Chapter 8

                I saw Reina again later that week, only this time, we were in the waiting room of Dr. Roberts’ office. Julianne had just gone inside for her scheduled twelve o’clock appointment, leaving me to wait for her alone with Reina. I cautiously took a seat beside her, glancing over at the newest issue of some gossip magazine she had in her lap. Once Reina’s eyes met mine, I had no choice but to offer her the smallest smile. “Hey.” I simply greeted.

                Reina seemed to be in a lighter mood this time, returning me a lopsided smile. I noticed that she wasn’t wearing any lip gloss this time. It was the first time that I’ve seen her without any lip color on. An eerie silence filled amongst us for the longest time. The only thing that you could possibly hear was the sound of the clock ticking.

               “Listen Everly,” Reina started off, breaking the tension, “I just wanted to apologize for how I acted earlier this week. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”

                I shook my head. “It’s fine, really.”

                “No, it’s not.” Reina insisted, sighing as she stared at her limp fingers with sadness overcoming her eyes. “You don’t have to treat me like I have some illness just because my brother told you that I’m bi-polar. I’m still a human being and no person should make another feel unwanted, so I’m sorry.”

                I’d never actually realized how intelligent and mature Reina was, especially for being a thirteen year old. I remember when I was thirteen; I was never this well-spoken like she was. I gave her a smile, a genuine one this time. “You’re forgiven.”

                Reina smiled back before her smile turned into a devious smirk. “So, let’s recall.” She paused. “What exactly were you and my brother doing before I came downstairs the other day?”

                My eyes widened as I realized where this conversation was heading. “Uh-uh,” I stuttered, feeling flustered all of the sudden, “we were talking.”-which actually wasn’t a lie.

                Reina snorted, rolling her eyes to clearly show that she didn’t believe me- not for a second. “Yeah, right.” She said sarcastically. “And what, are you going to tell me now that pigs can fly?” Or that the sky isn’t blue? Come on, I know you two were fondling. People don’t just press up against each other like that to ‘talk’.”

                Fondling? What does that even mean?

                “We weren’t doing anything, I swear.” I assured, finally feeling my body return to its normal temperature.

                Reina showed that she gave up, letting out an exhausted sigh. “Okay, fine.” She said with defeat. “But, you’re good for him.”

                I blinked before chuckling nervously. “Right, of course.” I mumbled. “His grades have been improving a lot in calculus.”

                Reina rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “I didn’t mean as a tutor, Everly.” She sighed. “I meant as a friend, possibly a girlfriend.”

                My eyes widened as I choked on my own saliva. I turned to Reina with disbelief as she released an amused laugh. I shook my head profusely, feeling my cheeks warm up. Even though the idea of Jace and I together sounded nice, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. Too much was happening right now for the both of us. “No, no, no.” I stated. “You’ve gotten it all twisted.”

                “Have I?” Reina smiled. “You’re the first person that I’ve seen made him smile since he found out about my diagnosis. That says a lot for itself.”

*

                My dad had always been the most controlled person I’d ever known. Even through the toughest times, he still kept himself composed. When my grandfather died two years ago, I expected him to finally crack, but he didn’t. My father held himself together, despite the fact that his own father passed away. Maybe that was the reason why I’ve always looked up to my father- because of his fearlessness. Nothing could ever taunt him enough to make him show the slightest bit of weakness, and I looked up to it.

                That’s why I was so unpleasantly surprised when I arrived home one night to find my father completely outraged. When I first got home, I noticed that there was another car in the driveway, the same one I saw when my mother’s boss came over that one day. When I stepped inside, I immediately saw the house trashed; there were shards of glass scattered across the floorboard, and some pieces of furniture were overturned. My first instinct was, my mother would never allow the house to be this messy. But then, I heard my father’s voice booming from upstairs. I quickly jogged up the stairs, afraid that something had gone wrong.

And boy, did things go wrong.

                “You couldn’t stop being a slut for just a second, could you?!” my father cursed.

                He stood there in front of my parent’s doorway, looking taller and scarier than ever. It seemed as if his entire figure filled the doorframe.

                I finally spoke up quietly. “Dad, what’s going on?”

                The noise had stopped.

                My father turned around to face me, anger washing away from his expression. His face was still red from being so provoked, but when he saw me, he calmed down, even if it was the slightest bit. “Everly, honey,” my father sighed, “you shouldn’t be here.”

                I slowly inched towards my parent’s bedroom, leaning my palm against the wooden doorframe as I peered inside. My heart wrenched in pain when I saw my mother with beige sheets wrapped around her bare body, standing beside a very naked man that was not my father.

                George Collins, the exact George Collins that was my mother’s boss.

                My mother looked as if she had been crying nonstop- eyes bloodshot, looks of regret flashing across the same hazel orbs that I inherited from her.

                Before I could even utter a word, my father pressed his palms firmly against my shoulders, escorting me out of my parent’s bedroom. I felt emotionally strained- completely numb and out of this universe. I looked up to my father as he hovered over me, feeling as if I was seven years old again, not seventeen. I felt so young and hopeless, like no matter what I did, nothing could fix the mess that my mother got herself into.

                She cheated on my dad.

                “Everly, I don’t want you to get caught up in all of this.” my father whispered, holding me tightly. “I’ll fix this all myself. When it’s all settled, we can leave and you’ll come with me, okay? I want you to go to your room now, lock the doors and put on some headphones.”

                I frowned, not wanting my father to feel all of the pain in this situation. I wanted to tell him that I could help him get through this. But judging from the intense look in my father’s eyes, I knew that he stood by what he’d just said. My shoulders fell as I let out a ragged breath. “Okay.”

                The following night came with shouts and sounds of glass shattering.

