Slammed

want you thinking it’s like that.”
     
    She turns and faces me and takes my hands in hers.
     
    “ I don’t think anything, Layken. But, if it really isn’t like that, it would explain the obvious tension between you two,” she says.
     
    “ It’s only obvious to you.”
     
    “ And that’s how it shall remain,” she says as she pulls me forward.
     
    When we reach the table, all eight eyes are focused on me. I want to run.
     
    “ Damn girl, you look good,” Javi says.
     
    Gavin glares at Javi and then smiles back at me. “Eddie got hold of you, did she?” He wraps his arm around Eddie’s waist and pulls her to him, leaving me to fend for myself.
     
    Nick pulls a chair out for me and I take it. I glance up at Will and he gives me a half smile. I know what it means. He thinks I look pretty.
     
    “ Alright we’ve got four more performers for round one. Next one goes by the name of Eddie. Where is he?”
     
    I look at Eddie as she rolls her eyes and stands. “I’m a she !”
     
    “ Oh, my bad. There she is. Come on up Ms. Eddie,”
     
    Eddie gives Gavin a quick peck on the lips and bounces to the stage, her confidence pouring from her smile. Everyone takes a seat other than Will. Javi takes the seat to my left and the only available seat at the table is to my right. Will hesitates before he takes a step and finally sits.
     
    “ What are you performing Eddie?” the emcee asks her.
     
    She leans into the microphone and says, “Pink Balloon."
     
    As soon as the emcee is off the stage, Eddie loses her smile and goes into her zone.
     
     
     
    My name is Olivia King
     
    I am five years old.
     
    My mother bought me a balloon . I remember the day she walked through the front door with it. The curly hot pink ribbon trickling down her arm, wrapped around her wrist . She was smiling at me as she untied the ribbon and wrapped it around my hand.
     
    “ Here Livie, I bought this for you.”
     
    She called me Livie.
     
    I was so happy. I’d never had a balloon before. I mean, I always saw balloons wrapped around other kids wrists in the parking lot of Wal-Mart , but I never dreamed I would have my very own .
     
    My very own pink balloon.
     
     
     
    I was so excited! So ecstatic! So thrilled! I couldn’t believe my mother bought me something! She’d never bought me anything before! I played with it for hours . It was full of helium and it danced and swayed and floated as I drug it around from room to room with me, thinking of places to take it. Thinking of places the balloon had never been before. I took it in the bathroom, the closet, the laundry room, the kitchen, the living room . I wanted my new best friend to see everything I saw! I took it to my mother’s bedroom!
     
    My mothers
     
    Bedroom?
     
    Where I wasn’t supposed to be?
     
    With my pink
     
    balloon…
     
     
     
    I covered my ears as she screamed at me, wiping the evidence off of her nose! She slapped me across the face as she told me how bad I was! How much I misbehaved! How I never listened! She shoved me into the hallway and slammed the door, locking my pink balloon inside with her. I wanted him back! He was my best friend ! Not hers! The pink ribbon was still tied around my wrist so I pulled and pulled, trying to get my new best friend away from her.
     
    And
     
    it
     
    popped.
     
     
     
    My name is Eddie.
     
    I’m seventeen years old.
     
    My birthday is next week. I’ll be the big One-Eight . My foster dad is buying me these boots I’ve been wanting. I’m sure my friends will take me out to eat. My boyfriend will buy me a gift, maybe even take me to a movie. I’ll even get a nice little card from my foster care worker, wishing me a happy eighteenth birthday, informing me I’ve aged out of the system .
     
    I’ll have a good time. I know I will.
     
    But there’s one thing I know
     
    for sure.
     
    I better not get any
     
    shitty ass pink balloons!
     
     
     
    When the crowd cheers for her, Eddie eats it up. She’s bouncing up and down on the stage and clapping along with the crowd, forgetting all about the somber poem she just performed. She’s a natural. We give her a standing ovation as she comes back to the table.
     
    “ That felt so awesome,” she squeals. Gavin throws his arms around her and picks her up off the ground and kisses her cheek.
     
    “ That’s my girl,” he says as they sit back down in their seats.
     
    “ That was great Eddie, guess you’re exempt,” Will