Disclaimer: Again I own nothing...
Chapters
Grade 7: September 1992
The begining of the year had started out like all the others. Only this time she was occupied by art club and band. Tara still made no friends. September was always a slow month. Everything was routine as always, come home, finish homework, do a little magick, practice piano and violin, which have gone down to a 30 minute practice session each, do some house work, eat dinner, have a family game of cards or a board game, which Donny always hated, every Wednesday.
"This is so lame! Why do I gatta be stuck doing this?" Donny complained as he slouched in his chair.
"Donny, please. At least pretend to enjoy it. We hardly see you anymore." Amber said gently.
"Your mother's right," Dale said, not looking up from his cards, "You're always out running around with your friends," he looked up at Donny, "This is your last year of high school, Donald. You'd better start settling down and find work. You're never gunna get married with that attitude of yours."
Even during the family games, Tara rarely spoke. She would occasionally glance at Amber and smile. For the entire month it was like this.
October
Amber served the family ham and eggs with toast in the morning, "Tara, sweetie, your birthday is coming up. Anything special you 'd like to do?" she sat next to Tara and Dale.
"Yeah right, Mom. Tara never does anything 'cause she ain't got no friends," he laughed and playfully punched her arm, "Hey c'mon Tara, I was only joking."
Tara smiled, "I know."
"I swear this Clinton better not win," Dale folded his newspaper and sipped his coffee, "He'll ruin our economy with his liberal ideals," he scoffed, "What we need is Ronald Reagan again. Now there was a fine man."
"Yes dear, a fine man." Amber said with a smile.
Dale cocked an eye brow and chuckled, "He is indeed."
A honk came, "That's me!" Donny stood and chugged his orange juice and grabbed another piece of toast, "See ya'll later!" he ran out the door.
Dale looked at Donny as he ran out the door and sighed, "I swear that boy needs to find some work," he looked over at Tara, "Are you excited about your birthday coming up? 12 years old."
Tara smiled softly again, "Kinda."
"Kinda? Why kinda?"
Tara just shrugged. Her birthday never seemed important to her. She never had friends to invite over so when her birthday came along, with was always a small family gathering consisting of her parents, aunt and uncle, and her cousin Beth.
The presents were always the same, little cute dresses, acessories, a little doll, always boring. But always at night, her mother would give her something that made Tara smile brightly. It was the only thing she looked forward to.
"Well look at that! Now that's going to look precious on you!" exclaimed Dale as Tara opened her first present from her aunt and uncle.
Amber smiled, "It is a very lovely flower dress." but it really wasn't. It was something all the other girls wore.
Nonetheless, Tara smiled and hugged her relatives, "Thank you very much. It's beautiful."
"Okay open mine now!" Beth exclaimed. The girl was only two years younger than Tara and was spoiled rotten.
Tara smiled once again and took the small box from her cousin and began to carefully unpeal the tape.
"God you take so long!" Donny groaned, "Why you gatta be so careful? Just rip it open!"
Finally the wraping paper was off and she opened the shoe box and found a little stuffed Piglet, from Winnie the Pooh. "Wow Beth, this is really cute," Tara stood and walked to her cousin and gace her a hug, "Thank you."
At the end of the night, the men, aside from Donny, were drinking and talking of politics while the women spoke of baking. When the uncle, aunt, and Beth left, Tara realized Dale had a bit much to drink.
"Woman! I said I was fine! I can walk without you!" Dale slurred.
"Dale, please," Amber pleaded as she sensed what was about to happen.
Dale walked and tripped over a rug, "Dammit! I thought this place was clean!" He rose and faced Amber, "Did you clean?"
"Yes I did, Dale."
"Are you raising your voice at me?" anger rose in him.
"No I'm not. I'm just telling you that-"
Amber was cut off by Dale grabbing her arms, "You raised your voice at me!"
Donny sat in a chair near by and did nothing. Tara stood at the base of the stairs. She closed her eyes for a minute to breathe. She wanted to do something, maybe she can calm her father down. She's done it before. What if she couldn't and made him more angry instead. He hits harder when he's angry. Tara opened her eyes and saw his anger was rising and saw Donny hadn't made a move to intervine.
She took a deep breath and walked to her parents, "Please stop, Dad."
Dale looked at Tara, "You too?"
Donny, made a small chuckle sound.
"N-no, Dad, I ment... Just please calm d-down." she pleaded as tears began to form, "Th-there's no need to get... angry."
For a second, Dale looked like he had calmed, like he was going to sit down and sleep, but then his face shifted. He let go of Amber by pushing her away, into a wall, and grabbed Tara, "You little brat!" he spat, "You are nothing! You think you're smart but it's all for nothing cause you've got the evil inside. Without us, you will be nothing!" he pushed her to the floor and stepped over her walking into the kitchen and into the backyard.
She stayed on the floor for a minute, letting the tears flow down her cheeks. Finally, she stood up and looked at her mother. Amber was just looking at her feet, also crying. Tara looked at Donny, he was sitting in a chair with a leg up biting his thumb nail like nothing had happened. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she started back up the stairs.
Opening the door and walking through it, Tara gently closed it. She walked to the small twin sized bed against the wall, under the window. She put the stuffed Piglet on the shelf above her bed.
There was a knock at her door then it opened revealing Donny, "Hey, you okay?" he asked as he walked in. A bit too casual to be safe.
Tara sniffed and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, "Yeah."
"Aww," Donny said in a sarcastic tone as he slowly walked toward Tara, "You sure about that, Tara?"
Tara looked up at her brother with glazed eyes filled with fear, "D-donny?"
He picked up the Piglet, "It is kinda cute," he tighten his hold on it, "But pretty stupid. Like you," he turned to her and hit her shoulder knocking her off her bed, "I don't get this! You always do this to us. We were fine before you came. You ruined everything!" He grabbed her shoulder as she tried to stand and lifted her, "You really fucked up everything for us!" he jabbed her hard in the ribs, enough to knock the air out of her.
Tara fell to the floor and clutched her side. She leaned over supporting herself with one arm as the other held onto her side. She could feel her ribs, they were bruised. She always bruised easily. With sharp, small breaths, Tara tried to get air into her body, but she wasn't having much success.
Donny shook his head and walked out of Tara's room, slamming the door behind him. Her breaths were finally growing deeper, slowly but deeper.
After several minutes, perhaps it was 30 or so, Tara finally stood up. Pain stayed in her right side, she could feel a small swell on her rib cage. Nothing broken, he didn't hit her that hard. Just bruised, she was just bruised.
Slowly, Tara walked to her light switch and turned it off. Once the light was off, she walked to her bed and gently layed herself down on her back and stared out the window at the stars. She blinked a few times, softly placing her hand on her rib cage. Tears began to build in her eyes again and she blinked them away. Her breathing began to become rythmic and slow. She closed her eyes and slowly fell into a dreamless sleep.
November
7th grade has been going slow and is almost exactly the same as the previous two months. The only difference was that she won Student of the Week. Only more ammo for all the kids who love to poke fun.
Tara walked through the school library looking for a new book. She wanted to go for a horror this month, perhaps Stephan King.
Looking through all the rows her eyes finally landed on "Carrie". Tara grabbed the thin book and looked at the back: A repressed girl who is the butt of every joke finally gets revenge. How nice, Tara thought sarcastically. Still, she decided to check it out.
That very day at lunch, Tara sat outside near the gym where she always sat. She held the book in her hands but didn't open it. She just looked at the boys playing basketball or football on the field. Always being active.
