Broken Road (standard:other, 3265 words)
Author: Katy Barrons	Added: Nov 25 2006	Views/Reads: 3115/2112	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A girl and her mother learn what a true bond really is.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

mom broke her toe. Whenever I need her she's always there for me. 

“Nothing happened to my mom, except she got a new job,” I answered.
“That's great!” exclaimed Lauren, but why are you crying?” 

Still crying, I told her the bad news, “No, it's not great news. I have
to move away. I won't be able to go to the be at the big meet tomorrow 
because I don't go to Blue Creek Middle anymore, and the worst part is 
the job starts Monday, but we're not moving yet. My mom still needs to 
get a house. 

“What!” cried Lauren, “I call for a sleep over tonight.” 

“I can't,  mom will expect my home soon,” I sadly said. 

“To bad. I'll call Marne and tell her you're staying for a while,”
responded Lauren. 

So Lauren dragged me to her house and called my mom to tell her I was
staying for a while, but my mom was to nervous to just say that I could 
stay for a while. Instead, she kept asking Lauren questions like if I 
was ok and questions an overprotective mom would ask, even though that 
wasn't the kind of mom my mom was. When Lauren was trying to tell my 
mom that I was fine, I went to another phone so I could hear my mom's 
voice. I needed to talk to her, but I wasn't ready yet, so I thought 
that listening would help calm the urge. 

“Lauren, did Emma just get on the phone?” questioned my mom. 

Lauren started to say no, but I quickly interrupted her by saying, “I'm
here mom.” 

“Emma!” my mom started to scold, but softened her tone, “I'm coming
right over to get you. You scared me sweetie.” 

“No mom, you don't need to come get me,” I quietly answered. I know when
my mom's really worried by the names she calls me, like sweetie. 

“You leave me no choice but to come and get you,”  mom replied, “we need
to work things out.” 

Lauren and I hung up the phones and met in the kitchen. We were both
pretty sad about me leaving. Then the doorbell rang. 

“I'll get it,” I said. Sure enough it was my mom. She looked as if
someone had just stolen her precious belonging, me. 

“Thank God!”prayed my mom. 

“Thanks Lauren,” I called out and shut the door behind me. My mom and I
quietly walked. 

“Emma,” my mom said as she looked at me, “why didn't you let me explain
myself? Why did you just run off like that?” 

“You're not letting me do my swim meet,” I answered, “my team needs me.”


Then my mom started to hug me, but I pushed away. I wasn't sure if I
could forget this problem with a hug. When we got home I sat on the 
couch to read a book, but then I realized that's something my mom would 
want me to do, and since she was closely watching me and I was mad at 
her I shut the book and turned on the T.V. I vas totally ruining her 
Friday family night plan. That's when my mom and I do stuff together, 
and don't watch T.V. unless we are both there. 

My mom walked into the T.V. room, sat down next to me and said, “I love
you.” 

I harshly replied, “I don't know if I can stand being mad at you, but I
know that a simple I love you is not going to solve problems. So just 
stop trying so hard.” 

“Then I don't know what to think anymore, but I can tell you we're
moving and that's final, said my mom as she got up to go make supper. 

“I'm not hungry,” I said as I walked upstairs to my room. 

As I lay in bed I was thinking about the next few days, but when
Saturday and Sunday came, all I did was sleep, eat and watch T.V. I 
tried really hard to ignore my mom. 

“Emma,” said my mom, “time to get up. I let you sleep in an extra half
an hour, so we have to leave soon.” 

It took me a second to figure out why my mom was so gloomy, and when I
remembered, I knew I had to make it up to her. I quickly got dressed in 
a cute first day of school look , ate, then hopped in the car. I had to 
wait a little while until my mom came and sat in the drivers seat. It 
was almost time to begin my new life. 

I had to start a conversation because I hated everything being so quiet.
So I said, “I'm sorry.” My mom looked at me. “I've been such a brat. 
Most girls would love to have a mom like you, but I just take it for 
granted.  I'm not sure if I'm over the whole moving and new school 
thing, but I'll try really hard to make you proud.” 

