Holly and the Framed Friend

by Dianne Harman

  “Well, she never really talked much about it. Actually, she didn’t talk about Maggie at all until I saw her picture in a photo album over at Grandpa’s,” Steven began. “I was doing a family history project and needed some older photos. At first, I thought maybe it was a cousin or something, but I asked Grandpa and he told me it was Mom’s sister, Maggie.”

  “That’s right,” Lissa said nodding. She was writing things down in the notebook. “I remember that.”

  Steven nodded. “Yeah, I asked Mom when we got home and she admitted to having a sister. When I asked her why she’d never said anything, she just said it had never come up.”

  “How could the fact she had a sister just ‘never come up’?” Holly asked.

  “My thoughts exactly,” Steven said. “But I could tell it made her uncomfortable, so I never asked again. It wasn’t until your mom died that there was a real discussion about her.” He shrugged his shoulders and took his turn to roll the dice in the monopoly game.

  “What were you told?” Lissa asked Holly as she turned the page in the notebook and then took her turn to roll the dice.

  “Honestly, I don’t know much. All I know was we had a picture hanging in our trailer that was of my mom, your mom, and their mom. It was taken not long before my mother left Springfield. She told me she moved to Colorado and not long after that, Grandma died. Shortly after that, she said your mom moved away, too.” Holly tried to recall if her mother had ever mumbled anything else.

  Sometimes when she was more drunk than stoned, she would open up and talk. It wasn’t very often, but it had happened once or twice. Unfortunately, it never lasted long, and Holly never really got a whole lot out of her. It sounded like her mother reacted the same way Katie had.

  “I think I might have overheard something like that once, that Grandma died not long before our mom moved to St. Louis,” Steven nodded. “That’s where Katie and my dad met. We lived there when we were younger.”

  “What was your mom like?” Lissa asked Holly, truly curious.

  “My mom wasn’t like yours,” Holly sighed. “She wasn’t around a lot. Alcohol and drugs kept her busy most of the time. When I was really little, she’d pawn me off to pretty much anyone who lived nearby and would agree to watch me.

  One time, when she couldn’t find anyone, she decided I was old enough to stay by myself. When the trailer didn’t burn down the first couple of times she left me, she started staying away for longer periods of time. Eventually, she’d often be gone for a week or so at a time.” Holly felt her chest begin to ache just remembering it. “I was probably around eight or nine when I first stayed alone.”

  “Whoa,” Lissa said. “I still barely get left alone, and I’m thirteen.”

  “Mom and Dad still don’t like to leave the two of us alone and I’m seventeen,” Steven said in a surprised tone of voice.

  Holly shrugged. “Trust me, I’d have rather not been left alone. She wasn’t exactly known for keeping the house clean or doing grocery shopping. I don’t even know if I’d still be alive if it hadn’t been for some of my teachers.”

  “I wish you would have been closer,” Lissa said. “Our mom would have made sure you were taken care of.”

  “Isn’t that the truth?” Steven scoffed. “She’s like the ultimate helicopter mom. She’s always around trying to help.” He made a high-pitched voice, “Do you need something? Did you take your vitamin? You look pale, maybe you should rest.”

  The girls giggled at his impersonation.

  “That’s sweet,” Holly said smiling. “Brigid’s not that bad. She takes care of me, but she also lets me have my space. I really got lucky with her.”

  “Good,” Steven said. “So how did you end up with her anyway? Mom tried to explain it to me, but I didn’t really get it.”

  As the board game continued, Holly told them the story of how her mom had started to get sober and clean up her act. Then she told them everything that happened after that to bring her to where she was today. She told them about Missy, Linc, and Fiona, the bookstore, and everyone else in Cottonwood Springs. Describing them all, she realized just how much they were all her family. None of them might be blood-related, but they had shown Holly what real love and loyalty looked like.

  “And now you have family that’s blood-related, too,” Lissa said brightly.