Soon, before she knew it, Thanksgiving Day came. Both Tara and Amber never cared much for this holiday, but Dale loved it. All an excuse to eat until he was full.
"Geting all the good stuff right? Yams, mashed patatoes, and stuffing?" Dale said in an almost kiddish excitement.
Amber giggled slightly, "Yes, of course. Has it ever been any other way?"
Dale smiled and went into the living room leaving Tara and Amber to the cooking. Tara started on opening the can of yams with a manual can opener. She always opened the yams, every year, the same number of cans. Her mother taught her all the little secrets and the "just right" amount of ingredients for the entire meal.
"Boy that was wonderful!" Dale exclaimed.
Donny smiled and yawned in sheer joy, "Very good, Mom. It was great."
As Amber and Tara picked up all the plates, Dale stood and said, "Well, I'm going to watch some TV. Donny?"
Donny stood quickely, "Sure thing, Dad!" They both walked to the living room and Amber and Tara heard the sounds of the television as they collected all the plates and cups.
In the kitchen mother and daughter began to wash the dishes they had collected. They worked in silence, walking around the kitchen putting little things, knick knacks, and dishes back in their rightful places. However, Tara's heart wasn't in it. Amber looked at her daughter and noticed her energy shift, and has been shifting for some time now. Amber continued to wash a plate as she said, "Tara, hun, is there something on your mind?"
Tara turned to her mother from the chair she was standing on. She stared at her mother, and exact, older image of herself, honey blonde hair and ice blue eyes. Tara placed the cups back in the cup board then stepped off the chair, "Yeah, Mom. I'm fine. Why?"
The dish was rinsed and placed on the rack with the rest as Amber turned to face Tara, "I can tell by your energy, Tara. It's changed. You're different."
"Mom," Tara grabbed more dishes that were dry and began to put them away, "Please. I th-think you're exagerating."
Amber exhaled and went back to washing the dishes, "I know it's late but, your birthday present is waiting under your bed."
Tara turned back to her mother to see her back. Imediately Tara felt awful and closed her eyes. She breathed in a few times before saying, "I'm lonely."
The movement at the sink stopped. Amber slowly turned and wore a sympathetic look oh her face, "Oh sweetie," she walked to Tara with her arms open and gathered her daughter and held her tightly. She began to rub her back softly as she heard small sniffs and wimpers coming from her daughter, "Sshhh, baby. I'm here for you. The Goddess is here for you also. Have some patience and the benevolent Goddess will help you." Amber held Tara tighter.
"What is this talk?" Dale interupted, "Am I hearing this right?" he stepped into the kitchen.
Amber let go of Tara and turned to face Dale, "Dale..."
"What?" Dale stood right in front of Amber with his arms crossed, staring at her intensely, "What could you possibly say?" he glanced at Tara, "Telling my daughter about all this nonsense of Goddesses and magic and spells." He grabbed her arm.
Amber tried to pull back but had no avail, however, her efforts did not go unpunished. Dale slapped her across the face, still holding her, "How dare you teach her of all that evil when she has that demon in her?"
Taking a step forward in a bold move, Tara grabbed her father's free arm, "Dad, please no."
Without thinking, Dale turned and backhanded Tara. She stummbled back and tripped over a chair falling to the ground. She leaned against the cup boards and looked up, terrified.
"Damn you woman." he said and let her go. He walked out of the kitchen and left Amber and Tara to themselves.
December
The snow began to fall. Everywhere anyone would look, they'd see whiteness. The winters in Colorado Springs were like any other in the state of Colorado. Everyone is adviced to covered up as the temperature can go quite low.
"Alright kids. There's way too much snow outside so... Looks like you're all stuck playing dodge ball. Everhart's and my classes verses the two Armendarez's classes. Get in places and we'll start in two minutes." announced Mr. Geofredo. Tara, being on Ms. A Amrendarez's class moved to that side of the gym. She looked at the twin teachers and smiled. How wonderful it must have been to have a twin sister growing up and then working together in adult life.
In mid thought, the game began when Tara heard the whistle being blown and a ball flew right past her head. She turned her attention back to the other side and made her way toward the back. She hated being the first one hit. Seeing 3 more balls flying near her, Tara ducked, turned, and jumped out of the way with her pony tail flying about. She wanted to participate in this game but she was afraid of letting down her team. Her attention was caught by one ball on the floor. She took one step toward the ball and didn't notice the other ball coming toward her. Within a split second, the ball made contact with her head. The ball hit her quite hard, in fact she literally saw stars for a moment. With her hand to her head, Tara walked out of the game and sat at the bottom of the beachers and continued to watch the game.
All she did was stare at the students playing the game. She glanced at the clock next to the painted Yellow Jacket, some mascot. Still a good 35 minutes left of class. Wonderful... Tara moved to the floor and brought up her knees to her chin and hugged her legs.
Out of nowhere, a girl with brown hair that had a glow of red in it, perhaps it was red ash sat next to Tara, mimicking her exact possition. Tara closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in, 'Great... What now?' Tara thought, as she turned to the girl. About 3 seconds past until the girl turned to face Tara with a big smile on her face. Her pale white skin made her hazel/green eyes stick out (A/N: I swear It's not Willow... I'm describing a friend of mine and I just realized she have the same features as Alyson Hannigan. It's the Irish in them, but it's not a Willow lookalike). The girl finally spoke, "Hi! I'm Adrienne."
Tara smiled, "Tara."
Adrienne smiled and nodded, "Cool name. Ya know, we're in the same PE class."
"I know. Also band. You play the flute right?"
Adrienne made a small laugh, "Yeah, I like it. I also play electric bass." Adrienne Wilson was her name. She was the same age as Tara, a few months older. Her skin was quite pale even to compare with Tara's. Her brown/red hair even looked like it was super soft.
"That's pretty cool," Tara began to get more enthusiastic, "I also play piano."
"Wow," Adrienne shifted herself to face Tara, "That's awesome..."
They continued to talk the entire period, then the bell rang. They walked together into the locker room. Their lockers were away from each other but once they were done changing, they met outside to wait for the bell to ring.
Tara waited by a pillar, she looked down at herself and saw what she was dressed in. She had on a pair of blue jeans that were about one size too big, a maroon long sleeved shirt with flower designs at the bottom, a small black jacket, black converse shoes, and finally had her hair down. She felt like a complete idiot. Adrienne would surely laugh at her.
"Hey, Tara!" Adrienne called as she came up to Tara. She was wearing a pair of black jeans with black boots, a black blouse, complete with a black back pack. Her hair was down and she had put on some black eye liner, "Cute shirt."
Tara smiled shyly, "Thanks." She hugged her folder tighter as she looked at Adrienne again, wow did she look beautiful.
January 1993
Since that day in December, Tara and Adrienne would always talk to one another in PE. They'd always team up as partners for whatever the activity may be.
"You should really eat lunch with me today, Tara. I'm always in the art room or band room talking to the teachers." Adrienne said as both she and Tara waited for the bell.
Tara made a half smile, "Th-that'd be cool. I'm usually in the library alone. It's n-not my idea of fun." she chuckled.
Adrienne smiled at Tara, "Great! But I have to go to my locker first. That okay?" she looked at Tara for an answer.
"That's fine."
The bell rang and they made their way through the hall packed with preteen students. Tara kept getting bumped into even though she tried to avoid it. Adrienne just walked without a second thought.
