Mom's always know....

I gained my footing and began pulling away from the driver but he had a death grip on me. I was no where near strong enough to fight back and reluctantly began walking on my own. He stood at the bottom step blocking my path to re-enter. I turned around throwing daggers with my eyes but it didn't seem to phase him. Before he stepped back, Vanessa was standing directly behind him, "I'm getting off too!" she squared her shoulders and said.

"You're not allowed! Go sit back down" he bellowed

"If she has to go, I'm going too!!" Vanessa shot back

I just stood there with my mouth open, amazed at my normally docile friend. I wanted to tell her to go back and sit down, to not get in trouble because of me but my mouth wouldn't form the words my brain instructed. The driver moved to the side and let her exit, to everyone's astonishment.

"Anyone ELSE want to play hero?" He grumbled as he resumed his spot behind the wheel. Before anyone was able to answer, with Vanessa and I standing just outside the bus, he slammed the door shut in our face and the bus rumbled on.

There was a silence... an eery silence between Vanessa and I as we still stood there in the same spot where we were abondoned. Looking to the right, I could see the other passengers staring at us through the windows as the bus follwed the rounding curve. They all had a look of disbelief.

I finally turned to look at Vanessa, half ashamed half relieved she was there. I knew if she got in trouble for anything her Father was going to punish her severly. He was just a very strict man like that. A resigned sigh escaped both of us as we looked to each other for hope.

"Might as well start walking" I said, though it still seemed as if Vanessa was still not listening.

"Yea.. I guess. Where are we, anyway?"

We both took a few minutes to finally look at our surroundings as I started to chuckle.

"What's so funny?? I don't find it humerous to have to walk all the way home"

"Vanessa!! Don't you realize where we are!?" I couldn't help but to start laughing uncontrolably. Vanessa looked at me like I was on drugs.

"Oh my GOD Vanessa! Wake up!!" I snapped my fingers near her nose, "We're only on the street behind my house!! Hell, this walk is even closer to my house than the actual BUS stop is!! If we could climb the fence in my backyard, we'll be there within seconds!!" I was still laughing, trying hard to catch my breath.

It was like someone turned Vanessa's brain back on and she started to look around, finally realizing where we were.

"Oh now THAT'S better!! I thought we were closer to school!" she let a little giggle.

"Umm.. I don't think I want to attempt the fence, we'll just walk around, O.K.?"

"Sure"

We arrived at my house faster than we would have if we had actually MADE it to the bus stop. I offered her to come inside, but she said her Father was waiting for her. Your Father's ALWAYS waiting for you I thought to myself, but told her it was fine and we parted ways.

I was surprised to see my brothers car in the drive, but shrugged it off and went inside. He was sitting on the couch, stuffing his face with cheese sandwhiches and milk. How the hell does he stay SOOO thin eating all that crap? He can eat 1/2 a loaf of bread and a 1/2 gallon a milk in 1 sitting.. and yet he's tall and slender. Umph..

"Hey J" He said, without taking his eyes off the T.V.

"What are you doing home? Thought you had work?" I dropped my bag by the door and joined him on the couch, stealing a slice of cheese.

"Well..."

"Don't tell me you got fired!!??"

"No, nothing like that.. I've finally made up my mind. I'm joining the Army. I went and met with the recruiter today after school. Work gave me the day off to do that."

"You WHAT?!? I didn't even know you were thinking about it! Does Mom and Dad know?"

"Yea, they know, well.. they know I had been thinking about it. It's kind of a tradition in our family, you know that. All the men in our family have been in the service, even if it was for only a little bit."

"Oh. Well, yea.. but that was a different time. There were wars going on, they HAD to go. You don't HAVE to go. When are you leaving? What about school?" I had so many questions for my brother.

"Well, I want to, even IF there isn't a war. Which may come anyway.. I overheard the recruiter on the phone, talking about Desert Storm or something, I don't know. Anyway, I'll be leaving in 2 weeks. I have enough credits to graduate right now. All the classes I'm taking right now are just fillers or AP classes since I already finished the required classes. School said that they would let me go now, with my diploma, if I showed them proof I was leaving for the Army."

I didn't know what to say. I didn't want him to leave. Even though at the time, there was no war, I was afraid he'd get injured or die. I didn't want to lose my brother. Yes, we may fight, like all siblings do, but really.. we were pretty close. Suprising too, since we were 5 years apart. I was going to miss him more than I would ever know.

I needed to gather my thoughts, so I left the livingroom to lay down in my bed. Pepper didn't need to go out, and I wasn't hungry for a snack. I rested my head on my pillow with the intent to just relax but at some point I drifted off to sleep.

I woke up a few hours later to my Dad asking if I was going to eat dinner with them. I got up and followed him into the dinningroom. There was tension in the air, my mother was busy fussing over the pots on the stove, my brother with his slumped shoulders was sitting at the bar and my father wasn't making eye contact with anyone. I knew he had already told him about his plans but not another word was spoken in my presence.

After dinner we all went our seperate ways in the house, no one speaking to the other. I didn't even bother with my homework, but instead decided to go back to sleep.

Early the next morning I heard the phone ring and wondered who could be calling at that time.

"J! The phone's for you!" My Mother shouted from the other side of the house.

I went to the kitchen to answer it, figuring I'd kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Eat breakfast and see who it was.

"Hey, sorry to call so early" Vanessa's voice sounded in my ear

"No problem, what's up?"

"I won't be in school today"

"WHAT!? WHY!" I tried to keep my voice down. So many thoughts were running threw my head. The kitchen began to swirl and there was an aching in my stomach. I thought I was going to throw up.

Before I could hear Vanessa's answer, my mom breezed in, grabbed her coffee, gave me a kiss and said she was leaving. The house was empty now, everyone else had already left.

"Sorry, my mom was talking to me. What did you say? Why aren't you going?"

"I forgot I had a dentist and a Dr's appointment today. By the time I get down with both of those, it'll be almost time for school to be out... so I won't be going"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This can't be happening! I can't face the driver all by myself today! We finished our conversation and as I hung up the phone, I was trying to figure out what I was going to do. Skip school? Call my mom and tell her I was sick and didn't want to go? Lie? Oh God.. what was I going to do, because I SURELY couldn't go all alone.

I decided to call my mom and tell her I was sick. I just had to give her time to get to work.

Why is it Mom's ALWAYS know when you're lieing?