Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 117820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
She takes one look at me and hums thoughtfully. “Well that just won’t do.”
“Do you think this time I can get some jeans, and shirts like what my friends wear?”
“But those dresses and skirts look so good on you.” She tugs on the front of said dress and sighs heavily. “I guess we will have to go shopping this week. Do you have something for school tomorrow?”
I lift a shoulder. “I have my gym clothes, they still fit.”
“Yes, yes, they will do just fine.” She hands me a few dollars and waits for me to slip on my flat shoes. “A dozen eggs, the free-range, not Kenny’s barn raised. They don’t have quite as nice a taste to them.”
“Okay.” I head out into the warm air and smile at the blue sky.
Ah sweet freedom.
Mee-maw waves as I go and I give her a slight wave back before running as fast as my legs can carry me. Every step I take I inhale a deep, fresh lungful of air. I wish I’d called Poppy first, I might have been able to meet her for a little while but if Mee-maw finds out she’d tan my behind.
I huff. I wish I could be like Matthew. I wish.
“Morning little lady,” Martin, the grocery store owner calls when the bell rings as I step inside. It’s cool in here, fresh and crisp from the clean store and the overhead air conditioning. “How’s your mee-maw doin’? You’re looking well. Getting older I see.”
He leers at me in a way a man his age has never leered at me before. I don’t exactly know what it means but I do know that I don’t like it. It makes me feel like bugs are crawling along the top of my skin.
“She’s good. She just sent me for some of those free-range eggs you stock. Do you have a dozen?”
“You’re in luck, last two cases are right here.” He pats the almost empty box at the end of the counter and grins at me, showing two missing teeth from his bottom row. “Is that all you need?”
Nodding, I approach and hand him the money. He rings it through the old till and slides my money and eggs along the counter.
“You know I used to serve your momma back in the day too. You’re her spitting image,” he comments, giving me the same look as before. “She used to help me in the shop to earn some pocket money for herself. I’m sure we could work out a similar deal, as a favor to your momma and the good old days.”
I bite on my lip and consider it. I don’t make much doing my paper route because Mee-maw takes all my money. “What would I do?”
“Mop the floors, stock the shelves, things like that.” He rubs his jaw, peering down his nose at me with excitement in his eyes. “Washing windows and the likes. Nothing too strenuous. I’ll pay you three dollars an hour.”
My heart starts hammering in my chest and my happiness grows. “Really?” Mee-maw would let me work; she wouldn’t have a choice. I could tell her he’s giving me two dollars an hour and pocket the rest. Or even one dollar. Would she believe that? “When can I start?”
“Soon as you like,” he replies as I pocket my change and pick up my eggs.
“Tomorrow? I need to tell my mee-maw first.”
“Absolutely.”
“Thank you, Mr. Martin. I’ll be back as soon as school is finished.”
“See you then, little lady.”
I leave the store with a skip in my step, cradling the carton of eggs along one arm.
I’m on such a happy cloud that I failed to notice Kane, Ren, and Mallick in the vicinity. They’re now following me down the long road on their bikes. I keep my head low.
“What the fuck are you wearing?” Ren asks, balancing on his skateboard at a really slow speed as Mallick does wide circles around us on a bike and Kane flanks me on the other side on his. He thinks he’s so cool with his leather jacket, and red skulls and fire painted along the black frame of his stupid bike.
“You look like one of those creepy girls from the horror movies. That one in the hotel,” Kane puts in and they all laugh.
“It’s called The Shining, I think,” Ren finishes and Kane nods, his jaw moving as he chews on a piece of gum. His blue eyes flash dangerously when my eyes meet them.
“Whatchu looking at?” he asks, dropping his bike to harass me on foot.
“I need to get back to Mee-maw,” I say softly, ducking and trying to sidle past him but he snatches the eggs from my arm and holds them above his head. “Kane. Please.”
“Show me your panties and you can have them back.”
“Last time I showed you her fuckin’ panties and you punched me in the jaw,” Ren retorts, laughing as though it’s hilarious. “You either wanna see them or you don’t.”