Mina

No

"Hey Squirt!"

"Hey Mike." I let him pull me into a hug.

"Matt said you came into the bar the other night." I nodded my head, still folded into his arms. "With a boy."

I laughed as he released me. Mike was the dad I wished I had.

"Dad you don't even know. She's been hanging out with Owen Savas." Max said excitedly as he came back to the table where our books were spread out.

I shook my head, annoyed at how Max was so enthralled with him. Like he was a god or something.

"You mean the kid on the soccer team that had that accident?" Mike asked Max. "That kid had a lot of promise on the field."

"The very one dad." Max said.

Mike took a handful of Max's fries, shoving them in his mouth as he read from a textbook I had open. It was my anatomy book, open to a page on the muscular system.

"You ever have fun these days?" Mike said not looking up from the page.

The question wasn't for Max. He knew Max had plenty of fun. The question was for me. And the answer was no.

"Of course I do."

"She's lying." Max said.

I shot him a glare. "Yes I do."

"Sorting books at the library and doing homework is not fun." Max countered.

"All I'm saying Mina..." Mike interjected. "Is that you're going to be 50 one day looking back at high school and I don't want you thinking about all the things you missed out on."

"I'm not missing out on anything." I tried to reassure him.

"You're just a kid Mina, you're supposed to be a little irresponsible and reckless." He added.

I didn't have a choice in the matter. I wanted to leave, I had plans to leave, I told myself constantly that I would. But at the same time, I could see myself not leaving. Not at least while Penny was still alive. If I left, no one was there to help her. Carla had a family and a job and a life of her own even though she tried to help as much as possible. It was just the two of us. And as much as I didn't like Penny, she was still my mom. And she hadn't left me. Not like my dad.

"I think Max is enough for all of us." I smiled, trying to hide the fact that I wished I could take his advice.

Sometimes I wished I didn't have school, college, a job, and Penny. Sometimes I wanted to tag along to a party with Max and Chelsea. Sometimes I wanted to skip school and do whatever my friends did when they skipped. Sometimes I wanted to make mistakes. But that wasn't my life and whether I liked it or not, Penny was my responsibility.

Max shoved me in the shoulder. "I'm not that bad."

His dad laughed. "Says the kid that "accidentally" shoplifted."

I burst into laughter at the memory as Max all but screamed.

"I DIDN'T MEAN TOO!" He defended. "I forgot I was holding it."

"You forgot you were holding a season box of The Office?" His dad said amused.

"Yes!" Max threw his hands in the air distressed. "It's not as hard as all of you think it is."

"I don't know I think it takes a special kind of stupid to forget what's in their hands." I quipped.

Mike high fived me from across the table, Max getting more wound up the longer we teased him.