Kara's Cross

I sit down to breakfast feeling good about today. My cut is almost nonexistent; it took me three tries to find it when I was in the shower this morning. I have no idea why it got better so fast, but I’m glad.

“Hey sweetie,” Dad’s voice startles me into the present. He has been humming and whistling all morning. His meeting must have gone well last night.

“Good morning, Dad. You seem to be in a really good mood today.”

“Let’s just say last night went really well,” he replies through a wide smile; “how was your night?”

“Pretty boring,” I lie, “Logan’s mom dropped me off around 6:30. Soon after, I fell asleep studying for a quiz. What time did you get home?”

If I keep up with the questions, he will be less likely to discover I’m lying. He usually gives me the third degree about my outings, especially when I am with Logan.

“It was pretty close to midnight, if you must know; I kind of lost track of time.”

What kind of meeting was this? Dad is never so happy about work meetings, and they’ve never lasted until midnight.

Narrowing my eyes a little and raising one eyebrow, I give him the look he always gives me when he thinks I’m stretching the truth, the look I was expecting him to give me today.

“Your work meetings never go until midnight, Dad.”

“True,” he begins after a considerable pause, “I just wasn’t sure if I should tell you yet.”

“Tell me yet? So, not only are you keeping something from me, you were debating on whether you should continue to or not? Dad! I can’t believe you would do this!”

He sits down with a heavy sigh, at the opposite end of the table.

“I met someone a few weeks back, Kara. We met professionally, but as we became better acquainted, I felt a connection growing between us. I hadn’t really made any decisions until last night, and that is why I had not said anything. I know this is all going to come as a big shock, and you may really hate the idea, but I would like to start seeing her. I did want to talk to you about it before I made this decision. Your feelings mean a lot to me.”

I was definitely not expecting this. I try to make sense of all my thoughts so I can speak.

“Umm…” I manage to utter, “It’s kind of a shock right now, but if it’s something you really want. Is it serious?”

“No, no, of course not. I hadn’t even really thought about it until last night and, who knows, it may not last. I just wanted you to know.”

I’m torn. Even with all the frustration and scrutiny I get from him, he is my dad and I love him. I want him to be happy, to have someone in his life, but it’s nice to have all of his attention whenever I need it. There seems to be no harm in supporting him, when I could always use my power to make her go away.

“Well, I think you should go for it, then,” I manage a smile, “you deserve to be happy, Dad.”

“Like I said, it’s really early, it may turn out to be nothing, but I’m really happy to have your blessing, Kara. It means so much to me.”

I nod before returning to my breakfast. My dad’s news is surprising, but I’m not too concerned yet. It may even be the best change in our household in a long time. Dad will be too busy to overanalyze everything I do, and if this woman starts causing problems, I can make her leave. It’s a win-win situation. This is turning out to be a good day, just as I thought it would.

**********

My dad has been dropping me off at school a half hour early since October so I can have some time to hang out before school. I used to spend this time with Maddie, but she obviously has found better friends. Logan and I have been meeting in the mornings ever since.

The bell is about to ring to let everyone into school; Logan is still not here. I hope he is not sick. He did seem pretty out of it last night. What am I going to do all day if we can’t talk? Why did Maddie have to be so stubborn? I guess I could forgive her so we could be friends again. She’ll have to stop hanging out with Arabella and stop freaking out about Logan all the time.

A custodian unlocks the door a few seconds before the bell rings and I funnel into the school along with dozens of other students. Everything is familiar yet seems somehow different. Looking through the sea of faces, I see Maddie up ahead, talking to Arabella and her friends. Maddie doesn’t look very happy. She probably misses me. I’ll wait until they split up to go to their lockers before I talk to her. She’ll be glad to see me. I shouldn’t have made her feel bad for being jealous. How could she not be? She probably feels insignificant compared to Logan and me. I’ll just have to show her all the benefits of my power. I’ll let her choose some of the things we do with it; that will have to make her happy. A few cheap clothes or extra helpings of food will make her come around.

