I sit on the sidewalk of the parking lot, jumping up every time I see an SUV entering the parking to the mall, waiting for my mother and checking my watch every few seconds.

“She’s late,” I whisper to nobody in particular, wondering if she would notice my backpack with me and hoping that she won’t ask me why I didn’t leave my things at Mandy’s if I am sleeping there. Maybe I can tell her how I have been really attached to the things I haven’t lost yet, but then again it might make her feel guilty and sad which is the one thing I don’t want at the...