Bleed Until You Heal

2- Breaking The News

"Is there anything at all that I can say or do to convince you not to do this?" She asks me softly.

I shake my head at her apologetically. I knew that this would hurt her but I had to do what I thought was best for my future and this was my best move, I know it. "I'm sorry but no, there's not. Everything is all set. We are leaving next week."

I know that my mom hates Georgia so much because she'd moved there with her husband before I was born. It was a good marriage at first, I guess, but by the time that I was born, it was completely volatile. He was incredibly abusive towards both my mother and my older sister, Sienna. They'd both step in front of him to protect me but I remember a few times where he'd hit me too.

Luckily, Sienna was able to get us out of there when I was seven and we came to Los Angeles, where my mom was originally from and where her family is. Her family then helped her put my dad behind bars for a while. I'm not sure what happened exactly while he was in prison, but I know that he died in there.

Anyway, that's why my mom doesn't want me to go to Georgia but I'm not sure why because it's obviously not any more dangerous than being here or anywhere else. That guy is dead so it's not like he's going to try and come after me or anything. I'd applied to a few art schools around the country, and so did Jasper. We knew that going to the same college wasn't mandatory but when I got a full ride to Atlanta and Jasper got a sizable scholarship as well, we knew that it was right for both of us.

I'm not going back just because I want to go back to where I was born although that's a pretty hefty part of it, I'm also going because it's an amazing school and it has both my and Jasper's majors. I put a lot of thought into this. I wanted to be absolutely sure of it before I had to tell my mom.

"Does Sienna know?" My mom continues to fire questions at me.

I nod. "Yeah, I told her when she came down for my graduation."

"Why didn't you tell me back then too?" She asks.

"Because I knew that you'd try to find reasons to get me not to go but I really want to do this," I explain to her. "And I know that you're worried but there's really nothing to worry about. I'm a big girl now, I can take care of myself. I promise."

"You're only eighteen, Jo," She reminds me. "You're not as independent as you think that you are."

"I know that I'm still going to need you," I say. "But I am old enough to decide what I want for myself. You have to respect that, Mom."

"I'll respect that when you realize that Georgia is the last place that you need to be," She frowns at me stubbornly before getting up from the table and fixing her fitted business blazer. "Anyway, maybe we'll discuss this more later but I have to go. I have a conference call with China in an hour."

"Alright," I mumble. "I'll see you later then."

"I'll see you later," My mom says, bending over and kissing the top of my head. "I love you, Joey."

"I love you too, Mom," I tell her before she leaves the room and then the house.

I know that it'll be hard for her, being all on her own since her two kids are now all grown up. Sienna moved to Seattle after she graduated from UCLA forever ago and now I'm moving across the country to Georgia. I understand how that could be upsetting but it's not like she's going to wallow away in her self-pity or anything. Her job is really time consuming and she's still in touch with her brother, my uncle Chase, so it's not like she's going to be completely alone or anything.

At least, that's what I had to repeatedly tell myself to make the guilt go away.

To get my mind off of my mom's sour reaction to the news, I decide that I should start packing up all of my stuff. I almost want to go drive over to Jasper's house to see how he's doing with breaking the news to his parents but I know that this is really important to him and he needs the day to be with his family so I'll give him his privacy.