And my mom was very drawn to money. She had dated lots of men who had money, but none of them lasted very long. I expected this stint with the record man would go south soon too. They always did.
“I’m ready. Let me just grab my hoodie.”
I left the door open but jogged to the kitchen where my backpack and black hoodie were. I was surprised that Mom didn’t want to come inside one more time. Even though we were renting the place, it had been our home for a few years. But she was done with the place. Her sights were already set on our new home in Beverly Hills.
I supposed that she enjoyed standing outside letting all of the neighbors see what she had become, or what she had moved on to.
“Let me take your backpack for you,” Thomas offered as he stepped forward. I shrugged it off my shoulders and handed it over to him. “We’ll get you a new bag this weekend,” he said.
I like my backpack. I don’t need a new bag for the new fucking school.
I smiled and nodded. He headed to the Escalade, leaving me alone with my mom on our porch.
“Did you say goodbye to Selena?”
“Yes, she came over and left not too long ago.”
“You’ll see her again, sweetie. It’s just a short drive away, and you guys can text and stuff.”
I nodded and then quickly addressed our botched lunch plans while Thomas was at the SUV.
“I thought we were going to Taco, Taco for lunch?”
“Thomas thought it would be nice for all of us to go to lunch together,” she said and then stepped around me to shut and lock the door.
“Ready, ladies?” Thomas called over to us. He stood by the passenger door and the door to the back seat that he had just opened.
I followed my mom down the driveway and stepped around her to get into the back seat. I quickly pulled my seat belt on and pretended to be deeply interested in my cell phone to avoid their comfortable display of public affection.
As we drove away from our home, I kept my head down with my eyes fixated on my phone. I didn’t want to see my neighborhood, knowing that it was the last time. It was easier for me to pretend I wasn’t really leaving for good. After I knew we were out of our neighborhood, I leaned my elbow on the armrest on the door and gazed out the window. I stared at the sign on the side of the freeway that said ‘Leaving Chula Vista.’
Bye, Chula Vista.
I spent the rest of the weekend keeping to myself and out of my mom and Thomas’s way. My new bedroom was huge, and Thomas had made sure I had all new furnishings. Brand new furniture that all matched was a first for me. Every piece was white, but there was a huge, fluffy rug and loveseat that were bright purple. I loved the color purple and loved my new surroundings.
I also discovered that my room upstairs had a perfect view of the pool and the lounger that Thomas seemed to spend a lot of time on. I would torture Selena with these pics.
After I had things unpacked and put away, I picked up my genealogy notebook and purple pen with the fuzzy pom-pom ball on top and got comfy on the couch. I opened my genealogy app on my cell phone and picked up my research where I last left off. Genealogy was my hobby. I loved trying to find out where I had come from. I had traced my mom’s side all the way back nine generations to Germany. For months now, I had been working on my dad’s side of the family. His side was much harder to trace, though. He’d died when I was in kindergarten, so I hadn’t been able to ask him questions that I had asked my mom.
Sunday night, as I was standing in my new walk-in closet, Thomas came into my room.
“Salem, baby,” he called.
Baby?
“Yeah?” I replied and stepped into the doorway of the closet.
He was sitting on my purple couch and had a grape-purple backpack sitting on the cushion beside him. The new tags on the backpack dangled over the edge of the couch. From where I stood, the backpack looked to be the same brand as my current one, only new and clean.
I’d had my backpack since middle school. The zipper on a front pouch no longer worked, another zipper had broken off, so I made a zipper pull out of a keychain, and the shoulder straps were starting to tear and pull away from the seams.
I walked into the room and sat on the couch on the opposite end from where Thomas sat.
“Your mom and I wanted to get you a new bag to start your new school with,” he said.
“Thank you.” I smiled as I touched the canvas backpack. “My other one is on its last leg, I guess. I’ll admit that when you said you guys were going to get me a new bag, I worried it might be some weird brand.”
I bit my tongue, hoping that didn’t sound like I was being one of those reverse snobs.
