"Flick, can I talk to you for a second?" I groaned loudly when I heard Emil call my name as I walked past the living room doorway. "Flick, please, 10 minutes, that's all I want." He sounded tired. Like he hadn't slept.
"Two conversations with you in one day?" I asked, glancing at the clock on the stove. 4:40. Amber was coming back to get me at 5 so we could head to the boardwalk. I was just here to grab clothes and a toothbrush, and get the hell out. But of course, someone always had to make my life unnecessarily difficult. "No thanks." I said with a shrug, going into my bedroom. I grabbed my backpack and shoved in clothes for the next week and a few other essentials.
Get in get out. That was the mission, and I'll be damned if I stray from it even a little. Because straying from it would mean staying here any longer than necessary, something I plan to avoid at all costs until Christmas comes and goes at the end of the week.
"Flick, come in here, I need to talk to you." Emil said sterner than before. I rolled my eyes, though he couldn't see me.
"Don't tell me what to do." I said boredly.
I heard him sigh rather loudly in the other room. "Felicity, can you not be difficult for 10 minutes? I don't think I'm asking too much here," He was evidently frustrated with my consistent lack of cooperation but I only found his anger to be all the more amusing.
"Fuck off, Emil." I said, walking into the bathroom. I cringed in disgust when I saw the accumulating pile of dirty clothes the invaders-As they're now exclusively known as-had left in my bathroom, in my apartment. I can't wait until they leave. Honestly, if I wasn't as nice as I am, I would kick them out now, but if Mom found out I did that she'd yell at me, and accuse me of being the cause of her sons never visiting, as if they did that before I kicked them out. No matter what, it was my fault anyway. Might as well not give her ammunition if I can help it.
"10 minutes," He repeated. As if the numbed would change my mind. "That's all I want."
Rolling my eyes again, I weighed my options. 4:50. If nothing else it could kill the next 10 minutes and give me something to rant about on the 30 minute drive to Venice beach. On the other hand, it would probably piss me off and make me hate him even more than I already do, and would probably ruin the rest of my night. But did I really care if I hated him more than I already did? Not in the slightest.
"I'll give you 7 minutes. That's it." I said leaning against the wall opposite from where he was on the couch, squinting at a piece of paper. I vaguely remember him needing glasses when we were younger. He was always complaining about words being too small to read.
"There's no need for you to be so rude."
"There's no need for you to still be here."
He pursed his lips but didn't say anything more, probably knowing he wouldn't win an argument with me. No one ever did. Perks of being an asshole, as Jackson once said when he was arguing with me about something stupid. "Do you want to come to San Diego with me?"
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Huh?"
"The lights went out today. The bill hasn't been paid in months," He said, instead of elaborating on what he just said. Mom said she had paid it before she left. I should have known better than to trust her. I had meant to give Herb the extra hundred but in all the chaos of the last few days, it just slipped my mind.
"Okay. I'll pay him tomorrow. What the fuck were you saying about San Diego." I replied impatiently.
Emil shook his head. "No need, I already paid off this month, and next." I slumped back a little, trying to seem less defensive. I hummed, not willing to thank him even if I was incredibly grateful for that. Bills were one thing that we had to keep up on my own. I'm fine on my own, but money doesn't grow on trees and neither do jobs for 12 year olds.
"Okay, get to the point. What the fuck are you saying about me going to San Diego?" I asked, growing increasingly antsy with the lack of information I was getting.
Emil sighed, looking up at me with sad eyes. "But before I went to talk to your building manager, I went and talked to your neighbor to see if it was building wide or if it really was unpaid bills. I also asked her if she knew where Mom was, seeing as you wouldn't tell us-"
"Whatever she said it isn't true." I had more or less forgotten about my refusal to disclose Moms wearabouts. I guess it was just so normal to lie about where she was, I didn't even think about it anymore. I'm just too used to it by now to do anything different.
"And what do you think she told me?"
I cursed myself silently for slipping up. I should have kept my mouth shut until he told me what he knew. Rookie mistake. I was better than that normally. I had to be. For my own safety, I couldn't slip up like that. I didn't say anything, crossing my arms over my chest defiantly.
"Well, what she told me was Mom is in Vegas. For a month. And with a little more digging I found that what she told me, was in fact true."
I gulped feeling my face grow inexplicably red and my whole body began to twitch with nerves. Mom had trained me well. When adults find out things they shouldn't, that is a very bad thing. She'd been telling me how much trouble I could get her and myself in since I was in diapers. I had to play this as smart as possible. I had. There was no choice. Not now that I screwed up so badly somewhere along the way.
"A month, Felicity. She left you, a 12 year old child, alone in a foodless, waterless, electricity-less, freezing cold apartment for a month." I gulped, holding stance firmly, not letting him see he was hitting a nerve. It wasn't like he was saying anything I didn't know, of course. I just didn't want him to know. I can take care of myself. I didn't need Mom or him to do anything for me. I was fine on my own. And I always would be. There's no choice. So I would be fine. All on my own. "I'm not leaving you here for a month until Mom comes back," I hated that I knew where this was going. I hated that he thought he got a say in anything I did.
And I hated myself for fucking up the one thing I had to do, which was make it through this week without making a mess of things.
"And I have to get back to work on Monday," I bit my tongue. I felt like I was going to cry. But I wouldn't. Not now and especially not in front of him. "So until further notice, you'll be coming with me, Wren, Cameron, and Noel back to San Diego until I manage to track down Mom." And there it was. The words I was dreading.
"Fuck you, I am not." I spat instantly
"I'm sorry Felicity, but you are."
"You don't get a say in what I do, asshole." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as if he had been expecting this reaction.
"That's where you're wrong, because until another adult, hopefully Mom, steps up and actually parents you, I'm doing what I should have been doing for the last five years. Taking care of you. You're coming whether you like it or not. I'm not leaving you here alone." I didn't even know what to say.
"School starts again before Mom gets back." I muttered stupidly.
Emil sighed again, grabbing the paper that he had previously been reading. "Mom will be back by the end of the first week of school. And, I got a letter today, Felicity. You've been absent 15 times since November 30th. There's only been about 19 days of school since then. You don't give a fuck about school, so please, don't give me that bullshit."
I gasped, grabbing the paper from him. "You can't read someone else's mail ass hat." I seethed, clutching the notice tightly.
"It said to the Guardian of Felicity Carter, and I'm the closest thing you've got right now."
My face burned with anger, pure rage coursing through my body. I heard someone knock on the door and Jackson's voice telling me we were leaving through the wood.
"We leave Saturday morning. Be packed and ready to go."
I shook my head, my lips pressed into an angry thin line. "Fuck you."
Hi and welcome back to another episode of how many assignments can I do in a row before I start crying. The answer: One Alternative answer: One because I've been procrastinating for weeks now and it's backfiring like hell
Did this chapter shock you? I can't tell what you guys were thinking but I hope it wasn't this lol. Thoughts? Predictions? Questions?
Another update shouldn't be too long y'all but with me, who the hell knows? Don't forget to vote and comment :)