When they finally got to Adrienne's locker, there was a guy with baggy black pants, red t-shirt with a logo on it, and a blue back pack. He looked up and reavealed his green eyes that matched his spiked dark brown hair. She smiled, "Hey Adrienne!"
Her eyes went wide and a huge smile took over her face, "Oh my god, Tim!" she ran and nearly jumped on him to hug him. He seemed to be about 5'3" whereas Adrienne and herself were about 4'9", still a ways to go before he'd reach his full height. When he let her go she stood and looked up at him, "When did you get back?"
Tim Cunliffe cocked up his head as if thinking of an outrageous story to tell, then he lowered his head and half smiled, "Got back pretty much now." He smiled again then looked to Tara then back at Adrienne.
"Oh!" Adrienne exclaimed, "Tim! This is Tara. Tara this is Tim."
He felt a lump in his throat when he said, "Hey." he almost forgot how to breathe.
Tara looked up and smiled at him, "Hi." Tara felt uncomfortable as she looked at the situation. Here was this girl who finally noticed her and was close to becoming a friend and now, this girl is most likely going to ditch her for a friend who came back. "Well," Tara started, "I sh-should go. You guys can, um, catch up."
"Hey," Adrienne said as she reached for Tara's shoulder, "You should hang with us. Besides, you said you'd eat lunch with me."
She did have a point. Tara was never one to go back on her word. She simply smiled and nodded an okay.
February
"I never understood the whole theme dances. Back to school dance, winter dance, valentine's day dance, spring dance. It's all pretty lame. High school dances are way better I bet. Course the music they'll play is always going to suck." Tim ranted before picking up his bottle of pepsi before drinking it.
Adrienne turned to Tara with a smile on her face, "Tim's got a thing about dances. He thinks they should all involve him playing drums."
"Hey! There's a reason I'm section leader. I'm good." Tim smiled and fell onto his back.
Their spot had become a corner of the grass field where it met the gym. Although, right now it was covered in snow. They'd eat lunch there and talk amongst themselves. No one ever bothered them and they bothered no one. The month past like a breeze.
March
"Damn," Tim said in awe as he looked through both Tara and Adrienne's sketch books, "You guys got some talent."
Adrienne took a bite of her apple, "Hence why we're in art club." She crawled behind Tim, "See, we don't stay to one thing, like you. You are just in band. Tara and I have band, but also art. We're well rounded."
Tim leaned back against Adrienne's lap, "Hey, I'm going to be a rock star. No need to be well rounded for me. Wow, that rhymed."
At the end of the day, Tara was at her locker placing her text books in there. Despite knowing Tim and Adrienne, she still felt uncomfortable. Each guy she ever knew was awful to her. The only person she could trust was her mother and now she felt she could trust Adrienne. But still, Tara felt uneasy about Tim. She pulled out her checked out library book, this month it was "Old Magic" (A/N: It's an actual book, but I can't remember the author. When I find it, I'll post it.) which was about a young witch helping a boy lift a curse from his family.
From behind her, an 8th grade boy grabbed the book from her hands, "Man, these books are getting just awful." He began to skim through the pages, "Who the hell is Jillian?"
Tara reached for the book but the older boy pulled back, "Hey girl, you want this back?" He began to tease her, "You want your book back, nerd?" When she said nothing and looked down at her feet, the boy began to get angry. "Oh so that's it? What the hell? All you damn freaks are all the same!" he pushed her against her locker.
That was the last straw for Tim. He opened the door and yelled out, "Hey Glenn!" he walked hard toward the older boy, "Are you so much of a jackass you'd push a girl into the lockers? Why not mess with me?" Tim stood right in front of Glenn, "What? You scared now?"
Tara was in amazment because she had never had anyone stand up for her before. She was scared though, Glenn was bigger than Tim and she couldn't handle it if he got hurt because of her.
Glenn took a swing at Tim, however, Tim dodged it with ease and jabbed Glenn right in the gut knocking him to the floor. Tim bent over and pulled Glenn up back to his feet by the collar of his shirt, "What now, big man?" Glenn made a noise, "What was that? Didn't quite hear you," Tim jabbed Glenn in the nose and let him go. Glenn got back up to his feet and held his nose, luckily it wasn't bleeding, "Stay away from her. Got it?" Glenn quickly nodded and ran out of the hallway.
Tara was confused. No one stood up for her, she was glad but why did he do it?
"You okay?"
Awaken from her thoughts, Tara looked up at Tim, "Yeah. Thank you." She looked down for a moment then looked back up, "Why'd you do it?"
Tim made a confused look, "Why'd I help you? You're my friend. It's what friends do, help each other." Tim smiled again and moved to Tara's side and put an arm around her as they began to walk, "I'll just be your guardian, your body guard!" he laughed.
April
This was a year to remember. What made Tara sad was that it was almost over. She preyed for friends and she got two great ones. She only was with them inside of school, hanging out away from school was a big step for Tara. One step at a time, girl. She would eventually be with them outside of school, but not yet.
"Wow, you're going to be 13 years old. A teenager. You old hag!" Tim said in a jokingly matter.
"It's almost like, uh, a right of passage." Tara said with smile on her face, then she imediately began to blush. Could she had said anything more stupid?
Adrienne looked up at the clear blue sky, "Yeah," she said contently, "It sure is."
Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Tim opened a can of soda and took a drink from it. He waited a couple seconds before speaking, "You know this means a party right?"
"What? Oh no no no no." Adrienne said.
"Why not? You know it's just going to be us three. No one else ever wants to hang with us." Tim explained.
Adrienne laughed, "I know I know," she paused, "We'll see." She turned to Tara, "If I do, you're coming right?"
"Oh, um, I don't know." Tara stammered.
"Oh c'mon, you have to!"
Tara exhaled, "Okay. I'll ask."
But she never did. She was too afraid to startle up an argument with her parents. Tara decided she would wait. The only thing she could come up with as an excuse was that there was a family vacation when in reality, it was Dale going on a fishing trip with her uncle. She felt awful that she had wished so much for friends, then she lied to them.
May
"Bills, bills, and more bills. That's all we ever get!" Dale shouted, going through each envelope. "Tara, get me some water."
She rose from her spot on the couch, moving her math text book from her lap and walked to the kitchen. She opened a cup board and reached for Dale's favorite glass that he got when he went on a hunting trip. Opening the freezer, she grabbed a few ice cubes and dropped them in the glass. Softly closing the freezer, she made her way to the sink and turned on the water filling up the glass about a centimeter away from the rim.
Tara walked back into the dining room and place the glass in front of Dale, but she placed it a little too close to the paper. A little bit of water dripped onto a bill.
"Tara!" Dale jumped from his seat, "What's wrong with you? You're spilling the water all over the place!" He began to reach for all the papers near the glass.
"I'm... I'm really sorry, Dad." Tara lowered her head and looked up to her father.
All the stress and anger rose and his eyes began to quiver, "You will speak when I say you can!" He quickly gave her a backhanded slap across the face, not enough to push her back, but enough to hurt, "Understand?"
Tara slowly moved her head back up to face her father, "Yes, sir."
Dale nodded and sat back down, "Good." He went back to his paper work. He looked back up, "You can go back in the other room now."
With a sad smile and a nod, Tara went back into the living room. Picking up her text book, she stared at the pages but not really staring at them. She began to dred the upcoming summer vacation. Of course she would not be able to see her friends at all because she'd be stuck at home. She almost wanted to cry as the depression of that realization hit her.
