“My mom?” I asked. Maddie was there?
He nodded. “Well, I would like to talk to you for a moment before you leave. While the nurses changed you into the gown, they noticed various marks around your body, especially on your stomach. Now, I want you to be honest with me. If there is something going on in the household that I should know about…if someone is hurting you…I would like to know. No harm will come to you, I promise. I only ask because it is required for me to question it if I see unusual things.”
I tried to take deep breaths to keep my expression calm. No harm? I thought. You can’t promise that.
I shook my head. “Nothing’s wrong. I ride dirt bikes with my brother,” I told him. “And I tend to fall off a lot,” I gave him a soft smile of reassurance, and he sighed.
“Well, Miss Baker. I suggest that you reconsider your extra-curricular activities if they harm you so much.”
I nodded. “Thanks.”
He seemed unsure, but said, “Alright. Your clothes are over on that chair.” He pointed to a chair next to the small bathroom. “Your mother is outside waiting for you.” He left the room and Spencer came in after he left.
“Hey,” I said as I got off of the bed and went over to the chair where I got my clothes. I went into the bathroom and changed. When I came back out, Spencer was still there.
“I should go,” I told him. “My mom is waiting outside. Thanks for staying with me, though.”
“Alright.” He said softly. He walked closer to me and I stood up on my toes to kiss him.
“I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” I told him.
“Bye,” he said with a smile. “Will you call me tonight?”
I nodded.
“Oh, I gave your backpack to your mom. I figured you might need it.”
“You talked to my mom?” I asked him with wide eyes.
“Yeah,” he said with a soft smile. “Well, not really. I just gave her your backpack. I don’t think she knows who I am.”
I nodded and sighed. “Well, I should go.”
He smiled and led me out of the room.
When we both got to the waiting room, Spencer led me over to a man who looked a lot like him, but a little thinner.
“I want you to meet someone,” Spencer told me. We got up to the man and Spencer said, “Uncle Justin, this is Sydney.”
The man looked down at me and smiled. He held out his hand and I shook it softly.
“Hello, Sydney. I’m Justin, Spencer’s uncle.”
I smiled. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Sydney!” I heard someone call my name from behind and I turned around to see Maddie walking towards me. She took me in her arms and sighed.
“I was so worried about you,” she said. She sounded genuinely worried. She let me go and looked down at me. “Are you alright?”
I nodded. “I’m okay.”
She smiled. “I had your car towed to a mechanic here in town. Michael is paying for it to get fixed.”
I didn’t smile or nod. I stayed silent. I didn’t want to talk about Michael.
“Well, we should get going Sydney. Michael is waiting at home.”
I sighed. “I’ll be out in a second.” She smiled, and went out to her car. I turned back to Spencer and his uncle and smiled softly.
“I should go. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Stevenson.” I told his uncle. “Bye, Spencer.”
“Bye, Sydney.” Spencer’s uncle said as I unwillingly walked away. When I saw Maddie’s car, I walked over and got into the passenger’s side. We began to drive away and I saw Spencer and his uncle walk out to the parking lot.
I looked out the window of the car, and tried to ignore who I was with.
“So,” Maddie said after about ten minutes.
“So, what?” I asked her.
“I don’t know. How are you?” she asked.
I sighed. “I just got out of the hospital.” I told her.
“I know that,” she said. “I mean, how is everything? I don’t even talk to you anymore.”
“Yeah, that’s because you’re always getting drunk with Michael.” I mumbled under my breath.
“Sydney,” Maddie said angrily. “You know my situation.”
“Why did you marry him in the first place?” I asked, looking over her. “Obviously there was a sign that he wouldn’t be right.”
“That’s what you don’t understand, Sydney. There wasn’t a sign.” She sighed. “There was nothing. He seemed like the perfect gentleman.”
I sighed. “Well, he’s not.”
“He’s doing a lot for us, Sydney. He pays for your insurance, for your car repair, your phone, for the house.”
