Wings of a Butterfly

"Hey Ray, stay away from her!" My mother steps in front of me, blocking Novak's little brother from my view. He is kind of cute, and I would like to talk to him, but my mother won't even let me look at boys anymore. I know she’d never tell Bam what happened, and I don’t plan on telling either.

“I think we should go over some guidelines." She says and walks back over to the booth with Bam, leaving me with Ray. He steps closer to me, lifts my chin to look him in the eyes and says, "What's up?" I smack his hand away and go over to Bam's friends.

"Hey, Sam. Is that short for Samantha?" Evil Jared asks.

I shake my head, "It's my initials: Sofia Adalyn Mays."

Bam walks over, "Yeah well, we're gonna have it changed to Margera." He puts his arm around me.

"Or maybe Novak..." Ray says dreamily. Everyone stares at him.

"Your funny, kid." My mother hits him on the shoulder hard.

"Remember Bam, she can only take so much. She's very fragile, so don't try to teach her to skate because of her back and her asthma. Oh! And don’t forget, she has food allergies too." Mom pushes him away and hugs me to her small frame.

I push away from her, “I'm not that delicate."

"And remember to take the you-know-what pills.” She adds in a whisper.

"What pills?" Bam asks. All the guys cough and shuffle their way out of the restaurant.

"Her anti-depressant pills." Mom whispers loudly. I give her a death glare. "What? You can't forget to take those." Her voice breaks as she tries not to start crying again.

Bam clears his throat, "Um, well, let's get Sam's stuff packed into the Hummer and you guys can be on your way to the, uh, arena. We'll meet you there when the show starts." Mom nods and heads out into the parking lot with Dico, Dunn, Rake, Jimmy, and Evil Jared following her. That leaves me, Bam, Novak, and Ray still standing in the restaurant.

“I like to go by Sofia.” I say flatly. Bam smirks.

"What's wrong, Sof?" She asks as I hug her petite body, which is kind of hard since I'm almost as tall as her.

“Don’t forget to call Stuart and I later tonight once you get settled in, alright?”

"Hey, you okay?" Ray asks. I nod.

"Doesn't look like it." Evil Jared says.

"Psst! Jared, we gotta jet." Jimmy says.

Jared puts his hand on my shoulder. "See you later, kid." and walks away with Jimmy.

"Sorry for the scene." I apologize to my bio-dads friends.

"S'okay." Dico says. Dunn walks over to Novak, who has his back turned to him smoking a cigarette, and kicks him in the butt. Ray, Dico, and Rake laugh. I cover my mouth to keep from smiling.

"What the hell, dude?" Novak shouts.

Ray runs over and jumps on his brother's back yelling, "Yee-haw!"

"Get off, shit head!" Novak yells some more.

The guys start laughing, and I hide my smile as Ray looks at me for some sort of approval. I fix the smile into a look of boredom and roll my eyes at him.

Can’t let him know that I’m capable of emotions