Taking Chances (2 page)

My grandma was my strength, my rock. She was forever trying to make our lives better. She was my inspiration for helping people. She was always the first one I'd call if I needed help or advice.

Grandma lived in a small town called Shabbona. It lies about two hours west of Chicago. I used to love going to her country farm. Big cities had always been too much of a hassle for me. I had been dying—literally—to live in a small town since I was a little girl.

My grandma and Aunt Megan were the only ones I could trust. They cared for us, and I think they knew that Michael and Maddie were alcoholics, but I highly doubt they knew about the abuse. After Maddie married Michael, we didn’t have as much contact with them as we’d wanted. Grandma would call and talk to Maddie until Michael yelled at her for talking to “them.” Grandma hated Michael for taking us away from her.

“The funeral is next week, and I think it’s best if you guys move in then,” Aunt Megan said, bringing me back to reality.

“Wait, I can live in Shabbona?” I asked excitedly, having realized just what she’d said.

“Yes, and when you turn eighteen, you inherit the farm. Grandma knew how much you liked it here. She loved having you over to visit.”

“When do we need to come?” I asked.

“Well, actually, I sent a truck to your house. You’ll be moved in here in time for the funeral.”

“Thank you so much Aunt Megan!” I exclaimed.

“It’s no problem, sweetie. Grandma and I wanted you out of that messy city.”

“Thank you!”

“No problem, well, I have to go, but I’ll be there on Tuesday, okay?” she asked.

“Alright. Thank you.” I hung up. I was getting out of Chicago. I wouldn’t be getting away from the abuse, but it was a start.

* * *

Michael didn’t like the idea of moving, especially to a place as small as Shabbona. When I tried talking to Maddie about it, Michael stormed inside.

“What are you two talking about?” he asked in a drunken tone. I sighed.

“We’re talking about my mother,” Maddie said softly to him, as if to try and calm him down.

“Oh, her. Well, she’s dead now. There’s no need to talk about her,” Michael said.

“Well, my mother has given us her home down where I grew up, and I think it would be a good idea if we—”

“Oh, Maddie, don’t bring up that shit again. We’re not moving.”

“We can barely afford the rent here,” she argued quietly.

“The landlord came over again the other day,” I murmured under my breath. “He said that if we don’t pay the rent soon, we’re being evicted.”

“What did you say?!” Michael yelled angrily as he came towards me.

I took in a deep breath and held it.

“Michael, I think we should go,” Maddie said.

“I don’t care what you think!” He screamed as he slapped her across the face. She fell to the ground and held her hand over her bruised face. I closed my eyes and stood still, hoping he wouldn’t hurt me, too. I opened them slightly after a minute of silence and saw Michael looking down at Maddie in anger.

“Dammit, Maddie!” he said. “How can I take you out like this? Your face looks like shit!”

Anger filled my veins as he spoke, but I stayed silent. I didn’t want to look anymore like Maddie than I already did. Michael seemed more careful about where he hit me, though, because I was out in public more than my mom.

“Why can’t we?” Maddie said quietly. “It’s the one thing I want…”

“To move to that place?” he asked her, a little quieter than before.

“Yes.” She looked up at him and he sighed.

“Fine, fine. We’ll move, but I don’t want to hear another word from your stupid daughter about it.” He glared over at me and then went up the stairs. I sighed and smiled.

We moved in the next week, and I couldn’t even believe it. I had acquired a few more cuts and bruises from Michael after my mom had left that night, but I got the family to Shabbona. Well, everyone except Violet and Clayton. They said they weren’t going no matter what. As for me, I couldn’t believe that I was brought straight to my own personal heaven.

Aunt Megan had registered Lillian, Rebecca, and me for the Indian Creek School District in Shabbona. Lillian would be at the high school with me as an incoming freshman, where I would be a junior because of my late birthday. I would be one of the oldest in my class. My birthday was right on the cutoff date for kindergarten back in Chicago. Rebecca would be at the middle school in seventh grade.

The town’s population was a mere nine hundred and fifty people, leaving only about two hundred and ninety in my new school. We would start school with the rest of the students the next day, Monday, August tenth.

