Monkey Business by Leslie Margolis

Author:Leslie Margolis
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2014-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Who’s Afraid of the Dark?

My mom teaches high-school English. She has ever since I can remember. But on Monday night, over dinner, she told me she was going to take next year off. This news was so shocking to me, I almost dropped my fork.

“The entire year?” I asked. “What are you going to do?”

“Well, the baby will keep me busy,” she said.

“Oh, right,” I said, staring at her stomach. It seemed to be getting bigger and bigger by the day—if that were possible.

It was weird thinking about a human being growing inside her. And it was almost weirder for me to think about my mom not working and being at home all the time. When I was first born, she was in school and she finished nights, and my grandparents babysat for me. Then I went into day care so she could teach. Even in the summer, she usually taught summer school. As long as I’d been alive, she’d never not worked.

“Are you sure you’re allowed to take a year off?” I asked. “What if they don’t let you come back?”

My mom laughed. “Yes, I’m allowed, and I will go back. I worked it all out. I’ve been teaching for ten years straight—the school is willing to give me this time.”

“Oh,” I said. And I guess I had a pensive expression on my face because suddenly my mom ruffled my hair.

“Don’t worry so much, Annabelle. The baby will be sleeping a lot, so I’ll have plenty of time for you. We can hang out all the time. It’ll be so much fun!”

I laughed at first, figuring my mom was kidding. Except by the look on her face, I realized she wasn’t.

My mom really wanted to hang out with me all the time? Yikes! This was not exactly ideal. Don’t get me wrong—I love my mom. A lot. She’s my mom. Plus, she’s fun and cool and easygoing as far as moms are concerned. But that didn’t mean I wanted to spend the entire summer with her. I had a life—tons of friends and a boyfriend, too. I tried to think of a way to remind her of this, without being rude. But I couldn’t. Anyway, my phone was vibrating in my back pocket. I pulled it out and read a text from Oliver: What’s up?

“No phones at the dinner table, sweetheart,” Ted gently reminded me.

“Sorry,” I said, looking up. “Um, may I please be excused?”

“Are you finished eating or just wanting to call your boyfriend?” my mom asked.

“How’d you know it was Oliver calling?” I wondered. “And for that matter, how did you know that Oliver was my boyfriend?”

“I could tell by the way you swooned,” she said.

“I did not swoon,” I said.

Ted laughed.

“I didn’t,” I insisted. “Whatever swooning means. And by the way—I’m done eating and I want to call Oliver back. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”

“Well, then,” said Ted. “I guess you are free to go.”

I cleared my plate and ran upstairs and called Oliver.

“Hey,” he said.

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