ANYTHING BUT ENEMIES

14. scared i'll bite?

"IT'S RIGGED, MA, I swear."

My mom rolls her eyes at me from behind the glass screen of my newly-fixed phone, eyebrows furrowing as she adjusts the camera angle.

"And why do you say that, C?"

"Because," I lower my voice, tilting the device conspiratorially toward my face even though I'm outside on the rooftop where I doubt anyone can hear. "He placed."

"Who is he and why are you whispering about him?"

"Only the bane of my existence."

"Girl, stop all your moaning and just tell me what's going on."

My sigh is loud, melodramatic. "This prick I met at Roselyn's before the program. He's here, and he's named after a dog, and he sucks."

"Prick? You mean a customer from Crafty Corner?"

"Yeah. What other place called Roselyn's do I frequent?"

"No need to get sassy, Daughter of Mine, I'm just trying to understand. What is this ranking thing again?"

"So all of us wrote poems, right?" I wait for my mother to nod. "And then we gave each other feedback on what we could improve on, but, he being the asshole he is, just marked everything on my paper wrong. So, of course, I threw out my old poem and started new. Then, lo and behold—somehow I didn't rank top five, and he did?"

"Well, it's out of twenty people, isn't it?"

"Yeah, and?" I snap.

"Twenty talented people." My sensible mother repeats. "And was his poem good?"

I shrug, answer to her question becoming painfully obvious. "Does that really matter, Momma? He made it personal the moment he came into my shop, during my work hours, and started calling me names. It's my duty as a woman in society to destroy him."

"Wait, he called you names?" I notice the way she straightens, creeps closer to the camera.

"Oh, now look who's interested."

"What kind of names?"

"He called me emo."

She's silent for a moment before snorting. "Emo? Like, uh...that girl, April Lavigne?"

"Momma, it's Avril Lavigne. And either way, that's not the issue here!"

"He a white boy?"

"What? No—"

"Then probably not a hate crime, huh?"

"Ma." I grit out. "You weren't there. He was incredibly disrespectful to me—and he still is. He's like...like, okay, imagine how much Aunt V annoys you but on steroids."

"Cleo, aren't you skilled in the art of putting boys in their place? Either curse him out or ignore him. When a man sees that he doesn't affect you, he goes apeshit. I'm convinced becoming invisible is their worst nightmare."

"Yeah, well, this one's too annoying to ignore."

"You sound like a preschooler, C." She sighs in partial amusement. "I was just calling to have a nice chat with my daughter, see how her first few days are going, and I'm just getting a complaining fest. Try a smile on that pretty face every once in a while. You're exactly where you've always wanted to be."

I groan, and she makes a face at me. After a few seconds of pointed silence, the look  becomes more and more intense. Finally caving, I force a big, fake Pennywise smile onto my face, and blinks in impressed disgust before breaking into laughter.