Chapter Ten
“Cassy Masters invited me to her party on Friday night. Can I go?”
Neri sat beside me in the front while Sam sat in the back, entertaining himself with his iPod.
“Who is Cassy Masters?” I asked, reaching over to turn the radio on. Neri waved my hand away and flicked through the stations.
“Focus on the road.” She said. I rolled my eyes. “Cassy is a girl in my class. She’s been nice to me. Helping me get to know my way around, and stuff.”
“Sure.” I shrugged. A party sounded like a great idea for Neri. “Maybe we should take you shopping for something to wear.” I added. Neri grinned. I smiled back, her happiness infectious. It was the first time I’d seen more than a smile off her since she got here, so it was good to see her relax for more than a second.
“Thanks Kait. Jeremy’s going to take me.” She added excitedly.
“How old is Jeremy exactly?” I asked suspiciously, not sure I was going to like the answer. If he was going to take her, he had to be older than sixteen. What if she said he was twenty? Or older?
“He is seventeen. Almost eighteen.” Neri replied. Not so bad, but still…what kind of guardian was I not to point out the problems with this? I couldn’t be her sister all the time.
“Neri, that’s a pretty big age gap for someone so young.”
“I’m not young.” Neri said hotly.
Okay.
Wrong choice of words. The first rule of parenting was not to make the teenager feel like a child.
“Have you two...been intimate?” I asked. Neri blushed bright red.
“Kait!” She exclaimed, covering her face with her hands. I glanced in the rear view mirror at Sam, who was busy with his iPod.
“Neri I just want to make sure if you are being sexually active, you’re being safe about it.” This conversations was uncomfortable to her? How would she feel about a kid? Or chlamydia?
“I am safe.” She said through gritted teeth. “I’m on the pill, and we use condoms.” She shook her head and covered her face again in embarrassment. “I am so not having this conversation, Kait.”
Whoa. Shut down by a fifteen year old.
“How about if we don’t have this conversation, you’re not going out?” I shot back. Neri glared at me, anger flashing in her eyes.
“You’re not my mother, Kaitlin, so stop acting like it!”
“I’m not trying to be your mother.” I sighed and gripped the steering wheel. This had gone much more smoothly in my mind. “Look, I know it’s been hard for you, coming here, and with mom going missing, but you have to help me out here, Neri.”
“You don’t know anything, Kait.” Cried Neri. “Where the hell have you been the past four years? You think you can just waltz back into our lives and everything will be fine?”
“I didn’t waltz back into your lives. It’s not like I had a choice-“I stopped, realizing what I had just said. Neri shook her head. Shit.
“Right. Well sorry to stuff up your perfect little life.” She glared out of the window. All the progress I’d made with her had just untraveled in a matter of minutes. The Beatles track blaring out of the speakers failed to cut through the tension.
“What’s condoms?” A voice from the back piped up.
Oh shit! Sam! I cringed internally. Suddenly my fight with Neri was not the worst event of the day. How was I going to talk my way out of this one?
“Aren’t you going to answer him?” Neri said sweetly. I shot her a look.
“Nothing Sam. That’s boring stuff for adults. Go back to your music.” I ignored Neri’s sniggers beside me.
That went well.