Hey!!! So this is a really long chapter as most chapters in this story are going to be but this one seems super long. By the way go read my friend @EveWarden 's stories. She isn't very good at writing because she's dyslexic but I edit her stories (well I edit one, Daddy you're a nightmare) so they (I mean it) should be legible. I'm dedicating this to her so you can go to her account and check her story out. Anyways... Fan, Vote, Comment and as always ENJOY MY CUPCAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JUJU xoxo
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I thought maybe my dad would be in a good mood that day. Maybe I could get on his good side. But things never go the way I want them to when it comes to my dad…
*The Next Day*
I opened my front door quietly and shut it slowly so it barely made a sound. I was hoping that my dad would be drunk already because he usually worked mornings and then went home claiming he would work from home but he never did. I had gotten my report today and it was slipped into my bag in between a few books. I had opened the brown envelope (even though I wasn’t supposed to without a parent or guardian around) and checked my grades. They weren’t bad in all honesty but the teacher’s comments said that I had been absent or not focussing most of the time. If my dad saw that he would flip.
My hopes were shattered when I tip-toed past the kitchen and my dad cleared his throat, “Good afternoon Juliet.”
I plastered a fake smile on my face, “Hi dad, how was your day??”
“Good and yours??”
“It was great but I’ve got some homework to do so I better get-” I began to head upstairs as I said this but I was cut off by my dad.
“Aren’t you forgetting something??”
“Umm… no.”
He pointed at the calendar, “Your reports were supposed to be given out today.”
“Oh well, my homeroom teacher forgot.”
“No I called her this afternoon to make sure that it was today. Don’t lie to me Juliet. Hand it over.”
“NO!!”
“And why not??!!”
“You want to know why?? Because I’ve been ditching school. And you know why you don’t notice this?? Because you’re drunk and high all the time. You don’t even realise that I don’t get home until after midnight most nights. You don’t realise that I steal some of your weed. That’s right I know about you “secret stash” and I smoke. It’s your fault!!!”
“How on earth is that my fault??!!”
“Because you’re a dick!!! Before mum died you abused her and were shouting at her all the time, you can’t deny it I’ve talked to my grandparents and my aunt and uncle. I watch all these girls leave your house looking used and heartbroken. I have had more boyfriends than you’ve had girlfriends in your entire life and I’m only sixteen!!! You thought it was good idea to get so high and drunk and leave your weed and cigarettes on the living room table where an abused, lost, heartbroken, thirteen year old girl could find them!!! Yeah, that’s right; I’ve been smoking for three years.”
“Let me see your report.” My dad said trying to be calm but the anger was clear in his voice.
“I said no!!!”
“That’s it!! I don’t want you going to that school anymore!!!”
“Excuse me??”
“You are not going to that school anymore. I’ve been thinking of doing this for a while; I’m sending you to boarding school!! Northknot Boarding school on the other side of the state.”
“What??!!! You can’t send me to boarding school!!! I have friends here!!!”
“Well your just going to have to make new ones.”
“I HATE YOU!!!!! I HATE YOU!!!!!! YOU’RE THE WORST DAD IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!” I screamed at him and ran up to my room, locking the door behind me. I heard my dad run up after me and start banging on my door, screaming at me to open the door. I didn’t listen; I just changed into my running sneakers and climbed out the window. I had done this so many times before; it was almost like second nature to me. From outside the house I could still hear my dad yelling and I hoped one of the neighbours would hear him and call the cops.
I sprinted off to Aria’s house; it was the first place I thought of, like my second home. I knocked on the door wiping away the tears that were already rolling down my cheeks, just in case Aria’s mom opened the door. It was her mom and she instantly looked worried. I always thought that if I were to have another mom it would be her because she was so kind and motherly to everyone, “Juliet sweetie, are you alright??”
“I’m fine. Um… is Aria home??”
“Yes, she’s upstairs. Come right in.”
“Thanks.” I swiftly walked past her and upstairs to Aria’s room. She was sitting on her bed reading a magazine. I shut the door and down against it, “Juliet?? What’s wrong??” she got up and came over to me. I just reached out my arms for a hug and when she returned the gesture, I cried into her shoulder. I just cried; Aria didn’t say anything just hugged me and stoked my hair while I sobbed.
Everyone at school thought we weren’t actually friends; that we just hung out because we were popular. That wasn’t true in me and Aria’s case. In middle school we were both complete losers and only had each other to hang out with. We both started smoking at the same time in our last year of middle school three years ago. She was at my house for a sleepover and we snuck downstairs to get snacks in the middle of the night and found my dad asleep with a packet of cigarettes in his hand.
A year later during our first year of high school, head bitch and senior, Chelsea, found us in the bathroom smoking. She asked for a cigarette and basically took us under her wing. She was cheerleading captain and her two vice captains were her sidekicks; twins named Courtney and Brittney. They both got kicked off the team and Aria and I replaced them as Chelsea’s sidekicks as she didn’t want to be friends with “losers”. Then she graduated and Aria and I became the queens of the school. When Vivi was added to our group Aria said that I should be the leader because I was the most confident. In case it wasn’t clear, we aren’t cheerleaders but we are the youngest girls at our school to ever be head bitches.
Anyways, I sat there for about half an hour… maybe a little closer to forty five minutes crying into Aria’s shoulder. She didn’t mind; I would do the same if she was in my position. After my cries died down a little she asked, “Want to talk about it??”
