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RENNA WAS LEANING AGAINST THE side of the plastic table beside Pope and Kiara, watching Rose and Ward walk down from the porch stairs across the yard. They were attending the annual Midsummers event, the girls having been invited through their parents and Pope being in charge of the barbeque. It was supposed to be a time to escape from your mind, to run around carefree, but Renna's mind was too far away to even try.
She couldn't get the image out of her head. After Renna had travelled back home once the police had taken two of her friends away, she expected to be alone. No one was, until her mother showed up. She heard the front door open and close from her room, which was normal, until she heard another voice too.
She walked down the stairs with a frown on her face, her hand gliding against the polished, wooden railing. She stepped into the kitchen, expecting to see her mom with her dad or her brother, but she didn't, in any way, expect to see what she saw.
She saw her mom locking lips with another man.
She gasped out of surprise, the two instantly pushing away from each other. As soon as her mother saw her distraught face, she sent the man out of the house before trying to explain it to her daughter.
Renna didn't particularly like her dad at that moment, the built up anger and recent fights being partly to blame, so she wouldn't have blamed her mom for wanting to take a break. However, he was still her dad, so she felt obligated to defend his honour for at least part of a minute.
After a small discussion, they had came to an agreement. Renna wasn't to tell her father, and her mom wasn't to hook up with another man - unless their relationship was put on hold.
The teen didn't know how to feel; she felt bad for feeling angry towards her mom, since she's been nothing but nice to her, yet she felt betrayed when she saw her pushed against the counter by an unfamiliar face. She didn't know if she could keep the secret that was begging to spill, but she had to. She could tell her friends, she knew that, but would she be able to keep it from the man living in their house? Probably not.
Kiara and Pope sensed that something was off with the girl, but they pinned it all on the two boys they thought were still locked in their cells. Typically, they would have found her dancing amidst the crowd or sneaking alcohol from the bar, but on that Midsummers day, she did nothing.
The whole night was boring for her. Whilst she danced with Kiara, which was fun while it lasted, she couldn't stop thinking about her mother who was dancing with her dad beside her, and the boy still unrightfully locked up in jail. He was all she wanted to see, and unbeknownst to her, she was all he wanted to see too.
After Kiara had wanted a break from swinging around the grassy floor, Renna had turned in her spot, needing to find someone - or something - to distract her from her spiralling thoughts. Luckily, someone did, as she felt someone knock into her from behind.
