Chapter 28: Chapter XXVII
"You need to read more," said Lyssa.
"I do?" Sunny said pushing her away as politely as she could.
"You're going to fall behind."
"There's such thing called a TV."
Two days later, when the books arrived, Sunny put them on the dresser on top of the other magazines she intended to read. After weeks of not reading, she moved it to the coffee table, where they caught dust until Lyssa, in a fever of tidying the house, moved it onto the pile of flyers back on the dresser. Sunny knew her mother was right. But every time she picked one up, her phone raised its voice, shouting through the cracks between the pink case.
Tap me! The phone said. Look at me!
What? Said Sunny, swiping into a stranger's Snapchat story posted 3 seconds ago. Sunny put in her earplugs and immediately began to chat.
"I'm taking your phone if you don't read these books. I paid for these."
"You can't do that."
"Either that or," she took a moment to gather her thoughts. "If you get your grades up, I'll leave you alone."
"Deal."
"Deal."
***
Selena was looking sexy again. In addition to her scholarly virtues, she was widely acknowledged as hot, rather in the way of a rock star or artist. She was a little sloppy. Her hair was not combed and she didn't even attempt the "statement necklace." Selena favored slouchy sweats, dull patterns, and large hoop earrings. Selena had dressed for a different life.
"Guess what," she said, leaning close in a way that suggested drunkenness.
"Is it Brad again?" asked Sunny. Selena tottered back and wiped saliva from the corner of her mouth.
"We did it."
"You mean--" Sunny paused. "Did you fall asleep in his armpit?"
"No. Well yes. But we're wayyy past that," she said. "He said he wanted to try something new." That something new turned out to be whispering into her vagina while she occasionally remembered to rub the curls on his head. But somehow Selena dressed it up with glittery vocabulary and managed to make it sound cool.
"He whispered poems into your vagina?"
"I know right!"
"Did he do stuff with his tongue?"
"Yes," said Selena, firmly. Sunny moved back, confused at how Selena could have an orgasm over a poem.
"Gosh. That's—I don't know what to say—that's amazing." As if she meant it.
"I think we're getting serious," said Selena, suddenly scratching the back of her head as if a horrifying image knocked into her head. The image was Brad's face as he periodically withdrew to assess his progress and announce each subsequent stanza, proud, like a dog bring the fetch ball back to the owner. He was bored.
"Selena?"
"Yeah. Sorry, what were we saying?"
"You guys are getting serious."
"Mhm," she said, blanking out again. Sweat pooled behind her knees and gathered at her brow. Selena said something about needing to finish her paper and pointed at the exit. Sunny didn't beg her to stay.
***
Report Card season. Sunny wasn't worried. She eagerly opened the envelope on the bus even though the teacher specifically told her not to before her parents had seen it. A piece of thick, good-quality paper. The smell of a straight-A transcript. She could just see the pride on Lyssa's face.
The front door opened and closed. The snow melted into the rug and the envelope in her hand was damp from the flakes.
"Mom!" Sunny took off six layers and advanced into the office. Nobody. "Report cards- report cards are here!" She pulled out her phone and dialed. Seconds later, a robotic voice told her repeatedly that she was on hold, and that the line was busy.
Later in the evening. Lyssa entered without taking off her boots. She was on the phone. It was Camryn, again. Sunny could tell by the friendly tone in her voice that they had become friends.
"Mom--"
"Too tired to talk."
"But you said that if I got my--"
"No." The report card lay on the counter, unopened since.
* * *
Lyssa fell asleep on the couch using a big sweater as a blanket. Sunny could tell that she had been highlighting passages in a book about marketing strategies. Sunny coughed.
"What time is it?" she said, slouching.
"Eight."
"You hungry."
"Yeah."
Cable news blared from the television. They chewed on bread and swallowed gulps of porridge. It wasn't long before they finished. Lyssa stood up, walked around the table over to Sunny as if to embrace her. Sunny tilted her shoulders away. Lyssa backed off in timidity and smiled to save face.
