Can't Catch a Break
Chapter 6
Evie’s POV
Helen and I live in a smaller home in the Garden district. The college I will be going to, is less than 3 miles away. Helen was proud for me to get early admission at Tulane. I worked so hard for it, but that was the easy part. The hard part, will be paying for it. I plan on focusing and applying myself. I took some courses at the local community college last summer to see where I felt my biggest interest lay. I like business, I like running numbers. I liked the challange of it. I always have, and I like to make sure our household runs smoothly too. I coupon, and we have a stockpile of items that we need here in the house. Helen is proud of how detail oriented that I am. I am too if I am being honest. I didn’t get a lot of instruction on life skills while I was floating around the foster system. Not until I landed in her home. She taught me how to balance a checkbook, how to cook, and basically how to be a good person. As far as I am concerned, this is my home, and Helen is my only family.
I have one friend, Graclyn, and she is just like me. We don’t go out and party, we study, and try to keep our heads down at school. Graclyn’s older brother, Gregory, graduated two years ago, and is currently a Sophomore in Tulane. He took care of both of us at school, until he graduated two years ago. The last 2 years without him have been tough.
Graclyn got into Tulane with me, and we are excited to start our next journey. She just turned 18, and I will be 18 very soon. We kind of wanted to live in the dorms together, but I just cannot afford to do it. I will have to work the whole time I am in college to try to squeak past with everything I will need to graduate. I have scholarships that will cover the first three years. If I can work, while I go to school, I may be able to squeak by. On the bright side, I will be able to graduate from college, which is something that I never thought would be possible for me.
Graclyn and I have both been working at a local ice cream shop. We both like our jobs, and we pick up the bulk of our hours on the weekend. Graclyn’s mom, Miranda, drops us both off, and picks us up again. We work well together and we enjoy the families that come in with their little ones for a sweet treat. We stay busy, especially in the heat of the summer. The heat is already here as it is May now, and here in the South it get’s hot early and runs until around the end of October.
The only time that we do not like working is Friday, and Saturday nights. That is when the three witches; Amber Lynn, Hillary, and Lisa show up to cause trouble. They usually come with their boyfriends. But if the guys are at football in the fall, or lacrosse in the spring, they will come in just to give us problems. It is immature, and petty, but that is how they are. I have given up on asking them to stop, it just seems to make them want to push harder. The only time that we get a small break from it is when Gregory is also out on break from school, and comes to get us. They will straighten up for him, and leave without the drama. I wish he could come to pick us up every day to be honest.
We work three nights during the week, until closing. Graclyn’s dad, Randolph, or her mom, Miranda, whichever one of them is free at the time ends up picking us up. I know that even if I did have another friend, that Gracyln would still be my best friend. She is smart and funny, and she always has my back. I do the same for her, as I cannot imagine my life without her in it. Since I can’t stay in the dorms, she is getting a single room to stay in, that way I can come and visit her occasionally.
Thankfully, Helen had stepped up for me to help me with the dorm room problem. The want all first years, to stay in the dorm. But Helen needs me at home. The main problems are due to her age, and her health issues. Plus, she lives very close to the college, so I can just jump on the street car to get there. I am proud that she even wants me to stay with her after I graduate. She wants me to save what money I do have to help pay for my education. Most foster parents would be glad to see me turn 18 and leave, but Helen wants me to stay with her while I go to school.
I am glad that Helen knew someone who could help us with the dorm room situation. I would hate to leave her behind. She has heart issues, and I worry for her. She had a heart attack when I was 15, and it was the scariest thing I have experienced in my life. I try to be her hands and feet as much as I could after that. I do the house work, and the errands. She does have to drive me to the store occasionally, but only when we have to. She treats me like I am her family, like I am her own grand-daughter. I have to say that I love her too.
I was thankful that when Gracie’s mom picked her up from school, she wanted to take me home too. I know Gracie heard what Preston said to me, and I know that she was scared for me. I know that it is just puttong it off until tomorrow. He was really pissed as I saw him, Truman, and Trinity all glaring at me as the bus drove off. Great, something to look forward to tomorrow. What is going to happen is going to happen, no matter what I do.