My mom was silent. I thought she would burst into tears or something. I
thought my mom would love having me back into her life. I didn't get 
it. 

“Emma,” my mom said sternly. 

“Yes?” I said in an excited tone. 

“At this new school, how about we just pretend things are back to
normal,”  mom said. 

I couldn't stand her being so sad I had to say, “Why aren't you happy
about your new job anymore? I like you more when you're my cool English 
teacher mom. Not when your this new sad mom that I don't seem to know.” 


My mom cracked a smile on her face and said, “You really think I'm a
cool English teacher?” 

“Of course,” I replied. 

We pulled up to the school and got out of the car. I walked over to my
mom and gave her a hug. She hugged me back. Maybe we would finally end 
our fight. We walked up to the front of the building and a secretary 
for the school showed us where to go. My mom unlocked the door and 
opened it. She must have been here already because the room was 
decorated. 

My dad  must of been really tall because my mom had to look up at me to
speak. 

“Emma, I have your schedule here,” she said as she handed it to me. 

I looked at it and saw I only had six hours in a day. That was two less
than the last school I went to. It turns out that I had math, art, 
science, lunch, social studies, and then English. That meant that I 
would have to start my day without my moms help. My mom started writing 
on the board while I went and sat at her desk to start playing games. 
It wasn't long before it the kids started coming in to their first 
class. 

My mom greeted the kids, walked over to me and said, “I think it's about
time you go to your first class. Have a great first day of school.” 

Then she hugged me and I started down the hall, trying to be successful
in finding my first class. Then this girl came up to me in the hallway. 


“Are you new here?” she asked. 

“Yes,” I replied. 

“Maybe I can help you find your first class?” she questioned. “You look
lost.” 

“I am kind of lost,” I said unsure of myself. “My first class is math.” 

The girl waved at one of here friends and said  “I'll take you there. I
have the same class.” 

So I followed her to the Math class. On the way she was telling me that
the teacher was Mrs. Johns. She also said she was about the only nice 
teacher on the team. She said that the rest of the teachers got crabby 
a lot. 

“By the way,” I said, “my name's Emma.” 

“Sorry I forgot to mention my name,” the girl answered. “My name's
Katie.” 

So the first friend I made that day was Katie. When we got to the Math
room Katie brought me to the teacher. 

Katie went over to Mrs. Johns and remarked, “The new student is here.” 

I went and stood next to Katie. 

“Hi,” I said, “my name's Emma.” 

“Well it's great to have you here,” replied Mrs. Johns, “today we're
just playing math games so you can sit in that open desk by Kris. 

So I walked over to the desk and sat down. Katie was halfway across the
classroom so she couldn't help me now. I could hear whispers all around 
me. Most were about how the new teacher came today. 

“Hey,” said Kris. 

“Hi,” I replied. 

Kris looked at me and said, “The girls and I think that's weird that you
came here the same day as the new teacher.” 

“It's not that weird,” I answered. 

“Why,” she said. “I think it is.” 

I put a smile on my face and answered, “She's my mom, and she kinda
dragged me here and I had to miss the big swim meet back home, so I'm 
kind of disappointed about that.” 

“Oh cool,” Kris exclaimed. “I really hope she's nice cause our other
teacher had a few issues, if you know what I'm saying.” 

“Ya,” I replied in a convincing tone even though I had no clue what she
was talking about. 

Ms. Jones seemed really nice and she didn't even embarrass me like the
teachers at my old school would have. 

As the class came to a close Kris came up to me and said, “You should
come eat with us. Katie's kind of weird.” 

Oddly enough I actually agreed with her. Even thought Katie helped me
find my way, during math I saw her doing some pretty strange things. 

I noticed that all of my classes were right next to each other and I
didn't have much problems finding my classes. All the kid's who already 
had mom as a teacher were saying things like, “She seems really nice, 
but she's like overweight much, or that is the best teacher ever.” 