Sunny walked over to the living room, slipped out her phone. Devoted to messaging, she assumed that Lyssa had gone to the office to do her paperwork. She hadn't.
"Get off your phone and talk to me," begged Lyssa like a desperate child.
"We just ate together." Sunny chuckled at Selena's Instagram story and Lyssa took it the wrong way as if she had giggled at a funeral.
"I said, get off your phone. You're on there twenty-four/seven."
"You're too old to say twenty-four/seven." Lyssa crossed her arms, exasperated. She answered with a tilted head warning that said, Watch it, Sweetie. I know you're hurting but that doesn't permit you to take it out on me.
"We're opening soon."
"Mhm."
"We've been waiting for this for so long," said Lyssa. "You'll be there, right? Sunny?"
"Mhm," she said absently.
"It's really going to get better from here. We just really need this day to go smoothing. We can be all close and happy like before," she said. "Who are you texting? Can't you just put it down for just a minute?"
"I'm listening." A large monstrous palm dipped from above as Lyssa ripped the phone from her hands.
"What the hell? Are you nuts?" Sunny turned and snatched it back. "All these degrees and you don't have clue what RESPECT is?" She yelled. Lyssa yelled back unrepeatable things. Lyssa taught in a very old-style didactic method. She tried to edify her daughter more often than not by stretching her vocal potentials.
Sunny collapsed onto the couch and put her head in her hands.
"It's violating when you barge in without knocking."
"Violating? I seriously don't have time for this. You think I want to yell? I have to because it's like I'm talking to a wall. You have become A NONRESPONSIVE WALL." Her voice wasn't soft anymore. "You text, you text and text, and you're never home, and you're always with Serina."
Sunny scoffed, turned to look at the woman straight in the eyes, and said, "You know what. You're annoying AND your red lipstick is totally the wrong shade for your skin."
"What's that have to do with anything?"
"It's got to do with EVERYTHING. Just look at yourself. You're a MESS." Lyssa suddenly looked different—thinner, dryer. Her hair looked wet like she had just gotten out of the shower or just sweat from all the yelling, which made Sunny uncomfortable like a boundary had been crossed.
"You blame me for texting, but just look at you," continued Sunny, pointing at the report card. "Breaking promises." The lines of Lyssa's makeup appeared a little cracked, and when she opened her mouth, which she did before she spoke, she looked unsure and stupid, something she had appeared to be on the day-to-day. She shook her head, ran her fingers through her grey threads, and didn't notice where a strand of hair fell.
***
Winter break, the homework-less days, had begun. Every day unfolded like Saturdays. Not today. The couple was home. They both had quit their jobs because tomorrow was THE DAY. Sunny was bummed because that meant she had to pretend she was studying or folding laundry or doing something productive. That also meant not seeing Selena for the day, which meant she was at risk of falling behind.
The day went on pretty tediously. Lyssa and Hiram hollering at each other and Sunny sitting in her room trying to drown out the noise.
Sunny opened the facetime app on her phone and waited to receive the call. She squeezed out the toothpaste on the brush. She was learning that the Colgate toothpaste brand was a bunch of liars. On the label it said "Whiter in only 14 days", but she had been taking it for a month and still looked like a lemon. Sunny stuck it in her mouth with a heightened urge.
The phone rang, and the screen coughed up a rectangular image of Selena. She was nodding sideways and looking around vacantly, which meant that she was peering at herself in the inset screen rather than at Sunny. They talked.
When Sunny rinsed it out, she patted her face with a beauty blender, then powder, eyebrows, lashes, not because she was going out, but because it bothered her when she was naked like that. She looked up and kept her eyes forward-gazing at the girl again. Sunny couldn't recognize her. There was no Chinese trace anymore. She half-smiled.
"Who was that?"
It was popular.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone