Page 10 of Hale

“Hello?”

“What?” Rylie snaps. Her tone is angry, but I hear the underlying sadness in her word.

“What the fuck is going on, Rylie?”

“Aunt Becky is crazy,” she hisses. “She thinks just because she’s rich and I have to live with her she can control me. I don’t want her money!” She screams the last sentence.

Aunt Becky screams something back.

“Calm the fuck down,” I bite out. “She’s doing her best.”

“Whatever, Hudson. Go do your thing. Bye.”

She hangs up on me and I pinch the bridge of my nose. Class time comes and goes as I sit in the parking lot of Jada’s apartments. I pull up the song Rylie sent. “Stuck in the Middle with You” by Stealers Wheel. As soon as I hear the folksy tune, it does remind me of Dad.

Amy: I missed my period.

Goddammit.

Leaning forward, I rest my head on the steering wheel. I can’t deal with this shit right now. I can’t fucking deal. Ignoring my girlfriend and everything that text implies, I turn up the music and think back to days when Dad would pluck away on his acoustic guitar and try to sing songs he had no business singing.

I miss him.

I miss them both.

Fuck.

Rylie

“Come on,” Aunt Becky snaps as she parks in front of the drugstore. “I’m not leaving you out here alone.”

She probably thinks I’ll steal her precious Lexus. Rolling my eyes, I climb out of the car and follow her into the building. We’re going to be late for school this morning, but when are we ever on time? The school must be tired of me too because they keep writing off my tardies and absences as “still coping with parents’ death.”

There is no coping.

Just the death.

It’s a constant thought in my mind. Each morning when I open my eyes, every night when I fall asleep, and every moment in between. They’re gone.

Aunt Becky leaves me to go to the pharmacy. I browse up and down the aisles. Maybe I’ll steal something just to piss her off. I’m smirking when I run into another girl. She drops a pregnancy test at my feet.

I bend down to pick it up, but before I can look at her, she speaks.

“Hi, Rylie,” she clips out.

Snapping my head up, I stare at Amy’s red-rimmed eyes. “What’s this?” I demand as I wave the box in front of her.

She plucks it from my grip and nervously looks over her shoulder. “None of your business.”

“Are you pregnant?” I demand, my voice shrill.

“I missed my period,” she snaps. “I don’t know.”

All I can think about is Hudson. Mom’s wish for him to finish college and worry about Amy later. She’s sure on the fast track of reeling him back home. And as much as I’d love to have my brother closer, especially now, it pisses me off.

“You can’t do this to him,” I blurt out.

Her eyes widen in shock. “Do what?”