In Fate's Hands
Chapter 6: Things Are Not Always As They Seem
On Saturday morning, Anthony came to pick Elizabeth up from the hospital at about 11:00AM and they started driving to the airport to pick up her mother. She made sure she put the letter in her jeans pocket before she left the hospital.
Most of the car ride was in complete silence until they were almost there.
“Remember our agreement,” he said. “If you say anything to your mother about what has been happening-”
“Then you’ll come after us. Don’t worry, I know. I got the message loud and clear the first time you made me agree to it. My lips are sealed whether I like it or not.”
“Good.”
He turned into the airport parking lot and parked the car. They walked up to the gate, Elizabeth anxiously waiting for her mother’s flight to arrive. It felt like it had been so long since she had seen her mother last. They sat and waited for about 10 minutes until the flight arrived at the gate.
People started walking out of the gate as Elizabeth watched attentively. Finally, she stood up as her mother emerged.
If you saw Elizabeth and her mother next to each other, you’d think they were twins, except her mother was slightly taller. Elizabeth had inherited her mother’s soft brown hair, big brown eyes, pale, delicate skin, and slender body.
“Hi, guys,” her mother said as she approached them
“Hi, Honey. It’s so nice to see you,” said Anthony as she hugged and kissed him hello.
“Hey, Mom,” said Elizabeth. When her mom was done embracing Anthony, she made her way over to Elizabeth and gave her and hug and kiss.
“I’ve missed the both of you so much. How are you guys?”
“We’ve been doing great, right, Elizabeth?”
“Right. We’re glad to have you home again, though, Mom.”
“And boy does it feel good to be home with you!”
“Where are your bags?” asked Anthony.
“We have to go pick them up in baggage claim,” said Mrs. Rodriguez. She had decided to take Anthony’s last name when they got married, but Elizabeth had decided to keep her real father’s last name.
“Ok then let’s go.”
After that, they went out to lunch, shopping, to the movies, out to dinner, and then out again to desert; they spent the whole day together. Elizabeth had not had that much fun in a long time. It felt so nice to finally be with her mother again and to not have to worry about getting beaten for everything she did or said.
On Sunday, Mrs. Rodriguez took Elizabeth with her to get her hair and nails done. Elizabeth had dead ends, so she really needed her hair cut and styled. She decided to get it cut to just below her shoulders to accentuate her face. She could only get away with this stuff when her mother was home because Anthony would never pay for it and she did not have her own money because she wasn’t allowed to get a job; he didn’t like it when she went out looking so good either. Being allowed to wear makeup was yet another perk to having her mother home.
“Elizabeth, Honey, do you have any plans for tonight?” Mrs. Rodriguez asked as they were getting their nails done.
“No, Mom, not tonight. I wanted to be home to spend it with you.”
“Aw you are so sweet, but you don’t have to stay home on my account. You should go out and have some fun with your friends if you want, but just don’t stay out too late because it’s a school night.”
“No, I think I just want to stay home with you.”
“Are you sure? You don’t seem like you hang out with friends a lot.”
“I don’t really like most of the people that go to my school. They are rich snobs that always try to take advantage of people.”
“Aw, Baby, I’m sorry. Hopefully you’ll have better luck next year once you are in college.”
“Yeah, hopefully…” It killed Elizabeth every time she had to lie to her mother, but she knew she had no choice. It would break her mother’s heart if she knew that Elizabeth would never be able to go to college.
“Have you started applying yet?”
“No, not yet.”
“You should really get on that. If you wait too much longer, you will miss the scholarship deadlines.
“I’m just not quite sure what I’m going to do yet and which colleges I want to apply to.”
“You should do some research and then come up with some decisions as soon as you can.”
“Yeah I know. I’m sure I’ll be able to decide soon.”
“You are so smart that I’m sure you’ll be able to get into any school you want to go to.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“I love you, Sweetie, and I want what’s best for you, so get on that college research so that we can send you to the IV leagues.”
Elizabeth smiled. “Ok, I will.”
A few minutes later, they went home and spent the night watching movies together.
It sucked for Elizabeth to have to go to school the next day when her mom was home, but she knew she couldn’t miss it again otherwise she’d have too much work to make up. Besides, she’d promised Jesse that she would tutor him and she wasn’t going to back out of that. She got up and got dressed for school as she normally does, but this time, she put some makeup on and straightened her hair. She still couldn’t wear normal clothes as she would have liked to because she needed to hide the bruises, but she looked a lot better that day than she did most other days.
When she came into school, Jesse immediately noticed the difference. Her hair looked shiny and flowed as she walked. Her big, beautiful brown eyes were much more noticeable now that she was wearing makeup and she looked happier than he had seen her look in a very long time.
“What’s gotten into you?” he asked as she walked by him to go to her locker.
