Karma Bites Read Free

give excuses for why he doesn’t want to do something. I smile. With both sides of my mouth. It’s not that hard. I wonder why he never does it.
    “What the fuck ever. We’ll party without you.”
    “Okay.”
    “You’re a dick, C.” His friend is obviously pissed.
    “Ouch!” Someone runs into me from behind, and I stagger forward.
    “Excuse you.” I look over my shoulder and recognize Billy, one of Caleb’s prison-bound friends talking to me.
    “Um…” I’m at a loss for words. Excuse me ? Who ran into who here?
    “Leave her alone. You’re the one who ran into her.” Caleb doesn’t even look at me, his eyes firmly on Billy. But me, I can’t take my eyes off of him. He’s tall and lean, but you can definitely see the muscles under his skin. He’s all long and sinewy with golden skin. Did I mention he’s hot? Well, he is.
    “So? You don’t care about anything else. Why do you give a shit about her?” Billy isn’t letting this go and I want to slink away. Okay, part of me does. The other part is really curious about Caleb’s answer to his question.
    “I don’t.”
    Ouch. That isn’t the answer I hoped for.
    “I’m just sick of you being an ass. I’m ready to get out of here.” They sweep past me without a word, Billy still arguing with Caleb and I’m left feeling dizzy. What just happened? The sea of students’ part around me as I stand in the middle of the hall, watching the backs of Caleb and his friends as they stalk away. When they hit the corner, he tosses a quick glance over his shoulder and right at me. I try and smile a thank you, but before I do, he’s already gone.
    ***
    My day goes from great, to strange, to depressing in a matter of seven hours of school. On my walk home, I don’t even get excited when Caleb’s small cabin comes into view. It’s only about ten percent because he said he doesn’t care about me. I pretty much expected that on. No, the depressed is because of my dad.
    Funny how something comes out of left field and knocks you for a loop. We’re studying our family history in class, a far cry from the duo project I lied about. We’re supposed to pick someone from our family and write a paper about them. Let’s see, I don’t know my dad or any of this family, and Mom has been estranged from her family since before I was born.
    That leaves… Mom. I love her. Despite everything I really do, but writing a paper on her and reading it out loud? So not going to happen.
    I want to cry, which really blows, because I’m not really a tears type of girl. I cried most my tears a long time ago. But two days in a row? That makes me feel like I’m going backward and I want nothing more than to go as forward as I can.
    Even though the excitement isn’t zipping through my insides, I still glance at Caleb’s cabin as I walk by. It looks even deader than it was yesterday because he’s not peeking at me through the window. Which is just as good, I decide. I need to stop this pathetic crush. All I need is something else in my life to get all emo about.
    As I weave my way through all the aged trees, I think about Mom again. Well, not Mom as much as how she’s going to freak out when I ask her about my dad. Because I am. I wasn’t so sure of it until this second, but I deserve to know and this assignment is the perfect way for me to find out, because the I-deserve-it line, hasn’t worked with her in the past.
    Why can’t she understand I need to know? If I know something about him, maybe he’ll take us away from this. Better yet, if I can find him, maybe he can fix her.
    When I walk up to my house, I notice Mom’s little silver hatchback missing from the driveway, and I run. I don’t know what’s come over me, but I rush inside, locking the door behind me and heading straight up to her room. Today is the day she works late, but it still won’t give me much time, so I need to hurry.
    I don’t even bother with her drawers or anything like that. We share clothes so I