Chapter 3
Fortunately, a genius decided we shouldn’t have school on Saturday. Unfortunately, I work at a fast food place on Saturday.
I stood at the counter, bored out of my mind. I asked myself over and over again why the heck I would want a job here, of all places. I never could answer myself until a little kid and some old woman made me see the answer: I didn’t.
“What do you want?” I asked with a voice drenched in boredom.
The woman gave me her order then asked the kid, “What do you want, Charlie?”
“Pizza!” Charlie said.
I took a deep breath, trying to hold back my frustration. “We don’t have pizza. We have hamburgers.”
“Enchilada!” Charlie said.
“We don’t sell Mexican food,” I said angrily.
The old woman gasped and pulled the kid to her. “Don’t talk to my grandson like that! He’s only seven!”
“Pick something for him instead of wasting my time,” I said.
“I want broccoli soup,” Charlie said.
“We don’t have broccoli soup!” I yelled.
People all over the restaurant stared at me. “Mind your own business,” I snapped at my audience. I turned back to the kid. “Order something from the menu.”
“I just want a toy.”
“I want a toy too,” I yelled. “That way, I could shove it down your throat!”
Grandma gasped again. “Take me to your manager,” she said through gritted teeth.
“No! Take that idiot out of here~ He can’t even think of a single thing we have here at our fast food restaurant and you’re too much of an idiot to order something for him!”
“What’s going on here?”
I turned around. “Great,” I muttered. My boss was scowling at me.
“You should fire this boy,” Grandma said as she pointed a bony finger to me.
“Oh, he’s fired, all right,” my boss said.
“You can’t fire me! I quit!”
I always wanted to say that.
I threw my hat onto the ground, jumped over the counter, and ran out of the restaurant without looking back.
Losing my job wasn’t what I was trying to do. How was I supposed to have money for gas and potato chips now? I was pretty upset, but playing my guitar always made me feel better.
Where I had worked was kind of close to this beach I secretly liked to go to. I know I said I hate the beach. I do. But there’s this one spot that no one really goes to.
I parked my truck and took my guitar out with me. I brought my guitar almost everywhere. I walked down a grassy hill and found my beach hidden behind the trees.
I leaned back against a tree and closed my eyes, strumming my guitar with my mind elsewhere. I hummed without really noticing. I didn’t even realize what I was playing until words started forming in my head and I began singing. It was a song I had heard on the radio a few days ago.
When the song ended, I opened my eyes and was startled by a red-haired teenage girl watching me. “You’re really good at that,” she said.
“Who are you?” I said.
“How did you learn to play?” she asked, ignoring my question.
“Why are you here?”
She ignored my question again. “What else can you play?”
“I don’t play in front of people,” I said. “And I wish you would leave.”
“Why don’t you play in front of people?” she asked.
“I just don’t.”
“Well, you should. You’re really good.” The way she looked at me was pretty convincing. She sat down and I knew she wasn’t leaving any time soon. “I’m Leslie.”
“I don’t like people,” I said casually.
She shrugged. “I don’t like you much, either. You remind me of my dad.” She laughed at the sickened face I made.
How was I supposed to get rid of her now? I sighed. “I’m Fate.”
“Fate? Like destiny? I’ve never heard of that being a name before. I like it.”
I didn’t respond. We sat silently for a while and I tried to decide if I felt like ditching her or if I was too lazy. I guess I was too lazy because I stayed long enough for her to ask another question.
“How old are you? Fifteen?”
“Seventeen. Almost eighteen.” I didn’t mean to scowl at her but it’s pretty tiring having to correct everyone because you’re so short that everyone thinks you look like a kid.
“I’m fifteen,” Leslie said. “I just moved here. I thought you might be in my class. And you’re kind of boring so I’m going to leave. No offense.” She stood up and dusted the sand off of her shorts. Then she said to me, “And by the way, I really think you should sing for people.” She walked back to the trees that led to the rest of the world and disappeared from sight.
I returned to strumming the guitar. My mind wandered to Sunny telling me the same thing as Leslie all the time. I played my own songs for Sunny every time I wrote a new song, and she always told me she wished she wasn’t the only person lucky enough to hear my voice. Should I sign up for that music show in Florida? It would get me away from Sandra and Dan. I was so tired of being in this tedious town. But there’s no way they’d let me go.
I guess I just wouldn’t tell them I was going.
The last time I saw either of my parents, I was ten years old. My dad left unexpectedly, leaving behind nothing but the memory of a quiet man who spent all his time being away from me. I never knew where he went, but I guessed why he left. He was only 17 when Destiny and I were born. He didn’t want to be a dad then, and after ten years, he still didn’t want to be a dad.