From the other room Dale called out, "Tara! You're slacking off on your practicing. I want to hear you practice either the violin or piano when you're done with you're homework. Got it?"
With a soft and quite sigh, Tara replied, "Yes, sir."
June
On the last day of school, at the last period of the day, almost every student ran out the doors throwing papers and folders and back packs. Tara calmly walked out of the front gate and saw both Tim and Adrienne.
"Tara!" Adrienne called.
She smiled and walked toward them, "Hey."
"Oh my god Tara! My sister, Andrea, just told me that we're going to Alabama to see our family for the summer!" she began to jump up and down, "I'm so excited! I haven't seen my mom in almost a year so I'm really excited."
"Wow," Tara started, "That's really good. I'm really h-happy for you." She put on a smile, "So... You're going to be gone all s-summer?" she said trying to hide her dejected feeling.
"Pretty much," the smile never left her face.
"Guess she got bored of us eh?" Tim joked.
"Oh yeah, that's just it ya punk." Adrienne laughed.
"Wh-what are your plans... Tim?" Tara asked.
He shruged, "Pretty much nothing. Or except summer school for English. Man, I'm telling you she hated me."
"Awww," Adrienne went up to Tim and began to pinch his cheeks, "Poor baby! Who could ever hate you?"
July
Including the sketchbook that was taken by those bully girls, Tara had gone through 4 sketchbooks, and now she needed a new one. But she was tired of sketching and drawing with pencil, or even with charcoal. She was tired of that and wanted to do something new with the mediums or art. Adrienne loved acrylic paints. Tara really wanted to try that. It would be an interesting change for her, but how would she get the materials? Dale would never give her the money, no wasy in hell.
The best thing may be to do what all young girls do: babysit. She was 12, turning 13 later that year, she's old enough to watch a little 4 year old girl for a couple of hours. Tara made up her mind, she could do some babysitting over the summer and earn a little extra cash since an allowance was non exsistant to her.
Tara walked down the block to a house with a single mom that had a 4 year old daughter. She looked up at the door, just looking at it. Anxiety was begining to dwell on her. Come on Tara, knock already! Thoughts racing through her head a mile a minute. So many senarios of the outcome, most of them negetive.
After much thought, Tara decided it was a bad idea. Who was she kidding? She'd never be able to- Her thoughts were interupted by the young mother opening the door, "Oh, Tara, hi. Can I help you?"
"Uh, hi Ms. Williamson." Tara began to get very nervous.
"What's on your mind?" Ashley Williamson asked as she began to gather the mail from the mail box.
Tara gathered her thoughts then she spoke, "Well, my mother w-was telling me that, um, you're looking for, uh, a babysitter for, Monica."
"Wow, Tara. You think you can handle her?" Ashley looked at Tara.
Tara mearly nodded.
With a smile, Ashley said, "Well, Tara, I trust you. But I'm going to need you a lot during the summer. Does 3 dollars an hour sound fair?" (A/N: In my mind that's way too little, but it IS 1992 and I think Minimum Wage was like $4.)
"Sounds... Great to me." she replied with a smile.
Well, a 4 year old sounded easier than it sounded, by little Monica wasn't all that bad once she was fed and read a book. By the time 9 o'clock came, she was always ready for bed or just knocked out. However, it took little Monica a few days to get used to Tara taking care of her.
August
Monday through Friday since the begining of July, Tara's been taking care of young Monica. She began to really grow accustom to the little girl. Only when she had sugar in her did Monica become a handful, but Tara was always able to calm her down. It never took much, Monica would usually quiet when Tara threatened not to read to her from a story book.
"4 hours, that's $12 for you, Tara." Ashley began to pull out some dollar bills and began to count them, "Tara, you're so good with her. She's absolutely adores you. And I really appreciate that you read to her."
With a proud smile on her face, Tara replied, "It's no problem... Really."
At home, Tara continued to help Amber around the house, cooking and cleaning, but she was also added another chore to do, "Tara!" Donny yelled out.
Like an obiediant dog, Tara came to her brother when he called her. She leaned on the doorway and poked her head around it to see inside Donny's room and see what he wanted.
Once he had grabbed his wallet and put on his jacket, he finally turned and saw her, "Well, damn. About damn time. How long were you standing there?" he asked while he fixed the collar on his coat and around his wrists before finally checking his hair in the mirror. He never did anything special with it, even though he thought he did.
"Um, n-not long." she replied, still leaning over the doorway, not moving.
"Listen," he started as he began to shuffle through his dresser, "I'm late for work. I need you to clean up a bit in here. Ya know, the usual things, make the bed, vacum, a littl dusting. Oh, and toss my dirty clothes in the hamper."
How did she know he was going to ask her to clean his room for him? Of course, he always asked ever since he started working at the propane shop with their father. He always had Tara clean up his messes but now it was way more obvious to Tara that he was doing it. "Um... S-sure." she said almost sulkingly.
Donny cought that sulk. He began to grow angry, "What? You afraid to do a little house work or something?" He walked toward her, "Can't handle it or something? You think Mom is gunna be here forever to clean up?" He grabbed her shoulder, hard, "I think you better start learning, Tara." with that, he pushed her away. "Better be clean when I get back." and he walked out.
With a hard sigh, Tara turned around and went back downstairs. She hated having to clean Donny's room, there were always dirty clothes and dirty plates. It was just disgusting. Sometimes, Tara would wonder why Donny hasn't gotten lepracy yet.
Once Tara made it back in the kitchen, she went straight to the box of garbage bags and tore one out. Then she went to the sink and opened up the cup board beneath it and took out a couple of rags for dusting. After she got the supplies she needed, she went back upstairs to Donny's room and began to clean it. Trying desperately to hold her breath each time she found and old piece of food. Some of them she was sure had been there for at least a year.
But she did eventually finish cleaning his room, and a damn good job she did. She smelled a hell of a lot better than before, and she was sure nothing would be growing from a plate. She made her way down the stairs, holding the big trash bag and walked outside to the trash cans to toss the bag. Now she would start on her own room. Yet, her room never needed much cleaning because Tara was always one to keep it clean. Well, at least it would be an easy job.
All Tara's room needed was just a vacum and straighten out the bed. Once that was done, her room was perfect. The bed all neat in its little corner under the window, a small and organized book shelf/dresser right across from it, and finally, a desk that completes the room. It was smallest room in the house, but Tara loved it nonetheless. It was very calming and relaxing, much like the basement, which was the other room Tara loved.
Tara got on her knees and reached for a small shoe box under her bed. Once she got it, she opened it. It was her mother's birthday gift to her. A grey necklace with a celtic symbol on it. She hadn't worn it for fear of her father seeing it, but every so often, she'd pull it out and look at it and the longing to wear it grew. She put it back and reached for an envelope in between the matress and frame. After pulling it out, Tara opened it and counted the money she had saved all summer, very little of it was spent. She had babysat for about 35 days, 4 hours a day, at $3 an hour... A good $400 she had. A nice chunk of change that so far, only Amber knew about. Tara would make sure that only Amber would know about it.
Taking a quick minute to reflect on this past year, Tara actually smiled. She liked how the whole year turned out. She finally made friends and she's not making some money. For the first time in her entire life, Tara Maclay looked forward to the next school year, for 8th grade. More specifically, she looked forward to Adrienne and Tim. Even more so to Adrienne.
Author's Note: Wow, I dunno if I'll keep that format of going month by month. I probably will since it forces me to write out long chapters. Anyway, the next chapter I'll work on religiously but it may take a couple of weeks to get out. On forth 8th grade!
