Okay.
So cookies to toujoursFrance.
Please review, I know I didn't put up much last time, but let me know how I'm doing!
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Three weeks after Mrs. Feeney had visited the Lennons', the start of summer break for Michelle, the phone rang around nine. Enjoying the benefits of sleeping in, she groaned at the obnoxious ringing interrupting her sleep. When she realized her mother was at work, she sighed and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" she mumbled sleepily.
"This is Officer Jenkins of the Cook County Penitentiary…" answered a man with a horrendous Southern twang.
"Yeah?"
"Yes, I just wanted to inform you that-" The man continued loudly, but in her half-asleep daze Michelle only caught half the things he said. She dug around for a notepad and wrote down everything she heard.
Carrigan…Knew a Rose Lennon…Bail…
She realized that the officer was looking for her mother, so she told him vaguely that she wasn't home right now, but that she'd call back later this afternoon. After a bit more nonsense and taking down the number, she finally got him to hang up. Rolling over, she fell back into her peaceful slumber and thought no more of it.
She was eating breakfast in her pajamas by the time Ms. Lennon came home from work. She glared disapprovingly at her daughter as she walked through the kitchen.
"I see you've had a productive day," she said sarcastically, scanning her bedclothes in dismay. Michelle shrugged.
"It's summer, Mom. I deserve a break from getting up early and going to school."
"Not that you did anything productive there either," her mother said, her frown deepening. "Your report card came yesterday. Four D's?"
"Whoops…"
Ms. Lennon sighed. "Michelle Valerie…" she trailed off before shaking her head and disappearing into her own room to change. Her daughter rolled her eyes. She and her mom got along great most of the time, but one thing they always butted heads on were her grades. She wasn't planning on anything more than a community college, not to her mother's knowledge of course. So what was the point of acing all her pointless courses? There were better things to do than learn how to apply differential equations.
The phone rang, and Michelle picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, babe." A smile instantly grew on her face, knowing who that deep, sexy voice belonged to.
"Hey…" she murmured, bringing her knees to her chest in the chair.
"I haven't seen you since school got out, what's the deal with that?"
"Yeah, I know. Mom's been crazy busy, I guess."
"Anyways, you want to go out tonight? Maybe into the city?"
"Hold on a sec…" Michelle got up from her chair and shuffled down the hallway towards her mother's room. She knocked on the door before shouting "Can I go out with Jake tonight, Mom?"
There was a long pause on the other side, then an eventual sigh. "Yes, I suppose…" She rushed back into the kitchen and picked up the phone.
"Yeah, I can go."
"I want you back by no later than midnight, you understand?" yelled her mother from her room. Her daughter groaned and directed her attention back to the phone. "I have to be back by midnight, though."
"No problem. I'll pick you up at six, okay?"
"Okay…love you."
"Love you, too, babe."
She hung up and bounced eagerly in her chair. She had no idea how she had ever snagged Jake, one of the most sought-after boys in her school. But when they had sat next together in English class, they clicked. Next thing she knew, he asked her to homecoming, and girls she had never met before swarmed her in jealousy. Michelle had shrugged, but was secretly vindicated by their envious glances.
Ms. Lennon appeared seconds later, dressed in casual jeans and a pretty magenta top. "You know I don't like you spending so much time with that boy…"
"Mom, I haven't seen him in three weeks! Give me a break-"
"He's partly the reason your grades were so low, spending the night out with him instead of studying…" Michelle huffed and crossed her arms, but didn't respond due to her mother speaking words of truth. Not that she cared. She would much rather hang out with Jake or her friends than studying for her Calculus final.
Her phone call reminded her of the one she had received this morning. Desperate to change the subject, she said "Oh yeah, someone called for you super early this morning…some officer from Cook County?"
Ms. Lennon looked at her quizzically. "Cook County? There's no Cook County around here…what did they want?"
"The guy was talking a million miles a minute, so I only caught about half of what he said. Somebody named 'Carrigan' knows you, something about bail-"
"Hold on a minute. Did you say Carrigan?"
"Yeah…"
Her mother's face went beet red. Her brows furrowed and she began to viciously tap her nails against the table.
"Did you take down the number?"
"Yeah, hold on…" Michelle went to her bedroom, got the note, then gave it to her mother, curious about what all her flustering was about. Her mother picked up the phone and dialed the number. She was going to sit and watch, but her mother shooed her away.
After waiting in her bedroom for about an hour, the door flew open suddenly. Her mother came in, troubled as ever, and grabbed Michelle's purse off the chair. She looked at her mom in utter confusion.
"What the hell, Mom-"
"Come on, you're coming with me," interrupted Ms. Lennon abruptly. Her daughter sat up on her bed slowly.
"Where?"
"Just come on, we need to go now." Michelle had never seen her mother so discombobulated and out-of-sorts before. Something was definitely up.
"I have my date with Jake tonight-"
"Cancel it later when we make a pit stop. Just come on," she said, forcefully pulling her daughter out of her bed and dragging her into the kitchen. Before Michelle could protest, she was thrown her coat, taken out of the house and shoved into the car.
After about fifteen minutes, she could no longer hold her tongue.
"Where are we going, Mom?"
"You'll see."
She groaned and leaned her head against the car window in frustration. "Jake's going to be pissed at me, you know."
"And I'm going to be pissed at you if you keep complaining, so just relax for right now, alright?!" snapped her mother in response. Seeing it wise to let it go, Michelle obliged.
The hours wore on and the day grew steadily darker. Michelle's stomach rumbled. The Cap'n Crunch she had devoured that afternoon hadn't been much.
"Mom, I'm starving." she said eventually. Without saying a word, they pulled into the nearest diner ten minutes later. Her mother dashed out of the car, and came back later with a burger and fries in a sack for both of them. She handed it to her silently, started up the car again, and sped off.
As she munched on her dinner, Michelle looked out the window at the endless rows of corn fields rushing by her, wondering why it seemed her mother was speeding towards nowhere.
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So, sorry I had to write two set-up chapters, but we can't jump the gun here.
Please review!