Train Wreck Girl Read Free Page A

up. I knew I had a long bus ride ahead of me and I wanted two scripts out of Libra’s med center visit. I added, “Can you also tell him that your grades have been slipping because you can’t seem to focus in class?”
    â€œMy grades aren’t slipping,” Libra said.
    â€œYeah, but Ritalin is fun,” I said.
    â€œI’m not your drug dealer.” Libra shot me a dirty look like this was the final word.
    I said, “Please.”
    She said, “I thought we were talking about my mom. And me going to the shrink.”
    I’d already planted the seeds for the drugs, and that was enough. I figured it was time to let her talk now.
    The first thing she wanted me to know was that she absolutely refused to go to the shrink. And not just because of the med center visit. Because, as she put it, “Fuck Mom.”
    So I prodded her to talk more about her mom’s plans. The biggest problem, according to her mom, was that Libra was shacked up in a trailer with me. Even though Libra’s mom had never met me in person, she couldn’t stand me. She couldn’t stand the thought that her daughter was involved with a guy like me: who had never gone to college, had no prospects, no future, no skills, no nothing. I didn’t even have a running car.
    And there was this other thing about Libra’s parents. They were loaded. And not just well off. Loaded. Loaded like Libra would never have to work a day in her life, if she didn’t want to. Loaded like they could’ve bought her this trailer and the property around it and the whole neighborhood around it. Loaded like it was clear that Libra never had to live like this, like the way she lived with me. So Libra’s mom was convinced that this whole affair was just a rebellion against her, that Libra was slumming with me just to piss her mother off. That the sooner Libra got rid of a loser like me, the better. And this was why Libra’s mom wanted Libra to go to the shrink: to get to the core of the rebellion and end it as soon as possible.
    Another thing about Libra’s mom was this: even though we’d never met, I pretty much agreed with her. I was pretty sure that Libra was just slumming with me to get back at her mom. I was pretty sure that Libra would come to her senses when she had one semester of college left, and she’d meet a nice, wealthy business school standout and plot her course for the suburbs. And, let’s face it, I was pretty much a loser with no prospects, no future, and no car.
    The only point I disagreed with was the one about me having no skills, because I was a skilled welder. I’d been a union iron worker for four years. I’d gone to all the classes that the union required of me. I built condos all along Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral. I’d even worked at Kennedy Space Center. And my welding made that possible. And I’d still be doing it now, only I’m deathly afraid of heights.
    But all that’s neither here nor there. Suffice it to say, Libra’s mom was pretty much right about everything.
    Normally, I didn’t want to tell Libra this. I usually bit my tongue when the subject came up. But on this night, Libra threw a wrench in the works. She said, “Mom said she was gonna cut me off if I didn’t end things with you.”
    This stunned me. This was serious. Libra’s trust fund was huge. I couldn’t let her lose that. “What did you tell her?”
    Libra lifted her chin, all proud-like, and said, “I told her she could shove her money right up her ass.”
    â€œWhat did she say to that?”
    â€œShe said that’s it. I’m cut off.”
    I shook my head. “That won’t do,” I said. “You gotta apologize.”
    â€œFuck that,” Libra said. “I can’t be bought.”
    â€œWe can all be bought,” I said. I paused, but not long enough for Libra to interject. “I just… I’m just