I own nothing but my imagination

I woke up to the sun shining in my face. My head hurt and my back was sore. I guess that's what I got for sleeping in my car. I could have gone to Madi's, but it was late and everyone was probably asleep. I didn't want to wake anyone and explain to them why I needed a place to stay at 11 at night. Leave it to my mother to ruin a great night. I needed to stretch. I got out of the car and stretched until my bones cracks. Leaning back against the car I soaked in the sun for a minute. It was a beautiful morning and it was just then that I grabbed my phone and checked the time. I turned it off last night. My mother was blowing it up. I turned it on and it read 10:37 am. SHIT! In a matter of seconds it started going crazy. Texts, missed calls and voice mails all popping up at once. I wanted to throw my phone away, get into my car and leave town. I wanted to get away from my mother for good. Instead, I sighed and pressed the voicemail button.

Voice mail: 8:27am. Madison- Where the hell are you, Ash? Mrs. Dennison is soooo pissed. She asked if I knew where you were. Call me, please.

Voice mail: 10:19am. Unknown number- Hi, Ashley. It's Miranda. Haven't seen you yet in school, not that I usually do, but just wanted to say that I had a great time last night. Like I said you were amazing and so talented. Uh, give me a call if you want or not. Ok. Bye.

Wow! It wasn't the first time I had received a voicemail like that. I got one from Miranda and I didn't even sleep with her. How did she even get my number?

The two texts from Madi said the same thing her voicemail did. 'Where are you? Call me. Where are you?' blah blah! I texted her back telling her that I would call her later.

Text message #1 9:12 pm. Casey- Ash, I am sorry for going off on u earlier. I got in a fight w/ Melissa. Had to go c her 2nite. Sorry I missed the show.

So she went off on me because she got into a fight with her girlfriend.

She missed my show because she got into a fight with her girlfriend.

So I get punished because she got into a fight with her girlfriend.

Whatever.

Text message #2 10:53 am. Casey- Hey. I said I was sorry. Please call me or at least text back. I miss you.

Which part did she miss, I was wondering. Calling me out on my 'flirting, fucking and bolting' as she so nicely put it, or actually acting like my best friend.

I texted her back. Miss u 2, but still mad at u. Can I come over tonight?-A

I needed a place to stay tonight just in case my mother was still at home. She quickly texted me back.

I know. I AM sorry. Of course, u can come over. Stay the night 2nite. Just us 2.-C

Sounds good. Call me when u get out of school.-A

Ok. Wish u were here. U haven't skipped all day in a while. Hope u don't get into trouble.-C

Me too. Well, the getting into trouble part. Later Case.-A

I wasn't worried about getting into trouble. Dad would take care of it. He would usually call Mr. Goodman personally and usually he would end up threatening to stop the donations he made to the school. I know it sounds horrible, but he thinks he is being a good dad. I wanted to drop out last year because I figured I didn't need a diploma to be a rock star. Dad threatened that if I didn't graduate he would make sure that never happened. So here I was 4 months away from graduating. If it wasn't for him I would have probably been expelled by now.

I stunk and I my eyes looked horrible from crying. I needed a shower and fresh clothes. I needed to go home, but I was afraid of bumping into my mother. Maybe she was passed out on the kitchen floor. Hopefully! I pulled up to the house and sighed in relief, her car wasn't there. Thank God! I pulled into the garage hoping if she came home she wouldn't think I was there. She's not too smart. I opened the door and it was quiet. Well, quiet except for the pitter patter of little puppy feet running towards me. I picked him up and nearly smothered him with kisses. Spike. Yes, Spike. He was named after the baddest Vamp ever. Spike was a teacup terrier. He was about the same size as a baby rabbit. I wanted to take him everywhere with me, but I was always afraid I would lose him. I ran up to my room. Spike in my arms and as I got to my room I noticed the door was open. Of course, the bitch tore my room apart. I noticed a note on my bed, my bed that was stripped down to the mattress.

I know you hid it, Ashley, or even worse threw it away. That's okay. I will just take the money out of your account for the new stuff. See ya later Sweetie. Ta ta for now. Love ya, Mom.

Bitch.

I called my Dad right away. He didn't answer and neither did his manager, which wasn't surprising.

