“Why, what is wrong with what I’m wearing?” Angie asked with attitude as she continued to fill her mouth with yogurt.

“I’m not having this argument with you again Angelica. Go upstairs and get changed and wipe that bloody makeup off your face. You are eleven years old, you do not need to be wearing makeup. And hurry up, we are going to be late!” Bette raised her voice and stared her daughter down.

For a  few seconds Angie stared back at her mother with the filthiest look she could conjure. As she heard the words “Fuck” come from her mother’s mouth, she knew that she had pushed too far. With attitude she got up, stormed past Bette, picked her bag up and made sure she stomped up every step back to her bedroom.

Twenty minutes later, Bette was driving toward Angie’s school and the car was filled with silence.

“Angie” Bette said as she momentarily took her eyes off the road and looked at her brooding child.

“What?” Angie snapped back.

“Don’t speak to me like that Angelica,” Bette said in rather a docile tone. Angie looked over at her mother and could see that she appeared more upset than angry. Angie loved her mother more than anything in the world and she hated seeing her upset, though making her angry didn’t seem to have any impact.

“I’m sorry mum, what did you want to say?” Angie asked her voice also a little softer and showing less attitude.

As she kept her eyes on the road, Bette explained to Angie that she did not want to have these kind of mornings with her and that in fact she didn’t like where there relationship was heading. She wanted to understand what had made Angie change so much and so quickly and what seemed to suddenly make her such an angry, sullen girl. Angie just sat and rolled her eyes as her mother went on about her behaviour and how she was not going to tolerate it. If she had to, she would start handing our harsh punishments, something that she had never had to do before with her daughter. Finally they pulled up in front of the school and Angie couldn’t be more relieved to get out of the car and escape her mothers incessant talking. The young girl stepped out of the car, taking her bag and shutting the door without saying a word. A few steps away and the sound of her mothers car horn made her face begin to glow bright red. She quickly turned around, walked back to the car and opened the door. Her dark angry eyes like Bette’s pierced her mothers.

“What now?” Angie whined.

“I just wanted to say goodbye and I hope you have a good day.” Bette replied, thinking back to six months ago when Angie wouldn’t have stepped out of the car without kissing and hugging her mother.

Angie rolled her eyes “Ok thanks mom.” she said with a little sarcasm as she closed the door and walked toward the school buildings.

Bette pulled away from the school shaking her head. She could not believe how much her daughter had changed in the past 6 months. All her friends and sister noticed it, but everyone just kept putting it down to growing up, hormones, you know all those teenage things that every parent dreads. 

“Obviously everyone failed to warn me of this stage in a child’s life when I decided to become a single parent!” Bette said aloud, yet to know one in particular.

Finally just on time Bette pulled the car into her parking spot just outside her own Gallery. She turned off the ignition and quickly looked at herself in the mirror.

“God, I look like shit!” she thought as she rubbed her fingers around her mouth and eyes.

She had just had the whole of Summer off, though working from home in the last four weeks. She and Angie had begun the Summer with a holiday traveling around parts of South America. At least once a year Bette took her daughter away on an overseas trip. She was fortunate enough to be quite a wealthy woman and she wanted her daughter to have the best and that she did. Quickly applying a little more lipstick to her lips, Bette excited the car and headed toward her Gallery and what was to be the start of a new year.