Baby Help by Marilyn Reynolds

Author:Marilyn Reynolds
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Wind Publishing
Published: 2017-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

11

It is after three in the morning when I hear Rudy’s car in the driveway. It takes him a while to get the door unlocked. I hope that doesn’t mean he’s drunk. I pretend to be asleep, at the out­side edge of my side of the bed. He falls onto his side of the bed, still in his clothes, shoes and all. In an instant he’s snoring. He always snores when he’s had too much to drink.

Rudy’s still asleep when Cheyenne and I leave the house and get into the Teen Moms van early in the morning.

After I get Cheyenne settled in the play yard with Ethan and Brittany, I go inside to talk to Bergie.

“You’d have to do a whole semester’s work in Mr. Raley’s class,” she tells me. “Everyone there works at their own indi­vidual pace, so it’s possible. The thing is, your pace would have to be triple-time.”

“I’ll work hard—it’ll be worth it.”

“It’s computer math—completely different from Mr.

Horton’s class,” Bergie says.

“So I’d go to Sojourner for one class each day, and do the rest at Hamilton? And graduate on stage?”

She nods. “I talked with Ms. Sullivan. She wasn’t bubbling over with enthusiasm, but she’ll give you a waiver to take an off-campus class.”

“I’m so relieved,” I tell her.

“I’m not sure you should be so relieved just yet. It’s going to be hard to do a whole semester’s worth of work in just five weeks. Plus you’ll have to get yourself over there every day.”

“Maybe Rudy’ll have time to take me, since he’s not work­ing yet.”

As soon as I say Rudy’s name, I get a funny feeling, but I don’t want to think about it.

“Well, for today I’ll take you to Sojourner to get you started. I’ve got to take some materials over there, anyway.”

That’s better for now, I think. By tomorrow, Rudy won’t be mad anymore—probably.

“You can get the Teen Moms van to bring you here after school, just like you’ve been doing at Hamilton. But you’re on your own for the in-between transportation.”

By the time I’m finished with my last class, I’ve got a load of back assignments. A whole book to read for contemporary literature, along with the paper that’s due in a week. And that’s just make-up. There’s also a short story assignment and a test next week. I’m way behind in biology, too. If I hadn’t gone to the shelter I wouldn’t have to deal with making up all this work. Oh, well.

Sojourner High looks a lot like Desert Dunes, except it has trees and grass instead of sand. But there are only those metal kind of buildings and it’s about one-tenth the size of Hamilton High School. Probably not even that much.

After we drop off a pile of workbooks at the office, Bergie walks with me into a room that’s filled with computers. A short, dark haired guy smiles and waves at Bergie.

“Be with you in a minute,” he says, then turns his attention back to a computer screen and the student sitting in front of it.

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