V.O.I.C.E

.Chapter Thirty Six.

Chapter Thirty Six            Carter

“You bitch,” I hissed at Isabella. She had done this on purpose, hoping to catch us doing something like this so our parents could see. I wanted to walk over to her a slap that grin off her face and then yell at her. She just couldn’t leave us alone.

“Get in the car now,” said my dad calmly, not a good sign. More like the silence before the storm hitting. Without waiting to see if we would do as he said, he turned and started walking away. I looked over at Eva, who was glaring at Isabella. If looks could kill that girl would have been dead months ago from all the nasty looks I had seen Eva giving her.

We slowly followed behind my dad through the school, taking a side exit so we wouldn’t have to go back through the crowd of classmates, parents and others who had seen the play.

I thought the car ride the day I had kiss Isabella had been awful, but it was nothing compared to this. I slid into the back seat without saying a word. Nobody was speaking. My dad looked furious. Joyce just looked upset.

I didn’t even bother to look at Eva as the car started and we drove out of the parking lot. I kept my eyes on my hands, which were twisted in my lap. My gut felted like it was twisted to, I felt sick. The tension in the car felt like a storm brewing. It felt like it was going to rain soon but it hadn’t started yet. But it would.

He pulled into the driveway and turned off the car. He sat for a second before he said,” I’ll be waiting in the living room,” and got out of the car and slamming his door shut.  We all hesitated for a second, evenJoyce did, before we got out and closed our door softer then he had. Every step closer to the house I took the more the knot in my stomach twisted, making me feel even more sick.

I pulled Eva to a stop while we were still outside. “I love you. No matter what,” I said to her.

She smiled at me and said, “I love you, too.” I closed the short distance between us and gave her a hug. Feeling her arms around me made me feel calmer. We just stayed like that for a minute, leaning on each other and giving the other strength for this storm we were about to walk into. When Eva finally pulled away, I took a second to compose myself before I followed through the front door.

The living room light was the only light on so I followed it, knowing my dad was already in there waiting for us and I didn’t want to keep him waiting if he was already mad.  I found him sitting on the couch with Joyce beside him, her legs crossed.

“Sit,” my dad said when he saw Eva and I standing in the doorway. I was almost shaking. I had never seen him so mad or even raise his voice slightly so I had no clue what was about to happen. We did as we were told and crossed the room and sat on the love seat together. “How long has this been going on?” he asked, still sounding calm.

“A few months,” I answered honestly.

“And you didn’t think we wouldn’t find out? How did you even expect us to react to this? We walked in on your kissing your sister, for crying out loud,” he said, his voice getting a little louder near the end.

“We didn’t want to hurt either of you, I swear. I’ve had a crush on Carter since he moved here but never could get the courage to ask him out. That night I found out he was going to be my step brother, I was heartbroken because I knew I could never be with him if I wanted you to be happy. And so I tried- we both tried- to forget about our feelings but we-” Eva was saying.

“You didn’t try hard enough! I won’t allow this to continue,” my dad yelled, finally reaching his breaking point. The storm had finally started.

“You can’t-” I started to say but was cut off.

“Oh yes, I can. I am your father, and Joyce is your step mother. Therefore you cannot date Evalyn. I don’t want to hear any more, I don’t even want to see you for the rest of the night. Both of you, go to your rooms,” he said calming back down a bit.

I opened my mouth to say something more but Eva grabbed my hand making me look at her. She shook her head telling me to drop it. There was no way my dad would listen to anything any one of us would say right now.

We both stood to leave the room and I looked at Joyce who was sitting beside my dad with her hand in his, much like mine had been on holding onto Eva’s seconds ago. She hadn’t said a thing since we had left the school.