  Holly smiled. “To be honest, it’s still kind of strange.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I don’t know about everyone else, but Lissa and I are here for you. I can promise you that. We’ll do everything we can to help you figure out exactly why your mom left and why our mom tried to brush it under the rug,” Steven proclaimed.

  “I really appreciate that,” Holly said. The tightness in her chest had been slowly releasing after thinking about her family in Cottonwood Springs, but hearing words of support from the cousins she’d just met made her feel much more at ease and wanted. She hadn’t realized it, but part of her had been worried that maybe no one had really wanted her to come to Springfield and she’d been asked because her aunt thought it was the right thing to do. It was nice to know that wasn’t the case. “Now, who’s ready to pay me some money?” she asked as they returned to their game.

  CHAPTER 7

  Stephanie was tired of always being in Chloe’s shadow. Not only was she extremely smart and pretty, but she was one of the fastest runners on the girls cross country team. Even though the meets were over for the year, the girls got together and trained all summer. Today, they’d met at the park and were running along their usual practice path that went around the perimeter of the park.

  Although it wasn’t Stephanie’s favorite place to run, it would do for today. She knew that running on an unfamiliar trail while her mind was occupied could be bad for her. It was far better to let the mind wander when you were somewhere you knew like the back of your hand. Otherwise, a sprained ankle or something worse could sideline her.

  “How’s it going, Steph?” Abigail asked as she caught up to her.

  “Not too bad,” Stephanie said easily. Even though Abigail was one of the slower runners on the team, she could always go the distance. Her curly dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail that was looped through her baseball style hat.

  “Steph, I really thought you were going to beat Chloe out this year,” she said softly. Their group was spread far enough apart that the others couldn’t hear them.

  “I tried,” she admitted. “I mean, I know we’re on the same team and all…,” Stephanie let her sentence trail off.

  “I understand, but it also feels like we’re competing against her,” she said with a nod. “Personally, I know I could never beat her, but I can sure see how frustrating it must be for someone who was almost able to beat her. I don’t know if I could still be friends with her,” she chuckled. “You must be a much better person than I am is all I’m saying.”

  Stephanie didn’t respond. Yeah, she and Chloe were what most people would consider friends. They’d hung out together for forever, like going to the same sleepovers or birthday parties. And being on the same teams, you end up getting to know a person. When they were younger, the fact that Chloe always seemed a little better than everyone else hadn’t really registered with Stephanie.

  It wasn’t until sometime in middle school that she’d started to notice it. The teachers treated Chloe a little differently, and so did the parents. And the boys. It seemed as though every single one of them tripped all over themselves trying to help her out. It was disgusting.

  Chloe always laughed it off and seemed almost oblivious to it. Maybe she was, but Stephanie had a hard time believing that Chloe wasn’t aware of how others treated her. It was painfully obvious to anyone around her. Stephanie didn’t want to think that she was so self-absorbed she didn’t even notice that nobody else got the royal treatment like Chloe did.

  “Her campout party is the best, though,” Abigail continued, “so, I guess it all works out. I heard there’s even going to be fireworks this year.”
She continued to talk on and on about everything people were saying about the bonfire. It seemed everyone was really looking forward to this year’s bonfire, which was probably more due to the fact that every year it seemed to get bigger and bigger, and not just because of the fireworks.

  Stephanie had to admit she felt terrible for thinking badly of Chloe. How many times had she stayed at Chloe’s house or gone to her bonfires? She felt two-faced about her growing feelings of animosity, but she couldn’t help it. During the last student council meeting which they’d held at Chloe’s house, Stephanie felt as though she would crawl out of her skin every time she heard Chloe’s voice.

  The only thing that had kept her from running out the door was eating a whole stack of cookies instead. If she kept that up, she’d have to start doing extra runs to stay in shape. Her weight had never been a problem before, but if she didn’t stop eating to cope with her frustrations, she’d have to go on a diet.