Chapters
Grade 7: September 1992
The begining of the year had started out like all the others. Only this time she was occupied by art club and band. Tara still made no friends. September was always a slow month. Everything was routine as always, come home, finish homework, do a little magick, practice piano and violin, which have gone down to a 30 minute practice session each, do some house work, eat dinner, have a family game of cards or a board game, which Donny always hated, every Wednesday.
"This is so lame! Why do I gatta be stuck doing this?" Donny complained as he slouched in his chair.
"Donny, please. At least pretend to enjoy it. We hardly see you anymore." Amber said gently.
"Your mother's right," Dale said, not looking up from his cards, "You're always out running around with your friends," he looked up at Donny, "This is your last year of high school, Donald. You'd better start settling down and find work. You're never gunna get married with that attitude of yours."
Even during the family games, Tara rarely spoke. She would occasionally glance at Amber and smile. For the entire month it was like this.
October
Amber served the family ham and eggs with toast in the morning, "Tara, sweetie, your birthday is coming up. Anything special you 'd like to do?" she sat next to Tara and Dale.
"Yeah right, Mom. Tara never does anything 'cause she ain't got no friends," he laughed and playfully punched her arm, "Hey c'mon Tara, I was only joking."
Tara smiled, "I know."
"I swear this Clinton better not win," Dale folded his newspaper and sipped his coffee, "He'll ruin our economy with his liberal ideals," he scoffed, "What we need is Ronald Reagan again. Now there was a fine man."
"Yes dear, a fine man." Amber said with a smile.
Dale cocked an eye brow and chuckled, "He is indeed."
A honk came, "That's me!" Donny stood and chugged his orange juice and grabbed another piece of toast, "See ya'll later!" he ran out the door.
Dale looked at Donny as he ran out the door and sighed, "I swear that boy needs to find some work," he looked over at Tara, "Are you excited about your birthday coming up? 12 years old."
Tara smiled softly again, "Kinda."
"Kinda? Why kinda?"
Tara just shrugged. Her birthday never seemed important to her. She never had friends to invite over so when her birthday came along, with was always a small family gathering consisting of her parents, aunt and uncle, and her cousin Beth.
The presents were always the same, little cute dresses, acessories, a little doll, always boring. But always at night, her mother would give her something that made Tara smile brightly. It was the only thing she looked forward to.
"Well look at that! Now that's going to look precious on you!" exclaimed Dale as Tara opened her first present from her aunt and uncle.
Amber smiled, "It is a very lovely flower dress." but it really wasn't. It was something all the other girls wore.
Nonetheless, Tara smiled and hugged her relatives, "Thank you very much. It's beautiful."
"Okay open mine now!" Beth exclaimed. The girl was only two years younger than Tara and was spoiled rotten.
Tara smiled once again and took the small box from her cousin and began to carefully unpeal the tape.
"God you take so long!" Donny groaned, "Why you gatta be so careful? Just rip it open!"
Finally the wraping paper was off and she opened the shoe box and found a little stuffed Piglet, from Winnie the Pooh. "Wow Beth, this is really cute," Tara stood and walked to her cousin and gace her a hug, "Thank you."
At the end of the night, the men, aside from Donny, were drinking and talking of politics while the women spoke of baking. When the uncle, aunt, and Beth left, Tara realized Dale had a bit much to drink.
"Woman! I said I was fine! I can walk without you!" Dale slurred.
"Dale, please," Amber pleaded as she sensed what was about to happen.
Dale walked and tripped over a rug, "Dammit! I thought this place was clean!" He rose and faced Amber, "Did you clean?"
"Yes I did, Dale."
"Are you raising your voice at me?" anger rose in him.
"No I'm not. I'm just telling you that-"
Amber was cut off by Dale grabbing her arms, "You raised your voice at me!"
Donny sat in a chair near by and did nothing. Tara stood at the base of the stairs. She closed her eyes for a minute to breathe. She wanted to do something, maybe she can calm her father down. She's done it before. What if she couldn't and made him more angry instead. He hits harder when he's angry. Tara opened her eyes and saw his anger was rising and saw Donny hadn't made a move to intervine.
She took a deep breath and walked to her parents, "Please stop, Dad."
Dale looked at Tara, "You too?"
Donny, made a small chuckle sound.
"N-no, Dad, I ment... Just please calm d-down." she pleaded as tears began to form, "Th-there's no need to get... angry."
For a second, Dale looked like he had calmed, like he was going to sit down and sleep, but then his face shifted. He let go of Amber by pushing her away, into a wall, and grabbed Tara, "You little brat!" he spat, "You are nothing! You think you're smart but it's all for nothing cause you've got the evil inside. Without us, you will be nothing!" he pushed her to the floor and stepped over her walking into the kitchen and into the backyard.
She stayed on the floor for a minute, letting the tears flow down her cheeks. Finally, she stood up and looked at her mother. Amber was just looking at her feet, also crying. Tara looked at Donny, he was sitting in a chair with a leg up biting his thumb nail like nothing had happened. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she started back up the stairs.
Opening the door and walking through it, Tara gently closed it. She walked to the small twin sized bed against the wall, under the window. She put the stuffed Piglet on the shelf above her bed.
There was a knock at her door then it opened revealing Donny, "Hey, you okay?" he asked as he walked in. A bit too casual to be safe.
Tara sniffed and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, "Yeah."
"Aww," Donny said in a sarcastic tone as he slowly walked toward Tara, "You sure about that, Tara?"
Tara looked up at her brother with glazed eyes filled with fear, "D-donny?"
He picked up the Piglet, "It is kinda cute," he tighten his hold on it, "But pretty stupid. Like you," he turned to her and hit her shoulder knocking her off her bed, "I don't get this! You always do this to us. We were fine before you came. You ruined everything!" He grabbed her shoulder as she tried to stand and lifted her, "You really fucked up everything for us!" he jabbed her hard in the ribs, enough to knock the air out of her.
Tara fell to the floor and clutched her side. She leaned over supporting herself with one arm as the other held onto her side. She could feel her ribs, they were bruised. She always bruised easily. With sharp, small breaths, Tara tried to get air into her body, but she wasn't having much success.
Donny shook his head and walked out of Tara's room, slamming the door behind him. Her breaths were finally growing deeper, slowly but deeper.
After several minutes, perhaps it was 30 or so, Tara finally stood up. Pain stayed in her right side, she could feel a small swell on her rib cage. Nothing broken, he didn't hit her that hard. Just bruised, she was just bruised.
Slowly, Tara walked to her light switch and turned it off. Once the light was off, she walked to her bed and gently layed herself down on her back and stared out the window at the stars. She blinked a few times, softly placing her hand on her rib cage. Tears began to build in her eyes again and she blinked them away. Her breathing began to become rythmic and slow. She closed her eyes and slowly fell into a dreamless sleep.
November
7th grade has been going slow and is almost exactly the same as the previous two months. The only difference was that she won Student of the Week. Only more ammo for all the kids who love to poke fun.
Tara walked through the school library looking for a new book. She wanted to go for a horror this month, perhaps Stephan King.
Looking through all the rows her eyes finally landed on "Carrie". Tara grabbed the thin book and looked at the back: A repressed girl who is the butt of every joke finally gets revenge. How nice, Tara thought sarcastically. Still, she decided to check it out.
That very day at lunch, Tara sat outside near the gym where she always sat. She held the book in her hands but didn't open it. She just looked at the boys playing basketball or football on the field. Always being active.
