This can't be happening. For God's sake, let this be a dream. A terrible dream of which I can't wake up from.

Donna—the Donna Ellis—was in our living room. How could she be here? What was she doing here? Why?!

She was tall like close to Austin. Her style was an urban, slang, and a bit like Rosie. I could tell by the leather jacket, cowboy boots, tattoos, and the deep voice that she must have traveled a lot.

Austin stood up from the table and said, "Jase, what is she doing here?"

"I invited her," he explained.

"Why?"

"Austin, cut the kid some slack," interrupted Donna. "It's been awhile, okay? I can't see my own son? You have a problem with that?"

"Not all." He lied. "Donna, this is Ally…my fiancée."

"Oh." She turned to me. "You're Ally. My, my, my. Jase was right about you. Curly eyes, pixie eyes, short, thin—you remind me of Tinkerbell."

"Thanks," I said. "A-And these are our daughters, Leighton and Krishna."

"Daughters? That's a hell of a family you got here, Austin."

"Sit down, Donna. Have a plate."

She sat down in between Jase and me, which made me shake a little.

"So, Donna…how've you been?" asked Austin.

"I've been on the road a lot," Donna answered. "Working at a bunch of bars and clubs, sleeping in different hotels, and traveling a lot."

"What do you do for a living?" asked Leighton.

"I play music, kid. I sing, play guitar, and write my own songs. My musical genre is that low, country-rock that makes you feel at home or waking up drunk in a hotel in Shanghai wearing nothing but jeans and finding a tattoo of the state of Alaska on your ankle. So that's what I do for a living."

"That's cool, Mom," said Jase.

Mom? He called her Mom? Mom? You got to be kidding me here?

"I'm doing good, Jase." She said. "I don't drink that much and I stopped smoking. I got attack by a one-legged stripper in Delaware, but I'm doing better now."

"Have you actually become famous yet?" I asked.

"Well, it's complicated. Getting into the music business is tougher than it sounds. People aren't into country rock anymore. They prefer hip-hop, pop, or whatever they call that gangster crap." She started eating our food. "This is good. You cook really great, Ally. The best food I've had in ages."

"Glad you like it, Donna," I said.

"Well I better get going. I'll see you again tomorrow, Jase."

"Tomorrow?" asked Austin. "What's going on tomorrow?"

"Oh, I'm taking Jase out for some coffee to catch up on some things. Bye, son."

"Bye, Mom." She left our house just like that.

Austin turned to Jase. "Why?"

"Is it a problem to see my mother again?" asked Jase.

"Okay, girls, come on." I said. "It's time for y'all to go to bed."

As the girls went up to their bedrooms, I started washig the dishes. Over the running was the conversation of Austin and Jase.

"How could you do this, Jase?" asked Austin. "Hmm? How could you?"

"She said she was in town so I invited her over."

"Are you insane? Did I drop you when you were a baby? Never mind. I did by accident."

"She wanted to see me again. What was I supposed to do?"

"Not invite her over. How about that?"

"You always do this. You even did this when she left. Every time you hear her name, you see a picture of her, or if I ask you where Mom was at, you would always go berserk like a crazy person."

"Jase, I barely knew who she was when I met her and impregnated her. I never stayed for her. I stayed for you and she left you with me."

"No, that's not true. She didn't leave me. She left you. You're the one who drove her away."

"You really think she just left me? If she didn't leave you, then she would've taken you with her!"

"I wish she did."

"Watch it, young man!"

Jase started walking away. Austin yelled, "Hey! Don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you! This is not over!"

"Tomorrow, I'm going to see Mom whether you like it or not." Jase said calmly. "You can't stop me, Dad. This is my only chance to see her and I am not passing this up."

"After everything I've done for you, and you do this. You have a roof over your head, you have your sisters, and Ally."

"I'm sorry, Dad. Ally is Krishna and Leighton's mom, not mine. She never was to begin with." The noise of the door slamming startled me.

Here we go again. I was never his mother. Just his step-mother. Out of every woman in the world, he makes Donna his mom. Jase isn't her son. He's my son.