My mom was finally institutionalized after the neighbor witnessed her murder Destiny’s cat and then cradle it in her arms, singing to its corpse in the front yard. Destiny and I were sent from one foster family to another. When we were younger, we never understood why we couldn’t just live with our dad. Maybe we still don’t really understand. Everyone just told us our dad didn’t want us.
Sandra and Dan are my mom’s aunt and uncle. We moved in with them when we were thirteen. Only two good things came from this. The first thing is that I met a girl who chased me around the soccer field to rescue a frog I had in my book bag. I let her catch me and she told me I had pretty eyes and we’ve been best friends ever since.
The second good thing that happened is that I found an old guitar with broken strings, covered in dust, carelessly tossed onto a shelf in the garage. Sandra said I could keep it. She bought some new strings and I have scarcely gone a day without playing it ever since. Honestly, I’ve been dreaming of being a singer ever since I first started teaching myself to play the guitar, but that was a secret that only Sunny knew about. She supported my dream of being a singer wholeheartedly.
She was more than ecstatic when I told her my plan for getting to Florida. I’d sent her a text message that said I had decided to sign up and I needed to talk to her about it. She said she’d be at my house in ten minutes.
Right on time, the door opened up. I looked up from the TV as she sat down beside me and looked at the TV. “Is this about Lizzie Borden?” she asked excitedly. “I watched this ghost-hunting show once and they went to Lizzie Borden’s house. One of the ghost hunters asked Lizzie’s dad if Lizzie killed him. They recorded a voice replying, ‘You got that right.’ It was funny. ‘You got that right.’” Sunny giggled as I stared at her confusedly.
“You got that right?” I asked.
“You got that right.”
I laughed as the TV showed a reenactment of Lizzie whacking her dad with an axe. “Oh, Lizzie,” I said.
Sunny’s face lit up and I could just imagine a lightbulb appearing over her head like in a cartoon. “Before we talk about Florida, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Shh!” I said. “Sandra and Dan don’t know about Florida, and they’re not going to.”
“How can you leave without them knowing?”
Destiny got home at that moment. One of her friends had dropped her off. When she got inside, she immediately stared disgustedly at the TV. Another reenactment of a Borden murder was showing. “Why are you so obsessed with Lizzie Borden?”
“Dang. They’re saying Lizzie might have whacked them in the nude,” I said.
“And that’s a good thing, why, exactly?” Destiny said.
“How many people murder their parents while they’re naked?” I said.
“Let me tell you the news!” Sunny said. She wasn’t containing her excitement at all.
“Okay. Go ahead,” I said.
“Cameron is coming to Manteo!”
I looked at Destiny with a sardonic smile.
“What’s the matter?” Sunny asked.
“Destiny had a dream about Cameron a few days ago,” I answered. “She thinks it’s a premonition.” I looked up thoughtfully. “Speaking of dreams, last night I dreamed that Destiny was wearing a karate uniform while jumping up and down saying, ‘I’m a twin! I’m a twin!’ Don’t ask why. I don’t know either.” I gasped and looked at Destiny. “Maybe it’s a premonition!”
Destiny rolled her eyes and sat down beside me. “You’re an idiot,” she told me.”
“Cameron will be here in two days. Be nice to him this time,” Sunny said sternly to me. “You know he doesn’t like you either, and he’s still nice to you.”
“Yeah, whatever,” I said. “Let’s discuss that music show now.” I stood up and Sunny followed suit.
“Wait,” Destiny said as we were walking away. “What music show?”
“It’s a contest in—“ Sunny began, but I interrupted.
“You’re not invited.”
“You’re not talking about the one in Florida, are you? Sunny already told me about that,” Destiny said. “You know Sandra won’t let you go.”
“That’s why we aren’t telling her,” I said.
“Well,” Destiny said, “I know about it. And since I’m not invited to go with you, I might just tell Sandra what you’re doing.”
“You wouldn’t,” I said.
“I would. I want to sign up too.”
I sighed. Destiny is a good singer. Our mom used to make us sing in front of our church before, you know, she was sent to the loony bin. “Alright. Then come on. We need to plan how we’ll do this privately.” Sunny and Destiny followed me to my room.
I found the jeans I had worn the day Sunny had told me about the contest. I dug the flyer out of the pocket. It was the first time I had touched it since Sunny gave it to me. “The show is in one week,” I said.
“Hurry and sign up!” Sunny said. “There’s a web address on the flyer.”
I typed the address into my computer and soon Destiny and I were both registered and scheduled to perform.
“We did it just in time,” Destiny said. “Today’s the deadline to register.”
“I’m still confused,” Sunny said. “How are you going to get to Florida and perform without Sandra and Dan finding out?”
“I’ve got a plan. Don’t worry,” I said.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmEfd1gV9rH