“The house is mine,” I reminded her. “And I don’t want him to pay for my insurance. How does he pay, anyway? He has no job.”
“He used to have a lot of money, Sydney. Most of it, he still has.”
“Then why does he take mine?” I asked angrily. “Why were we on welfare in Chicago?”
She sighed. “I don’t know, but you know, everything will get better eventually. Michael just got a new job.”
“When?” I asked with wide eyes. “Things will not get better at this rate.” I told her. I could see the tears start to fall from her eyes and she picked up a cigarette from the cup holder and lit it.
“You’re smoking now, too?” I asked her. I shook my head and looked out the window again. I didn’t talk to her again for the whole ride back to Shabbona.
When I called Spencer that night, he asked how I was feeling, and talked about school and soccer practice. We were both lucky that we weren’t badly hurt in the crash. Indian Creek was too small to have football, so we have two homecoming games in the fall: volleyball and soccer. I would have been angry if I had to watch Spencer and Jeremy play the soccer game in a wheelchair. Spencer reminded me that there were only a few weeks until the dance. I realized I would have to go through my closet and see if I had anything to wear, because I couldn’t afford to buy a new dress. I had turned in some job applications, but I hadn't gotten any calls. I sighed as I realized that acting normal had gotten much harder than I'd ever thought it could be.
Chapter 7
WORRIES
The next morning, Aunt Megan came to see me at our house before school, with a car full of groceries.
“Oh, honey! Are you alright?” she asked as she came into the house. “Your mom told me about the accident.”
“I’m fine,” I assured her.
She took me in her arms and sighed. “I would have come and seen you in the hospital, but I had to work all day.”
“It’s okay.” I told her.
“Where’s your mom?” she asked.
“I don’t know where she is,” I admitted.
She sighed, understanding that she was somewhere with Michael.
“I’m really getting sick of Michael. I am ashamed to say that he is my brother-in-law. Your mom gave me money to pick up groceries.”
“I’m glad you came, Aunt Megan,” I smiled, trying to break away from the topic of Michael and Maddie.
She held my hand tighter. “I am too. Lillian told me about your boyfriend.” She chuckled. “So, what’s his name?”
“Spencer.” I blushed.
“Ooo! How long have you been together?”
“A few weeks.” I kept blushing. I knew my face was probably bright red.
“That’s sweet. He sounded nice. They said that he was in the crash, too.”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “But we are both okay. We will both be at school today.”
“I want to meet him soon,” she told me. “You can’t just hide these things from me.”
I smiled. “Alright. I’ll make sure he meets you.”
Aunt Megan’s watch beeped. “Oh,” she said. “Sweetie, I have to go, but I’ll come see you guys later tonight.”
“Okay. Thanks for coming Aunt Megan.”
“No problem. I’ll call you later.” She hugged me and walked out the front door.
I began to put the groceries away and saw an envelope on the counter with my name on it. I opened it and saw a stack of twenty dollar bills. There was also a note next to the envelope:
Sydney,
Megan said there was a dance at school soon. I wasn't sure if you had anything to wear, so I asked Michael to leave you this.
Love, Mom
I smiled. Maybe my mom was changing. Maybe she cared more than I thought.
Lillian, Rebecca and I rode the bus to school that morning, since I didn’t have a car, and when I got there, Jacquie and Jeremy were at Spencer’s locker with him.
“Sydney!” Jacquie said as she saw me. She came up and hugged me and I smiled.
“Are you alright?” she asked. I nodded.
“I’m fine,” I told her.
“Hey, Sydney.” Jeremy said as I got to my locker.
“Hey Jeremy, hey Spencer.” I said. Spencer smiled at me, and Jacquie and Jeremy left to go to class.
“Are you feeling alright?” Spencer asked me when they left. I nodded.
“How about you?” I asked him.
“I’m fine,” he replied. “I never actually met your mom yesterday,” he said.
“Oh, yeah,” I agreed. “Well my stepdad wanted us home for some family stuff, so she was in a hurry.”
“Oh, well I'd like to meet her sometime,” Spencer said.
