Chapter 10
Plans Change
“Well lets go, I can’t wait for your dad to see you!”
Acacia and her mother were the first to arrive. They had no need to wait in line and went to the front.
“Hello, Mrs. De Luca.” Said the cute hostess. “Mr. De Luca said to save you the fireside table.”
“Thank you Christy.” Iris replied. “Oh can you have, Darrel bring us a good merlot as well.”
“Of course Mrs. De Luca.”
It wasn’t long before Iris got a text from Dana, saying they had just arrived, and asked if they were already here. Iris texted her back with instructions to head to the Fireside table.
When Wes arrived at the table he wondered who the bronzed hair girl was at the table, she was kind of cute. He decided to sit across from her, and maybe get to know her. Then it dawned on him. Where was Acacia? He looked at Acacia suspiciously. She stared back at him in annoyed confusion.
“What” she asked.
“Acacia is that you?”
“In the flesh.”
“Wow, you look well, really” he stopped himself from saying beautiful “really different”.
“Yeah I was thinking about going for a Mohawk wig, but it just didn’t match the dress.”
Wes laughed. “No I mean a good different. Healthy.”
“Your right as opposed to dying girl, yeah this look is better.”
“Have you met my sister Farrah?” He was glad to change the subject.
“Oh, my gosh you’re a doll” She said to Farrah.
Farrah’s face blushed. She had never been called that before and she knew it was good.
“Thanks.” Farrah said.
When Bocca reached the table he too was taken aback by Acacia. His eyes got a little watery when he approached her. “It has been a while since I have seen you” he said. “You seem happier.”
“I think I am.” Acacia replied.
Drink orders were taken while menus were being passed around. Acacia made Farrah order a Shirley Temple. Farrah had never heard of the drink before, or the actress. Farrah trusted the beautiful girl across the table and excepted that she would like the drink. Wes teased by trying to order a scotch. Peter and Bocca laughed, but the women became a little upset. Wes apologized and said he was kidding. The night was going pretty well, until a waiter came over to talk with Bocca.
“Mr. De Luca, there is an urgent matter sir, I am sorry to take you from your family and guests.”
“Well, duty calls.”
“Your dad works here?” Wes asked Acacia.
“No, he just lives here. Wes you didn’t know? He owns the Casino. Did you not see the name of the restaurant? De Luca Steak House.”
“Wow, no I kind of had no idea. I knew you guys were probably wealthy, but I didn’t know you owned a casino.”
“Well to be honest we don’t. The damn thing owns us.”
“Yeah, I guess so. I had a question, I know this sounds weird, but I have never heard the name Bocca before, except those veggie burgers. Does your dad own those too?”
Acacia was sipping her ice tea when Wes asked this question. She tried as hard as she could to keep the liquid from squirting out of her mouth. It didn’t work. A spray of ice tea ended up shooting Wes in the face. Acacia’s laugh could be heard from 4 tables away. Her mother looked at her with the best stink eye ever as she saw Wes drying his face.
Through broken laughter she said, “my dad’s real name is not Bocca, he is Italian so they kind of all have nick names, his name is Jiordano”.
“Oh, what does Bocca mean then?”
“Mouth. Apparently all my uncles complained he would always tell their secrets, he has been Bocca since way before I was born.”
“Oh, I can see that. I guess having a cool nick name is better than being named after a grandfather you never met.”
“Wesley isn’t that bad. I have heard of woarse.” Acacia said.
“Well, yeah Wes isn’t bad it’s the Milton part.”
Acacia snickered “okay your right, Milton is pretty bad”.
“Thanks.”
“Hey it still is not as bad as my mom’s side of the family have you not made the connection yet?”
Wes thought about it for a second. He had no clue what she was talking about. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“My mom’s name is Iris, my sister is Sage and of course I’m.” Acacia stopped hoping Wes would catch on.
“Sorry am I missing something. I really don’t know what you mean.”
“Really? What is an Iris?”
“A name.”
“No what is an Iris as a thing?”
“A Flower.”
“Good, and Sage?”
“A bush.”
“No not exactly, didn’t you pass Nevada History? What is our state flower?”
“Oh, sagebrush.”
“Yes, and Acacia is?”
“I really have no clue. I have never heard of it until I met you.”
“Well what do you think it is?”
“Probably a flower of bush.”
“Yes, Wes Acacia is actually both trees and bushes and they always flower, so I was named after the Acacia flowers.”
“So your mom named you after flowers because she has a flower name?”
“No, actually every women on my mom’s side all my aunts, cousins and even grandmother have flowers as names.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, all the girls are named after flowers. Except my Aunt Petunia’s girls. She refused to go along with the tradition because she was called Tuna most of her life. I even called her Auntie Tuna, Petunia was just too hard to say.”