“What do you mean,” she asked as she opened her locker and took some of her books out.
‘You look a lot happier than you normally do.”
“I told you that my mom was coming home. We spent the whole weekend together. It was really nice. For once, I don’t have to miss her for a while. She took me shopping and to get my hair and nails done. I could just be a regular girl with her and it felt great not to worry about what was going to happen when we went home.”
“It sounds like you had a lot of fun with her.”
“I did.”
“Well, I’m glad.”
“Thanks,” she said, smiling at him. “So I’ll see you fifth period in the Tutor Center, right?”
“Right.”
Four hours later, Elizabeth sat in the Tutor Center eating her bagged lunch and waiting for Jesse. She had her math book out to review things that they might need to go over, along with a pencil, paper, and a calculator. She tapped her pencil on the desk and, just as she was about to look up at the clock, he came rushing in.
“Sorry I was late,” he said. “It takes a little while for me to get here because I have to go to my locker and my fourth period teacher decided to hold us back a few minutes.”
“That’s ok. So what subjects do you need the most help on?”
“Everything?”
“Wow, ok, then why don’t we start with math, since most people have trouble with that subject?”
“Sure.” He took out his notebook and Elizabeth peered over at some of the notes he had made in their class. He also handed her his failed tests. She took a few minutes to look over his wrong answers.
“It looks like you are having trouble converting degrees to radians and vice versa.”
“Yeah I never really understood any of it.”
“First of all, what is the formula to convert degrees to radians?”
He looked down at what he has written in his notebook. “It’s the degree multiplied by pi over 180 degrees.”
“Exactly. Now let’s try to convert 150 degrees into radians. Tell me what you would do.”
“Uhm, I think you have to solve for radians, so you have to multiply 150 degrees by pi over 180 degrees, but I don’t really see how that would be converted to radians.”
“150 degrees is the same thing as 150 degrees over one. Is the degrees in the numerator or the denominator in the first term?”
“It’s in the numerator.”
“Right. And is the degrees in the numerator or the denominator in the second term?”
“The denominator.”
“Good. So the degrees just cancel out because it’s in the numerator in the first one and in the denominator in the second one. Do you see what I’m talking about?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“And since the degrees cancel out, only the radians are left in the numerator of the second term, so your answer will be in radians.”
“Ok I think I understand.”
“Convert 150 degrees into radians and tell me your answer. If you get it right, I’ll give you a few more practice problems.”
He worked silently for a few minutes and came up with an answer of 5pi/6 radians, which was correct. Elizabeth gave him a few more problems to work on converting degrees to radians and then they moved on to converting radians to degrees.
“I really appreciate you tutoring me,” Jesse said as he was doing more practice problems.
“It’s no problem. You showed me that you want to change and I want to help you do that.”
“I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t agreed to tutor me, though. Each player has to maintain a certain GPA to stay on the varsity basketball team, and, right now, I’m below that. If my grades continue the way they are, then my coach will throw me off the team and never look back. Basketball will probably be the only way I get into a decent college, so, if I lose that, I lose everything. But, what’s even worse is that I will let my dad down. Ever since I was little, he wanted me to be a pro basketball player. I don’t think I could ever bear to see the disappointment in his eyes if I ever got thrown off the team.”
“Wow. I’m sorry, Jesse, I had no idea.”
“That’s ok. Most people think they know a lot about me, but they have no idea.”
“That seems to be something we have in common.”
“Yeah, I guess so. They just think I’m this rich kid with this perfect life and I can just do whatever I want and not have to pay the consequences, but they are wrong. I love basketball, but my dad puts so much pressure on me all the time that it kind of takes some of the fun out of the game.”
“I’m sure.”
“Sometimes, he makes me shoot in front of him just so that he can critique me and tell me what I should be doing better. He constantly reminds me of how I will never be able to beat him at anything.”
“He probably just feels jealous and threatened by you because he knows that you are going to make it a lot farther than he did.”
“Maybe. You want to know what’s funny though?”
“What?”
“You are probably the first person I ever said all that to. I’ve never told anyone before, not even my closest friends. I can never seem to let them in, but it’s different with you somehow. I don’t know; I guess I just feel like you can understand me better than anyone because you have an even harder life at home than I do.”
“Well, I’m glad you told me. Now I think we can both relate to each other a little bit better. You go through verbal abuse and I go through physical abuse. I don’t know why, but it feels good to know that I’m not the only one with a messed up family.”
“I feel the same way.”
They paused and smiled at each other. Jesse was about to reach for her hand, but then the bell rang.
“Same time, same place tomorrow?” Elizabeth asked.
“Sounds good,” responded Jesse. “See you later.”
They both left the room and went on their way to sixth period.
