For notes, warnings and disclaimers see chapter 1

Scene 15: The Lesser Evil
(Age: 16)

Kara tried to be as quiet as she could as she let herself into the apartment, knowing that, even though her mother was almost certainly asleep, it didn't really pay to take stupid chances. She had a little over an hour to clean up, change and be out the door again but even that was more time than she cared to spend there.

As she let the water run over her she tried to shake off the exhaustion but it wasn't really working. That was a problem.

She was tired. The truth was that months of going to school, then to practice, then studying before going out looking for any excuse to avoid having to come home were starting to take their toll on her but at the same time she didn't really think she had much of a choice... not when the alternative was coming home.

More than once she had considered the possibility of dropping out of school, of just walking away from it all and never coming back. That would have been the easy way out but the truth was that Kara had never been one to do the easy thing and she wasn't about to start now. Walking away would have meant running away and that sounded too close to admitting defeat, to admitting that her mother had gotten the best of her, and that just wasn't in her nature.

Besides, running away would also have meant letting her team down... and her coach. They were counting on her to be there and walking out on them just wasn't an option, not as far as she was concerned.

She loved playing pyramid. The court was her haven and she wasn't about to give it up no matter what, not to mention that the idea of letting her coach down made her feel almost literally sick. Sure, the man was gruff and he kept growling at her because --even after more than three years in the team-- she still wouldn't pass the ball as long as there was a chance in hell that she could make the play on her own, but he had always been there for her and she wasn't about to forget that any time soon, nor was she about to repay his support with a betrayal.

The truth was that in a way the past three years had been the best of her life, or at least the best since her dad had left. She had finally managed to find a place of her own and she was respected for it. She was the best at what she did and she liked it that way. Besides, as long as she could avoid having to come home things weren't all that bad... and avoiding having to come home was getting easier simply because there were so many guys vying for a chance to frak the star of the pyramid team that she pretty much had her pick. It felt good to at least be able to pretend that someone wanted her, to have someone holding her and touching her without hurting her, to be able to forget... even if it was only for a little while.

Besides, even if it was just pretending, it was still one hell of a lot better than having to come back to the apartment where the drunken advances of the losers her mom kept bringing home were getting more and more frequent. Sure, there had always been the occasional creep coming after her but lately those seemed to be the norm rather than the exception and --even though she was now older and they were usually so drunk that, for the most part, she didn't have much trouble fighting them off-- it was still anything but fun. It was better to just stay out of their way and besides, it wasn't like anyone would care.

Her mother sure didn't.

In the past couple of years they had gradually come to a sort of understanding: Kara stayed as far away as she could, she didn't ask her mom for anything and her mother pretended that she didn't have a daughter and left her alone. That way they were both free to do whatever they wanted.

That was just fine as far as Kara was concerned. After all, she was completely self-sufficient and it had been years since she'd last needed anything from her mom other than to have her sign the occasional piece of paper to keep up appearances.