her aunt demanded while clenching a cigarette between her thin, stained lips.
“Nothing.” Libby didn’t want her aunt to ask questions or take an interest in her. She pushed her long hair behind an ear as she tolerated the inspection.
“You’re not lying to me are you?” Aunt Marge’s eyes narrowed. “I hate liars.”
“No, I would never lie to you. I just have a lot of homework left.”
She grunted in reply. “There’s groceries on the counter if you’re hungry. Now get upstairs and get your work done. You know I won’t tolerate laziness. You prove to those school people you’re doing just fine. I don’t need them snooping around here again.” She picked up the television remote and started snapping it at the television, effectively dismissing her.
Libby made her way through the cluttered house into the kitchen. On the edge of the counter, next to piles of dirty dishes and old junk mail, sat a torn grocery bag. She began puling things out.
A bag of cheese popcorn, a box of granola bars, a bag of red licorice and a warm package of sandwich meat. At the bottom she found a six pack of soda and three candy bars.
She placed the soda and unappetizing sandwich meat on a crusty metal shelf in the refrigerator, grabbed the cheese corn and a candy bar and went up stairs with her backpack. It was always a relief to leave Aunt Marge behind. With any luck she wouldn’t hear from her again today. Hopefuly she’d drink herself into a stupor and fal asleep in her sunken chair.
Once inside her room, she pushed the door shut, closing out the ugliness below. She set her things on the neatly made bed. The worn bedspread featured snags and smal tears, but she kept it and everything in the room as clean as possible. She picked up the smal framed picture of her family. Her mom, dad and little sister Sarah, along with a former version of herself smiled brightly. The photo was taken while on a rafting trip out West two years earlier. Their arms hung comfortably on each others’ shoulders, reminding her of the love they shared. She traced their faces with her finger, returned the photo to its place and wondered when her dad would come back for her.
Libby moved to the two large windows and raised them a few inches. Fal air blew in, making her room feel better. Outside, across the fields, the rear entrance to the preserve was in perfect view. The spot she’d met Peter. She puled a chair near the window and propped her book on her lap as she began doing homework, checking too often for Peter and the silver tour bus.
Chapter 2
The next day Libby walked solo through the crowded hals of Rockvile High School.
“Libby could you come in here for a minute?” Miss Orman caled out, in her friendly way. For whatever reason, she’d picked Libby as her charity case, someone to watch over. Apparently there weren’t bigger problems at school, so it became Miss Orman’s mission to save her. Libby didn’t mind; she liked her. She was only a couple years out of colege and stil believed the world overflowed with sunshine and rainbows.
“Yeah, sure.” Libby hiked the backpack higher on her shoulder and entered the tiny office. It was always nice to hang with Miss Orman. Posters of positive thinking with adorable kittens littered the wal, a buletin board overflowed with official letters from DARE and school dress code as wel as a couple of long strips of student photos.
She dropped her pack on the floor and sank into an orange metal chair squeezed in next to an overflowing bookcase.
Miss Orman settled behind her desk in her tan dress pants and stylish heels. She leaned toward Libby with sincerity in her eyes. “So how are things going?”
“Fine,” Libby offered her standard answer. Adults either pretended she wasn’t there or looked at her with pity. Miss Ormon was the closest thing she had to a friend.
“Tel me, how are your classes going?”
“Math Chem is hard, but I’m doing okay.”
“How about at home? Anything you want to share with me about your aunt?” Her face showed compassion.
Libby would never consider that dilapidated old house a home. There was nothing of hers there, other than a few token items. “I get by. I just try to stay out of the way and not upset her.” Miss Orman forced a smile, but her lips were pressed tight.
“Sounds like a good plan, but