“Sure,” I said hesitantly.
Spencer then went on to tell me that we had been invited to Jacquie's on Friday for a little party she was throwing.
The rest of the week went by fast and I felt terribly...normal. Michael wasn't home all week, but my mom and Aunt Megan were there. Everyone began acting like a perfect happy family.
On Friday after school, Aunt Megan came over so she could meet Spencer before we went to Jacquie's. Maddie had left for the night, which made Spencer upset. He was planning on finally meeting my mom.
Spencer arrived just before six.
“Hey, Syd,” he said as I let him into the house.
“Um…Spence, I want to introduce you to my Aunt Megan. Aunt Megan, this is Spencer.”
“Sydney has told me a lot of good things about you, Spencer,” she said, shaking Spencer’s hand.
He smiled. “It’s nice to meet you. Sydney has told me many nice things about you, too, Miss…”
“George. I’m not married. But you can call me Megan. When people call me Miss George I feel too old.” She laughed. Aunt Megan looked at me and smiled. “So what is your last name Spencer? You look very familiar.”
“Stevenson.” he answered. “I live just down the road.”
“John Stevenson’s boy?” she asked, amazed for some reason.
Spencer smiled, “Yeah. You knew my Dad?”
“Yes, of course I did! He used to come over and help plant corn with his brother…Justin, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Spencer looked at me and smiled, excited that he was known.
“I’ve never met Justin, but I did know your mother, Lilly. She was a lovely girl. I knew your older brother, Joseph, too. I believe I’d seen you as well, but you wouldn’t remember. You were only a baby.”
“It’s nice to hear that you know me.” Spencer smiled kindly. “Sydney barely had a clue who I was.”
“That’s little Sydney for you,” Aunt Megan smiled. “Well, she’s not so little anymore. But she’ll always be my little Sydney Nicole.” She brushed a piece of my dark hair away from my face, and tucked it behind my ear. “You’d better take good care of her now, Mr. Stevenson.” Aunt Megan was jokingly stern as she looked at Spencer, her eyes raised in warning.
“I promise I will, ma’am.” He smiled.
Aunt Megan laughed. “Well, he knows how to be formal.” She shook his hand again.
“Are you ready to go, Syd?” Spencer asked me, still smiling at Aunt Megan’s comment.
“Yeah. I’ll see you later Aunt Megan,” I said as I walked out the door, taking Spencer’s hand.
Jacquie’s house was just down the road from mine; the opposite way of Spencer’s, so it took only three minutes to get there. The house was bigger than mine and painted blue with white shutters just like Aunt Megan’s in town. Jacquie’s long, concrete paved driveway was filled with cars and trucks. Loud party music could be heard from the inside of the house, and almost all the lights inside the house were on.
“Just a little party?” I asked, nervous. Spencer had said it was going to be like a little party. I didn’t know that Jacquie threw big parties.
“You know Jacquie,” Spencer said, just as nervous as I was.
Spencer parked in the driveway, and we both got out of the car. He wrapped his arm around my waist, and led me into the house. Once we got inside, Spencer said, “Wow!”
I nodded in agreement.
He led us through the crowds of people, and some greeted us as we passed, trying to find one of our closer friends.
“I’m going to try and find Jeremy. He has to be here somewhere.” I could barely hear him over the loud music.
“Er…I’ll go find Jacquie,” I replied. He left me, and I wandered around the big house.
There were people everywhere. People I didn’t even know. I had never been in Jacquie’s house, so I didn’t know where to look for her. I continued looking through the groups of talking and dancing people, trying to find a familiar face. Finally, I found Jacquie. She was standing in the white tile kitchen alone, taking cans of soda pop out of the fridge, and putting them on the counter. The kitchen was quieter than anyplace in the house. Jacquie turned around and saw me.
“Oh, Sydney! You’re here! I thought you and Spence were never going to show up!” She came over and hugged me. “Is he here?” she asked, looking behind me.
