Chapter 1: Mom or Dad
Not a single word came out of my mouth as I followed Dad out of the police station, heading to his car afterwards. I was just waiting to get an earful from him but so far, he hadn't said a single word either.
Maybe I was lucky. Maybe he wasn't going to yell at me or anything.
Even when we got into his car, he didn't say anything. He hadn't even made eye contact with me since he collected me from the police station. The only expression that had been on his face the whole time was a neutral one.
As much as I didn't want to get yelled at, I was also feeling a bit awkward just sitting in the car as Dad drove me back home so eventually, I asked the one question that was on my mind since Dad showed up to the station.
"How come you picked me up instead of Mom?" I asked. "I thought she would have gotten the call."
"She did," Dad said, keeping his eyes on the road. "I was at the house when she got the call."
"Why were you at the house?" I asked. Dad has always refused to go anywhere near Mom's house ever since the divorce. If he wanted to spend time with me, it had to be somewhere else.
I didn't blame him. They could rarely be in the same room without arguing with each other.
"I have my reasons," Dad said, and that was the end of our conversation. There was still no yelling from him at all so there was a high possibility that I really got away with this.
That was until I got home.
As soon as Dad and I stepped through the door, the yelling from my mom began. "I can't believe you, Ollie Asher! How the hell can you get arrested for a second time?! Especially after what happened the first time!"
I just stared at Mom for a bit before heading towards my bedroom but Mom grabbed my arm to stop me.
"Don't you dare walk away from me when I'm talking to you!" Mom said. "You can't keep doing this, Ollie! You can't keep acting like this for no reason!"
"I don't think now is the time to be yelling at him," Dad said.
Mom scoffed and changed her focus to Dad. "Are you being serious? So what, you think he shouldn't be punished for getting arrested yet again?"
"No, that isn't what I meant," Dad said. "Of course he should be punished but yelling at him isn't going to change what happened."
"Unbelievable," Mom said. "You see, this is exactly why my answer is and will always be no."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Answer for what?"
"Nothing, Ollie," Mom said. "It doesn't have to do with you. Just... Just go to your room. We'll talk about your punishment later."
"Clearly it does have to do with me if Dad not wanting to yell at me is the reason why you're saying no to whatever question he asked," I said.
"I'm serious, Ollie," Mom said. "Go to your room."
I sighed and was about to head to my room but this time, Dad stopped me. "No, hold on. I think he should be part of this discussion."
I turned to face Mom and Dad again, feeling even more confused. They were actually having a discussion about something? Because they always refused to say anything to each other. It got very annoying at times. Or all the time.
They always found something to argue about.
"Not happening," Mom said to Dad. "This is a discussion for me and you only, and I already told you that the answer is no."
"How come you get to be the one making this decision?" Dad asked. "If anything, Ollie should be the one making it. He's old enough."
"What decision?" I asked, hoping one of them would tell me instead of only talking to each other. I didn't think I could handle just standing here as I witnessed another argument.
Mom narrowed her eyes at Dad as if she was silently telling him not to say a single word to me about what the decision was. However, Dad completely ignored Mom's glare as he looked at me. "I want you to come live with me in Spruceworth."
I didn't reply for the longest time. I didn't know how to reply. When my parents got a divorce, I never got to choose who I got to live with. The choice was made for me and honestly, it definitely wasn't the choice I would have gone with.
But I didn't even try to tell them who I really wanted to live with. Almost my whole life, all my decisions were made for me. My education, whom I lived with, even who I was allowed to be friends with.
I didn't care at times. Why bother arguing when my voice wouldn't be heard anyway?
The one time I really wanted my want to be counted, it didn't. And it never was. For months, I had to go on hoping I would get the chance to live with Dad instead. Even when I felt like the chance would never come, I didn't stop hoping. I couldn't.
And now, here Dad was, telling me he wanted me to live with him.
So why wasn't I feeling too happy about it?
"He clearly doesn't want to live with you," Mom said. "I told you that already but you just won't let it go."
