Forever and Always, Olive

Chapter 9

When I arrive home, I'm informed that my mom is coming to visit on Halloween with my little brother Charlie. According to her, she just wants to see how I'm settling in. I personally feel like she wants to have an in-depth discussion with my aunt to remind her of the thousands of rules that are set for me here. She keeps telling me that my time spent in Harrington is not a vacation. I simply shrug her off because this is not the type of vacation I'd take.

"Are you excited?" my aunt asks me with a small smile as she ducks into my room. I'm cleaning it, mainly because I won't have time to this week and I know my mother will call me a slob if there's so much as one sock on the floor. I'm also going to try to get Maddox to start the project one of these next few days. We have a month to do it, but I want to get it over with now so I won't have anything to worry about when the project is actually due.

"Yeah," I lie.

"You don't sound like you're excited," my aunt acknowledges.

I shrug as I get up from the floor. "My mother's just coming here to enforce her rules, you know that, right?"

My aunt tilts her head at me. "I don't think so. I think she misses you."

I shake my head. "I've been gone for a week."

"A week is a long time to be away from your daughter," my aunt tells me.

"Then how is she going to do a year?" I scoff. My mother sent me away because I was being a teenager with friends. She didn't like seeing me happy so she sent me here because she knew I wouldn't be happy. Why should I care if she misses me?

"You don't know if you're going to be here for a year," my aunt explains in an attempt to comfort me.

"My mother just isn't going to sign me out of school, again, just to sign me back into my old school," I declare with a shake of my head.

"Do you not like it here?" my aunt mumbles with a small frown. I feel guilty for putting that thought in her head.

I look at her and quickly shake my head. "No, no, I love it here! You're so kind and your house is so nice! I'm just...having a hard time making friends."

"I know it's hard being the new kid, but you'll find your group soon enough," my aunt replies hopefully. "What about that boy you went with to homecoming? Isn't he your friend?"

I sigh and shake my head. "I don't know. He's not the nicest person," I tell her.

"What's his name?" she wonders as she squints in thought.

"Maddox," I answer as I begin folding my clothes and putting them away.

"He's also the one that gave you a ride home that day?" she inquires with quirked brows. I give a short nod in response.

She goes to speak again but her phone, which is in the living room, rings loudly. Thankfully, she jumps to get it. Though I appreciate her concern, I don't want to tell her about the embarrassing end to my junior year homecoming. The conversation would've eventually lead up to that and I just want to worry about myself alone.

+ + +

Halloween comes around sooner than I thought. The school has been decked out with Halloween decorations since the day I arrived. I just didn't think much of it. I was so used to my old school's bright orange hallways that seeing the occasional pumpkin didn't do much to me. On that frightful morning, my mother and brother set out at nine in the morning so they'd arrive when I was getting out of school. My aunt convinced me to get a ride from Vivica today, at least coming home. I walked to school, mostly for some thinking time.

I miss home, I truly do. I miss my room and my bed. I miss my dog, Alfalfa, and my little brother, Charlie. I miss walking him to school in the mornings; even though he would sing the Go, Diego, Go! theme song on replay until we arrived. This is going to be the first year I'm not going to be able to bring him trick-or-treating. I'll truly miss that.

Even though I've only been gone for two weeks, it's dawned on me that I'm going to be here for the remainder of the school year. And who knows if my parents will have me back for the summer? And by the looks of it, this year isn't going to be so great. I love my aunt, but school isn't looking good, and with Vivica around, "home" isn't looking so great either.

+ + +

I end up getting a ride home from Vivica, just like my Aunt told me to. When I arrive back at my Aunt's, I find that my brother is already waiting on the front porch for me. It takes me a minute to see that it's him, mainly because he's dressed up as a tree and he blends in with the planted shrubs Aunt Gen keeps on the porch. Vivica simply walked around him as he was propped up on the portico.

"Olive!" he shouts as he comes running to me. I smile and hug him tightly.

"Hey, Charlie," I smile at the seven year old. "Did you miss me?"

"I've missed you this much!" he exclaims as he extends his arms out as far as they can reach. I grin down at him as he drops his arms to his sides.

"I missed you this much!" I respond as I hold out my much longer arms.

"Come on, mommy's inside!" he urges me as he grabs my hand. I allow him to lead me into the house and to the living room. My mother is there on the couch with a smile on her face and a cup of coffee in her hands. She puts the coffee on the table, stands up, and hugs me.

"I've missed you, sweetie," she whispers to me, which takes me by surprise. I was convinced she'd ask if I was following all the rules first and foremost.

"I've missed you, too, mom," I tell her as the overwhelming scent of home fills my nose. I feel a lump in my throat form once she pulls away from me. "How's dad doing?"

"He's good. He said he loves you. He wanted to come visit but he couldn't drop his shift," my mother tells me with a smile. I nod as I stare down at my shoes. He probably didn't want to drop his shift. He's still mad at me, I can tell. He hasn't talked to me in two weeks, not a call or a text. I haven't tried texting him or calling him either, to be honest, but I thought that he'd try at least once. I apologized repeatedly before I left but he just didn't want to hear it.

We sit down and talk until five o'clock. I play with Charlie while my mother and aunt discuss many different things, including me in the conversation occasionally. It's starting to get dark out so my mother sighs. "I feel like we should get going. I promised Charlie that I'd stop at a few houses so he could get candy on the way home," my mother explains as she stares at my little brother.

I stare at her, not quite wanting to say goodbye just yet. "I can bring Charlie around here," I propose, hoping she'll agree.

"The younger kids go out about this time," my aunt insists to help win my mother over.

"Would you like that, Charlie?" my mom asks him and he gives a fervent nod.

"Yeah, can I, mom?" he asks our mother eagerly. She nods so I stood up and watch him run to get his bag. It has a rock on it. I guess it went with his costume in some weird way. Dusting off my pants, I open the door.

"What time do you want him back?" I ask my mom.

"6:30," my mother replies with a smile. I nod, grab his hand, and walk down the steps of the house.