Coach's Number One

Chapter Twenty Two

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Dedication: Nasmir for the awesome character banner! Thank you!

Recap:

She was kissing other people?

Was she dating them, too?

I felt my face pale as I gripped the railing beside me.

I was not prepared to see that. At all.

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I can't rid the image of my mother, with another man, from my mind.

I feel sick. I wasn't prepared to see her by herself, let alone with someone who wasn't my father. I never thought she would remarry or ever date again. The death of my father took a major toll on our family and honestly, we never really recovered. Mum threw herself into her job and I threw myself into swimming. All our focus and energy were consumed by it. It let us move on.

Well, that's what I thought we had done.

I feel betrayed, beyond words. This whole time, I have had no mother, no family with me every night, because I thought she was out there saving people's lives. I told myself to stop being selfish. I could be on my own. She was doing good things.

I didn't expect her to be off with some other guy.

Restlessly, I pace around the kitchen. To distract myself, I baked cupcakes. Something I haven't done for a long time. Even the delicious smell of the chocolate cupcakes did not ease my whirling mind.

Deciding that being here by myself was not an option right now, I pack up my cupcakes and shove them into a container. I skate over to Harvey's, even though I have already spent all day with him.

He could probably use the company and I could give him the cupcakes as a sorry gift for making him ride my skateboard. It was my fault he had to get stitches.

As I wander to the front door, I notice it is ajar. I walk in to see Harvey's younger sisters acting out a scene from a movie at the bottom of the stairs. One dramatically falls to the ground while the other pretends to call "911". I shake my head. They probably don't realise that in Australia, it is 000.

They don't acknowledge me. I walk past them and edge towards the kitchen. I freeze when I hear my name.

"Grace isn't just "some girl" I hang with," Harvey argues, sounding frustrated. "She's my best friend."

"She's bad news, is what she is!" I hear his mother shoot back, her voice sounding stern. "Look at what has happened to you! You were trying to keep up with her. To impress her."

"I wanted to try something new, is that so bad?"

"You were happy with the way you were before she came along," his mother snaps. "Now you're out of a night, not home of a weekend, drinking, coming home with stitches..."

My face pales. I take a step back, my stomach clenching. Harvey's mother wants him to stop hanging out with me?

"You're making this out to be much worse than it really is," he points out. "We went shopping. If you think that's being bad and rebellious, there's something wrong with you."

"Do not speak to your mother like that!"

"I'm sorry, but you're being ridiculous."

"I don't like her," she states firmly. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to spend so much time with her."