  “By the way, did you ever ask Jared out? I know you were thinking about it but hadn’t decided,” Abigail asked, pulling Stephanie back to the present.

  “No,” she confessed. “I thought about it when I was talking to him the other day, but he just kept watching Chloe the whole time. I figured why bother.”

  “Man, that sucks,” Abigail said. “I know how much you like him.”

  Stephanie shrugged, but she could feel her stomach start to do flip flops just thinking about him. It had taken her forever just to admit to someone that she liked him. When she’d finally screwed up the courage to talk to him, his concentration on Chloe had been hard to take.

  “Sometimes I feel like Chloe sucks the fun out of everything,” Stephanie blurted out. She hadn’t meant to say it out aloud, but now that she had, it was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. After all, that was how she really felt. Even though everyone seemed to like Chloe, there had to be a few others who felt the same way she did.

  Abigail burst out laughing so hard they had to stop jogging for a moment for her to catch her breath. She coughed a few times before nodding and starting to jog again.

  “I guess I can see that. She’s got the best grades, and everyone likes her, especially the boys. Add to that her running skills and the bonfire, and she’s almost untouchable. It’s kind of surprising she’s not a you know what,” she said censoring herself as they jogged by some children playing nearby.

  “Right? It’s annoying. And she’s so flipping nice to everyone that you look like a jerk if you don’t like her. It’s as if she’s cast a spell or something over everyone,” Stephanie admitted. “Granted, being her friend does come with perks, but something’s got to give.”

  “I don’t think she could be any more perfect if she tried. But that’s the thing, right? She’s not even trying, while the rest of us are left feeling like fat ugly trolls with no brains.”

  This time it was Stephanie who was left laughing. “Exactly. Which is why life can be so unfair.”

  As they rounded the last corner, they saw the group meeting after their run. Chloe was standing there with her phone in hand, waving everyone in as they drew closer. When she saw her, Stephanie wanted to knock that brand-new cell phone in the dirt and stomp on it.

  “Come here, ladies. I want to make sure to tell you this before anyone leaves.” She was smiling brightly and while she was winded, she still looked much better than Stephanie felt. Even though Stephanie was used to running, today she hadn’t felt up to it. She really wished she’d stayed in bed, although it was nice to hear someone else complain about Chloe.

  “She must be one of those girls that doesn’t sweat,” Abigail said beside her. “Instead, she glistens,” she joked. Both girls laughed as they came to a stop. They paced around as they slowly lowered their heart rate and waited for the rest of the team. Stephanie tried her best to ignore Chloe. If she didn’t, she was sure her heart rate would never come back down.

  “I told the coach we were all practicing today, and he said he was extremely proud of our initiative,” Chloe said to the assembled group of girls. “He said he knows it’s summer vacation, but he found out the school’s going to be open the day after tomorrow for most of the day. He wanted to ask everyone who could to please come in around 8:00. The band is meeting there and so are a couple other groups, so he thought it would be easier for all of us to meet at school.

  “He wants to look into fundraisers so we can get new uniforms next year. He said if you can’t make it, that’s fine, but if you can, he’d really appreciate it.” She turned to the girl beside her and began to answer her question as Abigail scoffed beside Stephanie.

  “I could make it, but I’m not going to,” Abigail said. “No way am I getting up that early during summer vacation. They’re just lucky I run to keep from eating all summer, otherwise I wouldn’t be here either,” she laughed. “And who appointed Chloe as spokesperson of the team? Now we have to listen to her, too?”

  Stephanie felt the same way. The more she thought about everything, the madder she got. She’d been thinking about doing something that would knock Chloe down a peg. One night a few weeks ago, when she couldn’t sleep, she’d actually made a plan. She wasn’t sure if she would actually go through with it, but it helped calm her enough so that eventually she could get to sleep.

  Now that she’d talked to Abigail, she wondered if maybe she should go ahead with it. At the time, she’d thought she was the only one who felt that way about Chloe. Knowing there was at least one other person who was disgusted by Chloe made her hopeful there were more.

