mia would love to meet some new people if she could tag along with you?”
Mia wanted to crawl under the table and die. Savannah’s expression communicated the same wish, a thin film of sweat appearing on her perfectly made-up forehead.
“Er well…It’s just…it’s at a friends house and well…” Savannah was tripping over her words, and Mia decided it was time to step in.
“Don’t worry. It’s cool. I have tons of homework to do anyway.”
Relief washed over Savannah. She didn’t like the weirdo that was now living in her house, but at least she knew her place.
Ryan however, had a curious grin on his face. “Tyler won’t mind an extra guest Sav. We’d be happy to take you along Mia.”
Both Savannah and Mia looked at him open mouthed. Savannah definitely wanted to kick him.
Carla was the only one oblivious to the dynamic between the three teenagers. “Wonderful! Well, I won’t keep you any longer. Off you go then.”
Mia was frozen to her seat. This could not be happening. Carla widened her eyes at her daughter’s inactivity. “Mia! Hurry up, they haven’t got all day.”
With slow movements Mia forced herself to stand up. Savannah looked like she was about to burst, but Ryan simply beamed at her.
“Nice to meet you, mam!” He called cheerily.
Mia trailed behind the pair, anxiety gripping her as they made their way over to Ryan’s convertible.
Now they were out of Carla’s view, Savannah began to hiss at her boyfriend. “What the hell?”
Ryan walked round to his car, flicking the seat forward before gesturing for Mia to get in the back. “Chill babe.”
Mia glanced between the pair. “Look. I can just go now. I’ll walk around for an hour before going home and say that I went with you. It’s fine. I don’t even want to go.”
“Great. Let’s do that.” Savannah stated.
But Ryan was looking at Mia with a curious expression. “Nah. You’re coming.”
“BUT WHY?!” The girls called in unison.
Ryan turned to his girlfriend. “Because she doesn’t want to. And I promised to make her life a misery.”
Mia scoffed. He was a piece of work.
Savannah stormed over to the car and got in. “Can’t you just steal her lunch money or something?!”
Ryan ignored his girlfriend, and instead looked over at Mia, his hand still holding the driver’s seat forward.
Mia contemplated storming off, but there was a part of her that wanted to prove to Ryan that nothing he could do was going to bother her. The sooner he realised that it would be pointless to mess with her, the better.
She climbed into the back of the car, not bothering to stop her combat boots scuffing the leather backed driver’s seat.
They drove in silence, the only sound coming from the cars radio which appeared to be tuned to a station that only played country music. Mia hated country music, but she said nothing. After ten minutes, she realised that they were driving out of town.
“I thought you said we were going to someone’s house.”
Ryan flicked his eyes up to the rear-view mirror to observe her. “That was for your Mom’s benefit. We’re going to the creek.”
When they pulled up to their destination, it soon became clear why the kids that hung out here might not want their parents to know. This was the spot for the ‘cool kids’. A few cars and trucks were parked up already, and down by the water a handful of teenagers were sitting on battered deck chairs, cheap brown bottles and cigarettes swinging from their fingers. A few girls were perched on the edges of boys laps, throwing their heads back in an exaggerated motion as if the boy had said the funniest thing ever.Mia realised that without the invasion of high-schoolers, the place was actually beautiful. Clear water babbled over the rocks of the river bed, bordered by foliage and trees on either side. Hamlet would love it here. She decided she would have to find somewhere similar that hadn’t been taken over by jocks and cheerleaders.She reluctantly followed Ryan and Savannah to where the group were sitting, making sure to keep her head held high.
