That week went by slowly yet surely. It took me a while to get caught up at work. All the kids bombarded me with questions about this new project they have to do. We were still studying Romeo and Juliet. For the project, they had to find a couple that resembled Romeo and Juliet in their lives. Of course, they didn't have to be dead. Unfortunately, I had to explain the project several times over. Finally, the last bell of the day rang. The girls came tome instead of me having to go to them.
"Dad, guess what" said Scotty.
"What?"
"We're having a Halloween party next week" said Scotty.
"Oh. What are you going as?"
"I wanna go as a ghost" said Scotty.
"I wanna be Snow White" said Mercy, drawing on the chalkboard.
"What about you, Davanee? What are you going as?" I asked.
"Minnie mouse" said Davanee.
"I thought you wanted to be Sleepy beauty" I said.
"That was last week. This is this week" she said. Every year around Halloween, Davanee had a tendency to changed her costume from week to week. I did that too when I was a kid. I remember one time when I was 7 I wanted to be a soldier. Then the next week I wanted to be Superman. I ended up going as a doctor.
"What are we doing for Halloween?" asked Davanee on the way home.
"Well" I began, "we can do one of two things. We can go over to the house, like was always do, or, Sam and her family have invited us over to their house for Halloween and we can go trick-or-treating with them in their neighborhood."
"I dunno" said Davanee.
"I think we should go with Sam" said Mercy.
"Yeah" agreed Scotty. I kinda found it funny that those two agreed on everything.
"How about we go over to Sam's first and if you guys are up for it, we can go to the house" I suggested.
"I like that" said Davanee. I smiled. I think Davanee was starting to like Sam. At first, she didn't like her. She would practically beg me to stay home so Sam wouldn't baby sit.
That night was pretty uneventful. It was a pretty normal night. I graded tests while Davanee did her homework and the other two played. I let Scotty and Mercy help me make dinner that night. They loved to help. Davanee got to set the table. She didn't really like setting the table but it had to be done.
After dinner, the girls got their baths and went to bed. From what I understand, they'd had a pretty long day. I on the other hand, wasn't ready to go to bed yet. So, I stayed up for a little while and watched TV. I didn't really like staying up because, to be honest with you, it got kinda lonely.
I was about to turn the TV off when I heard feet shuffling down the hall.
"Davanee, what are you doing out of bed?" I asked as she made her way into the living room.
"Couldn't sleep."
"Something wrong?" I asked.
"I don't wanna go to the slumber party at the studio tomorrow" said Davanee. Davanee's dance class was having a slumber party. Normally, she loved going to those things.
"Why don't you wanna go?" I asked. Davanee came and sat next to me on the couch. She didn't say anything.
"Oh come on, you can tell me" I said.
"It's for moms and daughters" said Davanee, "all the other girls are gonna be there with their moms and I'm going to be left out. Please don't make me go."
"You don't even want to try? Who knows? You might have fun" I said.
"Maybe" said Davanee.
"What if I got someone to go with you?" I suggested.
"Who?" asked Davanee.
"How about Maddie? I'm sure she'd like to go with you" I said.
"Really?" asked Davanee, smiling.
"Yeah. I'll give her a call in the morning but right now, you've gotta get to bed. You've got a slumber party to go to tomorrow. You don't want to be tired, do you?" I asked.
"No. Good night, dad" said Davanee, giving me a kiss.
"Night sweetheart."
"Will you tuck me back in?" asked Davanee.
"Sure" I said. I got up and followed Davanee back to her room. She climbed back into bed and I tucked her in again. She was asleep within minutes. I stood in the doorway and watched her for a little while. I felt terrible about the fact that the girls did have a mom. I knew when they were little it would be ok, but as they got older they would need someone else to talk to. There were definitely going to be things that they couldn't talk to me about.
Sometimes I wonder about Jamie. I wondered what she was up to.
JAMIE'S POV
The cell was silent, dark, an cold. My head was spinning as I lay quietly on my bed. I had no idea how I had gotten there. One minute, I was at this huge party with all of my friends and the next I being hauled away in a cop car. A long, hard night of partying can do that to you. We all knew there was to be no partying on campus at all but we didn't care. I should've known. My parents said if I was arrested again, they would stop paying my tuition.
I found it funny that I was 22 and all I could think "what are my parents going to say?" My parents lived a long was away. They lived all the way in Orange County. We moved out here when I was 14. My parents bought this big house on the beach. It took some time getting used to, but I grew to love it eventually. A couple of years later I moved out and went to college.
I laid on the cold bed and tried desperately to remember what had happened. I closed my eyes and suddenly it call came rushing back to me. It's was my friend's birthday. I had one too many beers that night and thought it would be a good idea to go streaking through the building. I was having so much fun and drawing so much attention to myself. I received several whistles as I made my way down the hall to the main entrance of the building. That's when the cops caught me. Somebody had called and complained early. I was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time, doing the wrong thing. The cops told me to grab some clothes. Once I pulled a shirt over my head, they slapped those cuffs on.
"Coryell, let's go" said the officer, unlocking the cell.
"Where am I going?" I asked.
"Your friend over their just baled you out" said the cop, guestering to my manager. I had called her instead of my parents. I figured of all people she would understand. She used to be a big partier too.
"I really shouldn't be doing this" said my manager, Christine as she led me to her car.
"Thanks" I said as I climbed in.
"What the hell where you thinking? I should fire you because of this" said Christine, outraged.
"Please don't fire me. This will be the third job I've lost in the past month" I pleaded.
"I'm not going to fire you. You just don't seem to get it, do you? You can't keep going like this. Partying every night till one in the morning. It's not healthy. It's starting to effect you. You always look exhausted. Your work effort is steadily decaying. I bet your grades are slipping too" she said. She was right. My grades were slipping. I went from a B to an F in my English class.
"Do you have kids?" asked Christine.
I thought about it for a moment. Technically speaking, I did have a kid but I don't know her. She's back in Tulsa. I thought about her a lot. I missed her. It wasn't until later that I realized I would probably never get a chance to know her.
"I did" I said.
"Did?"
"I had a baby when I was 14. I left her with her dad when she was 2 weeks old. I've only seen her once since" I said.
"That's sad. Where is she?"
"Last I checked they were in Oklahoma" I said. I wanted her with me in California. Sometimes I just wanna go back to Tulsa and see her. I've tried to a number of times but then I remembered what I said to Pony the last time we saw each other. I said it would probably be a good idea if I didn't interfere. I think that would make things difficult for Davanee. I didn't want to make things hard on her. That's the last thing I wanted to do.