“Really, so like you have a Rose and Lilly? Wouldn’t you run out of names?”
“I think that is why I am Acacia, my mom is scraping the barrel for names.”
“I think it is pretty.”
“Glad you approve.”
By the end of the night, everyone was stuffed. The chairs were pushed a little more from the table than when they had begun, and Bocca was even able to come join them the last 15 minutes or so. Apparently there was guest who lost a lot of money and was getting irate at some tables. Security had to taze him after he assaulted a dealer and Bocca had to talk with the police.
Farrah and Acacia hit it off really well. The Shirley Temple was Farrah’s new favorite drink, and Acacia had promised to some over tomorrow and do her hair before school, since it was a late start.
The next morning Acacia showed up in plenty of time to do Farrah’s hair. She brought 3 curling irons and tons of product. She also brought some lip gloss, thinking it was probably okay for a 6th grader. She was wearing more than lip gloss in 6th grade, but she knew better than to put it on before leaving the house.
“Farrah your hair is so long, I could do ringlets and it would probably still fall half way down your back.”
“Well, do whatever you want, I am probably still going to be made fun of today.”
“What do you mean?”
Farrah began the whole story, of her biggest tormentor and the phone call that took place the day before. By the end of it Farrah was fuming. “It is just not fair that people listen to her lies” and Farrah stopped herself “never mind she can’t have my power , people will believe what they want, but I will know the truth and not let it bother me.”
“Farrah if that little bitch excuse my words does what she said she is going to do, you need to tell your brother, or councilor or something. That is beyond bullying, that is really destructive. You need to stand up for yourself, not just sit back.”
“Really how do I do that?”
“Well, I am struggling to answer you. What I would do is probably not what I should tell you to do, so I am not going to tell you.”
“Oh, you think I should kick her ass.”
Acacia laughed, and said “I didn’t say that”.
“I know I read your mind. Well actually it is what I wanted to do, but it is automatic expulsion for fighting now, so I don’t want to cause problems while my brother is working so hard to keep me.”
Acacia felt so bad for Farrah. She was going through so much and here she was brave enough to face this girl, her friends and these lies at school. “You are tough. I don’t know how you do it.”
“Funny, I was thinking that about you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I don’t think I would be brave like you, if I knew I was dying. That is just really scary.”
“Oh, well I think I just had a lot of time to think about it.”
“Maybe I did tool. Maybe that is why I am brave. It is more important to be with Wes than it is to care about what people at school think or say.”
When Acacia finished, Farrah’s hair was layered in curls. Her face glowed as she gazed a herself in the mirror. Acacia handed her a tube of lip gloss, it was a golden pink shade. Farrah put it on and felt really girly, more than she could remember from anytime in her life.
She went to school, willing to take on whatever came to her. She didn’t care if the whole school called her a slut, she was going to work on school work, and hang out with Veronica.
When she got to school Farrah looked for Veronica, she wanted to show her, her hair. She went to the library first. Veronica mentioned that that was where she went before the first bell. Sure enough that is where she found her. Her face was hiding behind a vampire novel, only her small hands and poufy red hair gave her away.
“Veronica.” Farrah whispered.
Veronica peaked over her lowered book. “Farrah” she said, two decibels too high for the librarian across the room. An aggressive hush whooshed from the librarian’s lips.
“Wow, you came today? And your hair it is awesome. Do you have tryouts for America’s Youngest Top Model?”
Farrah giggled. “No, but I did want to see you, and show you. Acacia did it. She is a friend of Dana and Peter’s well her parents are. She is 18 like my brother and she came over and did it. So you like it?”
“Yeah, it looks awesome.” Veronica Said
“Well, you want to go face Missy with me?” Farrah said.
“Holy cow, you are going to do it?”
“What else am I supposed to do? I am not going to hide from her. Then it looks like I really said that. I am going to tell the truth.”
“Okay Farrah, I will come with you if that is what you want.”
“Thanks Veronica.”
When they got to the playground they waited. Farrah new Missy was going to scout her out so she waited. It may have been Farrah’s bigger more voluptuous hair that threw Missy off, because it seemed like it took an extra-long time for Missy and her army to approach the battle field.
“I can’t believe you showed up.” Rachel said.
“Why? I am not afraid of Missy’s lies.” Farrah said this loud enough to draw in a crowd.
“Lies, the only liar is you Scare-Uh.” Said Missy.
“Well, Missy when you called me up yesterday and said that I told Jake I would go down on him you lied. I would never ever do that. I haven’t even kissed a guy yet, and you think I would do that? Especially with Jake, I mean he has touched you, and I can’t stand you.”
“Well that is what you said to him.”
“No actually I told him, I he was dumb for dating Missy Misstress of Evil, and that I was stupid forever liking him.”
