Read Online American Babe by Babe Walker - Free Book Online

drinking (out of a can . . . ?). “Cara had her physics tutor today because Rebecca, the tutor, wasn’t able to do their regular Wednesday meeting this week.”
    â€œSucks,” I said.
    â€œI shouldn’t have to go to her on the weekend. It’s cruel and unusual.”
    â€œPoint taken, Cara. Get over it now. You can’t get another D this term so we gotta do what we gotta do, okay?”
    â€œYou actually can get Ds and be totally fine,” I assured her.
    Maybe that’s my mantra?
    â€œBabe.” Veronica and Donna said at the same time with scolding looks. Cara and Knox both lit up.
    â€œOkay, okay. Just kidding. Listen to your mom or whatever. Always listen to your mom.”
    â€œBabe, can you pass the salt?” Veronica asked me.
    â€œSure.” I said with a smile as I passed it to her with the pepper—you always pass the two as a pair; my Tai Tai once slapped me for passing the salt alone. “See, I never had a mom to listen to.” I then said with a glance to Donna who was strategically not looking at me, “I had a dad, though, he was fabulous, still is. One day you’ll meet him.”
    No one uttered a word. I still hadn’t taken any food, which I guess was rude of me judging by the look on Veronica’s face, so I scooped some rawsagna onto my plate and moved it around. What was her damage?
    â€œAnyways, so isn’t it weird that you guys are so different? Like, Veronica, you’re basically the opposite of Donna. I mean, you look like her as fuck, but your—”
    â€œLanguage, please,” Veronica said.
    â€œSorry, AF. But your lives are so completely opposite of each other’s. Donna is never in one place, never sleeping with the same person, never addicted to the same drug, and you’re, like, super normal.” They both seemed a little disturbed by my statement, but I cared zero much. It was the truth! It’s not my fault that Donna was a huge mess of a nonmother. An absentee mom, if you will. “And Knox is the opposite of Cara,” I continued. “No? It’s almost as if they have different parents or at least different moms or something. Like, Knox is so me and Cara is so not. Don’t get me wrong, Cara, you’re very interesting and, like, totally a real American teenager and that has its merits, but it’s just so not me.”
    The table seemed to be looking anywhere but at me. Donna just shook her head as if I was an embarrassment. Whatever, Donna.
    Hey, I was feeling this way so I just put it out all there. Fuck it. Not to mention, I was a little bit boo whore aboutVeronica ignoring me before dinner and then telling me to alter my speech. I don’t alter my speech. That’s just not a thing that I do or am told to do. I say what I mean, Veronica . Did she not know I was a writer? Words are, like, my thing.
    â€œKnox,” Donna said, “I feel like you’re tall for your age. Are you taller than the kids in your grade?”
    â€œBeing tall is chic,” I told him, but he wasn’t tall.
    Knox smiled at me. “I guess I’m kind of tall? The other boys in my grade are pretty big. They all play sports and so they’re definitely bigger than me.”
    â€œAre there bullies in your school?” I asked, concerned.
    â€œNo,” Veronica interjected. “There aren’t bullies, right, Knoxie?”
    Knoxie? . . . Cringe.
    He forced a grin. “No, Mom. Not really. They’re pretty strict about it now.”
    â€œWhat would they have to bully you about anyway?”
    What? Was she blind? Veronica seemed oblivious to the fact that living under her very own roof was a delicate flower of a boy whose interests were fashion, health, and Babe Walker. I mean, this boy was clearly a gay princess goddess angel from heaven and EXACTLY the type of fragile flora that idiot grade-school boys like to prey on. I didn’t say