Mandy was sitting on a park bench Clarence, in the distance.
"Hey!" she yelled, and waved at her friend.
Clarence came over . "Mandy! What's up?"
"Oh, I'm still thinking about my father. I can't get over it."
"I know about that, Mandy. You told me he was imprisoned for taking part in that demonstration against Angus Sage."
"Yes. And I'm also worried that Hillsland will send marines over to help with the situation."
"Help how? We, the people of Richmond Island, won independence from those bastards in Hillsland 104 years ago. Whose side would they be on anyway?" Asked Clarence.
"How should I know? You're a boy; you should be more interested in politics and war than I am."
"That's bullshit, Mandy. You should be just as interested. To change the topic, how are you doing with Lorraine?"
"Step-mama. She's okay. I still call her 'Lorraine;' she doesn't mind."
"Watch, Mandy. You're gonna call her. 'Mom' one of these days."
"Step-mom." Mandy replied, stubbornly.
"I dunno, Mandy."
"Stop teasing me. Lorraine's been so stressed now that dad's imprisoned. The two were married for eight months; he somehow gets lured into some stupid protest and get's thrown in jail. All of a sudden, she has three to take care of. And I'm suddenly their second mother."
"To whom?" Clarence asked, interested and impressed.
"Her little sons, Danny and Harry."
"Ah. What's it like, going from being an only child to a step sister at fifteen?"
"It is what it is. I've grown pretty close to them."
"Let's get back to class," said Clarence.
Mandy and her friend, Clarence, got back to class. After more deplorable hours of school, Mandy went home. She picked up Daniel and Harry along the way.
"We're home!" Mandy made a snack for the three of them. Loraine came home an hour late.
Harry cried. "Mommy!"
"Thank you for taking care of your step-brothers, Amanda."
Mandy smiled at her. "How was work, Lorraine?" Mandy asked.
"Same as usual. Just telling people where the book they want is. Do you know people used to actually buy books and read them on electronic devices?"
"That's weird," Mandy commented. "Well, I'm gonna go do homework now."
"Good," commented her step-mother.
"Lorraine, when are we gonna see my father?"
"Soon."
Lorraine turned to Daniel and Harry. "You two have homework to do, right?"
Daniel seethed, and Harry whined. "Mandy likes doing homework?"
"No, she does not But she knows she has to. You'll understand when you are her age."
"Never!"
"You've got to the dinner table and open those books right now!"
Daniel and Harry begrudgingly obeyed their mother. "I'll be here to help!"
Mandy did her homework, engaged herself in some leisure reading and went to bed. She was tired. She thought of comeback lines to use against her school nemesis, Gina.
Unfortunately, the next day she got to class, she forgot everything. All she could think about was trying to use her charms to get Seward away from Gina. Mandy knew that Seward still liked her, and that she liked him.
But when she looked for Seward at lunchtime, he was with Gina . Too late, Mandy thought. Her best friend, a girl named Cynthia, who hated the diminutive Cindy, walked up beside her.
"Yeah. Ther'es your ex..."
"He's just a friend...."
"Now he is, Mandy. I'll go sit with him and leave you to sulk."
Cynthia marched over to where Clarence was sitting.
There was no where else for Mandy to go. So she followed Cynthia. Cynthia smiled as
she finally came by.
"Well Mandy! How's things?" she asked, in a slightly teasing voice.
"I just told you, Cyndi" she replied, with a smirk.
"How's history class?" (Mandy, Cynthia, and Clarence were all in the same class.
"We're learning about that president, Trump, of that great empire that once existed," Mandy said.
"Trump."
"Yeah, him."
"Who cares? We're living in history right now," Clarence pointed out.
Mandy looked across the lunchroom, and saw Seward and Gina together, laughing away. Meanwhile, Clarence was sitting right across from her. Could I really get Seward back? Naaw.
Mandy sat through more classes, taking notes on her little computer. She heard there was a test for Algebra coming up.
Mandy tried hard to stay alert, but all she could think of was her imprisoned father by that point. When it was time to go to her locker, she saw Gina coming by. She wanted to hide. But something was telling her to stand by and let Gina say nasty things to her for no reason.
Which Mandy did. She stood with her back to a wall and let Gina open her toxic mouth. She always heard ignore, ignore ignore. Which she did. But she knew she would snap soon.