Chapter Three

Skye slid into her car, and like the day before, locked the doors before she exhaled and could breathe comfortably.

She started the car and turned on the headlights because of the dim light of the early evening when her gaze fell on Jared. He had his hands on her teacher's shoulders, trying to push her away while she was trying to get closer to him.

If she wasn't mistaken, it looked very intimate. Like the two had dated or just had sex before. She could see the desperation in Ms. Burke's motions as she tried to get closer to Jared, but he kept forcing her away from him.

Skye quickly pulled out of her parking spot and drove away from the parking lot, not wanting to see any more. Her emotions felt chaotic, and she couldn't seem to settle on just one.

She pulled into her driveway and groaned when she saw her mother was home and had a few friends over. She was especially nasty with an audience, and Skye didn't have the energy to put up with it.

Skye tried to sneak in the back door and planned to take the stairs to her bedroom quietly. The ladies in the living room had to be close to the doorway to be able to see her. She was halfway up the stairs, just about to freedom, when she heard her mother's voice.

"Ah, there's the little piggy."

Skye rolled her eyes. My mother thought all women should look anorexic to be pretty, and since Skye had boobs and an ass, she continuously called her fat.

"Dear, I want you to meet a few new lady friends. I've told them about you…"

"Oh, I'm sure you have," Skye said sarcastically.

"Watch your tone of voice," her mother hissed.

Skye could tell her mother was embarrassed, and she loved it. Her mother wanted her friends to see an awkward, fat, "stupid girl," as her mother liked to call her, but Skye was sick of putting up with the shit. Maybe it was about Jared, but she was fed up with being bullied.

She walked down the stairs and ignored her mother's anger. She stood in the doorway, waiting for her mother to introduce her.

"Ladies, this is my daughter. I have always thought they switched babies on me because how could I make a child like this?" her mother said, laughing and pointing at her.

"I've often thought I was switched, too. How did someone like me—smart, pretty, and generally nice—have a mother who looks like a skeleton and acts like a badger?"

The room was deathly quiet, and she got immense pleasure out of the expressions of the women, especially her mother.

"How dare you!" her mother yelled.

Skye hid her smile. "I've never met any other child with a mother who likes to humiliate and hurt her daughter. A daughter that's never done anything to her and tried to be the best daughter she could." She looked at the others in the room. "I hope if you have children, you don't think bullying and harassing them is fun. If I weren't strong enough, she would have made me want to commit suicide several times." She turned to her mother. "I'm done. Find something else to pass your time. Maybe play cards. But if you talk to me again like you just did, I will do my darndest to make everyone see you as the horrible person you are."

She turned back to the ladies. Skye noticed the other women's shame and was glad that at least these four ladies had shame and feelings for another person.

"I am sorry. I'm sure the last thing you wanted was to watch a family drama. I usually just stand here and let her abuse me and then go to my room. And yes, I have to admit I usually end up crying because I'm human, and it hurts to have someone that is supposed to love you treat you the way this woman treats me." She stared at her mother. "But not anymore."

"You little bitch!" her mother screamed. "I'll have you put in foster care. You'll regret talking to me like this."

Skye looked at the horrified expressions on the other women's faces and almost laughed. "You better watch it, Mother Dearest. Your friends are finally seeing the real you, and I doubt they want to befriend someone like that."

Her mother turned to see the contempt on her friend's faces. She saw her mother look calm, relax her shoulders, and then look at her. "Go to your room. We'll talk about this later."

"I'm sure we will." Skye waved at the women. "I would say I hope to see you again, but it looks like I might not be around."

She reached the top of the stairs when she heard the friends start to berate her mother.

"I can't believe you would talk to your own daughter like that," one said.

"I'd be mortified," another said.

"You wouldn't really put her in foster care, would you?"

"No, of course not. We have our little tiffs, but she knows I love her," her mother said.

Skye smiled when the ladies kept at her mother. Skye hoped this would get around town and her mother would be treated like the horrible, entitled bitch she was.

The last hour had gotten Jared off her mind, but now that she was lying in bed, her thoughts were just of him. She wanted to ask what happened between him and the teacher in the morning, but she didn't want to get close enough to him to ask.

Her bedroom door opened, and her mother stood rigid and angry.

"I can't believe you did that. You fucking bitch."

"Why, Mommy, you've treated me like shit my whole life. Did you think I'd never get tired of it?"

"You will regret humiliating me in front of my friends."

"You're the one that did that all by yourself. You didn't see the looks on their faces when you introduced me the way you did. They thought it was horrible. Have you really looked at your life? Your friends come and go rather quickly. Did you ever wonder why?"

"Everyone has busy lives."

Skye almost snorted. "No. They don't like being with entitled, backstabbing, cruel people. You're going to end up alone."

"You have no idea what you're talking about," her mother hissed.

"I've had friends since I was five, and if I needed them or wanted to hang out, they would be there. That's what true friends do." She saw a shadow of confusion on her mother's face. Maybe, just maybe, this will get her mother off her back.

Her mother turned and quietly shut the door.

Skye lay there and looked at the hardwood, wondering how she had changed so much in so little time. She would never have confronted her mother like that and in front of her lady friends. She smiled. She was pretty pleased with herself.