Daughters of Vengeance

“Mom, how old were you when you lost your virginity, huh? A lot younger than 17.” She recoiled as if I had hit her.
“And yet your yelling at me..for something I didn’t even do! I understand you don’t want me to be like you, having kids so early and then breaking up, but why hit me over it? I didn’t even do what your accusing me of. And you know what mom? You say your going to make my life miserable? Well I’ve got news for you. You’ve already made it that way. Do you have any idea how many hours me and Brooke have cried because you made the decision that you were going to break up with him? And that you got the only custody, so we never see our dad? What about the fact that we live in a 2 bedroom apartment where we have to share a room instead of a mansion with our loving dad? That we’re outcasts instead of being famous. And look at how skinny we are...Don’t you think dad could have fed us better? The fact is, you made the decision to take us out of spite. You didn’t think about how much better our lives would have been if we lived with our dad. You were only thinking of yourself” Finally I stopped. Mom was now the color of snow, and Brooke was just as white, her eyes wide.
“And you know what, mom? You know what that caused me to do?” I pulled up my sleeves to reveal long rows of pink scars, and a home made tattoo. I had to redo the tattoo every once in awhile, because it faded. Actually, Brooke did the tattoo for me. It was a plain heart, with the word dad inside it. Mom’s eyes grew even wider, so wide they looked like they might pop out of her head. There was a long period of silence, while I thought about what I said, and mom thought about it too. Brooke already knew.
“Okay.” She said at last. “Your right. I was only thinking of myself when I took you guys.I was extremely mad at your father, and thought you’d be better off with me. Being a rockstar, your dad has to go on tour a lot, and they like to party a lot, too. I thought the environment here would be much better for your health. I wanted to raise you by my standards, not by his drunken ways.”
This time it was Brooke that spoke up.
“But you don’t even let us see him, mom. Fifteen years. I understand wanting to raise us properly, but acting as though dad doesn’t exist isn’t the way to do that. You could at least let us visit him every once in awhile.” Mom sighed.
“Your right, girls. Okay, call your father to make sure he’s not planning to go on any tours soon. Tell him to get plane tickets for 3 months from now.”
“Three months? That’s a long time. Why do we have to wait that long?” We complained.
“Because that’s the soonest time I can get off work. I’m going with you.”
“Mom, come on, we’re almost grownups, we can do this on our own”
“Its not that I don’t trust you, its that I really miss the girls. And I miss the guys, too, I guess. It would be good to see them all again.”
“Alright,” I softened. “And I’m breaking up with Kevin”
“Oh, honey, you don’t need to do that,” my mom said.
“Yes, I do. He needs to learn his lesson.”
I watched as her face spread into an easy grin. It was infectious. Soon me and Brooke were smiling too. I took a moment to put my emotions in check, hardening my face into a mask. Then I walked outside to where Kevin and Michael were waiting.
“I’m sorry baby,” Kevin said, pulling me close and trying to kiss me. It was hard to stay mad at him when he was like this, but I had gotten good at holding myself back.
“What were you thinking?” I screamed, enjoying the look of hurt on his face.
“ You got me a beating! I’m tired of it, Kevin. We’re over!” I stomped away. He chased after me, but I left him in the dust, slamming the door in his face. Once I’d left him behind, I began to grin. My life was looking up. I was gonna get to see my dad and I was teaching Kevin a lesson. I couldn’t wait for school tomorrow.