  “Man, I really wish someone would nudge her off her pedestal,” Abigail muttered as they stepped away from the group. “I don’t want something terrible to happen to her or anything like that, but I wouldn’t mind if someone put a little dull finish on her shine, if you know what I mean.”

  Stephanie didn’t answer. She was thinking about her plan and wondering if this might be the perfect time for it. If she and Abigail felt like they did about Chloe, there had to be others. Others who were too kind to do anything about it and just suffered in silence. Of course, if Stephanie executed her plan, nobody could know she was the one who had taken Chloe down, but she was okay with that. She just wanted the other girls to be able to feel important and step out of the long shadow that Chloe cast.

  “Would you text me after the meeting if you go?” Abigail asked as she spotted her mom in the distance, waiting to pick her up.

  “Sure, not a problem. I’m not sure if I’ll go, but if I do, I’ll let you know what happens,” Stephanie agreed.

  “Cool, thanks. See you later,” she said waving before jogging off.

  “See you,” Stephanie muttered distracted by her plan. She was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, she had a job to do.

  CHAPTER 8

  Holly was nervous at breakfast the following morning. Katie had called Grandpa the night before and explained everything. He’d said he was more than happy to meet Holly the next day and invited everyone over for a visit. Allen was staying home so he could work, and Steven was working as a part-time waiter, so he couldn’t go. Holly was glad Lissa was going with her. At least she’d have a somewhat friendly face with her.

  “Is it okay if I bring my backpack?” Holly asked as she finished up her pancakes. “I like to carry stuff with me all the time, if I can.”

  “Sure, I don’t think that’s a problem. It’s a bit of a drive, anyway. He lives here in town, but in the opposite direction. Bringing something to keep yourself occupied is probably a good idea,” Katie said as she cleaned up the kitchen. She excused herself, leaving Holly and Lissa alone.

  “Are you nervous?” Lissa asked when she noticed Holly fidgeting, first with her hair, then with her shirt, and finally with her shoes. She’d tied and re-tied her shoelaces three times while they’d been sitting at the table.

  “Sorry,” Holly said as she dropped her foot to the ground. “Yes, a little.”

  “Grandpa’s a good guy. Don’t worry about him,”
she said as she shoved her last bite into her mouth. “I bet he’s excited to meet you, too.”

  “Do you think?” Holly asked as she chewed on the corner of her thumb.

  “Yes,” Lissa chuckled as she pushed Holly’s hand gently away from her mouth. “I’m absolutely sure, but you really need to relax. There’s nothing to worry about. Come on, let’s help Mom so we can get going.”

  A short time later, the breakfast dishes were cleared away, and the three of them were in Katie’s minivan. Holly had put her small camera in her backpack as well as the notebook and a book to read on the way there. She was hoping she could get a few answers by meeting her mother’s father, like why her mom felt as though everyone had abandoned her. She didn’t want to bombard her grandfather with questions as soon as she got there, but if the opportunity came up, she’d definitely ask a few. Maybe he could shed some light on a few things.

  Lissa sat beside her and pushed earbuds into her ears. Turning towards Holly, she said, “If you need anything, just tap me. I like to listen to my music loud, but you won’t bother me if you want to talk.” She smiled her big, hopeful grin and Holly nodded. She knew when Lissa hit play because the music, thin and tinny, could be heard from where she was sitting in the minivan.

  Holly looked at Katie’s eyes in the rearview mirror of the van. She began to wonder what her life would have been like if her mother had stayed in Springfield rather than taking off for Colorado. While it would have been amazing to grow up with cousins and family, she couldn’t imagine never getting the opportunity to meet everyone back home in Cottonwood Springs, like Brigid, Linc, Jett, and her boyfriend, Wade. She missed him even though they’d been texting while she’d been gone. It just felt strange being away from all of them.