Just off the Key of Reason

That night, my mom called me to the living room. Not a good sign.

"So how was school?" She asked casually, flipping through the cable channels.

"Fine." I replied dully, staring out the window. It was pitch black by now.

"I saw you made friends." She said, her eyes hardening at the word 'friends'. I winced - note to self, next time, make sure mom isn't home when I bring over friends.

"Yeah, they're cool." I replied, defiant as I stared at the TV now - a late night re-run of Ellen. Of course.

"Well, since you have some new friends and all, why don't we go shopping?" She asked, too casual. Gulp.

"But mom," I protested weakly, "We went shopping last month!"

"Well, you're in a new town with a different style, it can't be too bad to try a new style." She retorted. Yeah right, I thought. You're just going to buy me more Polo sweaters and ugly granny skirts.

"Well," I fought, "Can't I at least go with a friend?!" There was a slight hysterical note to my retort, I realized, as my mom stared at me with an odd expression.

Turning back to the TV, she shrugged. "Why not? You can use the debit." She replied, changing channels again. I sat at the couch for five more minutes, before realizing that this was my dismissal. Almost sighing in relief, I got up from my spot and returned to my hazard-zone room, looking up at the post-its. Wondering what they said, I grabbed a chair and tip-toed up to grab them off the ceiling.

The first one - stuck up by Kenzie, I thought - had a little illustration of Charlie the Unicorn's Starfish, and it was screaming "Kenzie really really loves you!" in a speech bubble. Grinning, I turned to the next one, only to feel my face pale.

Uh oh.

I didn't even like him back.