Soon, before she knew it, Thanksgiving Day came. Both Tara and Amber never cared much for this holiday, but Dale loved it. All an excuse to eat until he was full.
"Geting all the good stuff right? Yams, mashed patatoes, and stuffing?" Dale said in an almost kiddish excitement.
Amber giggled slightly, "Yes, of course. Has it ever been any other way?"
Dale smiled and went into the living room leaving Tara and Amber to the cooking. Tara started on opening the can of yams with a manual can opener. She always opened the yams, every year, the same number of cans. Her mother taught her all the little secrets and the "just right" amount of ingredients for the entire meal.
"Boy that was wonderful!" Dale exclaimed.
Donny smiled and yawned in sheer joy, "Very good, Mom. It was great."
As Amber and Tara picked up all the plates, Dale stood and said, "Well, I'm going to watch some TV. Donny?"
Donny stood quickely, "Sure thing, Dad!" They both walked to the living room and Amber and Tara heard the sounds of the television as they collected all the plates and cups.
In the kitchen mother and daughter began to wash the dishes they had collected. They worked in silence, walking around the kitchen putting little things, knick knacks, and dishes back in their rightful places. However, Tara's heart wasn't in it. Amber looked at her daughter and noticed her energy shift, and has been shifting for some time now. Amber continued to wash a plate as she said, "Tara, hun, is there something on your mind?"
Tara turned to her mother from the chair she was standing on. She stared at her mother, and exact, older image of herself, honey blonde hair and ice blue eyes. Tara placed the cups back in the cup board then stepped off the chair, "Yeah, Mom. I'm fine. Why?"
The dish was rinsed and placed on the rack with the rest as Amber turned to face Tara, "I can tell by your energy, Tara. It's changed. You're different."
"Mom," Tara grabbed more dishes that were dry and began to put them away, "Please. I th-think you're exagerating."
Amber exhaled and went back to washing the dishes, "I know it's late but, your birthday present is waiting under your bed."
Tara turned back to her mother to see her back. Imediately Tara felt awful and closed her eyes. She breathed in a few times before saying, "I'm lonely."
The movement at the sink stopped. Amber slowly turned and wore a sympathetic look oh her face, "Oh sweetie," she walked to Tara with her arms open and gathered her daughter and held her tightly. She began to rub her back softly as she heard small sniffs and wimpers coming from her daughter, "Sshhh, baby. I'm here for you. The Goddess is here for you also. Have some patience and the benevolent Goddess will help you." Amber held Tara tighter.
"What is this talk?" Dale interupted, "Am I hearing this right?" he stepped into the kitchen.
Amber let go of Tara and turned to face Dale, "Dale..."
"What?" Dale stood right in front of Amber with his arms crossed, staring at her intensely, "What could you possibly say?" he glanced at Tara, "Telling my daughter about all this nonsense of Goddesses and magic and spells." He grabbed her arm.
Amber tried to pull back but had no avail, however, her efforts did not go unpunished. Dale slapped her across the face, still holding her, "How dare you teach her of all that evil when she has that demon in her?"
Taking a step forward in a bold move, Tara grabbed her father's free arm, "Dad, please no."
Without thinking, Dale turned and backhanded Tara. She stummbled back and tripped over a chair falling to the ground. She leaned against the cup boards and looked up, terrified.
"Damn you woman." he said and let her go. He walked out of the kitchen and left Amber and Tara to themselves.
December
The snow began to fall. Everywhere anyone would look, they'd see whiteness. The winters in Colorado Springs were like any other in the state of Colorado. Everyone is adviced to covered up as the temperature can go quite low.
"Alright kids. There's way too much snow outside so... Looks like you're all stuck playing dodge ball. Everhart's and my classes verses the two Armendarez's classes. Get in places and we'll start in two minutes." announced Mr. Geofredo. Tara, being on Ms. A Amrendarez's class moved to that side of the gym. She looked at the twin teachers and smiled. How wonderful it must have been to have a twin sister growing up and then working together in adult life.
In mid thought, the game began when Tara heard the whistle being blown and a ball flew right past her head. She turned her attention back to the other side and made her way toward the back. She hated being the first one hit. Seeing 3 more balls flying near her, Tara ducked, turned, and jumped out of the way with her pony tail flying about. She wanted to participate in this game but she was afraid of letting down her team. Her attention was caught by one ball on the floor. She took one step toward the ball and didn't notice the other ball coming toward her. Within a split second, the ball made contact with her head. The ball hit her quite hard, in fact she literally saw stars for a moment. With her hand to her head, Tara walked out of the game and sat at the bottom of the beachers and continued to watch the game.
All she did was stare at the students playing the game. She glanced at the clock next to the painted Yellow Jacket, some mascot. Still a good 35 minutes left of class. Wonderful... Tara moved to the floor and brought up her knees to her chin and hugged her legs.
Out of nowhere, a girl with brown hair that had a glow of red in it, perhaps it was red ash sat next to Tara, mimicking her exact possition. Tara closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in, 'Great... What now?' Tara thought, as she turned to the girl. About 3 seconds past until the girl turned to face Tara with a big smile on her face. Her pale white skin made her hazel/green eyes stick out (A/N: I swear It's not Willow... I'm describing a friend of mine and I just realized she have the same features as Alyson Hannigan. It's the Irish in them, but it's not a Willow lookalike). The girl finally spoke, "Hi! I'm Adrienne."
Tara smiled, "Tara."
Adrienne smiled and nodded, "Cool name. Ya know, we're in the same PE class."
"I know. Also band. You play the flute right?"
Adrienne made a small laugh, "Yeah, I like it. I also play electric bass." Adrienne Wilson was her name. She was the same age as Tara, a few months older. Her skin was quite pale even to compare with Tara's. Her brown/red hair even looked like it was super soft.
"That's pretty cool," Tara began to get more enthusiastic, "I also play piano."
"Wow," Adrienne shifted herself to face Tara, "That's awesome..."
They continued to talk the entire period, then the bell rang. They walked together into the locker room. Their lockers were away from each other but once they were done changing, they met outside to wait for the bell to ring.
Tara waited by a pillar, she looked down at herself and saw what she was dressed in. She had on a pair of blue jeans that were about one size too big, a maroon long sleeved shirt with flower designs at the bottom, a small black jacket, black converse shoes, and finally had her hair down. She felt like a complete idiot. Adrienne would surely laugh at her.
"Hey, Tara!" Adrienne called as she came up to Tara. She was wearing a pair of black jeans with black boots, a black blouse, complete with a black back pack. Her hair was down and she had put on some black eye liner, "Cute shirt."
Tara smiled shyly, "Thanks." She hugged her folder tighter as she looked at Adrienne again, wow did she look beautiful.
January 1993
Since that day in December, Tara and Adrienne would always talk to one another in PE. They'd always team up as partners for whatever the activity may be.
"You should really eat lunch with me today, Tara. I'm always in the art room or band room talking to the teachers." Adrienne said as both she and Tara waited for the bell.
Tara made a half smile, "Th-that'd be cool. I'm usually in the library alone. It's n-not my idea of fun." she chuckled.
Adrienne smiled at Tara, "Great! But I have to go to my locker first. That okay?" she looked at Tara for an answer.
"That's fine."
The bell rang and they made their way through the hall packed with preteen students. Tara kept getting bumped into even though she tried to avoid it. Adrienne just walked without a second thought.
When they finally got to Adrienne's locker, there was a guy with baggy black pants, red t-shirt with a logo on it, and a blue back pack. He looked up and reavealed his green eyes that matched his spiked dark brown hair. She smiled, "Hey Adrienne!"
Her eyes went wide and a huge smile took over her face, "Oh my god, Tim!" she ran and nearly jumped on him to hug him. He seemed to be about 5'3" whereas Adrienne and herself were about 4'9", still a ways to go before he'd reach his full height. When he let her go she stood and looked up at him, "When did you get back?"
Tim Cunliffe cocked up his head as if thinking of an outrageous story to tell, then he lowered his head and half smiled, "Got back pretty much now." He smiled again then looked to Tara then back at Adrienne.
"Oh!" Adrienne exclaimed, "Tim! This is Tara. Tara this is Tim."
He felt a lump in his throat when he said, "Hey." he almost forgot how to breathe.
Tara looked up and smiled at him, "Hi." Tara felt uncomfortable as she looked at the situation. Here was this girl who finally noticed her and was close to becoming a friend and now, this girl is most likely going to ditch her for a friend who came back. "Well," Tara started, "I sh-should go. You guys can, um, catch up."
"Hey," Adrienne said as she reached for Tara's shoulder, "You should hang with us. Besides, you said you'd eat lunch with me."
She did have a point. Tara was never one to go back on her word. She simply smiled and nodded an okay.
February
"I never understood the whole theme dances. Back to school dance, winter dance, valentine's day dance, spring dance. It's all pretty lame. High school dances are way better I bet. Course the music they'll play is always going to suck." Tim ranted before picking up his bottle of pepsi before drinking it.
Adrienne turned to Tara with a smile on her face, "Tim's got a thing about dances. He thinks they should all involve him playing drums."
"Hey! There's a reason I'm section leader. I'm good." Tim smiled and fell onto his back.
Their spot had become a corner of the grass field where it met the gym. Although, right now it was covered in snow. They'd eat lunch there and talk amongst themselves. No one ever bothered them and they bothered no one. The month past like a breeze.
March
"Damn," Tim said in awe as he looked through both Tara and Adrienne's sketch books, "You guys got some talent."
Adrienne took a bite of her apple, "Hence why we're in art club." She crawled behind Tim, "See, we don't stay to one thing, like you. You are just in band. Tara and I have band, but also art. We're well rounded."
Tim leaned back against Adrienne's lap, "Hey, I'm going to be a rock star. No need to be well rounded for me. Wow, that rhymed."
At the end of the day, Tara was at her locker placing her text books in there. Despite knowing Tim and Adrienne, she still felt uncomfortable. Each guy she ever knew was awful to her. The only person she could trust was her mother and now she felt she could trust Adrienne. But still, Tara felt uneasy about Tim. She pulled out her checked out library book, this month it was "Old Magic" (A/N: It's an actual book, but I can't remember the author. When I find it, I'll post it.) which was about a young witch helping a boy lift a curse from his family.
From behind her, an 8th grade boy grabbed the book from her hands, "Man, these books are getting just awful." He began to skim through the pages, "Who the hell is Jillian?"
Tara reached for the book but the older boy pulled back, "Hey girl, you want this back?" He began to tease her, "You want your book back, nerd?" When she said nothing and looked down at her feet, the boy began to get angry. "Oh so that's it? What the hell? All you damn freaks are all the same!" he pushed her against her locker.
That was the last straw for Tim. He opened the door and yelled out, "Hey Glenn!" he walked hard toward the older boy, "Are you so much of a jackass you'd push a girl into the lockers? Why not mess with me?" Tim stood right in front of Glenn, "What? You scared now?"
Tara was in amazment because she had never had anyone stand up for her before. She was scared though, Glenn was bigger than Tim and she couldn't handle it if he got hurt because of her.
Glenn took a swing at Tim, however, Tim dodged it with ease and jabbed Glenn right in the gut knocking him to the floor. Tim bent over and pulled Glenn up back to his feet by the collar of his shirt, "What now, big man?" Glenn made a noise, "What was that? Didn't quite hear you," Tim jabbed Glenn in the nose and let him go. Glenn got back up to his feet and held his nose, luckily it wasn't bleeding, "Stay away from her. Got it?" Glenn quickly nodded and ran out of the hallway.
Tara was confused. No one stood up for her, she was glad but why did he do it?
"You okay?"
Awaken from her thoughts, Tara looked up at Tim, "Yeah. Thank you." She looked down for a moment then looked back up, "Why'd you do it?"
Tim made a confused look, "Why'd I help you? You're my friend. It's what friends do, help each other." Tim smiled again and moved to Tara's side and put an arm around her as they began to walk, "I'll just be your guardian, your body guard!" he laughed.
April
This was a year to remember. What made Tara sad was that it was almost over. She preyed for friends and she got two great ones. She only was with them inside of school, hanging out away from school was a big step for Tara. One step at a time, girl. She would eventually be with them outside of school, but not yet.
"Wow, you're going to be 13 years old. A teenager. You old hag!" Tim said in a jokingly matter.
"It's almost like, uh, a right of passage." Tara said with smile on her face, then she imediately began to blush. Could she had said anything more stupid?
Adrienne looked up at the clear blue sky, "Yeah," she said contently, "It sure is."
Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Tim opened a can of soda and took a drink from it. He waited a couple seconds before speaking, "You know this means a party right?"
"What? Oh no no no no." Adrienne said.
"Why not? You know it's just going to be us three. No one else ever wants to hang with us." Tim explained.
Adrienne laughed, "I know I know," she paused, "We'll see." She turned to Tara, "If I do, you're coming right?"
"Oh, um, I don't know." Tara stammered.
"Oh c'mon, you have to!"
Tara exhaled, "Okay. I'll ask."
But she never did. She was too afraid to startle up an argument with her parents. Tara decided she would wait. The only thing she could come up with as an excuse was that there was a family vacation when in reality, it was Dale going on a fishing trip with her uncle. She felt awful that she had wished so much for friends, then she lied to them.
May
"Bills, bills, and more bills. That's all we ever get!" Dale shouted, going through each envelope. "Tara, get me some water."
She rose from her spot on the couch, moving her math text book from her lap and walked to the kitchen. She opened a cup board and reached for Dale's favorite glass that he got when he went on a hunting trip. Opening the freezer, she grabbed a few ice cubes and dropped them in the glass. Softly closing the freezer, she made her way to the sink and turned on the water filling up the glass about a centimeter away from the rim.
Tara walked back into the dining room and place the glass in front of Dale, but she placed it a little too close to the paper. A little bit of water dripped onto a bill.
"Tara!" Dale jumped from his seat, "What's wrong with you? You're spilling the water all over the place!" He began to reach for all the papers near the glass.
"I'm... I'm really sorry, Dad." Tara lowered her head and looked up to her father.
All the stress and anger rose and his eyes began to quiver, "You will speak when I say you can!" He quickly gave her a backhanded slap across the face, not enough to push her back, but enough to hurt, "Understand?"
Tara slowly moved her head back up to face her father, "Yes, sir."
Dale nodded and sat back down, "Good." He went back to his paper work. He looked back up, "You can go back in the other room now."
With a sad smile and a nod, Tara went back into the living room. Picking up her text book, she stared at the pages but not really staring at them. She began to dred the upcoming summer vacation. Of course she would not be able to see her friends at all because she'd be stuck at home. She almost wanted to cry as the depression of that realization hit her.
From the other room Dale called out, "Tara! You're slacking off on your practicing. I want to hear you practice either the violin or piano when you're done with you're homework. Got it?"
With a soft and quite sigh, Tara replied, "Yes, sir."
June
On the last day of school, at the last period of the day, almost every student ran out the doors throwing papers and folders and back packs. Tara calmly walked out of the front gate and saw both Tim and Adrienne.
"Tara!" Adrienne called.
She smiled and walked toward them, "Hey."
"Oh my god Tara! My sister, Andrea, just told me that we're going to Alabama to see our family for the summer!" she began to jump up and down, "I'm so excited! I haven't seen my mom in almost a year so I'm really excited."
"Wow," Tara started, "That's really good. I'm really h-happy for you." She put on a smile, "So... You're going to be gone all s-summer?" she said trying to hide her dejected feeling.
"Pretty much," the smile never left her face.
"Guess she got bored of us eh?" Tim joked.
"Oh yeah, that's just it ya punk." Adrienne laughed.
"Wh-what are your plans... Tim?" Tara asked.
He shruged, "Pretty much nothing. Or except summer school for English. Man, I'm telling you she hated me."
"Awww," Adrienne went up to Tim and began to pinch his cheeks, "Poor baby! Who could ever hate you?"
July
Including the sketchbook that was taken by those bully girls, Tara had gone through 4 sketchbooks, and now she needed a new one. But she was tired of sketching and drawing with pencil, or even with charcoal. She was tired of that and wanted to do something new with the mediums or art. Adrienne loved acrylic paints. Tara really wanted to try that. It would be an interesting change for her, but how would she get the materials? Dale would never give her the money, no wasy in hell.
The best thing may be to do what all young girls do: babysit. She was 12, turning 13 later that year, she's old enough to watch a little 4 year old girl for a couple of hours. Tara made up her mind, she could do some babysitting over the summer and earn a little extra cash since an allowance was non exsistant to her.
Tara walked down the block to a house with a single mom that had a 4 year old daughter. She looked up at the door, just looking at it. Anxiety was begining to dwell on her. Come on Tara, knock already! Thoughts racing through her head a mile a minute. So many senarios of the outcome, most of them negetive.
After much thought, Tara decided it was a bad idea. Who was she kidding? She'd never be able to- Her thoughts were interupted by the young mother opening the door, "Oh, Tara, hi. Can I help you?"
"Uh, hi Ms. Williamson." Tara began to get very nervous.
"What's on your mind?" Ashley Williamson asked as she began to gather the mail from the mail box.
Tara gathered her thoughts then she spoke, "Well, my mother w-was telling me that, um, you're looking for, uh, a babysitter for, Monica."
"Wow, Tara. You think you can handle her?" Ashley looked at Tara.
Tara mearly nodded.
With a smile, Ashley said, "Well, Tara, I trust you. But I'm going to need you a lot during the summer. Does 3 dollars an hour sound fair?" (A/N: In my mind that's way too little, but it IS 1992 and I think Minimum Wage was like $4.)
"Sounds... Great to me." she replied with a smile.
Well, a 4 year old sounded easier than it sounded, by little Monica wasn't all that bad once she was fed and read a book. By the time 9 o'clock came, she was always ready for bed or just knocked out. However, it took little Monica a few days to get used to Tara taking care of her.
August
Monday through Friday since the begining of July, Tara's been taking care of young Monica. She began to really grow accustom to the little girl. Only when she had sugar in her did Monica become a handful, but Tara was always able to calm her down. It never took much, Monica would usually quiet when Tara threatened not to read to her from a story book.
"4 hours, that's $12 for you, Tara." Ashley began to pull out some dollar bills and began to count them, "Tara, you're so good with her. She's absolutely adores you. And I really appreciate that you read to her."
With a proud smile on her face, Tara replied, "It's no problem... Really."
At home, Tara continued to help Amber around the house, cooking and cleaning, but she was also added another chore to do, "Tara!" Donny yelled out.
Like an obiediant dog, Tara came to her brother when he called her. She leaned on the doorway and poked her head around it to see inside Donny's room and see what he wanted.
Once he had grabbed his wallet and put on his jacket, he finally turned and saw her, "Well, damn. About damn time. How long were you standing there?" he asked while he fixed the collar on his coat and around his wrists before finally checking his hair in the mirror. He never did anything special with it, even though he thought he did.
"Um, n-not long." she replied, still leaning over the doorway, not moving.
"Listen," he started as he began to shuffle through his dresser, "I'm late for work. I need you to clean up a bit in here. Ya know, the usual things, make the bed, vacum, a littl dusting. Oh, and toss my dirty clothes in the hamper."
How did she know he was going to ask her to clean his room for him? Of course, he always asked ever since he started working at the propane shop with their father. He always had Tara clean up his messes but now it was way more obvious to Tara that he was doing it. "Um... S-sure." she said almost sulkingly.
Donny cought that sulk. He began to grow angry, "What? You afraid to do a little house work or something?" He walked toward her, "Can't handle it or something? You think Mom is gunna be here forever to clean up?" He grabbed her shoulder, hard, "I think you better start learning, Tara." with that, he pushed her away. "Better be clean when I get back." and he walked out.
With a hard sigh, Tara turned around and went back downstairs. She hated having to clean Donny's room, there were always dirty clothes and dirty plates. It was just disgusting. Sometimes, Tara would wonder why Donny hasn't gotten lepracy yet.
Once Tara made it back in the kitchen, she went straight to the box of garbage bags and tore one out. Then she went to the sink and opened up the cup board beneath it and took out a couple of rags for dusting. After she got the supplies she needed, she went back upstairs to Donny's room and began to clean it. Trying desperately to hold her breath each time she found and old piece of food. Some of them she was sure had been there for at least a year.
But she did eventually finish cleaning his room, and a damn good job she did. She smelled a hell of a lot better than before, and she was sure nothing would be growing from a plate. She made her way down the stairs, holding the big trash bag and walked outside to the trash cans to toss the bag. Now she would start on her own room. Yet, her room never needed much cleaning because Tara was always one to keep it clean. Well, at least it would be an easy job.
All Tara's room needed was just a vacum and straighten out the bed. Once that was done, her room was perfect. The bed all neat in its little corner under the window, a small and organized book shelf/dresser right across from it, and finally, a desk that completes the room. It was smallest room in the house, but Tara loved it nonetheless. It was very calming and relaxing, much like the basement, which was the other room Tara loved.
Tara got on her knees and reached for a small shoe box under her bed. Once she got it, she opened it. It was her mother's birthday gift to her. A grey necklace with a celtic symbol on it. She hadn't worn it for fear of her father seeing it, but every so often, she'd pull it out and look at it and the longing to wear it grew. She put it back and reached for an envelope in between the matress and frame. After pulling it out, Tara opened it and counted the money she had saved all summer, very little of it was spent. She had babysat for about 35 days, 4 hours a day, at $3 an hour... A good $400 she had. A nice chunk of change that so far, only Amber knew about. Tara would make sure that only Amber would know about it.
Taking a quick minute to reflect on this past year, Tara actually smiled. She liked how the whole year turned out. She finally made friends and she's not making some money. For the first time in her entire life, Tara Maclay looked forward to the next school year, for 8th grade. More specifically, she looked forward to Adrienne and Tim. Even more so to Adrienne.
Author's Note: Wow, I dunno if I'll keep that format of going month by month. I probably will since it forces me to write out long chapters. Anyway, the next chapter I'll work on religiously but it may take a couple of weeks to get out. On forth 8th grade!