In the morning, Sophie still wasn’t awake yet, but apparently she would be alright. Maria had slept on the couch all night, and Kevin asked me to take her home so he could still take Ben to school. I hardly slept, and I think Maria probably had a hard time too, because when I woke her up at about 7am, she looked like death. And after I took a shower, got dressed, ate breakfast, and fed the child I had to deliver, I took her to my car and she fell asleep again before we were even out of the driveway. I really did worry about kids these days.

“Maria,” nudged. “Honey, what’s your address?”

“Um… here,” She input her address into my phone before I even told her otherwise. I guess she didn’t have the concept of asking before touching things down yet. “Ah, Mama’s going to make me go to school still probably…”

“I’m sure you’ll have fun,” I said, being half-heartedly cheery.

“Did you ever have fun in school?” she asked, giving me a dazed look.

“Let’s just get you home,” I sighed, diving a bit faster. I liked her better when she didn’t look like she needed another week of sleep.

When we finally got to her house, I noticed some interesting things. The minivan parked in the driveway had too many stickers on it. And I mean too many stickers. It was like a scrapbook made into a vehicle. The second was that their welcome mat was bright yellow. These people must be one of a kind. At least, I hoped this was only one of them in Canada…

What my eyes really stopped on was their mailbox. It had a little sign hanging from the bottom of it that read The Hawthorns. Wait… no… It couldn’t be her, right? I hoped she had moved out of town by now, maybe even out of the country.  No, Hawthorne was a common enough surname, right? It didn’t have to be-

“Mrs. Hutcherson?” Maria asked. “Are you alright?” We had been sitting stationary in the driveway for a few seconds at least I guess.

“I’m Mrs. Coutiere,” I clarified. I rubbed my eyes, noting I was feeling absolutely drained lately. “Let’s get you home now.”

We hopped out of the car and approached the front door. The last name on the mailbox had me scared out of my skin, but I tried claiming myself. Who says she was the only Hawthorn in town? It could be anyone. I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

“Just one second!” yelled a voice. Oh no. Oh nonononono.

The door flew open and there we were, face to face. I was delivering the daughter of Lucille Hawthorne, and I was staring at her face-to-face. Both of our bodies stiffened, and I think my jaw even dropped a bit. Maria rushed to her side and gave her a hug.

“Mama, I’m sorry I never told you,” she whimpered, I guess wanting to give a preemptive apology.

Lucille and I were still trying to find words, and just stared at each other up and down as if we were wondering if the other was really really there. It really stuck out to me that Lucille had changed a lot since high school. I wasn’t quite sure personality-wise, but well… physically, she had the mom bod in full swing. The high school girl figure was definitely gone. Heck, the high school reunion figure was gone. Only mom bod was left. I think only her hair was the same.

“Diane!” she finally exclaimed. “You’re… here! And… with my daughter?” I finally regained a bit of control over myself.

“I’m assuming she, uh, explained how she slept over already?” I asked.

“Oh! You’re Sophie’s mom?” she asked, surprised. “Maria talks so much about Sophie, being her best friend and all-”

“Mama,” her daughter interrupted. “Do I still have to go to school?”

“Yes, dear,” she said sternly. “Now go get ready. You have twenty minutes.”

Maria ran inside the house and Lucille chuckled. It was weird to see her caring about someone and not making fun of them. It was almost a bit uncanny…

“Diane, you should come inside!” 

“I should?” I asked, not trying to be rude honestly. That was just me thinking out loud.

“You returned my daughter. It’s only fair I show a bit of hospitality,” She folded her arms and sighed. “And I want to know why Maria was out in the first place since she wouldn’t tell me.”

“Do I… have to come in?” I asked nervously. She looked back with an eerily bright smile.

“Unless you’d rather explain out there.”

