Something Wiki by Suzanne Sutherland Page A

here,” Dad said, though like Mom’s forced smile I could tell he was trying to make himself mean it. “Zim, maybe I can finally teach you how to drive, huh?”
    Z fought a frown. “Yeah, sure, you bet. It’ll be great.”
    â€œHa,” said J, “we’re going to be parents and drivers. Our friends won’t know what to do with us.”
    â€œIt’ll be great,” Z said again. And this time it sounded like he meant it.
    â€œWhy don’t we all go out for some dinner?” Dad said. “You know, to celebrate.”
    But from the impact of this giant secret falling so abruptly off my shoulders — or maybe from my earlier blood loss — I felt completely exhausted.
    â€œUm, I think I might just go to bed,” I said.
    â€œYou okay, honey?” Mom asked.
    â€œYeah, I just want to stay here. You guys should go, though.”
    â€œI’ll stay with you,” said Mom.
    â€œOkay,” said Dad, “if you’re sure. Zim, Jen and I can talk about plans for the basement. What do you guys feel like, burgers?”
    â€œJen’s a vegetarian, Dad,” said Z.
    â€œRight, right, I forgot. How about Thai food?”
    â€œThat would be great,” J said.
    And the three of them got their coats and left.

Nine
Mother
    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    A mother (or mum/mom) is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that united with a sperm that grew into a child. Because of the complexities and differences of a mother’s social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally acceptable definition for the term.
    A mother messes up sometimes. But eventually she makes it up to you.
    M om asked me if I was hungry, and even though I wanted to be alone to think about what had just happened, my rumbly stomach answered for me. She nuked a tub of frozen mac and cheese for me and opened up a can of ginger ale. “For your stomach,” she said.
    She sat across the kitchen table from me while I ate, not saying much, but smiling in a far-away way. It was kind of annoying, but also sort of nice.
    When I finished eating, Mom went upstairs to run me a bath. She even sat next to me on the bathroom floor once I got in. She hasn’t done that since I was really little. I felt kind of weird about having her sit there while I was naked in the tub — even if she is my mom — but I didn’t want her to leave either, so I didn’t say anything about it. I think she was surprised I didn’t try to chase her out. Part of me felt like I should punish her for the way she and Dad, and even Z, had kept the baby a secret, but a bigger part of me (a babyish part, I know) just wanted my mom to be my mom.
    She looked calm, maybe a little shell-shocked. She hugged her knees to her chest and stared straight ahead, not looking at me as she spoke.
    â€œI’m sorry we didn’t tell you sooner,” she said.
    â€œIt’s okay.” Which I didn’t mean.
    â€œNo, it’s not. It wasn’t right to keep you in the dark like that. But I’m upset about this, and I didn’t want you to be upset, too. It’s okay for you to be feeling this way, any way. Any way you feel is normal, I want you to know that.”
    â€œUh-huh.” The bar of soap I’d been holding slipped out of my grasp, and I went searching for it through the bubbles. “Why are you upset?”
    â€œOh, lots of things. It doesn’t matter. That baby is going to have a lot of love, that’s the important thing.” She turned to face me, and I sank lower into the water. “But is there anything else bothering you, something at school?”
    I nodded.
    I told her most of what had happened with Chloe. About the locker and the twenty-dollar glass.
    â€œThat’s pretty crummy about Chloe’s locker. She was just upset, Jo, that must have been why