I threw the ball for Bandit. He ran happily through the grass and grabbed the ball before he brought it back to me. I threw it again and he went through the same cycle over and over again. It was his favorite thing to do. That and play with the frisbee.
"He's getting really good at that" Will stated. He had his arms wrapped around my stomach as he stood behind me.
"Yeah he is" I admitted and leaned back into Will's touch. I smiled as our dog came running back to us with the ball in his mouth and his own doggy smile. "I want some snow cones. Do you think they still have them even though it's the end of August?"
"It's pretty hot today, they might still have them. I'll go check for you." He kissed my cheek before walking off in the direction of where the snow cone cart usually is. I felt exposed without his arms around me. I've grown quite accustomed to having them around me.
Bandy dropped the ball next to me and I picked it up before throwing it again. I laughed as he went to catch it but it bounced off the ground to hit him in the face before he got a hold of it.
I kept throwing the ball for Bandit until Will came back with two snow cones. "I got you a cotton candy" He said and handed me my snow cone. There was an obvious bite taken out of it.
"Did you take a bite of my snow cone, William?" I asked in a fake stern voice.
"I got hungry on the walk over here" He teased.
"You have your own, dork" I rolled my eyes playfully at him. I hooked Bandit back on his leash. Will, Bandit, and I started to walk around the park. Will and I ate our snow cones.
"I can't believe tomorrow, I will have been dating you for a whole month" Will said casually.
I looked at him with wide eyes. "Tomorrow is the twenty-ninth already?" I asked and looked at my phone for confirmation. It was in fact the twenty-eighth.
"I guess time flies when you love someone" He joked.
"It really does" I smiled and leaned into him.
We stayed out at the park until we finished our snow cones then decided to head home. We walked in and the boys were all gone, including Dad. It was getting close to dinner, they were probably all out on their evening run.
Will and I sat on the couch facing each other with our arms rested on the back. Our faces were only a couple inches away from each other. Bandit took his spot at our feet. I reached over and ran my fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes in content and let my finger brush through his locks of beautiful blonde hair.
"I can't believe it's already been a month since we started dating. I mean it seems like yesterday, I opened the door to see you standing on my front porch, asking if you were at the right place" I chuckled at the memory.
"You just counted a month, snowflake, I'm looking forward to counting years with you" He smiled at me.
My heart melted at his words and my face turned red. "How do you do that?" I asked.
"Do what?" He chuckled.
"Make my heart melt by the littlest of gestures or words. You make me into a blushing mess and you hardly even do anything. It's not fair" I pouted but a smile escaped my lips.
"You're cute" He mumbled. If possible my face burned even more. I felt like a sunburnt tomato right now.
***
Remi and I stood in the middle of the courtyard talking before class started. We normally met with everyone inside but it was beautiful and Remi needed something from her car.
"Oh hey Drew" Remi smiled at Drew, one of the football players, as he walked up to us in the courtyard.
"Hey ladies" He sent us a wink as he approached.
"So Remi, are you coming to the game this week?" He flirted with my best friend.
"Of course. I kind of have to being a cheerleader and all" She smiled.
"Right" he smiled.
She probably didn't notice that he was flirting with her. She had her sights on someone a little different.
"There's an afterparty and you're invited so is Coco" he looked over at me. He was one of the guys I definitely didn't like calling me Coco.
"Don't you have to win before you get a victory party?" I said sarcastically.
"Are you suggesting we won't?" He challenged me.
I threw my hands up in defense.
Drew flirted with Remi. I saw a seething Carter walking this way. He reached us and without a word punched Drew in the face.
"Carter" I yelled, scolding. I looked over at Remi as her hand flew over her mouth as a gasp escaped. I slightly pushed Remi behind me.
"What the hell man?" Drew yelled, holding his jaw.
This drew a crowd.
"You know exactly what that was for," Carter yelled at Drew.
"Forgive me for talking to Remi, I didn't know that talking to her was fucking off limits" Drew sneered. This sent Carter off the edge and he punched him again. Drew knew exactly what he was doing.
Drew knew what was coming and fought back this time.
More students circled around as the fight progressed. I saw most of the people had their phones out, most likely filming the fight. Remi and I were both screaming at Carter to stop. I would break it up but I didn't want to get hurt.
Will and Nick pushed through the crowd and broke up the fight. Will pulled Carter back and Nick kept Drew back.
Will looked at me and silently asked if I was hurt. I shook my head in response.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I yelled at Carter.
"It's none of your business, Cora. Just stay the fuck out of it" He yelled.
I took a step back in shock. He never cusses at me like that. Sure, we cuss and discuss a lot of stuff, but never like that. My blood boiled. I could tell he knew he messed up.
