Chapter 377
My mom was dusting when I got home, and since the apartment is so small she can dust the entire space in less than an hour, I figured she was just nervous. Still upset about our fight, I managed a small smile, but it probably looked forced, and I headed toward my room, thinking I needed to empty my gym bag and get started on my homework so I could do what Cadence and Aaron had asked me to do. If she wanted me to tell her about the meeting, she’d have to ask. I wasn’t the one who’d asked her to look over the data.
“Well?” Mom inquired, following me into my bedroom. I was leaned over, picking up my bag, and zipped past her out the door to dump my dirty clothes in the hamper for really stinky clothes I keep in the bathroom.
“Well what?” I asked, flying back around her before she even moved out of my room.
“Well, how did the meeting go? Did I do it right? Is that what they needed?”
“Yeah, it was fine,” I assured her, picking up my laptop off of my desk and walking toward my bed. “I’m sure Cadence or Aaron will let you know.”
“I doubt it,” she muttered, folding her arms despite still holding on to her dust cloth and can of Pledge.
“Why do you say that?” I asked, sitting cross-legged with my laptop in front of me. I was glad to see I didn’t have too many assignments for the day.
“No reason. I just... don’t get a lot of feedback.”
I looked up at her. I could imagine Cadence wouldn’t be one to think of going back to tell my mom she was a good secretary, but I was surprised Aaron didn’t let her know how she was doing. But then, he hadn’t quite been himself lately. “We’re pretty sure it’s Larundel, that Holland’s people are operating out of there. Aaron said he’d send Paul in to check it out.”
“Oh, good.” My mom looked relieved. Part of me wanted to point out that I was the one who’d actually figured that out, not her, but there was no reason to. She stood in my doorway a lot longer than necessary as I flipped to my Biology II notes. Eventually, I looked up at her expectantly without asking anything, and she said, “I’m sorry about this morning, Cassidy. I was trying to do something nice for you, and I didn’t feel like you appreciated it.”
I drew in a deep breath, thinking I should do whatever I could to avoid a fight right now. “I’m sorry I got upset at you, Mom, but I’m trying to do my best at being an independent adult here, and I feel like every time I turn around, I’m treated like a child.”
“But you are a child,” she countered, and my eyes bulged out of my head. “You’re only sixteen.”
“But I’m not a child.” I closed my laptop, probably harder than I needed to. “Aaron will tell you, once you Transform, age doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It does to me.” Her arms were still folded, but she adjusted them like she wanted to fold them again but couldn’t because they already were. “You are my child, Cassidy Elizabeth. And I will treat you as such until you are an adult.”
“And when will that be? When I’m seventeen? Eighteen? Twenty-one?” I uncrossed my legs and jumped up, folding my own arms at her.
“However long it takes for you to stop acting like a child!” she shouted. My mom hardly ever raises her voice, so I knew she was angry. “Cassidy, do you ever stop and think about what you’ve done? What could’ve happened?”
“Of course I do, Mom, all the time! But I didn’t die!”
“But you could have—easily! And then there’s Bonnie.”
“Bonnie?”
“Yes! It was your poor judgment that brought that abomination here, wasn’t it? Tara could’ve died. Think of all the horrible pain so many people had to go through because you made a bad decision!”
I stared at her, rage boiling through my veins. “Do you honestly think that I haven’t completely blamed myself for all of that? Ever since it happened? Of course I have! But everyone who was actually there will tell you it wasn’t my fault, Mom!”
“Then maybe you haven’t accepted responsibility after all.”
A thousand responses jumbled through my head—how dare she, she had no idea what it was like to be me, maybe she shouldn’t talk about things she knows nothing about--but the only thing that actually came out of my mouth was, “Get out! I have homework—get out!”
“Don’t you take that tone with me, Cassidy!” my mom shouted, but she was backing to the door. “I sure hope your sister isn’t plan on taking you anywhere tonight because you are grounded.”
“Get out!” I wished that I could pick her up and move her the last foot out into the hallway.
“If you shout at me one more time, I’m going to contact Christian and ask him to turn that eye computer off! Or at least make it so you can’t talk to any of your friends. I’m your mother!”
Her threats were empty—even if Christian could do something like that, I could still use my telepathy. She should’ve known that. The fact that she didn’t irritated me even more. “Get. Out.”
My mom crossed the threshold into the hallway and slammed the door behind her, leaving the entire room rocking slightly, and for a moment, I thought maybe she was the one with superpowers.
I settled back into my bed, taking in deep breaths. She’d come in to try to make amends and had only made things much, much worse. I hated yelling at my mom—but I also hated the fact that she kept trying to control me even more. Had I made some bad decisions? Absolutely. Had everything worked out in the end? So far. If Aaron and Tara didn’t blame me for bringing Bonnie here, why should my mom, who had nothing to do with anything, be so hung up on it? Frankly, it was none of her business.
I decided to do something I never do anymore. I used my IAC to do all of my homework and got it done in about ten minutes. I knew absolutely nothing about the dissection I was supposed to have studied, but I didn’t care. I needed to get it out of the way so I could do my real work.
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