Imperfect Match (Student/teacher romance)

Chapter 25 - Family ties

JENNA'S P.O.V.

I thought I would feel alot better than I did. I thought I would feel as though a burden would be lifted from my shoulders, like I didnt have to carry the weight of the world anymore. I thought I would feel broken, as though I had left everything behind. Honestly, I thought I would feel something. The truth was I didnt feel anything. I sat staring out the window at the blur of unfamiliar trees and houses and I didnt feel a thing.

I could see there were a few people staring at me on the bus. At first I thought they could all read my mind, but it dawned on me that I did look strange. My hair looked terrible and the judgemental stares from the teenage girl in front of me probably meant she thought I was going through a stupid hipster phase. The bus pulled up the street from my house and I hurriedly got off, breathing with relief.

It was almost completely dark, the street lights the only thing keeping me from being in complete darkness. I kept my eyes locked on my feet, watching each step, thinking how crazy it was I could walk without even thinking about it.

"Where were you?"

I looked up startled. Oliver sat on the doorstep, wrapped up in his ugly brown jacket that I had told him to buy while we were shopping one time when I was younger. He looked angry and one thing I couldnt stand was Ollie being angry at me. I froze.

"Where's mum and dad?" I asked.

He got to his feet crossing his arms. I almost laughed at the thought of him trying to be an authority figure.

"You're lucky its me here right now and not them." He said sternly.

I looked down, ashamed. "I went to see him."

His eyes blazed. "What! Jenna, are you stupid? Do you know how much trouble this has already caused? You're dad would go mental if he found out, I'm finding it pretty hard myself to not go there right now and beat the shit out of him."

I flinched. His words seem to cut me deeper than anyone elses. He could make me feel like the worst person in the world but I would still just want him to like me.

"Do you only think of yourself?" He yelled. "Did you not stop and think about what you were doing or how it could affect everyone else?"

I could feel my eyes burn with tears. I clenched my fists to my sides.

"Jenna, you're so stupid! That was my wife's brother-"

"What?" I screamed. He looked taken aback. It seemed as if he had been rehearsing this confrontation over and over in his head before I had come and me retaliating hadn't been part of his plan.

"Jenna, don't interrupt me. I-"

"I understand why dad's angry. And why mum's angry. Hell, I would understand if Allison hated my guts right now for making her brother seem like a pedophile because hes my teacher. This is the first time since you've been married that you've acknowledged my existence!" I screamed.

"And it wasn't even because you were worried about me. It was because you were worried about your wife."

He stared blankly at me, his mouth open shocked at what I had said. I finally felt something, I felt angry. I guess all my repressed feelings of the night were being unleashed on my cousin who had unluckily been the one to trigger it. I stormed past him, seeing out of the corner of my eye the pain on his face.

With my back to him I said in a voice so unfamiliar it was as if someone else were speaking on my behalf, "you can tell my parents if you want, I don't care. You can tell your wife too. I went to see him tonight. To end it."