When Elizabeth got home later that day, her mother asked how her day had been. “It was the best day I’ve had in awhile,” she responded, smiling to herself. Who knew she would have so much in common with hotshot jock Jesse McCartney, of all people? I guess the tin man really does have a heart after all, she thought. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings…
Most of the car ride was in complete silence until they were almost there.
“Remember our agreement,” he said. “If you say anything to your mother about what has been happening-”
“Then you’ll come after us. Don’t worry, I know. I got the message loud and clear the first time you made me agree to it. My lips are sealed whether I like it or not.”
“Good.”
He turned into the airport parking lot and parked the car. They walked up to the gate, Elizabeth anxiously waiting for her mother’s flight to arrive. It felt like it had been so long since she had seen her mother last. They sat and waited for about 10 minutes until the flight arrived at the gate.
People started walking out of the gate as Elizabeth watched attentively. Finally, she stood up as her mother emerged.
If you saw Elizabeth and her mother next to each other, you’d think they were twins, except her mother was slightly taller. Elizabeth had inherited her mother’s soft brown hair, big brown eyes, pale, delicate skin, and slender body.
“Hi, guys,” her mother said as she approached them
“Hi, Honey. It’s so nice to see you,” said Anthony as she hugged and kissed him hello.
“Hey, Mom,” said Elizabeth. When her mom was done embracing Anthony, she made her way over to Elizabeth and gave her and hug and kiss.
“I’ve missed the both of you so much. How are you guys?”
“We’ve been doing great, right, Elizabeth?”
“Right. We’re glad to have you home again, though, Mom.”
“And boy does it feel good to be home with you!”
“Where are your bags?” asked Anthony.
“We have to go pick them up in baggage claim,” said Mrs. Rodriguez. She had decided to take Anthony’s last name when they got married, but Elizabeth had decided to keep her real father’s last name.
“Ok then let’s go.”
After that, they went out to lunch, shopping, to the movies, out to dinner, and then out again to desert; they spent the whole day together. Elizabeth had not had that much fun in a long time. It felt so nice to finally be with her mother again and to not have to worry about getting beaten for everything she did or said.
On Sunday, Mrs. Rodriguez took Elizabeth with her to get her hair and nails done. Elizabeth had dead ends, so she really needed her hair cut and styled. She decided to get it cut to just below her shoulders to accentuate her face. She could only get away with this stuff when her mother was home because Anthony would never pay for it and she did not have her own money because she wasn’t allowed to get a job; he didn’t like it when she went out looking so good either. Being allowed to wear makeup was yet another perk to having her mother home.
“Elizabeth, Honey, do you have any plans for tonight?” Mrs. Rodriguez asked as they were getting their nails done.
“No, Mom, not tonight. I wanted to be home to spend it with you.”
“Aw you are so sweet, but you don’t have to stay home on my account. You should go out and have some fun with your friends if you want, but just don’t stay out too late because it’s a school night.”
“No, I think I just want to stay home with you.”
“Are you sure? You don’t seem like you hang out with friends a lot.”
“I don’t really like most of the people that go to my school. They are rich snobs that always try to take advantage of people.”
“Aw, Baby, I’m sorry. Hopefully you’ll have better luck next year once you are in college.”
“Yeah, hopefully…” It killed Elizabeth every time she had to lie to her mother, but she knew she had no choice. It would break her mother’s heart if she knew that Elizabeth would never be able to go to college.
“Have you started applying yet?”
“No, not yet.”
“You should really get on that. If you wait too much longer, you will miss the scholarship deadlines.
“I’m just not quite sure what I’m going to do yet and which colleges I want to apply to.”
“You should do some research and then come up with some decisions as soon as you can.”
“Yeah I know. I’m sure I’ll be able to decide soon.”
“You are so smart that I’m sure you’ll be able to get into any school you want to go to.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“I love you, Sweetie, and I want what’s best for you, so get on that college research so that we can send you to the IV leagues.”
Elizabeth smiled. “Ok, I will.”
A few minutes later, they went home and spent the night watching movies together.
It sucked for Elizabeth to have to go to school the next day when her mom was home, but she knew she couldn’t miss it again otherwise she’d have too much work to make up. Besides, she’d promised Jesse that she would tutor him and she wasn’t going to back out of that. She got up and got dressed for school as she normally does, but this time, she put some makeup on and straightened her hair. She still couldn’t wear normal clothes as she would have liked to because she needed to hide the bruises, but she looked a lot better that day than she did most other days.
When she came into school, Jesse immediately noticed the difference. Her hair looked shiny and flowed as she walked. Her big, beautiful brown eyes were much more noticeable now that she was wearing makeup and she looked happier than he had seen her look in a very long time.
“What’s gotten into you?” he asked as she walked by him to go to her locker.
“What do you mean,” she asked as she opened her locker and took some of her books out.
‘You look a lot happier than you normally do.”
