A Phone Call From Mom

The red Ford rumbled onto the cracked driveway of Arcolff's house. The car bumped as it hit the almost invisible cracks in the pavement. Jess parked by an old chrysanthemum bush near the front of the house. Erin sluggishly opened the car and jumped out, her shoes landing against the driveway with a slap. Jess was standing by the door holding it open for Erin.
"C'mon," Jess said from the doorstep, "it's freezing here!"
"I'm comin', I'm comin'," Erin replied as she slipped past Jess into the mudroom of the small cottage-like house. She kicked her shoes off. They hit the wall with a bang before falling limply onto the linoleum floor, laces still tied. Erin entered the kitchen, Jess in close pursuit. Erin walked over and sat down on one of the four small chairs snuggled under the miniscule table. Jess went over to the sink and poured two sodas into a tall glasses. He threw the cans away and came over to Erin with the sodas in hand. He pulled a seat out across from her and sat down giving her the tall glass of bubbly liquid.
"He'll be alright. I promise," Jess said to Erin. Erin didn't respond. The telephone rang. Erin ignored it and Jess got up to answer it. Erin sat and looked around. She loved her brother, and her mom, but sometimes she wish she could just leave her life. She didn't mind the leaks and groans from the old house most of the time. She had moved away from her old neighborhood when her father had died. Her mother had been unable to pay the mortgage on their old house, so they had been forced to move here. The house was fine. Erin actually sometimes enjoyed the cozy feel of the fire as she watched Full House snuggled underneath her favorite blanket on the sagging couch. The house didn't bother her that much. What did bother her was the teasing she had to endure at school. The kids had made up nasty rhymes and nick names for her. One group of girls had even made up a jump rope song about her. Erin, Erin, she ain't no baron;Cries about daddy, no one carin'... Erin just wanted to scream at them, tell them to shut up and stop being so nasty... Jess burst her thoughts as he entered the room and scraped his chair out from where he had messily left it.
"That was mom," He said, "she's on her way home."
Erin smiled.