3 Chapter Two

Laughs echoed through the house. Mother and I sat at a table coloring in a page from my notebook. Light flowed in from the window, illuminating the table and the brightly colored crayons. \

"Look Amy," Mother whispered, "the duck is all alone, lets color in the cat so the duck can have a friend." She handed me an orange from the crayon box. I plucked it out of her hand and started to color it in.

"Pacifica!" Dad came running down the stairs. "Can you run to the bank real quick? I have to go to work and we owe America's lessons instructor money."

"Sure Don. I have to drop Amy off at preschool anyway." Mother picked me up and spun me around, "You wanna go see Mrs. O?"

"Yeah!"

- - - -

Everyone says that I was too young to remember, but I remember every moment. From the second that that police officer walked into my classroom, I knew my whole world was ruined. It was scary. Dad was crying nonstop and I didn't know why. Brazil took me in her lap, her auburn hair shielding us from the world as she held me. From the ages of six to eleven, I hated my hair. It was the same exact fiery red that hers was. I always wore it under a hat or a hoodie or a beanie.

Dad started drinking. He doesn't even parent me anymore, he just leaves me to Brazil. When Mother died, Brazil was 16 and I was 5. She had to grow up much earlier. She couldn't go to college, she has to juggle 3 jobs, and she has to do it all without worrying me.

Baze never got to live her life. And I'm at fault. Maybe I should start drinking, cause it seams to be working great for Dad.

- - - -

So we rushed out the door to Mark's convertible Audi and got in. I looked over into the front seat and saw Mark wearing a tight black shirt and jeans. Ah, so Emma and James teamed up on us. Which made me so mad because James is not as hard on Mark as Emma was on me. There must have been some type of coordination between the two because Mark was wearing the exact same beanie as me.

I propped my feet up on the center console to show the boys how much Emma is putting me through. They didn't seem to get the picture. "Seems like the shining twins paired up on us Coronary."

Mark laughed, "How'd you know?"

"Your clothes match mine."

James patted my shoes, "HE is not wearing these fine boys." He leaned back in his chair, his smug smile seemingly taking in my pain.

"That is the problem with it. He needs to feel my pain."

"Pain? What do you think wearing this super tight shirt is doing to me?" He whined.

I scoffed, this is a quarterback of our football team. Every fragment of his being is to be admired "I know, so sad that all the girls are going to be fawning over you all day, all the other girls will be calling me a slut." I stared at all of my visible skin, trying to cover it with Mark's Letterman I stole from under my seat.

"But the guys will be fawning over you," Emma interjected. I rolled my eyes turning over to the window.

"When has a guy ever 'fawned' over me?" I spoke, staring out the window at the fog cloaking Seattle. Many would think of this as a sad dull day, but I don't. I think that the beauty in the world comes from the rain. "They all are busy fawning over the girls who actually look attractive"

"Shut up. I looked at the audition lines and those two outfits matched the lines for the main roles. Sorry if you think it makes you feel exposed."

"What? The lines are out? Why does the female lead role match these clothes? I need to see them, tell me about them."

"First of all, way too many questions, not enough time to process. Second of all, No. I know from experience. If you get it now, you will overwork it and you will not be able to focus on school." She noticed the lettermans jacket and started to try to wrangle it from me.

"Who made you our boss?" Mark asked, Emma slapped me arm in attempt for me to let go of the jacket "What are you guys doing back there?"

"She stole your letterman's jacket!"

"I'm cold!"

"Let her keep it." Mark yelled, "You guys are distracting me and unless you want me to crash the car, I suggest that you stop fighting." there were 5 minutes of us staring at each other before any of us said anything. James looked over in the back seat.

"Oh. My. God. Did you see that America girl?" He asked in the highest pitch of voice I have ever heard. "She was wearing Mark Johnson's Letterman jacket. She totally slept with him." He continued. I took off the lettermans jacket and threw it at James.

"Are you happy now?" Mark grabbed the lettermans jacket and threw it back into the backseat. "Hey, focus on the road!" I yelled at him. I slipped the jacket back on and curled up in my seat right behind Mark. We all looked out the window and stared at the tall trees and the streets. I reached down into my bag and pulled out my camera. Aiming it out the window and at the Space Needle in the distance.

"You take too many pictures of that damn thing."

"It's beautiful" I shot back.

"Your sister's apartment is filled with your photos of the space needle from all different angles." James looked over his shoulder at me, "It's obsessive, I mean, 27 different angles. No wonder you don't have a boyfriend. Am I right Mark?"

"Look who's talking, I don't see a girl draped around your shoulders. Let's be honest, the only person in this car with a relationship is me." Mark replied as he pulled into the school parking lot.

"Relationship? Oh come on, Alicha has you wrapped around her pinky finger." Emma exclaimed, opening the car door, "I can't believe you would even count it as that"

James patted his hand on Mark's shoulder and responded, "Yeah, it's more like shes your boss rather that your girlfriend. 'Mark, hold my bags,', 'Mark do my homework', 'Mark, Jump off a cliff for me dear'" I laughed. It was all true though, almost everyone could tell who wears the pants in that relationship. And it definitely wasn't Mark.

"While you guys are making fun of me and my girlfriend, I am going to make it to class in time." Simultaneously, we all took out our watches and checked the time. He was right, it was 5 minutes before class started and we weren't even inside the school yet. Mark was already halfway there, and I scurried along to catch up with him.

I walked into the school, my arm hooked with Emma's. As we march up the stairs and down the hallway to our lockers, I watch the walls. Some have lockers on them and others are covered in gold. Some have girls crowded around them, giggling and gossiping, others have boys surrounding the one with the most recent score. All the cliques, no matter how popular, had their groups. So why do I feel so alone? Except, when we reached my locker, my blood ran cold. But what I exchanged looks with Emma as we get to my locker. The biggest crowd was lingering around it. Snickers and giggles echoed from the crowd.

Emma squeezed my hand and whispered to me, "I'm gonna check it out. Stay here." She disappeared into the crowd.

Mark came running. "America!"