School, Friendship, Drama

Chapter 23

Castielle's POV

Xeno went home right after school but I had to stay at school for my Tri-M meeting. (Tri-M is an international music honor society, which recognizes musical achievement, academic excellence and community service.)

The meeting lasted about an hour before Mr. Vale told us we could leave. I gathered my things and grabbed my violin from the cubbie. I walked to the daycare and picked up Ellie. 

"Mommy!" She cheered running from her daycare teacher.

"You're Ellie's mom?" the lady at the front desk asked confused.

"Not really, but I'm the only girl at our house so she thinks I'm her mom." I said sheepishly rubbing the back of my neck.

"Oh I'm sorry." the lady said. "Tomorrow is the last day she can come to daycare." I nodded and left with Ellie on my back. 

"I got a sticker for being good today!"

"Really? That's great Kiddo!"

"I drawed you a picture too!" Ellie said excitedly.

"We'll hang it up in my room later okay?" she nodded and continued to tell me about her day as we got to the end of our street. I looked at our house and saw dad's car and a black mustang, which I'm assuming is my mother's. I turned around and saw the short cut to the park. I looked back and fourth a few times and decided to go to the park with Ellie.

I walked down the narrow path looking around. I saw a few pieces of trash and the bushes and trees looked like they haven't been trimmed for a long time. I walked the rest of the path and sat down at one of the benches near the playground so Ellie could play for a while.

Maybe I could earn a few bucks playing my violin...

I looked around. There were about 6 adults sitting around the benches watching the 10 children on the playground, including Ellie. A few people were walking on the bike trail with dogs or friends. I set my violin case on the ground and pulled it out. I began to play one of the songs for band and a few of the older kids on the playground stopped and looked at me. One of the little girls ran to her mom and pointed to me. I looked around and saw a few of the parents looking too. The little girl ran over to me and smiled. She dropped some money in my case and went back to her mom.

An hour later I was walking back to the house with about forty dollars in my pocket, a smile on my face, and Ellie holding my hand. I walked into the living room and Xeno, mom, and dad were all watching T.V. and talking. I set my stuff down by the door and sat on the sofa.

"Hey honey how was school?" mom asked smiling at me.

"It was fine." I said and frowned.

"What do you two want for dinner?" she asked me.

"I'm not hungry." I said trying not to be rude and looked at the TV.

"You look like you're starving." she said and frowned at me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see my father tense up.

"Would you like to come with me and Xeno to the Chinese Buffet?"

"No thank you." I said and my stomach growled loudly.

"Why not? You're clearly hungry." she scolded me.

"Because I don't want to eat with someone who was supposed to be my mother and left me at the age of 10." I said angrily and glared at her, tears building in my eyes. I got up from the couch and stormed off to the kitchen and grabbed the leftover pizza from the refrigerator putting it in the microwave.

"That wasn't very nice." dad said coming into the kitchen and leaning on the door frame holding Ellie. I heard a door slam shortly after.

"And neither was them leaving us without being told." I said angrily.

My father looked down at the ground and sighed sadly. "She did tell me." he said and the microwave beeped.

"What?!" I asked upset.

"She told me she wanted a divorce. We went to court and they granted her custody of Xeno and I got you." he said full of guilt. "Now she want's custody of you too. That's why she's in town is to convince you to live with her. We both go to court in two weeks. They want you to choose who to go with."

I looked at him tears escaping my eyes. "You knew and didn't tell me." I said quietly trying to process what was just told to me.

He looked at me, guilt in his eyes. "I never wanted to you to find out this way."

"You lied to me!" I yelled angrily. "You told me you didn't know!"

"Cas-"

"No! Just leave me alone!" I screamed and ran to my room. I snatched my violin on the way and slammed my door shut and locked it.

"He should've told me." I repeated sitting aginst the door holding my knees to my chest. I cried for a few hours thinking about how things would've been if he told me.

"I need to get out of here. Maybe I can stay at Aaron's house." I said trying to convince myself it would be okay.

"Mommy?" Ellie asked knocking on the door.

"Yeah?" I opened the door and she hugged my legs. 

"Can I play in here?"

"Sure." She let me go and grabbed one of my old toys.

I pulled out one of my backpacks and put some clothes in it. I put some of my bathroom stuff like my shampoo and a hair brush in the bag. I grabbed my money from my secret stash and counted it. I had about two hundred dollars saved up from allowance and stuffed that in the bag too. I laid down on my bed face-down. 

"Cassy?"

"Yeah kiddo?"

"Why are you packed?"

"Because I'm leaving."

"Can I come? Pleeeaase?" She begged.

"Sure, but we have to be quiet." 

I packed some of Ellie's stuff in my bag as I waited until it was about midnight to leave. I wrote a small note and set it on my desk for someone to find after I left. I put on a black hoodie and put my backpack on. I looked over my balcony and down the street. Nobody was outside and it looked like a big fall. I looked at the tree next to the balcony and sighed.

There is no way I would be able to make the jump with Ellie on my back. I held Ellie while she was sleeping and snuck downstairs and out the backdoor without dad waking up.

I eventually got to the park in town and I sat down still holding Ellie and took out my phone and called Aaron.

It went to voicemail. "Hey Aaron it's Cas. I kinda ran away from home earlier and I really need you right now... Ellie wanted to come too so I let her come." My voice broke out into a sob. I hung up and sat there and cried silently. Why me? Why couldn't I just have the perfect happy family.