Julia's Daughters Read Online Free

her seventeen years.
    I walk up to her, my feet so heavy I can barely lift them. I stop. She continues to bounce the ball. She’s been bouncing the same ball for weeks. I wonder if she knows how much the bouncing annoys me. Probably.
    â€œYou said you were expelled for smoking a cigarette, Haley,” I say. “Dr. Carlisle says he expelled you for possession of marijuana and what appears to be prescription painkillers he found in your backpack.” I hold up one of the two Baggies the principal handed to me. “Where did you get Percocet?”
    â€œLinda. Don’t worry.” She bounces the ball again. “She’s still got plenty.”
    I want to snatch the bouncy ball in midair and throw it. Hard. Possibly bounce it off my daughter’s head. Or maybe the snooty secretary’s . . . or the arrogant principal’s. I take a breath. I have to stay calm. Haley’s been through so much. I can’t “lose my shit” as she would say. I take another breath. “Dr. Carlisle could have called the police, Haley. You could have been arrested for this.” I shake the Baggies of pills and marijuana at her.
    â€œNah.” She doesn’t look at me. “They’re trolling for new students for next year. He’d never want that kind of thing in the newspaper.” She tosses the ball against the wall again, a slow, taunting motion. It bounces. She catches it.
    The repetitive sound grates on my already strung-out nerves. I feel light-headed. I can’t remember when I last ate something. Yesterday at lunch time, maybe? “We’ll talk about this at home,” I say. “With your dad.”
    She doesn’t respond. She just bounces the ball again.
    Tears well in my eyes and I glance away. I’m tired of crying. I wish I could stop. “Come on,” I say. “Let’s go home.”
    Haley takes her time getting out of the chair, picking her backpack up off the floor and slinging it over her shoulder. She’s the living-color epitome of the clichéd sullen teen, or in black-and-white, in her case.
    Haley walks into the main office and out the door.
    â€œPlease sign her out, Mrs. Maxton,” the secretary tells me.
    â€œShe’s not coming back. She’s been expelled.”
    The woman offers a perfunctory smile from her desk. “Rules are rules.”
    I sigh as I walk over to the counter and sign Haley out. It takes less energy than arguing with the secretary.
    I find Haley waiting at my car. It’s new. Ben bought it for me in January for my forty-second birthday. I had wanted a sportier car, one less mom-like than my old minivan. I’d been so happy when he drove the little Toyota RAV4 into the driveway. It had everything I wanted: leather seats, GPS, sunroof.
    I hit the unlock button on my keys. When I get in, I can still smell the scent of new leather. It’s funny how something that had been such a big deal could so quickly become something furthest from your mind. I haven’t thought about the car in weeks. Forty-seven days.
    I throw the Baggies onto the console as Haley gets into the front passenger seat, taking her time. I wonder if I get stopped for speeding and a cop sees my weed and pills if he’ll arrest me. I wonder if I’d put up an argument. A jail cell seems appealing right now. If I go to jail, Ben will have to deal with Haley. I’ll have to deal with an orange jumpsuit. I almost smile. Caitlin had been a TV addict. One of her favorite shows had been a Netflix series about a woman in jail for a crime she’d committed years before. Caitlin had dressed last Halloween as the main character, Piper Chapman. The orange jumpsuit is still in the front hall closet.
    It’s funny the things that go through your mind.... She’d looked so cute, my daughter dressed as a convicted felon.
    I start the car because it’s warm inside, but I just sit there for a moment, my hands on the steering