“Yeah, but he went to go find one of the guys,” I said. “Since when do you hold huge parties at your house?” I asked.
“I don’t do it very often. I’ve only had one or two, but I thought it was time for another. It’s cool, isn’t it?”
“Um…yeah, I guess. Where are your parents?”
“Out of town. Daddy is on a golfing trip in Arizona with some of his buddies from work, and Mom’s out of town until Monday, down in Springfield at another agriculture conference.”
“Oh,” I replied, looking around the large kitchen. “Your house is really nice,” I mused.
“Thanks. “She smiled. “Hey, can you hand me that box of cigarettes over on the counter?”
My eyes widened, and I winced at bad memories as I handed her the small white box. “You smoke?” I asked, disbelievingly.
“No, silly! Definitely not! My Dad does occasionally, and I don’t want these out where anyone can get them.” She stored them in a cupboard below the sink.
I sighed in relief. “You scared me for a minute there, Jacqs.”
She smiled sheepishly. “Sorry,”
“Um…So, how do you find these parties fun exactly?” I asked Jacquie. Looking around at the dancing people and hearing the loud music almost noisy enough to hurt my ears, I wondered how anyone could like that.
“You’ll have fun sooner or later. This is just the beginning. The pizza hasn’t even come yet. Everyone here loves pizza.” She saw the nervousness in my eyes. “Syd,” she said. “Don’t worry. It’ll be fun. There’s no alcohol or anything, just pizza and pop. I promise. My parents take all the alcohol with them when they go. Don’t get worried, okay?”
“Okay.” I sighed.
“I’m surprised at you, Syd.”
“Why?” I asked.
“You’d think that since you’re from Chicago, you’d be used to big parties.” She opened a two-liter of Pepsi and poured herself a glass.
“I’ve never been to one,” I admitted.
“Really?” Her eyes widened. “Wow. If I were in your place, I’d be at all the big parties.”
“I’m more of a quiet person,” I told her.
“I know.” She smiled. “But I just figured…Well, that doesn’t matter
. The real fun will be when everyone is gone and it’s only Annie, you and me having a sleepover!” She sounded super excited.
I nodded. The sleepover would be more fun than being around a bunch of people I didn’t even know. I was used to being alone, and I didn’t really like big crowds. Sometimes I’d be afraid of getting claustrophobic.
Jacquie took a sip of her pop, and said, “Now, go have some fun, girly! I’ll be out there in a bit.”
“Okay,” I said as I walked out of the kitchen.
I walked back into the living room, where everyone was dancing to the loud music.
“Sydney?” Matt called my name through the crowd.
“Matt?” I asked.
“Yeah. Hey!” He came over to me and put his arm around my waist.
“What’s up?” he asked me.
“Not much. What are you doing here?”
“Jacquie invited me. I used to go to school here, remember?”
“Yeah,” I mused.
“Here.” He began to lead me into one of the smaller rooms. “I can barely hear a thing.”
We entered a small family room, and sat down on a couch.
“There, that’s better.” He sighed. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. Just a little sore.”
He nodded. “I’m glad you’re okay. I was worried about you,”
“I’m okay, thanks. You didn’t need to worry.”
He smiled. “I’m glad. So, what’s up down in Shabbona?”
“Not much.” I shrugged. “Just same old Shabbona.”
Matt laughed. “Yeah, I remember those days. DeKalb’s a little better, but not by much.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, unsure what to say.
“Oh!” Matt exclaimed. “I talked to my manager, and you should be receiving a call soon about your application.” He smiled proudly.
“Are you serious? Thank you so much!” I leaned forward and hugged him.
“No problem.” He chuckled, adjusting his black square glasses, and baseball cap like the one Spencer usually wore. “I think it should be fun working together.”
“Yeah,” I replied.
“Sydney?” I turned around to see Spencer walking through the doorway of the room.
“Oh, hey Spence.” I stood, and he wrapped his arm around my waist. “Matt,” he said tensely as he saw him. Matt nodded in acknowledgement.
Taking Chances Page 6