Something Girl by Beth Goobie Read Free Book Online Page B

twelve.
    The day after I got my brace off, Ms. Lee walked into my room with my mom. They brought chairs over to my bed. I could see this meant a long talk, and I started to get nervous. I remembered Ms. Lee saying, “We need to talk about that and a few other things.”
    What other things?
    Ms. Lee and my mom looked at each other. Then Ms. Lee said, “Sophie, your mother has been hurt quite badly by your father. Not only in her body. Your father also hurt your mother in the way she thinks and feels about life. This takes a long time to heal.”
    I looked back and forth between them, wondering what was coming next. My mom didn’t look at me. She stared out the window, like old times. All of a sudden I got a crazy thought. I thought, She’s going back to my dad. We’re moving back with my dad .
    But then my mom looked at me. She had so much love and worry in her eyes, and it was all for me. I knew it wouldn’t happen then — she wouldn’t go back to my dad.
    My mom took my hand and said, “Sophie, this is just for a while — about four months or so. I’m going into a treatment program for people who have problems … drinking problems. It’s here in Edmonton, so I can call and visit you a lot. And I’m going back to school so I can get a better job. Then I can support the two of us.”
    My head was spinning and spinning. I couldn’t figure out what she was saying. She was going into a treatment program for drinking? Was I going into the program with her? But she hadn’t said anything about me.Did that mean I was going somewhere else? But where? Back to my dad? Was I going back to my dad?
    “Sophie,” my mom said, “you’re going to live in a group home for a while. Not forever — just four months, until I get things together.”
    I stared at her. A group home? She was sending me to live in a group home? But I didn’t know anyone there. It would be full of freaks and weirdos. They might be worse than my dad. And no one would want to be friends with me if I lived in a group home.
    “You’ll get help at the group home too, Sophie,” Ms. Lee said.
    I got so mad at her then, I wanted to slug her. I wished she would just shut her mouth. She was the one who put this idea into my mom’s head, I was sure of it. My mom and I were okay by ourselves. We didn’t need anyone’s help.
    But Ms. Lee just kept on talking. “Your mother hasn’t been able to give you the timeor the help she wants to, Sophie,” she said. “You need time to figure out how you feel about things. The group home staff will be able to help you with that.”
    I figured this was an insult. “You’re saying I’ve got problems?” I asked.
    Ms. Lee looked me straight in the eye. “You have things to work out,” she said. “You’re still on probation, and you’ll continue to visit me every two weeks. You’re behind in school and you need extra help there. And the group home staff can help you when you go to court.”
    “I don’t need help,” I muttered.
    Ms. Lee shook her head. “Living in a group home can be fun, Sophie. You go swimming and camping. There are other kids living there that you can get to know.”
    “They’re probably all nutcases,” I said.
    Ms. Lee looked a little angry. “They’re just kids like you,” she said.
    This didn’t make me feel any better. “I want to live with my mom,” I said. I staredat her, trying to make her change her mind just by looking at her.
    But it didn’t work. My mom just turned her head and stared out the window. “You will live with me, Sophie,” she said. “In a while. Four months isn’t so long, is it?”
    She started to cry. Well, that did it. I didn’t want to cause her any trouble, so I shut up. It didn’t matter what I thought anyway. It was all decided.
    After they left, I lay in my bed and stared out the window. It felt like the end of the world, as if everything important had just gotten up and walked away from me. First, I’d been dumb enough to get beat up, so