The Dumped Club

1- Memory

***

I had been reassured that it was normal to be confused but nevertheless, I was completely clueless and it made me all kinds of uncomfortable. Everyone was giving me time to catch up but it was getting frustrating. All of a sudden, from a sunny summer day, I had been transported months into the future, a few days before my fourteenth birthday. It took me a long time to process everything; A stranger embracing Mum, my step-mum seven months into pregnancy and my "growth spurt".

If it weren't for the new acne outbreaks; I would've been happy. My shoulder-length chestnut hair had grown a few inches, I had grown much taller and I no longer needed to look up so I could see people in the eyes. I didn't need my green eye lenses to see clearly anymore but that was it. My face was still in a square shape and the high cheekbones I had wanted so much were non-existent. My lips were still chapped and my eyebrows were still a mess. Maybe I had grown on the teenager scale but I was still rock bottom on the appearance scale. Great.

I was scared to sleep that night, in fear that I would be suffocated by the demons of oblivion once again so I opted to watching trashy reality shows on my phone. The nurses caught me at one in the morning and gave me a pain killer so I was knocked out for the night.

I carefully stood, slipping a thick jumper over my head and taking extra care with the bandage as Amy filled me in about the stranger embracing Mum.

"His name's Paul. The lamest joker out of all of Mum's ex-boyfriends and they met in September. Martin is alright with him but me and you aren't the biggest fans of him."

"We're not?"

"You'll see later."

"OK, well now that we've kind of got two 'step-parents', who do you prefer?" I questioned.

"Probably Katherine. She's way more laid back than Paul, even if she is pregnant. That doesn't mean that I love spending time with Daniel, I still can't stick him!"

Silence filled the atmosphere while we signed out of the hospital and headed to the train station but my brain had already started making connections. I still had a long way to go until I got everything back.

At least I could remember Daniel, our annoying step-brother who always knew how to piss off both of us, but as long as I was out of his way, he was too.

We sat down when the train had arrived and the man named Paul shuffled in his seat. He bit his lip and tapped his fingers on the table separating us and his eyes danced to the scenery outside. After a while, he loudly exhaled and turned to glance at Mum. I was obviously making him slightly uncomfortable but I studied him very carefully out of the corner of my eye.

"Hope, uh, perhaps you're not really sure who this man is," Mum began and my eyes were on them. "This is Paul McLean, my boyfriend. You'll soon get to know him a bit more."

I gave them a quick nod and continued to stare out of the window. Martin was sleeping and Amy was texting someone. I just wanted to be alone with my thoughts so I ignored all of them and waited for the train to pull into our town. I could see why Amy and I disliked him. He tried to break the ice, which was comforting in some way, but it was just awkward. I will try though, only not to have Mum glaring at me and complaining about how hard he's trying. It was only half an hour's journey and Paul left after we got off the train.

"What do you feel like doing today Hopie?" she asked, holding Martin's hand as Amy unlocked the door.

I shrugged. I really didn't feel like doing anything today. "Sleeping I guess. I probably have to get on with homework."

"Do you feel like meeting up with Alice and Sav?"

"I dunno. Wouldn't it be kind of awkward?"

"Maybe for the first week or so. OK, let's just have a lazy day in and you can talk to them tomorrow."