Into the Dark (Completed)

Chapter 17

"That is not an answer." Her voice started to rise into a high pitched shrill.

"It's as good of an answer as you're going to get. Just get back to your drinking. It's what you do best. Worry about yourself." I walked into the kitchen and turned the kettle on for my hot coco.

"You can't just disappear in the middle of the night." She was yelling now. "You aren't your father. You aren't allowed to leave me!"

"I'm eighteen. I can do whatever the hell I want to do. I am leaving the day I graduate. Two months and I'm gone. Then, you'll be stuck paying your own bills instead of my savings account." I snapped back at her. She is not going to use the pity card on me. It's not going to work She lost her husband, but I lost my father.

But did I really lose him if he's still in town?

There's no way I'm telling my mother about that.
"You aren't just a way to pay the bills, sweetie." Her voice softened.

"Okay." I smirked at her. "Then I'll take my name off of the rental agreement. You can pay rent and I can afford college."

She ran her shaky hands through her hair. "No, no. Please, Luna. Two more months and our contract expires anyway."

I poured the water into a mug and mixed in the delicious coco powder. "That's what I thought."

I took my mug upstairs and did exactly what I said I would.

I pulled out an old copy of my favorite book and got lost in a world that isn't my own.

*

On Monday, Marie never showed up to pick me up for school. I ended up running ten blocks to avoid being late.

I got to homeroom just as the bell rang. I didn't even have time to stop at my locker. I slipped into my seat.

The teacher started taking attendance, while I just tried to catch my breath.

"Luna," Tate poked my back.

I turned around in my seat. "What?"

"If you needed a ride to school, you could have called me." He smirked. Tate doesn't smile. He does this weird half smirk that just says that he knows something you don't.

"What makes you think that I needed a ride?" I asked him rhetorically.

He answered me anyway. "Besides the fact that your face is red and you are practically panting, trying to catch your breath, Marie mentioned it. Jackson asked where you were this morning when she drove up. She got pretty feisty and made some comment about not being your taxi driver."

Did I do something to piss her off? I haven't talked to her much lately. I've had so much going on. I'm not used to juggling multiple things at once. My social life normally consists of going to school and taking the occasional trip to the bookstore.

"Hmm." I turned back around and listened for my name to be called.

The day seemed to drag on. I didn't find Marie until lunch.

"Hey! Where were you this morning, Mimi?" I asked her.
She was sitting at our usual lunch table. Her hair was now dyed bright orange and she dip dyed the ends red. It wasn't her best look, but who am I to judge?

"Oh, crap. I totally forgot you! Luna, I'm so sorry." To be honest, she didn't sound that sorry. She sounded almost bored. Was my best friend getting bored of me? I frowned.

Is she going to ditch me like both my father and Jackson did?

Although it seems like the men who ditched me are finding their way back into my life.

But what if she really did forget? I can't believe Tate over Marie. She has been my best friend for what feels like forever. Tate is just Tate.

I decided to just let it go. There's no need to fight over something stupid.

I have enough to worry about right now.

I sat down at the table and pulled out a banana from my backpack.

______________________________

Hello!

I have to rant a little bit. This doesn't apply to most of you, but some of you don't really understand Luna's relationship with her mom. Maybe I just haven't been clear enough about it while writing, and if that's the case, sorry. I'll fix that when I edit this.

Okay, so Luna, being young and naive when she was younger,  never saw her parent's divorce coming. In her mind, she was living the cliche happy family dream. Then, one day her dad leaves. She never saw it coming, and she was devastated. Jackson, one of her best friends, leaves then too. She was feeling abandoned and alone. She needed her mother to be there for her. Meanwhile, her mother went on a 4 month drinking binge. Luna felt like her whole world was ending and her mother was too drunk to notice anything other than her own sorrows. Luna ended up using her savings account to pay the rent because her mother was unable to do so. Her mother eventually snapped out of it and wanted to pretend that nothing ever happened, but Luna can't let it go. That's Luna's point of view on the situation. Some people are saying that she is acting immature, which is fair. She's eighteen. She's still young. She's not perfect. It would be boring if she was. 

That said, eight more chapters left! Then, there will be a 3 part epilogue taking place a little bit in the future. It's going to be great! 

These next couple of days there will be chapters coming out like crazy, so prepare yourself XD

Anubis xx