Love, Drugs, and High School

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Annabelle

          Everything else was a blur—saying good bye to my mother, the car ride home, everything. Nothing made sense to me.

          My uncle kept sneaking looks at me to see if I was ok, thinking that I didn’t notice, but I did. Why did we have to drive all the way out here for me to do this? “You could have just told me,” I finally said, breaking the silence.

          “Your mother wanted to have a part, Annabelle.”

          Right, she wanted a part in my life since she’s ‘taking a vacation from me.’ “And don’t think of it the way that you are, Annabelle. The both of us have been doing the best that we can. You know that we both believe it is best for you to be away for a while.”

          Sighing, I just accepted his answer. What else was I to do?

          The second that we got home, I helped my uncle carry in our bags and then bolted to my room. I did feel bad leaving my uncle alone all the time, but it wasn’t like I was in the state of mind to sit down and watch a movie and pretend that everything was ok. I knew it was starting to get old—me not being ok. What was I supposed to do? I pretended every day, but I’m no Hollywood actress.

          “Annabelle, your mother has called you four times and you haven’t answered the phone! Please call her back.” He tried to sound scolding the way that a parent should, but it just wasn’t working for him.

          Taking my phone out of my pocket, I found that my mother calling wasn’t the only thing I had missed. There were a few missed calls from Ryan and at least ten text messages from Linzie.

          Calling my mother back, she just wanted to make sure that I was home safe. Next, I called Ryan back.

          “Annabelle?” He asked, trying to hide the surprise in his voice.

          “Hi,” I said meekly, mesmerized just by hearing his voice. “Are you ok?” were the first words out of my mouth after.

          There was a long pause, but he finally answered, “What are you doing tomorrow?”

          That didn’t answer my question, but I responded, “Nothing, why?” It was a Saturday. I never had plans for anything.

          “I want to take you somewhere.” His voice was starting to shake, scaring me. I knew how he was when he was nervous and unstable.

          “Ok,” I agreed, “Can you come over tonight?” I asked, knowing that if he didn’t, he would probably be going to some other party.

          “Uh…for a little bit…maybe…”