World... Upside down?✔

Chapter nineteen

If they were together, I was happy for them. I don't keep the other Amelie's feelings, therefore, if they are trying to hurt me, they are not succeeding with it.

Thinking it better, they make the perfect couple.

What worries me right now is Amelie losing her mind making her think that beating me again is a good idea.

She just looks away and ignores my presence. I feel relief going through me.

Oliver realizes what is going on and moves uncomfortably. I don't think he likes them either.

I'm about to tell him we should go somewhere else when I milk shake is dropped over him.

Tyler apologizes like if he were innocent and I stand up.

"What the hell?!" I say.

He pretends ignorance. "It was an accident."

I look at him defiantly while Oliver tries to wipe everything off.

"You know it wasn't."

"Nobody's innocent in here! What do you expect me to do? You go out with a boy a week after breaking up with me! What is wrong with you?!"

My blood boils.

"Breaking up with you? As far as I remember, you broke up with me, causing a scene in the whole school. Besides, you don't seem to be alone either."

He looks down.

I don't give him time to answer, I grab Oliver's arm and take him to the car.

There's a few couple silent seconds and then we both burst into laughs.

I apologize for the scandal and, when I see he's not bothered by it, I mock him for his hair full of milk.

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The days go by quickly. I find myself getting out of geography's class when a conversation in a classroom near to the bathroom calls my attention.

"Don't tell anyone."

I have an internal fight between respecting other's privacy or following my curiosity.

I stand on the sly behind its door to listen better.

"Will your husband be happy to know you've been cheating on him this whole time? And what do you think people will say when they find out you're into teenagers?"

I hear a strong noise and I look through the window. There's a grown woman holding a boy of my age by his neck against the wall. I think she's the sociology teacher.

"You say a word and I swear I'll destroy you. Nothing ever happened between us."

What the hell is going on?

She lets him go and gets closer to the exit, I run away before anyone notices my presence.

I've got the feeling I saw something I shouldn't have.

I carry the weight of not have reacted properly the whole day. That's why, when I see Francis, that's the first thing I tell him.

"I think our sociology's teacher is kind of dating a student and has threaten him so he doesn't say anything about it."

Francis spends a couple seconds processing my words until they get to his brain.

"What?!"

"What you heard."

"How did you find out?!"

"Shhhh" I cover his mouth and take him to a safer place. "I saw them fighting in a classroom near the bathroom."

"This is very serious."

"I know, and I don't know what to do."

"We have to act. Do you remember who the kid was?"

I try to remember.

"I didn't know who he was, probably from a younger class. He had a short, red hair."

Francis thinks for a moment.

"He's maybe Jamie."

I shrug.

"We have to talk to him."

I nod and we decide to do it tomorrow. I hope the boy won't tell us to mind our own business or something like that.

When I arrive home, my father is waiting for me in the kitchen with a serious expression. Am I in trouble?

"Hi dad."

"Hi."

When I feel the tension in the environment, I try to avoid it and direct myself to my room.

"Do not scape from me, young gentlelady. Come back here to talk to me."

I sigh. Did he call me 'gentlelady'?

I walk towards the table and sit down.

"I've heard that you wish to re-establish contact with your mother."

I pass my hands over my face with frustration. Luke has given me away, thanks brother.

Something tells me that this is not funny to him, and I don't feel like fighting.

"Is it true that you're trying to find out where your mother is?"

I look down.

"Yes."

"Why?"

I start to tell her about my life in my reality and how much my mom meant to me there.

His eyes get wet.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"If what you said were true, I should've had abandoned you in another life. And I would never leave you, in none of the possible realities. You are my child."

My heart hurts to his words. Because I know he has done it. I grew up without a father.

I take his hand. I understand he and my dad are not the same person. One of them has watched me grow and the other didn't. Maybe it would've been nice if this version of my father was in my reality as well, but at least I know he knows me. Or to the other Amelie.

I guess we are the set of experiences we've been through. Our memory and what we decide to do with it.

While in my reality my father lived his whole life thinking he was a being free of any responsability, this one was maybe raised to have a family, and be a 'housewife'. Or a 'househusband'.

After some time, he agrees to tell me my mother's adress. She lives and another city, and has another family. She got married again and she does takes care of her new husband's children.

I decide to send Oliver a text to tell him we'll visit my mom next week.

I only hope for her to have at least a little of the mother I know.

I hope she's not a complete stranger.