Tough Love...

Chapter 1

"Third time, Joshua. This is the third time!"

I rolled my eyes at my dad, who carefully but no-so gently slammed his phone on the kitchen counter. He just got off the phone with the Dean at my school, and I stood in the kitchen, completely taken aback at his presence.

"Oh come on, it's just... you're overreacting!" I finished quickly. He glared at me.

"Skipping school is okay, yes, but when you have a good reason for it. Three times in the beginning of one month though? What do you even do?"

Stay home all day while Oh so patiently waiting for you to come home. "That is none of your business, okay? Just stay out of it. Haven't you ruined my life enough already?"

That shut him up quickly.

Allow me to shed some light on the subject; My name is Joshua Downing, I am a fifteen year old pain in the butt of a daughter to Jack Downing. I am currently in an argument with my dad about me skipping school for the third time this month.

"Josh, I-I'm sorry... you of all people should know that I never meant-" I raised my hand and looked away, wishing he would just shut up.

"I don't need your pity." I spat.

I know he feels bad about what happened with my mom and younger sister, that's why I used it against him. No, I'm not heartless to do that and yes, of course I'm upset, but so what? I learned it's easier to ditch feelings and emotions than to have some pity party with every stupid family member that thinks they know how I feel. I'm not a monster, but 'expressing' my feelings besides anger makes me feel like a baby, and I hate that.

I spun on my heels and stormed upstairs to my room, closing and locking the door behind me. I sank onto my bed and pulled out my phone, deciding to play Don't Touch The Spikes.

My mother and little sister died three years ago in a car accident that involved a sober driver. I thought it would be a good day - no, a great one. I mean, it's only once in exactly thirteen years that people finally realize 'hey, that girl's a teenager now' before saying, "darn teens. Every one of 'em think they all mighty and powerful. Hmph,". So, yes, I am saying that my thirty-seven year old mother and four year old sister died on my birthday. That's not even the worst part. It was my dad that was in the other car. He was talking on the phone with his boss after getting the rest of the day off for my birthday. I can totally understand needing to talk to his boss on his way home from work, but what really makes me mad is the fact that he walked away from his car unscathed. He never even bothered to make sure the people in the other car were okay. He did'nt recognize his own wife's car, which had a Mom sticker on the windshield. It wasn't until he came home to find me sitting at the dining room table with the cake in front of me, alone, that he noticed something was off.

All my mom was going to do was go to Wal-Mart and buy me extra candles and ice cream. I guess Heaven didn't have enough angels on duty to help her or my sister.

Ever since then I kept to myself. I didn't need anyone's comfort, I didn't need to go to the stupid funeral and be reminded of everything I had lost. I even convinced myself that I didn't need support from my friends. In fact, the two best friends I thought I had started to ignore me, saying I changed. Became... violent.

I'm not violent. Yeah, I did change, a lot. I went from girly-girl to tomboy quickly and my 'pink' moods went to dark ones. I stopped listening to stupid boy bands like 1Direction and went with bands like Bastille. In fact, Pompeii, Laughter Lines and Bad Blood are my favorite songs now.

After the enormous changes I went through, I started being... bad. Not your I'm-gonna-set-the-whole-school-on-fire-and-watch-it-burn bad girl but more along the lines of I-have-an-attitude-don't-get-on-my-bad-side. Okay, so maybe I can be violent, but I don't care. I'd take beating the crap out of someone over breaking down mentally any day.

Thankfully I transferred schools. I went from Bridge Weather High to Starling Central High. Yeah, weird names for high schools, I know.

The reason I started skipping school wasn't because I had some bad boy boyfriend and we'd skip our classes together and go vandalize some poor person's car. Actually all I did was go home, where I would normally find an empty house and eat or watch TV since my dad would be at work all day. Apparently he and the Dean are what you would call 'special friends'.

Eventually I fell asleep in my bed, thinking of what it would be like if I stopped being who I am now. Or what it would be like if my family never fell apart. I would quite possibly have friends, maybe I'd even be popular. I smiled on the inside at that thought.

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I woke up to a large amount of sunlight streaming into my eyes from the window on the opposite wall of my bed. I groaned loudly at the headache I had, caused by my phone buzzing noisily, singing a small part of Laughter Lines.

Confused, I picked it up and almost instantly sat up. The first thing I noticed was the time: 10:37 AM. I was late for school, again, but what I saw on the main screen was what made me freeze. I could literally feel my eyes threaten to pop out of their sockets. It was a message from Peyton, my long-lost crush and old friend.

Why is he texting me? I wondered as I opened the text.

Hey Josh. Been a while, huh? Just thought you should know... I'm back. Yay...

What the heck? Peyton Shroder is back? In town? Why? Did something happen? Oh dear Lord.

My mind raced with questions. Why is he back?