***1st Place Winner in Teen Fiction for the Undiscovered Writer Awards***
***One of the EarnestyWriterAwards favorite female leads***
Lulu's mom is sick and Lulu desperately wants to be free of all her troubles so she convinces herself that she no l...
On Sunday, when they woke, it was well past noon. Again, her father's car wasn't in the driveway, but she figured he'd gone into the office in an attempt to avoid her. Matty was quick to suggest they eat lunch and she happily accepted. They spent the rest of the day together at his house where they watched movies with Matty's little brother, Jacob, and their parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Rivers had been so happy to see her, and the five of them had a lovely dinner, reminiscing about all the summers they had spent together at the beach. Lulu felt so comfortable and at peace with them that she couldn't help thinking this is how it was supposed to be always.
By eight, she was home, but her father still wasn't, and when she saw his car gone, a tiny knot of worry began growing in her belly despite the fear she had of seeing him again.
On Monday, she debated whether or not to call the police and report him missing, but decided he would be back tonight. He had to be.
At school, Zac was also missing. He hadn't shown up on Monday or Tuesday, and by Wednesday, Lulu was sure something had happened to him.
It was easier to worry about the boy who hated her than the father who hated her.
Wednesday was usually the day they met to do their English work together and she wondered if he would show. She was still feeling embarrassed about the scene she had made at the beach so instead of calling him, she went to their usual meeting spot in the library to see if he was there.
Walking into the library, Lulu scanned the room for his mop of hair and came up empty. Still, she made her way to their table, passing the reception desk and the computers which separated the entrance from the number of tall bookshelves, and sat on the wooden chair. Her backpack felt heavy on her shoulder so she rested it atop the dark table and pulled out her copy of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Ms. Denisov had them analyzing and rewriting Darcy's letter to Elizabeth, in which he confesses to her that it was he who separated Mr. Bingley from Jane, breaking her heart in the process. It was one of Lulu's favorite parts of the whole book because she got to see a completely different side of Darcy. He wasn't the egotistical, stoic man everyone was intimidated by, but rather someone who cared fiercely, though silently, for the people he loved.
After reading the chapter twice, Zac still hadn't shown. It was time for her to leave, and Zac clearly wasn't going to show up so she got up and left the library. Outside, the wind was getting colder but she welcomed the chill. It helped clear her mind as she inhaled the salt in the air. She could almost hear the crashing of the waves from afar, calling out to her.
The sun was hanging low, washing the school in pink and gold that reminded Lulu of cotton candy. If she wanted, she could reach up to the sky and tear a fluffy piece off.
Smiling at the thought, she walked towards her bike which was chained to a rail by the parking lot. There were only a few cars there, looking a lot more inviting than her bike and she knew that soon, she wasn't going to be able to keep riding her bike to school.
She climbed on, but paused before leaving. The thought of going home and seeing the driveway empty again scared her as much as seeing her father's car again.
Instead, her fingers reached for her phone and quickly texted Ava to ask what she was doing.
-Sorry Lulu! I'm at work tonight. Tomorrow I'll be free and we can do whatever you want!
Sounds great!
She tucked her phone back into her pocket after sending her text and sighed as the sun crept closer to the horizon.
Tonight, Matty would be working late with his dad and since she hadn't told him about her own father, she didn't want him becoming suspicious since they had already hung out for three nights straight.
Still, since he hated Gemma at the moment, he had no one to do homework with and maybe he would buy her excuse that she just wanted to help. Giving in, she reached for her phone again and as she was scrolling through it, looking for Matty's number, she came across Zac's.
She stared at his name until the letters didn't make sense anymore. Would he be home?
Above her, the sky had begun to cloud and tiny drops of icy water were falling upon her head, helping her decide. Pushing the bike forward, she rode through familiar streets, past her block, past Matty's, and towards the other side of town.
By the time she got there, the sun had already set and her body was shivering from the cold, already regretting having come. The light gray jacket she wore did little to shield her against the bitter chill. Tiny water droplets clung to her short hair, but thankfully, the thick clouds had broken up, leaving only a taste of what would soon be a full blown storm.
Walking apprehensively to the front door, she debated whether she should just turn back; knowing Zac, he would probably just kick her out anyway.
Within, she heard the doorbell chime as her frozen fingers pressed the button. The door opened almost immediately and before her stood Liam, dressed in a white button down, a pair of khaki pants, and a look of utter disbelief.
He looked as if someone had punched him in the face. And then she remembered, she had punched him in the face. The memory of that day came back to her and her cold face warmed with a fresh wave of embarrassment.
His jaw still bore a light yellow bruise but thankfully the swelling had already gone down. It was the first time she had seen him properly since that day. At school, whenever he spotted her, he would quickly duck his head and walk the other way, and during Spanish, he always had an excuse for not showing up.
Word had gotten out that it had been a girl who had punched him but no one knew who and the people that were there that day on the beach had, surprisingly, kept mum.
"What do you want?" he demanded, recovering just a bit of his courage.
"I came to see Zac," she rubbed her hands together for warmth. If Liam was still angry, which there was no doubt in her mind by the look in his eyes, he would never let her through the threshold.
"He's not here, so you can go now," he moved to close the door but she stuck her foot out to keep it from shutting.
"Please, Liam. Listen, I'm not sorry for what I said at the beach. I'm not even sorry for why I hit you," she said the words without thinking, and his face was indignant. "But," she quickly continued, "I know it was wrong to hit you, and for that, I am sorry."
He looked at her for a minute, a hundred emotions playing on his face like a screen. She could pinpoint the outrage, irritation, and slow-coming surrender in his features until he finally stepped aside and let her through the door.
"He's in his room—upstairs, to the left."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
This chapter is like 3000 words long so I cut it in half to make it "more readable" since I always get complaints that my chapters are way too long lol