After a long shower I quickly did my hair and makeup. I packed a bag, scooped up Spike, and headed downstairs. I didn't get too far. My mother was standing at the bottom of the stairs. Hand on her hip, glare in her eyes. Wonderful!

"Well hello, Sweetheart," she said with a sarcastic tone. I ignored her.

"I didn't teach you to be rude, Ashley. Speak when spoken to."

"You didn't teach me anything, Christine." I resumed walking down the stairs and right past her, but she grabbed my arm. "Listen here, you little bitch. You are not going anywhere. So take your useless ass back upstairs, put your bag away then come back downstairs and clean the kitchen."

"You're crazy. I'm not cleaning up the mess you made looking for your stuff." I shook my head and ripped myself from her grip.

"You will if you want any of that money left in your account."

I turned around quickly and she was smirking. "You wouldn't?"

"That depends."

"You have no right," I said on the verge of tears.

"I have every right, Ashley. You live in MY house and eat MY food. Not to mention, I gave birth to you. I figure you owe me."

I was so angry at that point I walked up to her and got in her face.

"Just because you gave birth to me and let me live here and put food in the fridge does not give you the right to take what is rightfully mine. Dad gave that money to me and as soon as he calls I will let him know what you are doing."

"Ashley, stop being so naive. Your father couldn't care less about you or your money. And he's not going to call. He's too busy."

"He does care. He loves me." I was crying at this point and she looked like she could laugh. I wiped my tears and got right back in her face.

"I know that it drives you crazy that he loves me and not you. Get over it. Go find one of your boy toys and disappear like you usually do. Hell, I will give you my money if you will just disappear. Go be the absentee mother you so love to be. I don't need you. You are nothing but a miserable, bitter, old hag with a bad drug habit and…"

SMACK!

Yeah, she just slapped me.

The anger in me boiled over, but I couldn't move. I just stood there and held my cheek. She could see the anger in my eyes and I think she was scared of my reaction. She turned around and walked out the door. I was so tired and angry and hurt and tired. I couldn't possibly go anywhere. I walked back upstairs and back to my bed, dodging the frames and clothes and odd items that cover almost every inch of my floor. I curled up into a ball and cried myself to sleep once again.

I heard the T.V. and I didn't remember ever turning it on. Oh great! Hope my mother wasn't back and in my room. I slowly looked up and over to where the T.V. was and I sighed in relief. It was Casey. She was sitting on the couch in front of my T.V. engrossed in some stupid reality show. That's not the only thing I noticed though. I noticed that it was after 7pm, I slept a long time. I noticed there was nothing on the floor. The frames were back on the wall and on my bookshelf. The clothes, I'm guessing, were back in my dresser and closet. Casey cleaned my room. I started crying again, but this time, happy tears. She must have heard me because she rushed over to me worriedly.

"Oh Ash. Shhh. I'm here." She pulled me into her and I lost it.

"It's okay. You're not alone. I'm not going anywhere."

This wasn't the first time she had come over to comfort me. This wasn't the first time my mother and I have had this kind of fight. And I'm fairly certain it wouldn't be the last. Thank God for Casey, she was all I had.

She pulled my face up to look at me. I was such a mess.

"I love you. You know that?" She smiled and I told her I loved her too. "What do you say we get out of here? Get some food. Watch movies all night."

I chuckled at her giddiness. She loved watching movies, especially the crappy ones.

"Okay, only if I get to pick them out though." She shoved me playfully.

"Fine, but I get to pick the food. C'mon lets go."

We were both lying on her bed, stuffed and watching our second movie of the night. There was nothing to say. She knew that I didn't want to talk about it. I knew that she wouldn't talk about her girlfriend. As I was lying there watching Serendipity a hot blonde entered my mind. For the first all day I thought of Spencer. I wondered what she was doing. I wondered how mad she was at me. I wondered if she thought of me at all. I wondered if I even had the slightest chance with her. Mostly, I wondered if I was just setting myself up to be even more miserable than I already was. But I couldn't help, but feel like we had something. There was definitely something between us. As I was sitting there thinking about Spencer I found myself smiling for the first time since I said goodbye to her the previous night. Everything was going to be okay. It couldn't get any worse, right?