Honestly, I would’ve, but Lucille retreated into her house, leaving me in her doorway. To be fair, I would’ve turned around, got in my car, and drove back home to my probably sick daughter. And I had half a mind to, and really wanted to. Which is why when I stepped into the house and closed the door behind me, I knew the last of my survival instincts had finally left my body after all these years.

I wouldn’t say the house was cluttered, but there was certainly stuff everywhere. Some of them in boxes or bins, and some objects just strewn everywhere. Their coffee table had barely any surface left, and like a quarter of that was thanks to empty pudding cups. Kind of an odd thing to leave laying around, especially so many of them. They didn’t all look recent, but a couple of them looked pretty fresh.

“I’m sorry I didn’t have time to clean up,” she apologized. “But I didn’t know I would be inviting someone in!”

“You really didn’t have to…” My voice trailed off when I saw Lucille making her daughter’s lunch. I had never seen a woman come so close to slicing her own hand when chopping bell peppers.

“It’s been too long, Diane!” she said, warm-smiled. “The last time we saw each other and stopped to talk was at that high school reunion that was… I don’t even remember how long ago.”

“Yeah… and thanks for the help then.”

“Anytime, hun.”

Lucille had reached out to me a few years back and since then poured apologies upon apologies into her messages to me. I knew just the sight of me made her probably feel guilty, but I chose to ignore that part. We saw each other at a high school reunion (which went less than stellar for a few reasons) and never really met up after that. Probably for obvious reasons. Seeing her made me always feel a bit nervous, and seeing me made her always feel a bit guilty and shameful. There was no reason for us to meet on a regular. We still talked online sometimes, but not enough for her to know Sophie was my daughter, or for me to know that Maria was her daughter, or for either of us to know they were best friends.

“But come on Diane, I’m dying to know what I’ve missed! How’s the kid?”

“I have two.”

“How’re the kids?”

Something about it just felt wrong. It was like she was talking to and handling me like an injured puppy. I kinda expected something like this from relatives and people who weren’t close who knew about Diana. I half expected her to put me up a chair and footrest.

“One’s at school, and Sophie’s… sick.” I was really struggling to carry on any conversation here. “So do you just have the one?” I asked, trying to sound curious.

“Yep, my little Mar-Bar is an only child,” she said proudly. “And I make sure she’s taken care of and happy.”

Right as she finished making the lunch, she stapled the brown paper bag and tucked it inside of a backpack with rainbow designs on it. She put it by the door and took a seat on the couch. She patted the spot next to her, apparently wanting me to sit right next to her while we talked. I took a chair across from her instead. Yeah sorry, I wasn’t sitting next to her if I could help it, and I very clearly could.

“So Diane,” she said, getting excited to gossip about teenage girls apparently. “Spill it, what’s my daughter been doing all night?”

“Mama, I’m ready to go!” Maria huffed, running in. She looked really out of breath, but well put together actually. 

“Mar-Bar, give us a second.”

“But Mama, I’ll miss second period!”

She looked really torn between not taking her daughter to school and waiting longer for me to tell her what she wanted to know. I was about to suggest Lucille take her to school and I go home, and she could give me (or just forget about) a call later if she wanted to know. Instead, Lucille got an idea. A rare and dangerous thing for her, from what I know.

“Diane, just hop in the car with us,” she said cheerily, grabbing her purse and handing Maria her backpack. “You can tell me all about the kids on our way to school.”

Oh no, of course I didn’t want to. But she hardly gave me a choice when she grabbed Maria and I’s hands and dragged us to the stickery minivan of my doom. Maria jumped in the back, and I was put in the passenger seat. Not knowing how to escape the situation, I just put my seatbelt on and wished I’d just pushed Kevin to go take the girl home.

Before she pulled out, Lucille popped open the glove compartment and took out a granola bar, holding it out to me. I just stared blankly at it like the thing was an alien object.

“You want a snack?” she asked. I gave her an unamused look to show exactly how I felt about the gesture.

“No,” I said harshly.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t need something, or-”

“Please don’t be like this the whole time, or I will just hop out of the car.”

