Don't Fall by Schieffelbein Rachel

Author:Schieffelbein, Rachel [Schieffelbein, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: social issues, mother daughter relationship, teen romance, fairy tale, love and romance, Rapunzel, retelling, family relationships, young adult romance, adolescence
Publisher: Swoon Romance
Published: 2014-05-18T06:00:00+00:00

Anya

I ran over what I wanted to say in my head before my mom got home. I’m turning eighteen. I’m a legal adult. I should be allowed to date. Simple, direct. True. How could she argue with that?

“Hello, dear,” she said as she strode into my room. “How are you doing today?”

“I’m fine.” I wiped my palms on my skirt and smiled at her.

She sat on the window seat next to me and kissed the top of my head. I took a deep breath and thought about Zander. “There’s something I want to talk to you about.”

“Okay?” She sat down next to me and started to unbraid my hair. “What is it?”

“Well, I was thinking about my birthday coming up.”

“Did you have somewhere special you want to go?”

“Wherever you want is fine, mom.”

“You’re turning eighteen. That’s a big one.” She smiled at me, then took my shoulder and gently turned me away from her. She reached over to my dresser and grabbed my chintz patterned hairbrush. When I was younger, she would brush my hair every night. I loved it. It was our special time. As I got older and the red faded to blond, she brushed it less and less. I knew, of course, that one had nothing to do with the other. I was just getting old enough to do it myself. But I still missed the red.

Sometimes she would still come and help me brush it out, since it was so long. It was one of the reasons I kept it long. When she pulled me onto the window seat and ran a brush through my hair until it shined, it made me feel like a kid again. Made me feel closer to her.

That night was no different. “I know. That’s actually why I wanted to talk to you.” Sitting together like this, not having to face her, made it easier. “I was wondering, well, what if I wanted to spend my birthday with someone else?” Her hand stopped mid-brush, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. “I mean, I’d still have dinner with you, but maybe afterward, or on a different day,” I said in a rush. She slowly ran one of her hands through my hair, then started brushing it again with the other.

“Who?” she asked. My stomach clenched up.

“Friends.”

I heard her breath come out of her nose in a slow whoosh. I didn’t have to be looking at her to know her lips were pressed together and her forehead was creased. “Yes, but whom?” she asked again.

I decided to go with the safer answer first. “Shannon.”

“Oh,” she said before I could continue. “Isn’t she a bit older than you?”

“Just a couple years.”

“I don’t know, Anya. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be going out with older girls. I don’t want you getting into any trouble.”

“She’s only a couple years older than me. And she’s not trouble. You know that, you’ve known Shannon forever.” I laughed, weakly.

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