Another Day I've Conquered

Chapter 15

“You can’t stop it.” She whispered, her shoulders shaking in a way that caused the strings of my heart to tighten painfully.

“Have some faith Wolf. I’ll kick his ass any day.” Sensing her brother approaching us, I stood, wiping the grass from my jeans, before grinning. I could see confusion flashing across her face at the seriousness in my tone.

                “Did he cry?” I turned to Garret, who gave me a quizzical glance, quickly followed by a dry chuckle.

                “Unfortunately not.”

                “Damn.” I shrugged. “Get in trouble?”

                “Suspended. A week.” His eyes were shadowed and I saw Ginger throw him a concerned look. Their shared glance made me frown. Was something wrong?

                “One? It could be worse...” I trailed off.

You better talk to Kendra.

‘Of course. No way in hell I’m letting him get punished for protecting Ginger.’

                Garret gave me a wry grin.

                “Worse?” He snorted skeptically, his eyes tight around the edges. “You don’t know my mother.”

 

(Ginger)

                Garret pulled into the driveway and the sheer curtains hanging over the kitchen window fluttered. I knew my mother would be there waiting for Garret, silently fuming and building up her rage for the moment we walked in. No doubt news of his suspension had been immediate, as we weren’t a family who got in trouble often –let alone suspended. Genevieve danced ahead of us, wanting to reach the house before she had to listen to our mother’s reprimanding. I didn’t blame her. Taking a deep breath we entered the tense atmosphere of the kitchen, where our mother sat at the table. She was holding a cup of coffee in her tense, bony fingers.

                “Garrett. Ginger. Sit.” Her tone was cool and my father stood in the doorway, his shoulders stiff. I wondered what he was thinking.

                “Garret-” She began, clicking a perfectly rounded nail against the tabletop.

                “Mom?” I interrupted quietly, knowing the second her and Garret began fighting I would never get a chance to talk to her. Her lips thinned at the interruption but she gave me a chance to speak.

                “Yes darling?”

                “Why does Donavon think we’re back together?” I couldn’t look into the blue eyes of my mother, so I stared at the table, twining my fingers together.  Her tongue clicked softly, causing me to wince.

                “You two are such a lovely couple-” I could feel my throat tighten. Tears stung my eyes. So it was true.  “-So when he called me, practically begging for you, how could I turn him down? You do realize he’s the heir to-”

                “How could you?” I whispered, feelings of betrayal twisting deep in my heart. I tilted my head to meet her eyes, feeling tears swell in my eyes for the second time today. For a moment she faltered, but it didn’t take much for her to push away whatever misgivings she had. “You know what he did.” I accused, wanting to scream.

                “He says it was all a misunderstanding-”

                “Nikki,” My dad cut in. “We discussed this.” His tone was tired, echoing with years of putting up with my mother. Why had he married her in the first place?

                “None of you have taken the time to understand him. He’s such a charming young man. So sweet.” She insisted, before narrowing her eyes at my brother. “Which is why I don’t understand how you could attack that boy in the middle of cafeteria! What is wrong with you Garret?” I nearly recoiled at her statement.  Garret went completely rigid beside me.

                “All I do is for you three and you of course, have to go and ruin it! I only ask is that you act as model students and what do you do? You corner poor boys in the lunchroom! That’s beyond disrespectful and I will not tolerate that type of behavior in my family!”

                “Everything you do is for us?” Garret repeated incredulously, seeming not to have heard a single word after that point.

                “Aren’t you listening to me?” My mother snapped. Garret’s eyes blazed with an icy blue fire.

                “You think you’re so fucking perfect don’t you?” He laughed sardonically, his lips twisting into a scowl. “Have you ever even asked any of us what we want? Do you even fucking know who we are?”

                “You’re my children and that type of language is intolerable-”

                “Intolerable? You want to start with intolerable?” His voice rose, while he stood from his chair, his fists still leaning against the table. “A mother who wants her daughter to go screw the guy who nearly raped her.” He hissed. I flinched at his statement, unpleasant memories flooding through my mind. My dad’s mouth crashed down at the corners. My mother, not liking his height advantage he had over her, stood as well.

                “I told you, it was a misunderstanding!” She snapped. “Now if you’re done trying to change the topic, we can get back to the real problem where you went and ruined the reputation your father and I-”

                “Hey mom?” Garret cut in. “Why don’t you go fuck your reputation.”

                The whole room froze. My mother’s face purpled. My dad opened his mouth to –hopefully- put an end to this argument. Garret looked at me. Blinked once. Twice. Spun towards the door. Open. Close. Slam. Car engine. Silence.

                He didn’t come back for the rest of the night.



A/N
     First things first, I changed the name of the princaple from "Samantha" to "Kendra" because my genious self forgot that Marc's mom is already named "Sammy". *facepalms* Sorry for any confusion. Second, this chapter is slightly shorter than I was aiming for, but it's still longer than average, so oh well I guess. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think? Once again, I absolutely adore hearing what you think about the character and what's happenng, and first commenter gets a dedication! Constructive critism is also fantastic too, if you have anything you think I need working on, because I'm always trying to improve! I'll try and update soon!