“Ok, fine,” she said, putting her hands up before taking the granola bar for herself. Lucille enjoyed it, then took out another two before starting the car. She tossed one back to Maria and unwrapped another for herself. I gave her a weird look and looked at her eating, and stared at her body. I really didn’t mean to be rude, but she just looked so… different that I couldn’t help it. “Gotta maintain the mom bod, hun.” she smiled, spraying out a few bits of granola.

“She’s maintaining it alright,” echoed Diana’s voice through my head as we pulled out of the driveway. “You are NOT taking anything from that woman.”

You don’t have to tell me that. I wasn’t going to anyway.

“Well, you have me to thank after having those kids. You could’ve ended up fat, or worse, looking like her.”

Lucille doesn’t look that bad.

“You remember how much pain she put you through back then?”

I remember how much more of a pain you were back then.

“Oh REALLY? We’re going there? Was I the one who crushed your hand?”

I think you gave me more pain than just crushing my hand. Hell, you still-

“Diane?” Lucille interrupted my internal argument with Diana. She had a bit of a concerned expression on her face. “Did you, uh, zone out?”

“Oh, yeah…” I said, rubbing my eyes. “I didn’t sleep well. Did you say something?”

“Yeah, about what Maria’s been doing out at night.”

“Oh yeah, well…”

So on our way to school, I explained to her the whole thing about the five girls going out at night and doing stupid stuff. I even gave her all the details about Cadence and her drinking problem. On our way back to her house, I was getting to the details of Cadence drinking last night. When I told her the part about Sophie having to stop Cadence from forcing alcohol onto Maria, she took her eyes off the road, looked me in the eyes with an insane expression, and nearly gave me a heart attack.

“SHE DID WHAT?!” Lucille roared. “That little blond bitch tried to force WHAT on my baby angel?!?”

I was pretty much terrified of this side of Lucille. I was getting flashbacks to high school really quickly with how angry she was right now. 

“It was… Red light.” I warned.

Lucille put her eyes back on the road and hit the breaks before she hit that pedestrian, who nearly jumped out of her skin. Goodness, of all the people on the road, of all the pedestrians Lucille could’ve almost hit, she picked the single wrong one in Canada.

“You trying to have a fucking hit and run?!” Robin shouted, stomping over to the side of the car. When she saw Lucille, she was stunned. But I think she was even more stunned to see me in the passenger’s seat. “Lucille and… Diane?”

“Hi,” I said, waving nervously.

Robin took out her phone and started texting me.

“Is she holding you hostage???”

“In a way. R u doing anything rn?”

“Was walking to the store.”

“Hey Robin,” I said out loud. “You should join us.”

“That would be amazing!” Lucille cheered. “Three mom friends going around town together-“

“First of all, I’m not a bloody mother.” Robin corrected. “And secondly, we’re not friends.”

“Come on,” she urged again. “Diane was happy to come with me.”

I in fact was not happy to come with her. I just decided if I’m going to burn for a day, I’ll drag Robin down with me. 

“Fine,” she said with a gritting smile. “Unlock the car.” Lucille unlocked the minivan and Robin hopped in before the light turned green again. 

“So what are you two doing?” Robin asked. Well, she demanded it more than asked. 

So I explained it while Lucille drived. I had called her last night (or this morning?) and told her about the situation with Sophie and her friends. She also knew all about Ben too, of course. I tell her pretty much everything. The only thing I had to catch her up on was my time with Lucille. 

“So… where is she driving us?” Robin asked, confused. Huh, I hadn’t thought about that. We should’ve been at her home by now.

“Hey,” I asked hesitantly. “Where are we going?”

“To talk to some parents about their kids,” Lucille said, a fire in her eyes.

“We’re going to talk to some parents about their kids,” I unenthusiastically said, turning back to Robin.

“Exactly how I wanted to spend my bloody morning,” she groaned, folding her arms.