Second Chances by Lincoln Cole

Author:Lincoln Cole [Cole, Lincoln]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Classics, Literary, Literary Fiction
Amazon: B017ZH1H6G
Publisher: LC Publishing
Published: 2015-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Nichole

Nichole knocked gently on the door. “Kenni? Are you okay?”

There wasn’t a reply. Not right away. She heard movement inside the room, and then the door opened. Kenni had a frown on her face and looked tired.

“What?”

“Do you want anything to eat? I brought you some dinner.”

She held up a plate of food. Kenni stared at it for a long minute, and then accepted it like a peace offering. She opened the door a little further and moved back to her bed.

Nichole followed her inside. The room was clean but littered with dirty clothes. An unused clothes hamper sat in the corner and shirts were covering the bed, floor, and back of her chair.

Kenni sat on the bed and started eating. Nichole cleaned off the desk chair and sat down. It was silent for a few minutes, while Kenni ate. Nichole waited as patiently as she could, then finally started talking:

“How was school?”

“Fine,” Kenni said through bites.

“How was it really?”

Kenni looked up at her, frowning.

“It was fine,” she said.

“You told Rico you didn’t really do much today,” she said.

“We didn’t,” Kenni said. “Most of the classes the teachers don’t even show up.”

“I’m sorry,” Nichole said.

“You always say that.”

“I mean it.”

Kenni shrugged. “After a while it just stops having meaning.”

“I know. I wish your teachers would put more work into the classes.”

“I don’t care anymore,” Kenni replied. She finished eating and handed the plate back to Nichole. “There isn’t any point.”

“Kenni…”

“I don’t even know why you make me go,” she said. She spoke tersely, simmering emotions bubbling under the surface. “You aren’t my Mom.”

Nichole opened her mouth to reply, and then shut it again.

“No,” she said. “You’re right. I’m not your Mom.”

“Then why do you even care?”

“Because you’re my little sister.”

“I know.”

“And I care about you.”

“But there’s nothing you can do to help me,” Kenni said. “I hated Mom when she made me go to Northmont. I hated getting stuck with all of those kids who look at me funny because I’m different. But Mom said I didn’t have a choice, and it would be good for me. And you know what? I dealt with it.

“Then I finally got used to it, and things were working out just fine, and you tell me I can’t keep going? That I have to go back to my old middle school?”

“There wasn’t an alternative,” Nichole said.

“I know!” Kenni shouted. “And where the hell is Mom? Did she leave us? Did she abandon us? She’s the one that set all of this up, and now she isn’t even here. So where is she?”

“I don’t know,” Nichole said.

“Exactly. You don’t know. Rico doesn’t know, I don’t know, no one knows where she is. Why? Why does no one know where she is?”

Nichole hesitated. “I don’t know.”

“Then what do you want me to say? That I’m okay with this school? That I’m okay with Mom being gone? That it doesn’t bother me that they sent me away because I’m black? What do you want me to

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