Free The Loverboy by Miel Vermeulen Page A

beauty.”
She smiled nervously and asked “Won‟t it hurt?”
“Nah” he said, “it‟s only a small one.”
She thought about how she would hide it from her mom and
thought about saying no for a second but didn‟t want to
disappoint him. She sat down as he gave the piece of paper to
the tattoo artist.
The artist looked at her and frowned, “Is she eighteen? If
not I need a parent‟s permission” he asked.
Jake took a one hundred dollar bill out of his pocket and
gave it to him “Here‟s her ID” he said.
The artist shrugged and went to work. It did hurt. It hurt
a lot but she bit through not wanting to show weakness to Jake.
When it was done she had a beautiful blue butterfly on her right
shoulder, no more than an inch or two in size. The artist
covered it with Vaseline and gave her instructions on how to
care for it and they left. She felt weird but thought it was
really cool at the same time. For some weird reason it seemed to
give her confidence and it was proof that her and Jake belonged
together. They drove off and headed for her apartment.
He stopped at the usual place around the corner and she
gave him a long kiss goodbye and slid out of the car. When she
entered the apartment she saw her mom at the kitchen table with
tears in her eyes.
“What‟s wrong?” She asked her mom.
“Aunt Clara died” her mom said sadly.
Aunt Clara had been her mom‟s only sibling. They had never
been close but had the same hard childhood. After their parents
had passed away they only spoke on the phone a few times a year
and maybe saw each other once every other year as Aunt Clara
lived in Saint Louis. Kim didn‟t even remember seeing her last.
She knew Aunt Clara had been sick with cancer but didn‟t know
how bad it had been. Her mom didn‟t speak much about her family.
“I have to go to the funeral” her mom said, “I am leaving
tomorrow afternoon and will be back on Wednesday.”
“You can come if you want” she said.
Kim shook “no thanks, unless you need me to” she said.
Her mom shook her head.
“I‟ve arranged for Ally to stay at Maddie‟s house from
school. She can take the bus with her and her parents were ok
with it” her mom said, “You are old enough to stay by yourself
if you want. You aren‟t seeing this Jake anymore, right?”
Kim shook again “No, haven‟t seen or talked to him since
that night” she lied.
“I guess you could see if you could stay at Annie‟s” her
mom offered.
“I‟d rather stay here” she told her mom not wanting to have
Annie cover for her again.
“Ok, I‟ll call to check on you” her mom said, “Make sure
you are home by eight every night.”
Kim nodded and gave her mom a hug and told her she‟d be in
her bedroom doing homework if she needed her. She went into her
bedroom and got out the phone and sent a text message to Jake
giving him the news. Ten seconds later she received the
response.
“Great, I‟ll come over and cook for you. Call me when she
is gone” it read.
She smiled, that would be great she thought. Then she would
be home when her mom called but they could spend the whole night
together.

Chapter 10:
The next day she rode the bus home for the first time in
weeks. She wanted to be home quickly to see if her mom was gone
yet so she could call Jake. She entered the apartment and to her
dismay her mom was still there.
“I was just about to leave” she said “I just wanted to say
goodbye. There is fifty dollars on the counter for anything you
might need and the fridge is full so you should be fine. Call me
at Aunt Clara‟s if you need anything, the number is on the
fridge.”
Kim nodded without saying anything and her mom hugged her.
“Don‟t do anything stupid while I‟m gone, ok?” her mom
said, “and no hooking up with anyone.”
She didn‟t mention Jake but Kim knew that was who she
meant.
“Ok” Kim said.
She had giving up counting the lies. Lying was getting
easier and easier and she was actually getting good at it.