What did she ever do for him? Give birth to him and change his pampers? What else? Donna only knew him for five and I know Jase for eleven years. I know Jase likes drinking regular black coffee; he broke his right ankle in football when he was twelve; he taped Leighton to the wall when she was six; his favorite movie is Raiders of the Lost Ark; he hates pineapple; he snores in his sleep; and his blood type is O positive. Does Donna know that? Hell no!

How dare she come into my home unannounced? How dare she use inappropriate language in front of my kids? Forget that. When they were younger, I don't know how but apparently Austin "trained" them to not repeat any cussing he or anyone else says in front of them. Besides that, Donna Ellis is Jase's birth mother, but she left him when he was only five years-old.

Isn't it obvious that I'm referred to as his mother? There was a memory of Jase at ten years-old. I had barely moved in with him and Austin.

At work, I was fixing the strings on a blue acoustic guitar. The phone rang. I answered it, "Sonic Boom. How may I help you?"

"Are you Ally Dawson?" said the male voice.

"Yes."

"I'm Richard Lassiner. I'm the principal of Marino Middle School. Are you Jason Moon's guardian?"

"Yes, I am." I blurted out. "Why? Is there something wrong with Jase?"

"Could you come over here? I need to talk to you about him."

"Yes, of course. I'll be right there."

Somehow I always knew that this day was coming. I never had a kid of my own and Jase is getting older. He and I were losing the interests we used to have in common back then. Now that he's older, we are sadly growing apart.

I arrived at the middle school looking for the front office. I think I found it. A lady was at the desk with her clown makeup on and eating a club sandwich.

"Excuse me?" I said. "Is this the front office?"

"Yes, may I help you?"

"Principal Lassiner called me in."

"Oh, yes, his office is right there." She pointed to a door.

"Thank you." I came up to the door and knocked.

The door opened by Principal Lassiner. "Have a seat, Miss Dawson."

I sat in one of the chairs next to Jase, who slouched in his chair looking down at his feet. His right eye was swollen and the side of his lip was bleeding. Principal Lassiner sat down in his chair.

"What seems to be the problem?" I asked.

"Miss Dawson, the reason I called you in was because Jase here was in a fight today."

"A fight? No, sir, that doesn't sound anything like Jase."

"He was fighting with one of my students, Eric Carter. Eric and his friends told me that Jase was making fun of his sister and started the fight."

"I didn't start the fight," interrupted Jase. "He called me a faggot and pushed me."

"Jase, enough!" said Principal Lassiner.

"Ally, you have to believe me." said Jase. "I was defending myself. I'm not lying."

"Jase!" Principal Lassiner yelled again.

"Excuse me?" I interrupted. "But where is Jase's side of the story? I know Jase and he would never make fun of anybody. He is sitting here with a black eye and bleeding lip, and you're blaming him for something he didn't do?"

"Ally, it's fine," said Jase.

"Jase, no, it's not. I don't know what kind of school you're running here, Lassie, but I think that just because someone is telling you something does not mean it's true. Jase is not lying and if he was, then I'm just being a freakin' idiot here! Plus, you're telling me a bunch of bullshit here and yelling at my son when he's trying to tell you the truth. And you don't ever yell at my son in front of me when he's talking to you! I'm taking him home."

"Yes, ma'am," Lassiner said calmly.

"Come on, Jase." I got up and waited for Jase to walk out. As he walked out, I looked at Lassiner. "My boyfriend's a cop."

Jase and I walked out of the school. He and I sat in my car for a silent moment.

"I believe you," I said. "I'm sorry for my outburst. Just that . . . you were saying it so real and I didn't believe Lassiner for one minute."

"Are you going to tell Dad?"

"I have to. How come you called me instead of him?"

"Because I didn't want to get yelled at by him too."

"Jase, he would've believed you as much as I did."

"Ally, that was really cool of what you did. No one has ever done that for me besides Dad."

"Your father isn't the only person you have. I'm here too, Jase. If your dad is not here, you can always come to me, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you, Mom."

A bell chimed in my head. "Mom?"

"What? I said thank you, Ally. I said Ally."

He and I got back on the right path again. Jase knew that he had his dad and me too. Now that Donna is back in the picture, I'm getting furious. He doesn't even know her and he calls her his mother. I could never forget that day of when I stood up for him. My eyes started watery because . . . that was the only time he ever called me Mom.