Of Moons, Birds, and Monsters

Luke never went to take a nap in his room. He just lazily stretched across the couch, listening to the Best of Simon and Garfunkle CD that he put in the DVD player. Colby and Karen were sitting at the dining room table, playing with play-dooh. I had to cover the table with a shower curtain, so they didn’t get it all over the place. I had finished cleaning up after the girl’s lunch, and wanted more than anything to sit down. I hadn’t sat since I woke up Luke.

I walked into the living room and scanned the couch for a spot. The Moreno family had a small, three-cushioned couch, and one separate recliner. The recliner was Mr. Moreno’s, and the first rule I was told was to not sit in his chair. That was his drinking chair, and he could tell in an instant if someone else’s ass had touched it.

“Do you want to sit?” Luke asked, looking up at me from underneath his messy hair.

“Would be nice,” I shrugged. I didn’t really want him to move. It was his couch, and he didn’t feel good. So I felt bad for asking him to get up or move over.

Luke sat up, and scooted down to the middle of the couch. I took the spot next to him on the right side, and awkwardly stared at the blank blue screen of the TV.

“You can change the TV if you want, you know?” he said, pointing at the remote.

“Uhm, that’s okay,” I mumbled, shaking my head. I usually just put it on cartoons or the girls to watch. Plus, I didn’t really want to upset Luke by what I chose to watch.

“Alright then, will you hand me the remote?” he asked, holding out his hand.

I grabbed the remote that was sitting on the end table next to me, and handed it to Luke. He took it and started channel surfing, passing up millions of cartoons and soap operas.

“You have to be one of the shiest people I’ve ever met,” he said, reading through the TV guide.

“I’m just scared of people,” I admitted, fiddling with my hands.

“Why?” he asked chuckling. “I’m not as bad as Jack, you know?”

“It’s not that. It’s just I’m not a people person,” I shrugged. I was the picture next to the word ‘anti-social’ in the dictionary.

“Why? What’s so bad about people? Are you afraid they're going to hurt you or something?” Luke asked, looking at me straight in the face.

“I dunno. I’m just scared of how people see me. If they judge first sight. I’m always so careful of my actions, because I’m terrified of conflict,” I explained, shaking my hands in frustration. I immediately wanted to slam my head onto the end table. He probably thinks I’m some sort of freak.

“Well that’s completely normal,” Luke said, shrugging a little. “You just over analyze things.”

“That and I’m horrible at conversation,” I muttered, rolling my eyes.

“You seem to be doing pretty okay to me,” Luke smiled.

“Yeah, this is probably the longest conversation I’ve ever had with someone who was over the age of eleven, and isn’t my roommate,” I chuckled. WHY was he so easy to talk to? I didn’t even know him that well. This is the most he’s ever talked to me, and we even had a class together last year when I was in school.

“Your roommate,” Luke whispered, squinting his eyes. “I remember her. She was a junior last year. Her name is Dolly or something, right?”

“Dawn,” I corrected with a smile.

“Kind of heavy set, long black hair with red underneath?” he guessed, running his hand over his imaginary waist length hair.

“Yep, that’s her,” I nodded. Dawn dropped out of school, too. She worked three jobs. She worked at the bowling alley, Wal-mart, and Sonic. I had no idea how she could do it, and still be alive.

“How come you left school? I remember you used to be like a grade grubber,” Luke asked with a teasing grin.

“I was not a grade grubber, okay?” I said with a small smile. “I just wanted to keep good grades.”

“Alright, alright. You weren’t a grade grubber,” Luke laughed. “But why did you leave school?”

“Well, I had to help Dawn pay the bills. School was taking up so much time that I could use to make money. So I had to leave,” I explained.

“What happened to your parents? If you don’t mind me asking,” he added quickly.

“Well,” I sighed. It was a long story, but I had learned to trim it down to one run-on sentence. “My mom passed away and my dad didn’t want anything to do with me. He lives in Ohio, you see. And he just didn’t want me around,” I explained with a shrug. Of course, it bothered me that my dad didn’t want to step up and be a man, even after my mom died. It wasn’t as if he was around in the first place. Nevertheless, I thought that sympathy or some sort of caring streak would show up.

“Damn, that’s intense,” Luke said, running his hand through his hair. “So you moved in with Dawn after that?”

“Yep. She was just leaving her house after she filed emancipation from her mom. They got into many fistfights. So Dawn moved into a small house with an extra room, and I needed a place to stay. It worked out nice. Kind of,” I grimaced. It would have been perfect if I were able to at least get my G.E.D.

“Do you miss being in school?” Luke asked, turning sideways on the couch so he faced me directly.

“Well, I don’t miss the early mornings, the asshole students, and the boring teachers,” I chuckled. “But I do wish I could have finished. More than eighty percent of today’s jobs require a high school diploma.”

“You can always go to night school,” Luke suggested. “It’s from four in the afternoon to eight.”

“I can’t do night school. I have to baby sit them until six thirty,” I reminded him. “Besides, night school is scary.” Night school was where all the behavior problems went to avoid the good students. It was where the pregnant teens and remedial kids went for class. I was scared of night school.

“Aww, why? Are you scared of the dark?” Luke teased with a toothy grin.

“No, I’m not,” I sneered. “I’m just terrified for my safety.”

“Night school isn’t that bad. Mason goes to night school,” he shrugged.

Mason was not a good example of the beauties of night school. Mason Agguire was one of the biggest morons I’ve ever met. He was one of Luke and Jack’s friend. He was tall, with thick wavy hair. He had to be mixed with something; there was no way he was just white. He was too tan. He was sort of cute, until he opened that gigantic mouth of his.

“I’ve never really talked to Mason before,” I informed him. The most Mason ever talked to me was when he told me to make him something to eat, or if I knew where one of the Moreno brothers were.

“He’s a good guy. I’m sure he’ll be around here sometime this week. I’ll give you the proper introduction,” Luke offered. “I really think you should go back to school.”

“Even if I did hit it off with Mason, there is no way that I could go. I still have to baby sit them until six thirty everyday. I can’t quit, Luke. I need the money.”

“That’s fixable. Jack and I get home at two thirty to three o’clock. Instead of going out with our friends, we’ll just come home and watch them,” Luke explained.

“I don’t think that Jack would come home early on my behalf. And, how will your mom really know that I’ve been working?” I asked. I don’t think that Mrs. Moreno would trust me like that.

“Easy,” Luke shrugged with a smile. “I’ll talk to my mom about it. She’ll understand. I’m positive that my mom won’t reject to you going to school. And hey, if you need to stay over some nights, you can. I mean, it wouldn't be a problem. Scotty and Kevin practically live here on weekends. So during the week when you have school, you can chill here if you don’t feel like going home,” Luke suggested.

“I still don’t know,” I mumbled, biting my lip. To be able to go back to school would be amazing. However, I had to think of Dawn’s in take on this. I think she would be furious that I would even consider going back to school, leaving her with her three jobs. She acted like that she really didn’t care about school. But I think she knows that schooling would solve a lot of her problems. I don’t think she would be as accepting as Luke about this. As for Mrs. Moreno, I just didn’t want her to think that this was an opportunity to cut my pay. I’ll still be working most of the same hours.

“It’ll be alright,” Luke smiled. He grabbed a loose piece of my dirty blonde hair and tucked it behind me ear. “I promise..”

I would have flinched. I didn’t like people touching me, especially since is the first real time I talked to Luke. But instead of cowering away from him, I let him touch my face. I was scaring myself with allowing that to happen.

“Thanks, Luke,” I said quietly with a small smile.