ᴍʏ ᴍᴏᴍ ɪs ᴡʜᴏ? ✔︎

Confrontation Pt I

| Cody |

"Are we still on for tomorrow?" Kristie asks me as we stand outside my front door.

"We are." I return the smile she sends my way, and hold my breath as she leans in, changing direction at the last second to kiss my cheek. I feel the heat of a blush rising from my neck, and I know she sees it too when I hear her chuckle softly.

"Bye, Cody."

I mutter a pathetic 'bye Kris' as she walks back to her car, and drives off after one last look my way. I sigh in bliss as I put my keys in the lock, and opening the door.

Closing it behind me, I turn around to see both of my aunts, standing with their arms crossed over their chests, staring at me. Jeni is smirking, but Jeri isn't, she has an eyebrow raised in question and then it hits me - they were watching.

"Hi Aunt Jeni." I greet the relative that I didn't know was here. I put my 'game face' on, trying to act as innocent as possible.

"Mhm. Hi Cody. Who was that?"

"Who was who?" I ask, stalling poorly as I try and think of a way out.

"That's Kristie." Jeri throws me under the bus.

"THAT'S Kristie?! Well done Cody!" Jeni moves to high-five me, only to be stopped by Jeri, who is now frowning, her eyes narrowing on me.

"Are you two dating?"

"No." I answer shortly, trying to escape this interrogation and find my mother.

"Are you sure?" Jeni laughs at my confusion. "It looks like ya'll are dating."

"We aren't dating." I adopt an irritated tone, this truly starting to get to me. "Where's my mom?"

I walk through to the kitchen, where Jeni told me my mom is, and I find her along with Hope and Jack. I take my jacket off, and my best friend immediately spots my new ink.

"That's sick, Maxi!"

She inspects the tattoo while I hold eye contact with my mom. I can see that she's not entirely happy about it, but I also don't care. I'm still pissed at what Joanna told me. Not being able to be in the same room with her, I leave and go to my bedroom, Jack following behind me.

| Alex |

"So, why did you not say anything?" Hope eyes me as she sips on her bottled water.

"Say nothing about what?" Jeri asks, as she, Jeni and Kelley enter the room, all taking a seat at the table.

"Cody got another tattoo."

"Another?" Jeri asks, Jeni also looking confused.

"She has three now and I didn't say anything because I know she gets them as a...stress relief." I bite my lip as my mind begins to wander, thinking about all the different reasons that my daughter could be unhappy. There's just too many.

"She was with Kristie, could she be the reason she's stressed?" Jeni asks.

"No way, she was so smitten when she said goodbye, plus that kiss?" Jeri answers, catching everyone's attention.

"What kiss?" Kelley and I ask at the same time, echoing one another.

"It was an innocent kiss on the cheek, relax MamaBear." Jeni laughs but Jeri still looks unhappy.

An hour or so later and Jeni, Jeri and I are cooking dinner. Hope and Kelley took Jack out for a meal to give us some 'family time', which I'm thankful for. Getting Cody to talk has been difficult since she came back from her time with Kristie. The only time she would talk was when she spoke about her new tattoo and the artist, Autumn, that gave her it.

When we finish cooking, we serve the food and call Cody in from the living room. She seems hesitant, but ultimately concedes and sits with us while Jeni shoots me a questioning look that I shrug in answer to.

During the meal my sisters and I carry the conversation, and the longer that Cody stays quiet and withdrawn, the more worried I become, so when Jeni and Jeri offer to wash the dishes, I take the moment to talk with my daughter, but she has other plans.

"Can I have Mr Atkins phone number?" Not expecting her to ask for her Social Worker's number, I hesitate. "Please?" Although she asks 'nicely', it comes across as sarcastic, which just riles me up. I hand her my phone, trusting her to go to my contacts and take the number and she does. She gives me my phone back, mumbling a small 'thank you' and she leaves the room, her phone to her ear.

"What was that about?"

I only shrug in response to Jeri's question, I have no clue as to why Cody is acting the way she is.

| Cody |

"Yeah, I'm sure...I only want his phone number. Yeah. It's about time we spoke." I try and keep this conversation as short as possible, I only want his number, not to have an hour long conversation with the man who is paid to 'keep an eye on me'.

"Thank you, Mr Atkins." I genuinely thank him when he tells me the number and I write it down as he recites it. Hanging up on my Social Worker, I pace my room slightly, taking relaxing breaths as I go, trying to supress any panic attacks from forming.

I dial the number which I haven't saved. I don't know if I want his number in my phone, and I don't know how my mom would react to it. I hold the phone to my ear, listening as it rings.

"Hi, it's me, Cody...I think we should meet. Sure. Yeah, tomorrow at lunch is fine. Okay, see you then. Bye."

| Jack |

Oh, this is awkward. Cody is quiet, and anyone with eyes can see that Alex is worried sick. Cody isn't talking to her, Jeri, Jeni, even me! I know - ME !

I don't know what's going on with my best friend, but I know there's something wrong, especially when she tells me that I don't need to drive her to school. When she takes her skateboard and leaves without saying goodbye, I make my way to the kitchen to find my friends' mom.

"Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong with Cody?" When I ask, she sighs and scratches her forehead.

"I don't know, I thought you would have known." She yawns out, obviously she didn't sleep very well last night. "Can you watch out for her?"

"Of course."

I hug Alex goodbye, as well as my own mom and Kelley, who is quickly becoming 'My Other Mother' which she's thrilled about. I say bye to Jeni and Jeri and I go to school.

Classes go by as usual - painfully slow. When lunch rolls around, it's a relief. I make my way out of class, looking for Cody and when I see her heading for the front door of the building, I follow her. I begin to feel like a stalker, or the worlds worst spy, when I end up tailing her all the way to a small diner in town. I wait outside as she enters, taking a seat in a booth, across the table from a man who looks familiar, but I can't place it. I take my phone and snap a picture of the two, sending it to Alex.

| Cody |

I know Jack is following me, but we don't get a lot of time for lunch and I need to make it to the diner and fast, so I let her follow me. The diner is finally within my sights and I feel the panic begin to rise, and I start to wish that I had, at the very least, told my mom what I was doing today, who I was going to see.

I take one last deep breath as I open the door to the diner. Stepping in, I order a coffee before I sit with him. Finding the booth he's at, I slide into the seat across the table, finally getting a good look at the man.

"Hi dad."