I just really hoped she liked it here, and the kids didn't change there
minds. 

Finally 6th hour came and I walked into the room and was greeted by a
smiling teacher. It really looked like she enjoyed it here. I couldn't 
wait to see what she had planned and if she would tell people that I 
was her daughter. 

“Welcome class,” exclaimed a ecstatic teacher. “I'm Ms. Jacobs and I an
your new English teacher. To start off class I'm going to tell you 
guys, and girls, a little about me. My whole name is Marne Marie Jacobs 
and I'm not married but I have a daughter named Emma who is my pride 
and joy, and she just happens to be in this class with all of you. I 
live in Blue Creek with my daughter and sadly, we have no pets of any 
sort. Does anyone have any questions that I can answer for you?” 

This kid named Jeremy raised his hand. From the other classes that I had
with him I could tell that he was a very mean boy. 

Mom smiled politely and said, “Jeremy, go ahead.” 

Jeremy grinned and snobbishly said, “Why are you so fat?” 

I was shocked. How could he say such a rude thing. You should never say
anything like that to a teacher, especially my mom. Jeremy turned 
around and smiled at me, smirked, then faced the front. 

“Well,” mom stammered, “I think that is a question you should ask a
science or health teacher because they probably know more about that 
then I do. On that note, I'm going to pass out this worksheet and I 
would like you to please fill it out so I can learn about you.” 

As she passes out the sheets she had a smile on her face and it looked
like nothing had bothered her, not even a disturbing question. When she 
got to my desk I took out my pencil and skimmed over the questions. 
They said: 1. What is your full name? Who were you named after? 2. Have 
you ever moved? If so, why? 3. How many people are in your family? 
Names and relationships would be appreciated. 4.What the worst thing 
that ever happened to you? 5. How do you like this school? 

It seemed like a very short quiz but I wrote my heart out because mom
needed to know how I liked this new life. My answers went like this: 1. 
My name is Emma Marie Jacobs and my middle name is named after my mom. 
2. I have never moved, but I will soon because my mom got a new job and 
she wants to get closer to the job. 3. There are two people in my 
family, my mom, Marne, and I, Emma. There would be three of us but my 
dad left my mom before I was born, but I don't know him so I don't 
count him, though I'd kind of like to have a dad. 4.The worst thing 
that ever happened to me was when I got mad at my mom and I told her I 
hated her because I actually love her and I couldn't I've without her. 
5. This school seems like a great school but I really miss my old 
school and my old friends a lot. 

I got up and went to turn my paper into the basket just as the final
bell rang. Mom stood up and said, “I can't wait to see you guys 
tomorrow, have a great rest of the day.” 

I stalled like I was picking up all of my books until everyone left and
then I walked over to mom's desk. She looked up at me and her eyes 
looked like they were about to let out tears. 

“I'm so sorry,” I said, I should have warned you that he was a mean
boy.” 

“No it's not that,” she said. It's what you said in your paper, that you
wish you had a dad. It's just that out of all the things I can give 
you, that's the one thing I can't. 

I looked down and sighed, “I shouldn't have even wrote that. I know your
just trying to protect me by not getting married again, but sometimes I 
wish I had a normal family with a mom, a dad, and me, but I know I 
can't have that and I can live with that. I'm so sorry mom, About 
everything I wrote and everything Jeremy said. He was really mean to 
say that and I really hope your not offended.” 

“I'm ok,” she replied. “I think he was right though, I should lose some
weight.” 

I looked at her strait in the eye and said, “Mom, I love you just the
way you are, and you don't need to change just because of what one kid 
said. You need to ask yourself if it's something you want to do.” 

With that we got up and left the room. 

As we got in the car my mom reached over and hugged me. 

“I couldn't have asked for a better daughter than you,” she said. 

I felt really good that I was actually helping mom now since I was being
very rude earlier. 

to be continued...


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