“What on earth happened to you?!”Mia’s mom rushed towards her daughter as she entered the house. Mia was now shivering from having to sit in the back of Tyler’s open backed truck. It had been yet another humiliating instalment in the evening’s events.“Fell into a pound,” Mia muttered. Savannah had already told Mia to lie, and Mia was happy to oblige. She couldn’t cope with the fuss her mom might make if she knew the truth. She also wanted to stop being the object of Ryan’s torment. If she ratted out Savannah, he might up the ante.“Oh dear. You always were a bit clumsy.”Mia gritted her teeth so hard she thought they might crack. “I’m going to have a shower and go to bed.”After she was washed and in fresh clothes Mia sat down on the edge of her bed with her head in her hands. Why her? Why was it that nothing ever went her way? She felt Hamlet nudge her arm with h
It took a second for him to register her presence, but when he did, he almost tripped over himself. “Hello F…Mia.”Mia resisted to urge the scowl at him in front of now what appeared to be his mother. Out of all the places she could have looked for work in…“You kids know each other?”Ryan seemed to recover from his small shock, because he managed to smile at Mia in that way of his. Now she knew why Angela had seemed familiar. They looked very alike.“Yeah, Mia is the girl whose Mom married Bob Miller.”Angela looked at her perspective employee with renewed interest. “Oh right! I should have known when you said you were new in town.”Mia did her best to smile back, but the rising panic she was feeling turned it into more of a grimace.“So, what did you come in for Mia?” Ryan’s voice was layered with false geniality.“Mia came into ask about th
When it got to lunch time, Mia took what was now becoming her usual seat right at the back of the hall. It seemed that most of the kids who didn’t have anyone to sit with chose these tables. Unlike the rest of her peers though, Mia was happy with this.She was so engrossed in her book, half a cheese sandwich held aloft, she didn’t hear her voice the first time.“Mia?”Tilly was standing in front of her, a crowded lunch tray within her grasp.“Oh sorry, I didn’t hear you. Are you okay?”Tilly flushed a little. “Er yeah, I just wanted to know if it was okay for me to sit with you.”“Sure, go ahead.” Mia tried to disguise the surprise in her voice.Tilly sat down, slinging off her backpack to the floor. “Thanks. I just wanted to check you were alright. After the run in with Brook.”“Yeah, I’m fine. That was weird though.”Tilly t
“Okay so today I’ll just ask you to put out some new stock and package some stuff up for me. I’ll teach you how to use the register next weekend if you pass the trial today.”Mia nodded her head and wrung out her sweaty hands on her jeans. She hadn’t felt this nervous about something in a long time. But she had no choice, she had to see it through. Part of her also wanted to show Ryan that she was going to do whatever she wanted too.“Okay yeah, that sounds great. What would you like me to do first?”Angela tapped the boxes that were stacked on the counter. “So, these are washers.”Mia bit her lip. She had no idea what washers were.Guessing her thoughts, Angela chuckled. “They are small metal discs that go in between nuts and bolts in order to keep the fixture secure.”“Oh…okay.”“It’s alright. You’ll soon pick everything up.
Mia was shocked when Angela told her she’d passed her trial shift. She’d done okay, but she was sure someone else would have been able to do better. It was great of course, but now it definitely meant that she would probably be bumping into Ryan more than expected.When she got home, she decided to enter the house as quietly as she could. She was tired and couldn’t be bothered to go through all the questions her mom would have.Just as she was about to go upstairs, she heard Bob say her name. She wondered if he’d heard her come in, but as she got closer, she realised he was actually talking about her. Not to her.“Is she even trying? It seems like she’s not trying?” His voice echoed against the metal framed cabinets of the kitchen.“I don’t know…she’s never been right since…well. You know.”Mia’s heart faltered. Couldn’t her mom even say his name? Couldn&rsq
After the telling off of Mia’s entire life, her and Ryan were ordered to stay behind after school for detention. She’d tried to argue that it was all his fault, but the principal said that her reaction had still been ‘disproportionate’. Mia would have argued further if it hadn’t been for the fact the principal threatened her with putting it on her permeant record. That wouldn’t help her college applications. So here they were. Just the two of them in front of some crusty old teacher who clearly didn’t have a life to go home to at the end of the day. Mia had already taken out her homework and had started filling it in. Although it was hard to concentrate when the person who was ruining her life was sitting right next to her. She was so uncontrollably angry with him, that she still hadn’t stopped shaking. The sudden sound of snoring filled her ears, and she jerked her head upwards to find that the teacher who was meant to be watching them, had fallen as
When Mia got home that night, all she wanted to do was escape to her room and forget about everything that had happened. However, as soon as she entered the house, it became very clear that this wasn’t going to be the case.Her mom was waiting for her on the stairs, and she had that look on her face that told Mia she was in for a lecture.“So, your principal called today. Apparently, you thought it would be okay to assault Ryan Lee?” Carla gave Mia a hard look. She knew her daughter was having a hard time, but this was beyond anything that she would have ever expected.Mia let her bag drop to the floor. “Did he explain why I’d done it?”Carla straightened her shoulders. “Mia Fernwood. Whatever the reason, violence is NEVER the answer. I thought I’d taught you better than that!?”“He read out my diary Mom! MY DIARY! I was a laughing stock in front of the whole school!!”Mia had