Free My Stupid Girl by Aurora Smith Page A

head and felt her breathe in, like she
was about to talk.
    "My mom told me why you had to go live
with your Grandma," she said quietly into the sky. I sighed deeply and
picked my head back up. Was nothing a secret in that town?
    "Yeah?" I took my hand out from
under hers and folded my arms, leaning against the railing with my elbows. She
didn't fight my hand, but kept our arms locked tight. I willed her to give it
up and go back to the peaceful silence.
    "Are you ok?" She was looking at
me through my curtain of hair.
    "I'm fine." Come on. Leave it
alone. She was quiet for a moment and I thought I was free.
    "Is this the first time you were taken
away from your Dad?"
    I sighed, but I could hear honest concern
in her voice. No point in avoiding talking about it, she probably already knew
anyways. I sat down, my legs hanging over the edge, between the bars. Lucy
settled beside me, nestling her head back onto my shoulder.
    "No; when I was nine I got taken away
for a couple of years. I went to live with a foster family in Kalispell. They
were pretty nice." I answered in a robotic tone.
    "How come you got taken away?"
Her voice was still really soft.
    "When I was nine?" I asked,
knowing exactly what she meant, I was just stalling.
    "Yeah, when you were little. What
happened?"
    "My dad, he’s pretty physical when he
drinks but this particular time he punched me hard enough to pop a blood vessel
in my eye and opened up some skin. Honestly, I don't think he even remembers
doing it. But my teacher saw it the next day at school and called CPS."
    "But you went back to live with him,
right? That means he actually tried to get you back. So he must have wanted you
enough to change, right?" She sounded like she was trying to find the
positive in the situation.
    "Yeah, I guess. I think he felt badly
enough to try to fix it. After that he kept to himself for a long time,
probably afraid he would do the same thing again." I could feel her arm
tighten around mine. It felt safe. Silence again, for a little bit. But then
something else occurred to her.
    "Why didn't you go live with your
grandma the first time?" She asked.
    "I think it was because she is old and
a little strange," I told her, smiling. “They wanted me to go with a young
family that had other kids. But it didn't do much for my social awkwardness,
even though I'm sure that’s what they were hoping for."
    "But they are letting you live with
her now because you’re older and you can pretty much take care of
yourself?" She sounded like she was figuring it out.
    "Yeah, I'm guessing. She is a very
nice woman. I think she and my mom were a lot alike." My voice trailed
off. I realized too late that I had opened up a new can of worms.
    "What happened to your mom?"
Lucy’s voice was almost a whisper. I waited a minute to answer. Lucy didn’t say
anything else; she just waited with me.
    "She died when I was a few months old.
I have no memory of her at all, but anyone who knew her tells me how great she
was." She turned her head as I looked over at her. I gave her the best
smile I could muster up. It wasn’t an un-honest smile, more of an apologetic
smile. There wasn’t a whole lot to say about my mom. Lucy returned my
half-hearted grin with tender eyes then turned her gaze back up at the stars.
    "What about you?“ I hoped I didn’t
sound like I was trying to get the conversation off myself, even though I was.
The beautiful girl next to me smiled and took a deep breath.
    "Well, I'm an only child. My parents
are still married." She looked up in the air like she couldn’t think of
anything else.
    "What are you parents like?" I
asked her, which prompted that obnoxious laugh again.
    "They are total opposites, the pair of
them. My mom is really fun and artistic. She is kind of messy but tries really
hard to be a good mom and wife. My dad is really strict, a straight arrow, but
he is very kind and gracious. He is super quiet.” She paused, and the next
words came out in a rush, like she