Grandma’s funeral was difficult to attend. I cried throughout the ceremony, and held hands with Aunt Megan as we watched the burial of the woman I admired more than anything. And I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d said “hi” to her....

I continued to cry as I settled into my new room. I emptied all of the cardboard boxes of my clothes into my grandma’s old dresser and wished my grandma was there with us. After I unloaded my favorite novels onto the bookshelf, I set my alarm clock so I would have time to get ready for school, and show up early. I fell asleep, hopeful.

While I drove to school in my old silver Toyota Corolla, I thought of what was to come that day. Grandma had bought me the car when I turned sixteen so I could come and visit more often, but that had never happened. Michael would never let me go. She would also send me gas money so I could get to work and school, and I had a feeling now that she was gone, I wouldn’t be going very far. I’d just filled up my gas tank with the last envelope of money she’d sent me. It would probably only last a week or so, if I was lucky and didn’t go many places. I would have to see how much money I’d collected in the jar under my bed that I always kept to try and scavenge a few dollars of my tips from the diner.

I had showed up at the school a little earlier in order to find my way around without having to embarrass myself by asking for help. Lillian said she wanted to ride the bus with Rebecca instead of riding with me, so I was alone.

When I got to the school, I looked at it briefly. It was a small school covered in red brick and surrounded by grass and trees. There was a baseball and softball diamond to the side, but nothing else was really there. It was a lot different than Chicago. Back there, there were metal detectors and security guards and police cars all around, waiting for trouble. I noticed that there were no students in the parking lot with me, just some vacant cars. I was about to step out of my car when I noticed that there
was
another student in the parking lot.

He was stepping out of his black Honda. He was very handsome, with short, auburn hair, and probably about six foot two. He wore a dark blue button-up flannel shirt, blue jeans, and brown cowboy boots. He had the sleeves of his shirt rolled up and I could see that he had very muscular arms. Beside him was another tall boy with blond hair who was a little shorter and much thinner. I didn’t get out of my car until they entered the small brick building. I had noticed something familiar about the first boy. 

The school was one long hallway with two or three hallways branching off of it. No stairs. The floor was covered with shiny, white, and light green tiles. I walked into the lobby where four tables awaited, with signs that read, “freshmen,” “sophomore,” “junior” and “senior.” Above the little signs, a big red banner announced, “Welcome back Timberwolves!” I went to the back of the “junior” line, where standing in the front was the boy with the auburn hair from the parking lot. When he was done at the table, he walked past me. His light brown eyes locked with mine for half a second. He smiled, and continued on.

I smiled back softly.
Where have I seen him before?
I thought. There was definitely something I recognized about him.
Was it his hair, or his face, or maybe his light brown eyes? Maybe I’d seen him from one of my visits here?

In Chicago, I never had time for a boyfriend, or even time to look for a boy. I was always working. I tried to tell myself to concentrate, yet my heart was pounding in my chest. I looked down at myself. I had the same short legs, built hips, and badly bitten fingernails that I’d had in Chicago. I still even had my medium length, curly, dark brown hair up in my usual headband and ponytail. I had never considered myself unattractive, but I was definitely not one of those stick skinny blond girls who had every guy begging at their feet.

When it was my turn, I walked up to the table, and the teacher gave me my A-B day schedule along with my locker number and combination. With the A-B day schedule, I would have four classes on A days, and four opposite classes on B days, making the classes longer in length.

I walked away from the table and down the hallway to my locker, number 123. Simple enough. I used the combination to open it up, and started unloading my backpack. I had almost finished putting some of my favorite novels onto the top shelf when a soft, sweet, young man’s voice said, “Excuse me, is this yours?”

I looked up to see the parking lot boy’s light brown eyes looking down at me. In his hands he held one of my favorite books, a novel by Nicholas Sparks that Grandma had sent me for my birthday the year before.

“Um…” I struggled to find my voice, failing miserably and speaking only in a whisper. I was nervous. I wasn’t really ready to talk to anyone at the new school. I was afraid I wouldn’t fit in. “Yeah, thanks.” He handed me the book, and I put it on the shelf with the others.

