Page 4 of Brutal King

Where do I begin?

I had no idea where to go. Then I noticed the large sign pointing students in the right direction. Mom pulled her white Mercedes over to the curb to let me out.

“Are you sure you can handle moving in,” Mom asked.

“I can. Look at the other students walking in. They don’t’ have their parents helping them.”

“Then promise to call me as soon as you settle in,” Mom said.

“Yes, Mom. I promise I’ll call the minute I settle in. Yes. Yes. I promise.”

“Here,” Mom said, “I’ll go park the car and help you move into your dorm.”

“I’ve got it, Mom,” I said.

“You don’t need me anymore,” Mom said with chagrin. “My little Katrina is all grown up now and no longer needs her mother.”

“And you should be proud of that fact,” I said gently, trying to console her mother. “Remember Annie? She’s two years older than I am and she still relies on her mother for everything. Would you prefer that?”

“No,” Mom said. “But I just wished you hadn’t grown up so fast. This is all happening too fast.”

I grabbed my suitcase from the backseat of the car and dragged it out. “You promised you wouldn’t do this, Mom.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mom said, wiping away a stray tear. “Give me a kiss and go on with your life.”

I kissed Mom, gave her a warm hug then stepped back to watch her get back in the car and drive off.

“They sometimes have a hard time letting go, don’t they?” A sultry feminine voice said.

I looked over to see one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen. Tall, slender but with curves in the right places, blonde, blue-eyes, large plump lips. Barbie comes to life, complete with a summery floral sundress, pink heels, and pink luggage.

“Try to understand a Chinese mother. One day she’s pushing me to go out on my own. The next she’s pulling me back to stay at her side.”

She laughed and held out my hand to her. “Sounds a lot like my mother,” the Barbie lookalike said. With the brightest and whitest smile I’d ever seen, she turned to me and nodded. “I’m Layla, by the way.”

“Katrina,” I said. “But you can call me Kat. Kat Lee.”

“Nice to meet you, Kat.”

“You’ve got a bit of a twang,” I said. “Where are you from?”

“Texas,” she said. “Amarillo.”

I let out a long whistle. “Ooh. That’s a long, long way from here. I’m just from San Francisco... barely an hour away from here.”

“So, I guess you’ll be going back to visit with your parents pretty often,” Layla said.

“Oh, no,” I said. “I need to concentrate on my studies. I’ll be living here in the dorm and I’m quite happy about that, although a little nervous at the same time. You? Are you staying at the dorm?”

“Yes. This is my first year here, so I’m a little nervous, too.”

“My first year, too.”

“Oh, that’s great,” Layla said. “We can be nervous together.”

“And lost,” I said. “And whatever first years go through. At least we’ll have good food here.”

She laughed a deep throaty hearty laugh that contrasted well with her blonde blue-eyed beauty. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

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