Prepped by Bethany Mangle

Author:Bethany Mangle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: 2021-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

17

IF MY PARENTS WEREN’T COMPLETELY useless, they might have imparted some adult wisdom onto their eldest daughter. For example, never drink milk with a hangover.

The high-pitched pinging of the doorbell yowls across my eardrums. I groan, clutching my sloshing stomach as I shuffle toward the foyer. The deliveryman is already climbing into his truck by the time I peel open the door with my eyes half closed against the punishing glare of the sun. A cardboard box totters on the edge of the porch, naked except for a shipping label slapped on one side. I drag it into the house and park it against the umbrella stand, because my house is lame enough to have an umbrella stand.

I snatch Mom’s keys out of her purse and stab through the packing tape. The latest doomsday fad must be earthquake preparedness. I paw through packages of picture hooks and furniture straps rated to withstand seismic tremors. There’s even a set of metal braces to bolt the hot-water heater to the wall. Darn. I really wanted to be the first person in Tin Peas to be crushed to death by a hot-water heater. I’ve always had aspirations of fame.

Katie rounds the corner and raises her eyebrows at the keys in my hand. “Can we go to the shoe store today?”

“Maybe,” I reply, rubbing my bloodshot eyes. “Just give me a few minutes, okay?”

I return to my room and flop my feet through a wobbly field sobriety test. I can’t drive in this condition. I won’t even make it to the end of the street. Roy is probably hurting as much as I am and waking up Mom just isn’t an option. It’s safer to light a bear’s fart on fire than it is to rouse a sleeping swing shift nurse.

I call Tamara without thinking. She answers on the first ring. “Hey, Becca,” she says. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Katie needs new shoes and I don’t want to wake up my mom. Can you drive us to the mall?”

She replies with a derisive snort. “Is this a joke?”

I sigh and amend my request to include a doomsday-appropriate location. “Can you drive us to a tactically defensible store that also happens to sell shoes for children?”

“I guess. Hang on.” The sound of her unlocking her gun safe filters through the line. “I can be there in ten minutes.”

“Thanks.”

I’m never touching another drop of alcohol for the rest of my life. I run a brush through my hair, still unruly and tangled from going to bed without drying it after my shower. The waistband of my pants strangles my bloated midriff and my toes are swollen from stumbling back to the car in the dark, one arm around Roy and the other around Sydney. The drunk leading the drunker leading the drunkest.

Katie is waiting on the couch in her best outfit. She bounces up and down and checks her plastic wristwatch. “Are you ready yet? Can we go now?” We don’t get out a lot.

“I’m feeling a little sick,” I confess.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.