Read Online Just Another Girl by Melody Carlson - Free Book Online

stupid?
    â€œLily?” I call again. “Where are you?” No answer. Then I go into the kitchen, and to my relief she’s there, but her face and hands are covered with dark smudges, almost as if she’s planning to do a performance in blackface, which I should warn her is not PC.
    Then I see that she’s gotten down my art supplies. She’s been into my charcoals, which are smeared all over the countertop now. And she’s been drawing in my tablet too. What had started out to be a good-looking tree now looks like a black tornado. “Lily!” I scold her. “What have you done?”
    â€œNothing.”
    â€œYou got into my things.” I now observe that all my charcoals are broken and virtually useless. “You ruined my charcoals!” I shake my finger at her. “You ruined my drawing!”
    â€œNo!” she shouts back at me. “I did not!”
    So I grab her by the shoulders and drag her over to the mirror that’s by the door. “Look at yourself, Lily. You’re covered in black. You got into my things!”
    Then, just as Lily starts to cry, our mother walks in and stares at us like we’re a couple of sideshow freaks. And maybe we are.
    â€œWhat is going on here?” she asks with highly arched brows.
    â€œAster being mean!” Lily cries. “She hurting me!” “I am not. Lily got into my art supplies and made a huge mess.”
    â€œI can see that, Aster. But where were you when this happened?”
    â€œAster was in her bedroom talking to that boy!” Lily shakes her finger at me now. At times like this I think that in a previous life Lily must’ve been a member of the Gestapo or KGB.
    â€œYou have a boy in your bedroom?” my mom asks.
    â€œI was talking on the phone.”
    Mom just shakes her head. “Well, go help Lily get ready for bed, and you can clean this up later. I’m exhausted.”
    â€œGet to the bathroom,” I command Lily after Mom disappears to her bedroom at the other end of the house.
    â€œQuit being mean!” Lily shouts.
    â€œYou haven’t begun to see mean.” Then I give her a slight shove toward the direction of the bathroom.
    â€œDon’t push me, Aster !”
    Now, I know that I need to take a deep breath and mentally count to ten or maybe a hundred. I know, I know, I know from years of experience that getting tough with Lily will only make everything much, much worse. Still, I feel so angry at her, not just for messing with my art supplies and making a mess of the counter and herself. I feel like she’s messing up my entire life.
    â€œSorry,” I say to her as kindly as I can muster. “It’s just that I feel bad that you got into my stuff, Lily. You know how much I like doing art—”
    â€œI like doing art stuff too.”
    â€œI know. And we were doing art stuff together, Lily.”
    â€œBut that stupid boy called.”
    â€œHe’s not stupid.” I soften my voice again. “Remember that cute boy who gave you a ride to the pool so you could be with your friends?”
    â€œThat boy?” She actually seems interested now.
    â€œYes, that boy. His name is Owen, and he’s my friend.”
    â€œYour boyfriend?” She gets that mischievous twinkle in her eyes now.
    â€œHe’s a nice boy, Lily. He’s my friend.”
    â€œIs he my friend too?”
    â€œYes, of course. He helped you get to the pool, didn’t he?”
    She seems to consider this, then nods. “Yes. What’s his name?”
    â€œOwen.”
    â€œOwen,” she repeats as I gently guide her toward the bathroom. She says his name a few times like she’s seeing how it feels on her tongue. “Owen. I like that name, Aster.”
    Then I fix a bath for her and tell her she has ten minutes to get clean. Fortunately, this is something that Lily can do for herself, for the most part anyway. “And don’t get