Maddie splits apart from Arabella and her crew, waving to them as they walk away. I still can’t believe they became friends. Arabella must be trying to make me jealous or something; a girl like Maddie is not her usual choice in friends. They have nothing in common. Arabella is rich and popular. Maddie is too trusting and naïve. She wouldn’t even know if Arabella was using her.

I catch up to Maddie and tap her on the shoulder, smiling as she turns around.

“Hi, Maddie,” I try to sound as excited as I can, “how’s it going?”

She stops, turning to face me. Her eyes are red and swollen from rubbing and wiping her tears. She had been crying earlier. A look of surprise or confusion flits in her eyes, but is quickly replaced with an angry glare.

“What do you want?” She angrily barks, “Haven’t you done enough already?”

Strange. She looks like she wants to kill me.

“I just wanted to say, hi, and see how you’ve been. Why are you so upset?”

She looks me up and down before answering.

“Like you don’t know. Let me guess, the shirt you’re wearing is new, right?”

“Yeah.”

Now I am officially confused. What does this have to do with my shirt?

“I bet you got a really great deal on it, too,” she says between clinched teeth, “didn’t you?”

“Actually, it was kind of an accident, but it was free.”

“Oh my God, Kara, are you bragging about it? ‘Don’t worry, Maddie, no one is ever affected by it, it’s no big deal,’” she uses a high pitched nasally voice to imitate my words. “You really do only care about yourself. Well, I hope it’s all worth it.”

“Maddie,” I plead, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Tell me what happened.”

She looks at me with a mixture of disgust and confusion.

“You really don’t know?”

“No, please tell me what happened.”

Maddie takes a deep breath before speaking.

“My mom got a call from the store manager at Nouveau this morning.”

Huh. Nouveau is the store I got my blouse from yesterday. Oh God, something must have happened.

“I didn’t know your mom worked at Nouveau. I thought she was a shift manager at the kitchen store.”

“She got hired as night manager at Nouveau a couple of months ago. Why does it matter, Kara, would you have done anything differently?”

“Is this about the shirt?”

“God, Kara,” she rolls her eyes, “it’s about you and everything you’ve started doing. The store manager fired her for giving some things away and pricing others too low. She may even have to go to jail for stealing.”

“I didn’t even see your mom there last night. It couldn’t have been because of me.”

“She was the manager in the evenings. Every time you gave yourself a discount or something free, even if it was to different cashiers, she is the one responsible. Her boss informed her over five hundred dollars of merchandise was unaccounted for. How could you be so greedy?”

Wow! That’s hard to believe. At least I know it wasn’t all because of me. Maddie will have to understand it wasn’t my fault.

“Maddie, last night was the first time I’d ever gotten anything from Nouveau. Somebody else must have stolen from them.”

“Save it, Kara,” she barks as she turns toward the classroom, “I’ve got to get to class, the bell is about to ring. You can tell your lies to someone who believes you. I’m sure Logan will think you did the right thing. My mom might go to jail and will probably never be hired by anyone again, but I’m sure your new wardrobe was worth it.”

She begins to storm into the classroom, but slows her pace once inside, probably attempting to look as normal as possible. I stand motionless in the hallway, unable to move. None of this makes sense. Maddie’s family already had trouble making ends meet, now I don’t know what they’ll do. I’m not the entire reason they fired her, but this shirt must have had something to do with It was probably the last straw.

My eyes fill up, but I don’t bother to wipe them. I’ve been such a fool. Maddie was right about my powers and everything. I’ve been greedy and selfish, now Shayna could have died, and Maddie’s family is paying the price as well. I was even thinking of using my power to get rid of dad’s new girlfriend if I didn’t like her. I don’t deserve my power. I don’t deserve a friend like Maddie. What is wrong with me?

The bell rings while I am still in the hallway. I will get detention for being late. Ordinarily, I would use my power to get out of this, but I don’t feel like using my power anymore.

Ever.