I stepped one step closer than I was before. I didn't care that there was a crowd. I was angry and he was going to regret it. "I don't know what crawled up your ass and died, but it's annoying the hell out of me. You are always angry at everything, you yelled at Dad, you never come out of your room anymore. Not to mention you just got into a fight. I don't know what's gotten into you but I am sick of it."
"You seem to forget that I never wanted to come here in the first place. I never wanted to leave Dallas and come to this stupid town. In case you haven't noticed, I hate it here and I want to go home" He ran his hand through his hair in frustration.
"This is our home, Carter. There was nothing for us back in Dallas and this place has some of the best people we've ever met. They're our family, Carter. We're not going back to Dallas so suck it up and get over it"
The crowd around us was silent. The boys were standing in the middle with us now. Cooper also stood silently to the side.
"You're not Mom" He yelled.
My jaw dropped. I was speechless. "You're right, I'm not Mom. She left us. I would never leave you or anyone else, not the way she did" I said in a normal voice. I didn't necessarily want the entire school knowing about our family issues.
"Yeah, well at least she tried to come back. She tried to reconnect."
What was he talking about? She never reached out to us once.
"Carter? What are you not telling me?"
"What's going on here?" Dad and the vice-principal broke up the circle.
"Everyone back to class," Mr. Powell said.
The crowd separated and went to their classes.
Dad looked at me, Carter, Drew, Will, Nick, and Cooper. Remi left when my dad and Mr. Powell broke everyone up.
"You six, my office now" Mr. Powell said angrily.
We all did what he said obediently.
Dad followed with a disappointed look on his face. This group was his team and his children. He had every right to be angry.
We all told Mr. Powell what happened and Drew, Will and Nick were all released. Carter, Cooper and I were left to face our father.
"Do you mind leaving for a moment Joe? I think this is a family matter" Dad asked.
Mr. Powell left before letting us use his office.
"What happened? I know it was more than a dumb fight between Drew and Carter. Coop?"
Cooper was always a daddy's boy. He always cracked when Dad pushed him, but he couldn't say much.
"Honestly, Dad, I don't really know what happened. I'm almost as clueless as you" He shrugged. It was one of the only times he was serious.
Dad nodded understandingly. "Then perhaps you two can actually tell me what happened" He leaned on Mr. Powell's desk and stared us down with his arms crossed.
"Carter and I had a little disagreement."
"A little disagreement?" Dad laughed humorlessly. "Is that another word for a screaming match in front of the entire school?"
It's not like I meant for this to happen; everything just kind of slipped out. It was months of pent up anger and annoyance speaking.
"Sorry, it just sort of happened" I tried to explain.
"It just happened? That's all you got?" Dad questioned in annoyance. He never talked to us like this. I could tell a wave of emotions was hitting him all at once.
"For months I had to put up with Carter and his terrible attitude. I was annoyed and upset and it just all spilled out at once." I argued and threw my hands around.
Dad looked at Carter for an explanation. Carter stayed silent and looked at his feet.
"He brought up Mom," I whispered.
Dad's eyes widened. He looked at Carter again. He held a blank expression. I couldn't tell if he was angry or disappointed or something else entirely.
"I was going to meet up with her in Dallas," he started. His eyes held a gaze at his feet. "Then you decided to move us across the state. We've been talking the weeks leading up to the move. We finally decided to meet up. Suddenly we're moving six hours away." He explained angrily.
"Why didn't you say anything?" He asked blandly. Just like his expression his voice held no emotions.
"Because I didn't know how you would react and Mom didn't want me to tell you."
"That's because your mother was a pathological liar and drug addict. I didn't want you kids to be around her. She didn't want me to know because she was scared I would take you away from her again." Dad explained in a quiet voice.
We all looked at him.
"Wait so you lied to us for half of our lives and you're calling her a liar, when all this time the liar really was you. You told us she left when in reality you took us and left her." Carter stood up in anger.
"No, your mother left for weeks at a time. She left you. I was left with four kids under the age of ten and I couldn't handle you waiting for her and wondering if she would ever come back. I couldn't see my children go through that, so I took you away from her. Before she left the last time, she told me she wouldn't be back for a long time, much longer than any other time. I told her that she shouldn't bother returning." Dad's voice was thick.
For the first time in a long time, I saw my father cry. Tears welled up in my eyes, at the sight. This was hard on him. It was hard on everyone. I jumped up and hugged my dad. Cooper joined in and after a few minutes so did Carter.
"What are we gonna tell Connor?" Cooper wondered aloud.
"We are going to have a family meeting tonight and I'll explain everything" Dad answered.