Norma Jean - By Amanda Heath Page 0,16

He is a sweetie though.” She says through the line and I imagine her cooing at the scaly snake.

“I would rather not meet him. I’m scared of them.”

“Well aren’t you a manly man admitting you’re scared of snakes!” I can hear her giggling at me, but I don’t really care.

“Better than pretending that I’m not. Seems pointless.” Macy chooses that moment to throw her stuffed bear in my face. “Ouch, baby girl. No throwing things in people’s faces.” Her little chubby face frowns and she starts to pick up another toy. “Macy…” I trail off.

“Put me on speaker.” Norma says to me, so I do. Though I’m not really sure why.

“Macy honey. We talked about this, it’s rude and mean to throw things. Do you want me to feed you peas again?” Macy hates peas with a burning passion. I have no idea why mom still buys the damn things for her.

Macy looks terrified even for a one year old and I can’t help but chuckle. “I think that worked. I’ll remember to threaten her with peas next time.”

“It’s not a threat, it’s a promise. I would never threaten a baby.” She says in mock outrage.

“Sure…” I laugh.

“Whatever, I have tons of homework to do, so I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

“K. Bye smalls.”

I go to hang up but her voice stops me. “Why do you call me smalls?”

“Because it’s funny. And you’re small. Like really small.”

“Okay big foot.”

I roll my eyes and hang up the phone.

Chapter 4

Norma

I laugh while setting my phone down on my bed. Rydstorm slithers over my thigh, sticking his tongue out. “You ready to get back in your house, buddy?” He lifts up his head up and I wrap him around my arm before crossing over to his vivarium and depositing him in.

I lay back down on my bed and look out the window. Not much of a view but that’s a trailer park for you. Sometimes I feel like white trash, since I live in small town Arkansas in a single wide trailer with my single mom. Not that I have to live without anything, it’s just a trailer for crying out loud. I’m not ashamed but it’s like you tell someone your dad is a famous author, then they found out you live in a trailer. It’s whatever.

I wonder what Chance would think if he knew where I lived. It’s hard to say. The boy I know now, isn’t anything like the boy who made my life a living hell. He actually made me feel beautiful, for a second anyway. Though this isn’t about him, it’s about me and my revenge. I can’t let his heated looks, softly spoken words, and adorable smile break me. I feel nothing for him.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that honey.

I hear my mom come out of her room and walk into the kitchen so I decide to go bug her. My favorite pastime. When you don’t have any friends it’s easy to be stuck to your awesome mothers butt. “Good morning.” I say to her when I get to the end of the hall.

Her brown hair is pulled up on top of her head in a very messy bun and there are bags under her eyes. I hate that she has to work graveyard but she refuses to go to days. The woman is stubborn. “Good afternoon, baby. Have a good day at school?”

I stop by the end of the couch and cross my feet. “Sure. I got Chance Duncan to wear one of his mom’s dresses, then he made out with me in the school parking lot. It was epic.”

Nothing fazes my mom. “That’s cool honey. Are y’all dating now?” she asks as she pours hot water into her mug for her tea. So English.

“I guess. He wants to take me out on Friday night. His mom is off, so I don’t have to watch Macy.” I flop down on the couch as she heads to her laptop on her computer desk.

“What are y’all going to be doing?” I hear her place the mug down and lift open the device. Her nails clink against the keys as she types in her password.

“Dinner. A movie. The same thing everyone my age does. Though I think we are going to be more of a show than the movie.” I place my hands over my stomach and interlock my fingers.

“Why is that?” she questions, while typing away at the keys. She might be addicted to Facebook but she is the