“My dad is sending me to another school; a boarding school on the other side of the state.”
“What?? Why??”
“I refused to show him my report because of the comments that said I was ditching and stuff. I then accidently said that I did drugs and stuff…”
“Why did you do that??”
“I don’t know. I was angry and upset. I couldn’t keep it in anymore; it just sort of slipped out.”
“But you can’t go. You’re my best friend. I don’t want you to go.”
“I don’t want to go either. I wish I could just run away; you know disappear for a while until my dad forgets.”
“We could do that.”
“What?? How??”
“Both of us; we could just run away and never come back. Joey can get us some fake IDs and shit then we leave.”
“How are we gonna get out of here?? More importantly, who’s Joey??”
“He’s the guys I danced with last night. He and that guy Mike do papers; birth certificates, IDs, passports, anything and everything.”
“I didn’t know that… We could do it. Both of us could pass for older with the right amount of makeup on. But… I’d have to go back to the house to get my stuff; my phone and money and things.”
“Okay… but be careful.”
“No worries. I can climb through my window and even if I don’t my dad will probably be drunk by now anyways.”
I stood up and used Aria’s bathroom to clean my face up before running downstairs and out the door. I think Aria’s mom said goodbye but who knows. I had always been a really fast runner so I was at my house in under a minute because it was only a few roads down. I climbed up onto the low roof that lead to the window of my bedroom and was surprised at what I saw. On the inside, a lock had been installed to my window along with a large padlock. What the fuck??
I climbed down and walked to the front door. This was very risky but I had to do it. I was gonna get away from this hell hole and run away with my best friend. I opened and closed the door without making a sound; I did this on almost a daily basis so it wasn’t difficult. There was a strip of wall on either side of the door, only a few metres wide, before there was an opening in the wall; sort of like an archway. The one on the right led to the living room and the other led to the kitchen. I snuck forward silently and looked on both sides. The living room was empty, strange… I turned to look in the kitchen and saw my dad with his back to me looking into the fridge. Oh shit!!! He hasn’t even had a drink yet!!!
While I had the chance I swiftly but silently ran up the stairs to my room. At the time I hadn’t realised I was stupid enough to leave the door open; that came back and bit me in the butt. I grabbed my duffel bag from under my bed and began to fill it with things that I would need to survive for the next few days; a few hundred dollars, an extra outfit, an extra pair of shoes (just in case), a few bottles of water, a couple cans of coke (from my mini fridge) and two huge packets of chips (one Barbeque and one Paprika). I turned to the window and looked at the padlock. I wasn’t one that I could pick, it was a coded one. There were so many possibilities for the combination it would take me hours and surely by then my dad would come and see if I was here. I decided to risk going through the door again but I was too late. My dad was standing there in the doorway with his arms crossed across his chest, “What do you think you’re doing??”
“Leaving.” I replied simply and tried to walk passed but he stood in front of me, “I don’t think so.”
“And why not??”
“Because you are going to Northknot Boarding School. I have already withdrawn you from your school and enrolled you there.”
“What’s the point of withdrawing me from school if the last day of term is tomorrow??”
“So you don’t try and run away. You’re going to be staying in your room for the whole of Spring Break until I take you to the airport in two weeks. I will bring you food but I’m sure you’ve got a stash somewhere here as well.”
“I’m not going anywhere!!!! You can’t make me!!!!!”
“I can make you go and do whatever I want I’m your father!!!!”
“Unfortunately…” I mumbled thinking that he couldn’t hear. I was wrong obviously because in one quick movement of his hand I felt my face sting. He had slapped me!!! He slapped me!!!!! My own father slapped me!!!!! He was gone before I could even react; he slammed my door shut and I heard the lock click. I screamed and started to blindly throw things at the door. Whatever my hand grabbed was thrown against my bedroom door even though it would do no good. I screamed out curses at my dad hoping once again that the neighbours would hear and call the cops or something.
I heard glass break against my door and I focused on what I had just thrown at my door. It was a picture frame; a very important picture frame that contained a priceless photo, “No, no, no, no, no.” I knelt down in on the floor and sifted through the pieces of glass trying to avoid getting cut. I found the picture I held it carefully; as if it would turn to ash in my hand if I wasn’t careful enough. The only picture I had of my mom; the only picture my dad let me keep. It was her looking half asleep holding me as a baby in her arms in a hospital bed. The only time I was ever with her before she died. This picture was the most important object to me in the entire world. I would be willing to die rather than see it destroyed; I know it’s just a photograph but to me it’s much more.
As a kid I would talk to my mom in the photograph as if she could talk back to me and I would pretend that she would talk back. Saying how proud she was of me and how much she loved me. Then as I got older my dad told me to stop talking to the photograph. He yelled at me saying that it was immature and that my mom was never coming back. It broke my heart into a million pieces. I went to my room and cried for days; not that my dad cared.
I curled up on the floor where I was not caring if the glass cut me now. I clutched the photograph to my chest and cried, “I’m sorry mom. I’m sorry I’ve messed up my life. I’m sorry. I was lost and I needed somewhere to turn. Dad wasn’t there what else was I supposed to do. I’m so, so sorry.” I continued to cry and say sorry until I drifted off to sleep.