I heard my name being called and I looked back up to the front seat. “I am sorry, what did you say?” I told them.
“Do you want to have plans for your birthday yet? I know that Helen will want you for after the graduation to celebrate but that, and your birthday too. But I was thinking that after you celebrate with Helen, you could come and spend the night at my house” Gracie said to me.
“I will ask her tonight, and let you know tomorrow, if that is OK” I told her. Gracie nodded and went back to speaking with her mom. They have an easy relationship, and I am thankful that Gracie’s parents kind of took me on as an honorary member of their family. They are always so sweet to me, and I know that just having them in my life is as great a blessing as having Helen in my life. I am grinning pretty big as I exited the car and walked up the driveway. I watch them drive away, and I realize that my day is ending way better than it started.
I heard him before I saw him, I hadn’t even gotten my keys out of my pocket, when he shoved me around the corner of the house into a hidden area on the side of the porch. I could feel the anger radiating off of him as he pushed me roughly into the side of the house.
“Why did you report me to the principal? I got called to the office, and now I have to pay to replace your books. They want over $200 to replace them. Just to let you know, I am not going to pay, you are. If you don’t I will make you sorry. I will give you two days to come up with it bitch. I know you have a job, so cough it up, otherwise I don’t have any problem at all beating it out of you” Preston told me. I tried to wiggle away from him, but he pushed himself against me to hold me in place.
I see the surprise on his face, before he reaches for my waist with both hands, as he utters, “I thought you were pretty fat there Evie, looks like you tricked us all princess. I like a little weight on my girls, you should have let me know sooner, we could have been having a lot of fun all these years.” I could feel him leaning in towards me more. I felt his chest pressing against my breasts. I can feel his hands come up to brush the hair out of my face to get a better look at me. I used the opportunity to hit him as hard as I could with my backpack and ran to the door getting the key in needed ready to go.
He was standing back up again and leapt back up onto the porch, as I jammed the keys into the lock. He was started across the porch towards me and stopped a few feet away just as I was entering the house. I saw his smirk as I shut the door on him, but I clearly hear what he said to me, “See you in the morning, princess.” My heart is racing a million miles an hour in my chest, and I cannot catch my breathe.
“Evie is that you?” I hear Helen call from the sunroom.
“Yes, Ms. Helen. I got a ride from school from Gracie. I will get dinner started for us” I called out to her and took my book bag to my room. My books all still smelled like shaving cream. I already know that I will have to try to cwipe them off again. Maybe I will wipe them down and leave them in the sunroom to get some sunlight to dry.
Why me? Why do I have to put up with so much. I have never done anything bad to anyone. I never cause waves, and yet here I am. Having to pay for books that jerk messed up his own self. I can feel the tears coming and I ran across the hallway to the bathroom. I turned on the faucet and allowed myself to cry as I washed my hands to go make supper.
I know that there is no purpose in me crying, this was out of my hands. I looked at my reflection in the mirror, my long light brown hair hangs down, almost to my waist. It needs a trim, but I just don’t want to spend the money to do it. My hazel eyes are red rimmed and swollen from me crying so hard. They are my best feature actually, they have a little amber in them, mostly green with some grey flecks. It is the grey flecks that really catch your attention, I have never seen anyone with eyes the same color as mine before.
I always just call them hazel, but it doesn’t seem to carry an accurate description of them. Maybe I will play them up after I start college, but for now I will just keep my head down for the last few weeks of school. I am sick of this hellhole I am in. After that, I am sure that I will only be seeing Gracie, and maybe a few others from my high school. It will only be the really smart kids, the ones I fit in with, and have never caused me issues at Tulane. I can live with that. I just need to focus on what I can control, like getting to the bus on time, avoiding the group of jerks that has it out for me, and graduating. I am done with them all after that. I can handle anything for less than three weeks.