Brave (New Earth Saga)

Ch. 21

I'm sure my face showed how wide eyed and shocked I was. I was still processing that he said he'd never regret kissing me. My stomach was overcome with butterflies, as Trent leaned even closer to me, and narrowed his eyes like he was searching.

"Love bug?" He questioned, not even trying to hide his amusement.

And just like that, I was right back to being a living facepalm emoji. He read my embarrassing t-shirt I was surely going to burn after this.

"I didn't know you were coming here," I explained to defend my attire.

"I'm a fan. I think you look extremely cute as a little love bug," Trent joked as he allowed a chuckle to escape.

"Hey! It says love bug, not little love bug,"

"So should I call you big love bug?"

"Noooo. Maybe we can pretend you never saw me in full couch and chill daddy daughter mode!" I snapped, unable to hide my smile.

"So what's your dad saying about everything?"

"I've been pretty successful at avoiding boy talks with Joe. He's tried, but I'm pretty good at changing subjects."

"Well I mean, everything that's been on the web?"

"What?"

Trent pulled out his phone and showed me the humiliating mess of chaos my life had become in the past 15 hours or so. Of course, I was chilling all day with Joe, and had no idea. When I saw just how messed up it all was, I swear I felt like my world was spinning out of control. It was like the saying "when it rains it pours," decided to evolve into "when it rains, it turns into a hurricane,".

First there was an abundance of memes and sketches circulating on all of the social pages pertaining to Trent and I's kiss. Most featured a half eaten human sticking out of a giant's mouth... so yeah, I'm supposed to be that half-eaten human in that equation. Then others showed a giant looking similar to Trent patting his stomach with a caption of someone yelling from inside... guess I'm the someone inside.

Next I saw all the mean tweets and forums under the trending hashtag . This hashtag was trending amongst all of the surrounding high schools, both human and giant. This was so humiliating.

I wished so terribly that this was as far as my life's chaos would go, but, oh how wrong I was.

Apparently this morning, Billy Sharp's father, Ben Sharp, and Aarons's father, Anthony Trust, announced on national news that they were working together to secure the safety of all giant and human children, by calling for more restrictions in regard to cross species adoptions. In other words, it was starting. Ben Sharp was trying to change the law so I couldn't legally be Joe's daughter, and apparently Aaron's father, a human who also supported the species staying separate, was supporting Ben sharp as his lawyer.

Upon taking in all of this info, I felt myself sit down on the ground (desk) and begin to drown out the world. I was beyond tears or panic at this point. I simply felt numb. I was mentally praying that this was all one big nightmare and I'd wake up and life would finally go back to normal. My mom would be back, I'd be back at my old school, and everything would be simple. But alas, everything was not simple, and this was all too real.

I'm not sure how long I sat on the desk, but the next thing I remember was a familiar hand wrapping around my back in a gentle hug.

"Morgan?" Joe said my name in question, with worry clear across his face. Behind him stood an equally worried Trent.

"I'm so sorry sir, I didn't realize she hadn't seen any of it, and then once I'd brought it up..."

"Mother earth kid, we can't catch a break around here," Joe mumbled under his breath.

"Again, I didn't realize-"

"Morgan? Are you okay?" Joe whispered.

I felt tears pool in my eyes as I looked into Joe's dark brown eyes, and shook my head no. No, I was not okay.

Joe scooped me up and practically cradled me against his chest, before politely saying goodbye to a still worried Trent.

______________________________________________________________________

I woke up in a haze, tucked tightly in my bed. Checking my clock it was 8pm. Had I slept the day away? In clearing my hazy mind, and growing more alert, I overheard Joe, who sounded menacing from what I could hear.

"It's a conflict of interest and you know it!" Joe hissed.

I couldn't hear a reply so I assumed Joe was on the phone.

"Absolutely not! You have now proven that you don't even deserve to be in the same room as Morgan. This is why Mel didn't want you in her life!"

A pause, as I could sense Joe was most likely pacing back and forth.

"I don't give a f#ck about what blood runs through your veins, you will never be her father!"