“I told you that my mom was coming home. We spent the whole weekend together. It was really nice. For once, I don’t have to miss her for a while. She took me shopping and to get my hair and nails done. I could just be a regular girl with her and it felt great not to worry about what was going to happen when we went home.”
“It sounds like you had a lot of fun with her.”
“I did.”
“Well, I’m glad.”
“Thanks,” she said, smiling at him. “So I’ll see you fifth period in the Tutor Center, right?”
“Right.”
Four hours later, Elizabeth sat in the Tutor Center eating her bagged lunch and waiting for Jesse. She had her math book out to review things that they might need to go over, along with a pencil, paper, and a calculator. She tapped her pencil on the desk and, just as she was about to look up at the clock, he came rushing in.
“Sorry I was late,” he said. “It takes a little while for me to get here because I have to go to my locker and my fourth period teacher decided to hold us back a few minutes.”
“That’s ok. So what subjects do you need the most help on?”
“Everything?”
“Wow, ok, then why don’t we start with math, since most people have trouble with that subject?”
“Sure.” He took out his notebook and Elizabeth peered over at some of the notes he had made in their class. He also handed her his failed tests. She took a few minutes to look over his wrong answers.
“It looks like you are having trouble converting degrees to radians and vice versa.”
“Yeah I never really understood any of it.”
“First of all, what is the formula to convert degrees to radians?”
He looked down at what he has written in his notebook. “It’s the degree multiplied by pi over 180 degrees.”
“Exactly. Now let’s try to convert 150 degrees into radians. Tell me what you would do.”
“Uhm, I think you have to solve for radians, so you have to multiply 150 degrees by pi over 180 degrees, but I don’t really see how that would be converted to radians.”
“150 degrees is the same thing as 150 degrees over one. Is the degrees in the numerator or the denominator in the first term?”
“It’s in the numerator.”
“Right. And is the degrees in the numerator or the denominator in the second term?”
“The denominator.”
“Good. So the degrees just cancel out because it’s in the numerator in the first one and in the denominator in the second one. Do you see what I’m talking about?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“And since the degrees cancel out, only the radians are left in the numerator of the second term, so your answer will be in radians.”
“Ok I think I understand.”
“Convert 150 degrees into radians and tell me your answer. If you get it right, I’ll give you a few more practice problems.”
He worked silently for a few minutes and came up with an answer of 5pi/6 radians, which was correct. Elizabeth gave him a few more problems to work on converting degrees to radians and then they moved on to converting radians to degrees.
“I really appreciate you tutoring me,” Jesse said as he was doing more practice problems.
“It’s no problem. You showed me that you want to change and I want to help you do that.”
“I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t agreed to tutor me, though. Each player has to maintain a certain GPA to stay on the varsity basketball team, and, right now, I’m below that. If my grades continue the way they are, then my coach will throw me off the team and never look back. Basketball will probably be the only way I get into a decent college, so, if I lose that, I lose everything. But, what’s even worse is that I will let my dad down. Ever since I was little, he wanted me to be a pro basketball player. I don’t think I could ever bear to see the disappointment in his eyes if I ever got thrown off the team.”
“Wow. I’m sorry, Jesse, I had no idea.”
“That’s ok. Most people think they know a lot about me, but they have no idea.”
“That seems to be something we have in common.”
“Yeah, I guess so. They just think I’m this rich kid with this perfect life and I can just do whatever I want and not have to pay the consequences, but they are wrong. I love basketball, but my dad puts so much pressure on me all the time that it kind of takes some of the fun out of the game.”
“I’m sure.”
“Sometimes, he makes me shoot in front of him just so that he can critique me and tell me what I should be doing better. He constantly reminds me of how I will never be able to beat him at anything.”
“He probably just feels jealous and threatened by you because he knows that you are going to make it a lot farther than he did.”
“Maybe. You want to know what’s funny though?”
“What?”
“You are probably the first person I ever said all that to. I’ve never told anyone before, not even my closest friends. I can never seem to let them in, but it’s different with you somehow. I don’t know; I guess I just feel like you can understand me better than anyone because you have an even harder life at home than I do.”
“Well, I’m glad you told me. Now I think we can both relate to each other a little bit better. You go through verbal abuse and I go through physical abuse. I don’t know why, but it feels good to know that I’m not the only one with a messed up family.”
“I feel the same way.”
They paused and smiled at each other. Jesse was about to reach for her hand, but then the bell rang.
“Same time, same place tomorrow?” Elizabeth asked.
“Sounds good,” responded Jesse. “See you later.”
They both left the room and went on their way to sixth period.
When Elizabeth got home later that day, her mother asked how her day had been. “It was the best day I’ve had in awhile,” she responded, smiling to herself. Who knew she would have so much in common with hotshot jock Jesse McCartney, of all people? I guess the tin man really does have a heart after all, she thought. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings…