Her Fight For Life

After about a thousand and one red lights, we finally reached the mall. Sometimes it was unbelievable how long it took to get from our house to the mall which was barely thirteen blocks away. If you didn’t hit it at just the right timing, you were screwed for about half-an-hour. I saw Angie’s yellow Firebird a few parking spots down and sighed. I unbuckled my seat-belt and opened the car door. Angie is the only friend I have that doesn’t care what Collin says or does. She doesn’t get weirded out by him or giggle if he spaces off. She’s literally the only one who understands without knowing what’s going on. I opened up the back door of the car and leaned in to undo Collin’s toddler trap. My mom was all about safety, and it was almost impossible for me to unbuckle it.

“You know, she doesn’t realize this but I can get out of this seat Tammy,” Collin secretly whispered into my ear so that hawk wouldn’t hear it. I just giggled and continued undoing the belt and clips.

I could tell Angie was walking up to the car because she never picked up her feet. It was one of the most annoying habits she had. I told that if she ever was kidnapped, it was because the guy could hear her a mile away. She had on heavy military style boots and they were making loud thunking noises across the black asphalt. I sighed and made a funny face at Collin to make him giggle. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and I lifted him up and out of the car. I held on to him like that because I knew that’s where he was the safest.

“Yo girl, look at them sleazy clothes you be wearing,” Angie half said and half giggled while trying to impersonate a ghetto black lady.

“Angie, seriously? I don’t want your stupidity rubbing off on my little brother,” I said with complete sarcasm. She just flipped me off and tousled Collin’s hair.

“Now girls, I don’t want either one of you rubbing off your teenager habits onto my little angel,” My mom smiled as she came up behind us and grabbed Collin from me. I lightly punched Angie in the arm and we headed towards the door.

“Do you have in mind what you want Tammy? I don’t want to spend all day here,” Mom said over her shoulder. I shrugged at her knowing she couldn’t see it.

“Yea Mom, same shit different year,” I huffed. Angie put her arm around me and rubbed my shoulder.

“Tammy Anne, watch the language. If you already know what you need, then go get it and call me when you’re done. I’ll pay for it. I want to kill two birds with one stone, so while you and Angie are doing that, I’m going to buy your brother some new shoes and clothes,” Mom ordered and Angie and I put our hands in the form of a salute and stood straight up.

She just looked at us sternly and we smiled and saluted her. She shook her head and walked towards the kid’s shoe store with Collin. He turned around to look at me before I started moving and he had this ominous look on his face like he knew something was going to happen to me. It also looked like he was intrigued and couldn’t tell whether or not he liked what was going to happen. I made a silly face at him that threw him off his train-of-thought and he giggled. I waved and Angie grabbed my arm and yanked me away.

Our mall isn’t very big, but depending on what store you go into, you could get lost, especially if you were trying. I’ve heard of some of Angie’s friends talking about going to the mall to hang out and watch for cute boys. I never understood the point of that. Why would you want to waste such precious time looking for someone who was probably going to just end up hurting you anyway? All men ever do is come into your life, mess it up, and then leave. Of course, letting you do all the hard work and pick up the pieces and glue yourself back together.

The only real experience I have with this, is watching my piece of shit dad tear my mom down and make her the weakest person she’s ever been. Collin was just a baby, so thank God he can’t remember any of it. The only bad thing is that sometimes when he’s with mom, he can sense that something is bothering her and he usually gets it out of her. I refuse to talk about our dad with him. Collin used to ask me all kinds of questions about him, and I would answer. Then I started getting sick of all the questions, and I just quit talking about it. There was no reason to remember him. He left us, and he was never coming back. I didn’t want him to, and I know my mom didn’t either. There are reasons people are in our lives, and there are good reasons as to why they are not.

“You know if you keep walking around with that serious look on your face, people are going to think you’re a total bitch,” Angie uttered while pinching me in the side.

“Oh, I was under the influence that everyone thought that anyway,” I replied back with a fake snotty accent. She just giggled and we walked into one of the mini stores that were filled with nothing but school supplies.

Angie and I both grabbed a basket and started filling it with the necessities of hell. I was lost in thought again, and Angie just left me alone and went her own separate way. I was thinking about how girls at my school obsessed about boys, and they had to constantly change their looks just so they thought they were liked. I didn’t know if I was one of the few left that didn’t give a shit what publicity thought was okay and what wasn’t, but I was starting to see it was rare. Like for example, this one girl, about our sophomore year, moves to town. Everyone stared at her, some people were rude to her, and others just made fun of her. I looked and looked and looked, and I couldn’t find anything wrong with her. So, curious, I asked the assholes of the school what was wrong with her. It turns out that it is socially unacceptable in our high school to be a lesbian. Now do you see my issue? I had no clue and couldn’t see anything wrong with her, and yet people made fun of her for a personal preference. It was complete bullshit. Angie and I took her in under our wing, and we let her hang out with us. If anyone started hanging out around us, no one messed with them. Everyone knew how much of a hard-ass I could be, and I took advantage of it when it came to someone messing with someone else. I never could—

-SMACK!-

“Oh shit, sorry,” A boy rendered while trying to help me up off of the floor.

The stupid son-of-a-bitch had literally run into me and knocked me over! Everything in my basket and been strewn across the floor and my elbow and tail-bone were throbbing like something awful! Ouch, damn it!

“Why don’t you look where the hell you’re going next time? Or maybe you’ll try to throw me into the wall?” I sneered at him and standing up and stretching out my arm. Nothing felt broken, that I could tell.

“I said I was sorry. I was in bit of a rush,” he ushered out while picking up everything I had dropped and placing it back into my basket.

“Oh shit, Tam, are you okay?” Angie hollered. I just looked at her like if she said another word I would kill her. She shook her head and stayed put.

“Oh, really? I couldn’t tell by the wind getting knocked out of me or anything,” I said as rudely as I could. I was really pissed off and I was going to be sore all night and the next day.

“You know, you could stop acting like such a bitch. At least I’m picking your shit up for you,” he sneered back at me. I sighed and rubbed my butt.

“I’m sorry, just that really fucking hurt,” I moaned.

“Well, here. I put it all back in the basket. I really didn’t mean to hurt you. Will you be okay? I was kind of in a rush, remember?” he stated as he handed me back my basket and I finally got a clear look at his face.

Oh my God, he has the clearest green eyes I have ever seen in my entire life, and those lips! Holy shit! God, what the fuck is wrong with me? I never do this! Oh my, I could just kiss those lips forever and a day. Oh look, his light golden brown hair frames his face just heavenly.

“Hellllloooooo?” Mr. Cutie bellowed while waving his hand in front of my face.

“Oh, sorry. Yeah, I’m fine. I have a friend here with me,” I stammered out. He seemed satisfied with my answer and held his hand out. Unknowingly, I reached my hand out towards his and he took my hand in his and kissed it.

“Hopefully next time we meet, it shall be less painful for the both of us,” he cooed as he walked away.