My mom placed down a bowl of cereal in front of me, silently glowering.

I spooned up some milk, tasting it. But I couldn’t stand it and dropped the spoon back into the bowl. “Do we have any Ibuprofen?”

“No.”

“Tylonel?”

“No.”

“What about-”

“No, whatever it is, we don’t have it.” She sighed, pouring herself some coffee.

“Can I have some coffee?” I tried meekly. I knew she’d say no, but I still asked.

“No,” she replied with a sleep-deprived scowl.

I was about to ask “why?” But I decided against it. It seemed like a pretty bad idea to try to pick a fight, with both of us being exhausted, and me being hungover, and my mom being pissed. Not to mention, James wasn’t there to referee our battle.

I poked at my cereal, my saliva tasting like the water at the bottom of a sun-heated trash bag. “I’m not hungry,” I told her. “Can I go back to bed, please?”

“If I can’t, you can’t!”

I cringed at her raised voice, my temples throbbing. “You can?”

My mom sighed. “Go get dressed, now, please.”

I didn’t have the energy to disobey her, so I just went and got dressed. Jeans, graphic T-shirt, nothing special. No makeup, even though I looked like utter shit.

“Thanks for letting me stay home, by the way.” I figured that might make her happier- gratefulness.

“I’m not letting you go to school, Elena. Because I can’t have your teachers see my daughter hungover on the second day of school.” She sat down and took a large sip of her coffee, pursing her lips.

“Oh. Sorry.”

We sat in silence at the kitchen table. I thought about calling Speed, just to make sure he was alright. But, would my mom even let me make a call? So, I just asked her. Which was a bad idea.

“No! You can’t call a friend!” She sighed in frustration. “I can’t believe you!”

“I just wanna make sure he’s okay, mom. I’ll keep it short, I swear- I don’t even know if he’ll answer…” I couldn’t bring myself to raise my voice to her level. I was too tired, anyway.

“No, and that’s final. It’s good you want to make sure this guy’s okay, but you are gonna stay away from that phone- do you hear me? No phone calls.”

I shrugged. “Fine. I don’t care.”

I spent the day in my room, with the door open by force, laying around and doing not much.

I stared at the posters on my wall. Various Seattle guys with lots of hair stared back at me, unmoving. I had my blinds down over the windows, lights off, so it was dim and cool. My mom was in the living room, searching for a job she was qualified for.

At around two in the afternoon, I sat down in the living room, across from her on the couch. “Can I make that call now, please?”

She just stared at me, face blank. “Okay, I guess. Keep it short. I can’t care at this point…”

“Thanks.” I sauntered over to the phone, dialling Speed’s cell phone number.

“Hey?”

“Hi, it’s me,” I replied quietly. I didn’t really want my mom listening in, but I knew she would anyway. “Are you alright?”

“Oh, Layne. Yeah, I’m fine. Little sick, but fine. What about you? Your parents must be pretty pissed, eh?”

“Yeah. Really pissed. I’m grounded for life, pretty much. At least I gotta stay home from school… What about you? What happened after I left?”

“Oh, lots. I dunno, though, I can’t really remember. I skipped school, too.” I could hear someone talking in the background, and Speed sighed. “So, I guess I won’t be seeing you for a while?”

“No… Not allowed to leave the house. Listen, I gotta keep this short, I just wanted to make sure you’re good?”

“Yeah, I’m good. See ya, gorgeous.”

“Bye.” I hung up, went back to the living room and sat down again.

“So, is this friend of yours alright?”

“Yeah. Thanks for letting me call him.”

We didn’t really talk the rest of the day.