“She did say that. I heard it.” Said Layla.
Missy glared at Layla with such intensity that Farrah thought lazer beams might shoot from her eyes.
“You know what Layla, since you want to be a liar like Farrah why don’t you just become her friend?”
“Maybe I will. She didn’t say she would do that. You are lying. You just don’t like that other people like her. You have even said that you would get even with her and her brother for not painting your backpack. You are evil Missy, and I am a Christian, I shouldn’t associate with the devil.”
An ooo came from around the crowd that was still gathering. Missy looked around like she was in shock at the others reactions.
“You know Layla you are just jealous too. You want Jake too, but he is my boyfriend, so now you are going to act like I am the bad guy and make stuff up.”
“Yeah, because Layla is a liar, I heard Farrah say she wanted to go down on Jake in the construction tubes.” Rachel said.
The crowd around had a plethora of noises most of the symphony included shocked inhales, but sounds of disgust crept in between gasps.
“See, I don’t lie. Farrah is the liar because she likes Jake.” Missy said.
“Correction Missy, I liked Jake. Anyone who would have you as a girlfriend is not anyone I would want to go out with.”
“Whatever. You know you are lying because you are so jealous.”
“Hey, Hey,” a boy came from the crowd. “Where is Jake, I bet he would say what was really said.”
“He is not here today.” Missy said. “He had to go see his Grandma, I think she died or something.”
Farrah felt instantly sad for Jake. If his Grandmother did die, she knew how that felt. Maggie was the closest thing she had to a grandmother and if his grandmother was anything like Maggie he would be really sad.
The crowd which had been hoping for a fight, was let down. The closest thing to a fight was a stare down, and the lack of drama cleared the crowed better than tear gas.
Wes was in his own war, a war with himself. He sat outside Salvation Station, fighting with himself to go in. Maybe the women would not know where she was. Wes reminded himself that this was for Farrah, and if his cowardly mother could save her little brother by doing what she did, he could face his mother.
When Wes got in he saw for the first time what the Salvation Station was. It was a thrift store, with a food line. He went to the counter and asked a young girl, she looked at least a year or two younger than himself for Debbie. The girl wore a papoose sling over her shoulder that held a small baby.
“Sure, hold on.” The young mother left the front counter and headed for a door at the back of the counter. “Debbie some guy is here for you.”
An older women maybe 50 came out. “Can I help you?”
“Are you Debbie?” Wes asked.
“Yes, who are you? Wait. Are you Sabeen’s son?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Thought so, you look like her.” This bothered Wes he didn’t want to look like her. “Well hun, whatcha need?”
“I need to get a hold of Sabeen. The state is going to take my sister away if I don’t. I have a lawyer but the lawyer says my mom needs to be involved.”
“You are in luck, she is has been clean this month. She is mopping up the sleeping quarters.”
Wes didn’t realize she was so close. A shiver ran down his back, and left him stuttering.
“I will take you to her.” Said Debbie.
“Okay.” Wes followed the grey haired Debbie through a maze of hall ways. When they reached two large double doors Debbie directed him in. “I will give you some privacy.” Debbie pushed opened the door, let him in and then went back the way she came.
Wes took a step into the large open corridor. There were bunk beds lining the walls on each side. His mother was singing. He couldn’t yet see her, but he could hear the haunting unknown words dancing from her lips. He remembered these words, never understood them but knew she was singing the Koran. His father explained to him once that as a girl she was educated first in memorizing the Koran and that they memorized it as a song. The melody was never the same; it was whatever Allah blessed them with at the time. The sounds transported him back to childhood, a time before Farrah was even around. His mother was happy, happier than he could remember at any time. She would sing like this for him, to put him to sleep or sooth a scraped knee. This woman was a ghost come back to haunt him, in the most gentle way. Sabeen’s figure broke out from a set of bunk beds, her body and mop swayed in rhythm with her voice. Wes felt sad to break up the dream with harsh words, but he was still angry.
“Hello.” He said.
Sabeen looked up. “Wesley, is that you?” She walked across the corridor, through the bunk beds.
“Yeah it is me.”
“What are you doing here? I mean I am glad you have come, is Farrah all right?”
“She is for now, but we have had some problems.”
“Problems, Maggie said there would be no problems if I signed that paper.”
“There wasn’t until Maggie died mom.”
Sabeen, stared at Wes. “She is gone?”
“Yeah, Farrah still takes it hard sometimes. She really loved Maggie. Anyway I need you to meet with my lawyer so I can get custody of Farrah.”
“I will meet with your lawyer Wes, but I plan on staying clean, and going to a program. I am on a list. It is called Step 2. They will let me have Farrah and help me get a job, a house and stay clean. I want Farrah back. She needs a mother. I have been learning that here.”
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