“Hey, um…you’re Maggie George’s granddaughter, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Yeah. She passed away last week, and I just moved down here with my family.” I looked back over at him and he looked down at his feet, as if he was embarrassed.

“I heard there were relatives living there now,” he muttered. “I’m really sorry about your grandma.” He looked up and smiled sweetly.

“Thanks.” A boy I didn’t even know felt bad, when Michael, Grandma’s son-in-law didn’t even care. “About time,” Michael had said. We got in a fight over that, too. It always made it worse that he was so much stronger than me. I winced and suddenly the flashback came quickly into my mind.

“You don’t talk back to me!”
Michael had said as he pushed me to the ground.

“Maybe if you cared, we wouldn’t be in this mess,”
I said with tears coming from my eyes.

Michael had taken empty beer bottles off of the counter next to me and threw them at me in anger. I covered my face from the flying glass, but I could still feel the little shards cut into the skin of my legs and arms. Michael had continued to yell at me, but I couldn’t make out the words. I wasn’t focusing on what he said. I was trying to drown him out. I shivered involuntarily as the flashback ended. I could never win.

I looked back up at the boy, and he said, “I’m Spencer, by the way. Spencer Stevenson.”

I smiled politely. “I’m…wait…Stevenson? You live down the road from me, right?” I knew I had seen him somewhere before.

“Yeah, I think I met you at the bonfires your grandparents used to have in the fall.”

“That was you,” I realized. “We used to hang out with my cousins behind the silos,” I said.

“Cindy?” he asked.

“Sydney,” I corrected. I pictured him the way he used to look, with jean overalls and colored button up shirts. I smiled at the memories and then looked back up at him.

“Oh, sorry. It’s been so long. It’s nice to see you again.”

“Yeah, it’s nice to see you too.” I agreed as he opened his locker next to mine.

“Maybe we could hang out again sometime.” He turned towards me again and gave me a completely heartbreaking smile. You know, the smiles that you only see boys give girls in movies.

“Um…” I sighed and looked away from his perfect movie smile. “Yeah, that’d be cool.”

Spencer smiled again, and said, “Now, how many brothers and sisters did you have again?”

“Violet and Clayton are older and moved out. But I have two younger half-sisters, Lillian and Rebecca living with me.”

“That’s nice.” I heard him sigh quietly as his smile fell. It was like he was remembering something sad, but didn’t think to ask what was wrong. I didn’t want to pry.

“And you had your Aunt with you a lot, right?” he asked, not looking at me anymore.

“Yes. My Aunt Megan lives in town, down on Navaho Avenue.”

The bell rang, signaling that we had ten minutes before we had to be in our A-day first hour class.

“I have to go, I’m sorry. I need to stop in at the office for a map.” I said with a sigh. I didn’t really want to leave when he seemed so upset. I wanted to keep talking to him. Not just because I didn’t want to seem like a jerk, but also because I felt somewhat comfortable talking to him. He knew me, or at least he thought he did.

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later, then,” he said. “Hey!” He called out as I moved down the hall. “You won’t have too much trouble finding your way around. It’s a small school.”

“Thanks.” I smiled and continued towards the office. At least I had made a friend. Maybe that would make my day easier.

“Hello. You must be Miss Baker,” the secretary said at the front desk. She was a short woman with short brown hair and a skinny figure. Her nameplate said Mrs. Hillman.

“Here is your map, and it’s labeled pretty well, I believe. Your first class is Biology, so you’ll need to turn left after you exit the office, and the lab is the room at the very end of the hallway on your left,” she said.

“Thank you,” I said to her, taking the map and leaving the office. As Spencer said, it wasn’t hard to find my way around. I didn’t even need the map as I headed down the hall to the science lab.

I sat down in the Biology lab at an empty blacktop table in the back of the room, and began reading one of my Nicholas Sparks books before the bell rang.

“Good morning, students.” The older teacher, Mr. Jansen, spoke as class started. “I have text books for you right here and…” He put his hand on a large stack of books. “Martinson?”

A skinny girl with dingy blond hair doodling on her notebook looked up.