“What is it?” she asks as she scrapes the last of the leftover food into the garbage disposal. I hate to see so much waste, especially when we spent so long scraping together every last cent for the basics. One more way the two of us are different. She experienced deprivation and wants to make up for it, while all it did was make me want to avoid being wasteful.

“I know I never talked about this before, mostly because I didn’t think it made a difference whether or not you knew. But remember yesterday, when we first got here, you mentioned me going to school with the guys?”

“Of course.”

“Mom, they were never nice to me. Not once, not ever. In fact, they went out of their way to be mean and nasty.”

“I’m sure you misunderstood their intentions.”

“They walked around calling me a stuck-up bitch.”

“Language,” she warns.

“I’m only telling you what they said. They used to push me around, all sorts of things, but I never did a single thing to them. I swear,” I insist when she arches an eyebrow.

“You expect me to believe those nice young men, who, by the way, offered to drive you to a job interview, went out of their way to bully you? Besides, even if they did, that was a long time ago. People do change, you know.”

I knew she’d go out of her way to misunderstand what I was trying to say, but I had to try. “Mom, I’m just saying they hate me. You don’t hear the things they’ve said already behind your back—”

Suddenly, she slams her hands against the counter, and I jump in surprise. “You listen to me,” she whispers, drawing close until she’s looming over me while I cower against the refrigerator. “I will not let you destroy this for me, understood? I don’t want to hear your complaints. I don’t want to hear your sob stories where you make a victim out of yourself.”

“I wasn’t trying—”

“You’ve already ruined my life once,” she hisses. “I will be damned if I let you do it again.”

She thrusts an arm toward the doorway. “Now get out of my sight and stay that way.”

This is the woman I know. The woman I was so glad to have two weeks away from. It didn’t take long for her to show her true colors, but then James is nowhere around, so I guess she feels like she can get away with it.

I waste no time going to the stairs, then take them two at a time and practically run down the hall to my room. Thankfully, nobody follows me, and I check both the bedroom and bathroom are empty before using the chair again to barricade myself in.