"No, I want to hear him say it for himself," Dad said. "If Ollie tells me he doesn't want to live with me, then I won't ask again."
"Alright, fine," Mom said. "Go on, Ollie. Tell your father you're perfectly fine here."
I didn't think I would be perfectly fine anywhere I was. Here, it was just a constant reminder of my complete and utter failures in life. How I lost something very important to me and there was no way I could get it back.
But now going with Dad, I was going to have to get use to a whole new life; a new house, new school, new friends.
The only question now was which place would I be at least the slightest bit of fine in.
"Ollie?" Dad asked once he realized I wasn't answering the question at all. "Do you want to come live with me or do you want to stay with your mother?"
"So I have the choice to stay here or to move to a new place?" I asked. "Especially one that is so small? I don't want to have to make new friends and go to a new school."
"See?" Mom said. "I told you he wouldn't want to go."
"I don't want to stay here either," I said. "I never wanted to. When you two got a divorce, I just wanted to live with Dad. But I wanted to live with him in the city, not in some dinky little village."
"Well, the choice is now yours," Mom said. "It's either here with me or in that dinky little village with your father."
Both decisions where the cons outweighed the pros.
It still took me a while but I finally made my decision.
"I want to live with Dad," I said.
"Absolutely not," Mom said.
"Come on, you did give him the choice and it's what he wants," Dad said. "Besides, what can you do to stop it? He's sixteen. He's old enough to make the decision and if you, for some reason, decided to take things to court about a custody order, I can just remind them that he did get arrested twice under your care. He needs somewhere new to live, Winnie."
"You know what? Fine," Mom said. "If it's what Ollie really wants, then I won't stop it. But just so you know, you can't just simply let him get away with every illegal thing he'll do."
"Oh, thanks for the show of faith," I said.
"Can you blame me with everything you've done in just this month alone?" Mom asked. "All the mischief and chaos and everything? If you think you'll be better living off with your dad, fine by me."
She walked off, looking extremely frustrated. Did I feel even the tiniest bit guilty that she was upset with me wanting to live with Dad? No, not really. I tried living with just her already and it wasn't working.
I doubt living with Dad would work as well but I did miss him a lot.
"Just so you know, living with me doesn't mean you won't get punished for being arrested this time," Dad said.
I sighed. "I should have guessed that."
"Now go on, pack your bags," Dad said. "We'll have a lot to sort out, especially with the beginning of the school year coming and you'll have to go to the school there."
Like I said, new village, new school. Was it really going to be worth it?
I guess I was going to have to wait and see.
I went to my room to go back my bags of what I wanted to take to Dad's. Of course, I was still going to come here from time to time like I did with Dad when I was living here so I didn't have to bring everything.
But there was one thing I definitely had to bring, especially since I couldn't risk my mom finding it.
I grabbed my suitcase from underneath the bed before grabbing a pile of clothes from my dresser. I reached under the bed again, this time pulling out a few glass bottles. I tried telling myself I didn't need them, that I could make it through the day without them.
Too bad I was already in too deep.
I carefully placed them at the bottom of the suitcase before piling the clothes on top of it. It didn't take me too long to pack and once I had everything ready, I left my room and went back to where Dad was standing. "I guess I'm ready," I said.
"Alright, then let's go," Dad said.
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i was so determined to actually wait until i finished a book to start this one but i couldn't take it anymore. i love my baby ollie so much already <3 (and yes, ollie is my son so nobody adopt him thanks)
also hi, yes, ollie will be living in spruceworth but this book can be read without reading anything from the spruceworth series. i don't even know if we'll see any of the characters in there, i just wanted ollie and his dad to live there because ollie needs a small place to live in and instead of making a new place, i was deciding between spruceworth and meadowcliff (the place jonah and reed are visiting in the song's fate). in the end, i decided on spruceworth lol
and now i have to go to bed because i have school tomorrow and i have to wake up so early. (at like 9)(so early save me)