                All I could do was plug headphones in my ears and turn the music as loud as it could go so that any noise would be blocked out.

*

                I didn’t go to school for a few days following the incident between my two parents. I’ve been keeping myself distant from the world that was still moving on around me while I had to deal with my parent’s nonstop bickering. By the end of the week, I finally came out from my room and for once, I wasn’t just coming down for a glass of water or to take a shower. I came down to leave the house and go to school.

                But, greeting me that morning by the front entrance was a few suitcases, looking as if they were packed to the fullest. My lips parted as I felt my heart drop. I knew it was coming, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon. I slowly paced down the stairs, entering the kitchen, where my mother sat, looking so sad and tired, weakly stirring her mug of coffee with a silver spoon. Her head snapped up when she saw me, surprise etching across her face. A small smile tugged on the corners of her lips, but I didn’t budge. All of this was her fault and I was fucking pissed about it.

                “Honey, you’re finally out of your room.” My mother’s voice cracked. “I was starting to worry.”

                I held my composure, keeping a straight face. I took in a deep breath, narrowing my eyes away from her just before I saw the pain register across her face. “Where’s dad?” I asked.

                “He’s just using the bathroom before he leaves.” My mother whispered.

                My eyes snapped towards her just as my father entered the kitchen from the bathroom, staring between my mother and me. I gulped, feeling as if the world has just come crashing down on me. My breathing became heavy and quick as I struggled to speak. “D-dad?” my voice broke. “You’re leaving?”

                My father closed his eyes and for the first time ever, I saw him broken.

                “I wanted to tell you, but things have just been so hectic.” He sighed.

                I blinked back the tears, fighting with myself to hold them in. “Where are you going?”

                “I’m going back to live with your Uncle Rodney until I figure out where I need to settle down.” My dad said, approaching me to hold me into a tight embrace. I let my tears stain the shoulder of his sweater as he pecked my head lightly, giving me a sad smile. “Be a good girl, Everly.”

                Uncle Rodney lived all the way in Nebraska. I knew that this was going to be the last time I would see or hear from my father for months.

                “I thought you said you wouldn’t leave me here.” I croaked.

                I ignored the hurt expression from my mother past my father’s shoulder. As of now, I was hating her, hating her more than anything. She did this to our family.

                “Your mother and I had a long talk about who you would go with and the both of us came to a mutual agreement.” My father explained. “We both think that it’s only best for you to have a stable home and finish your education before anything else.”

                There was a sudden honk coming from our front lawn. I closed my eyes, knowing that in just a couple of minutes, my dad was going to be gone. “Dad, don’t go.” I pleaded, trying one last time.

                My father dropped his head, looking down at the kitchen tiles with shame. “I know that leaving you would make me a failure at being a father, but I promise you’ll see me soon.” He assured, kissing my forehead. “I’ll keep in touch.”

                Just like that, he was gone.

*

                “I’m really sorry about what happened to your parents.” Julianne said the next morning when I saw her at school.

                I hadn’t spoken to Julianne for nearly a week now, but it was mostly my fault. I ignored all of her calls and text messages, mostly because I just couldn’t manage anything without breaking down. I turned to Julianne with a sad smile nodding slowly. “Yeah, me too.” I muttered. “How did you find out?”

                Julianne played around with the crust of her sandwich, looking as if she had no apparent appetite. “Before your dad left to Seattle, he was crashing on the couch at our place every night.”

                The news from Julianne came to me with a surprise because I didn’t know about that, at all. I assumed that he just went to sleep in the guestroom without my mother, but I didn’t know that he was staying with Julianne’s family. “Oh.” I whispered.

                The bell rang above us, signaling that if he didn’t go to class soon, we would be late. Julianne gathered her books in her arm, holding them tightly before she took off to her next class. “I’ll see you at lunch.” Julianne nodded. “By the way, Jace has been looking for you.”

                I frowned, tilting my head to the side. “What for?”

                Julianne shrugged, giving me a weak smile. “He’s probably just worried about you.”

                I found Jace by my locker after classes later that day. It was precisely fifteen minutes before three, before I was supposed to meet Jace at the library for our regular tutoring sessions. Jace was leaning against the locker beside mine, one leg kicked up just below his knee. He was, to my surprise, deeply indulged in a novel that I recognized as a required book to read for English. I caught his attention first, with a sarcastic remark, of course. “Wow, Jace Wasson is actually reading.” I said amusedly as his head snapped up from the text. “What kind of madness has the world gotten into?”

                Jace snapped his book closed, not wasting any time in bombarding me with questions. “Where have you been this past week?” he asked, his eyes glowering angrily. “Do you know how many times I’ve tried reaching out to you?”

                Memories of my father leaving me just a morning ago came rushing back in my mind as I tried my very best to push them away. “Why does it matter to you?” I snapped.

                “It matters because I thought something happened to you!” Jace retorted. “I kept asking Julianne all throughout this week about you but she wouldn’t tell me anything. Do you even begin to wonder how much that worries me?”

                I pursed my lips, gulping as I shifted my gaze away from his intense stare. “Well, you shouldn’t worry so much.” I muttered. “We aren’t even considered friends.”

                There was a long silence between us before Jace let out an internal groan, wrapping his arms around my waist protectively. It took me a while to realize what he was doing, but when it finally sunk in, I felt my cheeks turning blotchy and red.

                Jace Wasson was hugging me.

                “W-what are you doing?” I whispered, my tone not as sharp as it was beforehand.

                “I consider you my friend, okay?” Jace muffled into my hair, pressing me tighter against him. “And even if you don’t want me to, I care about you, a lot. So don’t ever scare me like that again, okay?”

                The feeling was completely strange and unfamiliar.

                I’ve never had anyone verbally tell me that they cared about me.

                “Okay.” I promised.