Third Person POV
It was two weeks before Christmas, and Chandler still hadn't told Laura about Brianna. He didn't want to anger her, and he knew she would kill someone.
"I'm so ready for Christmas break." Laura sighed as she sat at the lunch table next to Chandler.
"Me too." Chandler said shortly. "You alright? You seem a bit...jumpy." Parker asked, sitting down next to Zay."
"I-I'm fine." Chandler lied. "What are we doing in health today?" He asked, changing the subject.
Zay and Parker stayed silent.
"What is it?" Chandler asked again. "It's awkward that's what." Zay replied.
"Isn't everything in high school?" Chandler replied.
"Okay, okay. We're learning about all the gross, weird stuff. Ya know like, puberty and girls and...yeah." Zay answered.
"Why is there a lesson about girls? Because they're so confusing?" Chandler asked and grinned at Laura.
"What you're learning about is gonna have that grin wiped off of your face real quick." Laura laughed. Chandler looked at them with a confused expression.
"Wha—" Chandler began. Parker shaking his head cut him off.
"We're learning about hormones and safe sex and all that stuff. I don't get why we need to know about girls now, it's like they're promoting teenage pregnancy. And I don't know why we have to learn about girl hormones either, we're dudes." Zay rolled his eyes.
"Well it'll help when you get a girlfriend. You'll know what we go through." Laura laughed.
"Yeah. We're emotional people." Autumn said, sitting next to Laura.
"No kidding." Zay grinned.
"Watch it." Laura smiled sarcastically at him. "You guys wanna do something after school?" She followed.
"Like what?" Autumn asked.
"I don't know...just something. I gotta get my mind off things." She answered.
The truth is, Chandler wasn't the only one hiding a huge secret that could destroy everything. The only difference was; in time, this would inevitably destroy everything. Without a doubt.
Including Laura herself. But it wasn't time to worry about any of that now, it was time to enjoy her life with her friends.
"Chandler, you think we could go to your house?" Zay asked.
"Yeah, sure. I'm sure Andy wouldn't care." Chandler answered.
Later
It was 9:23 pm and everyone went home from Chandler's house. Andy, Payton, and Chandler were all decorating the Christmas tree.
"What do you guys want for Christmas?" Andy asked, untangling the Christmas lights.
"Star Wars Legos!" Payton said excitedly. "We'll have to see about that." Andy chuckled.
"C'mon, I've been...kinda good this year! With everything that's happened I'm sure Santa will cut me some slack." Payton crossed her arms.
"I'm sure he will too, sweetheart. What about you Chandler? What do you want?" Andy asked.
Chandler shrugged. "I don't really want anything, I have enough." He said quietly.
"Oh don't give me that, it's Christmas! You really think you're not gonna get anything?" Andy asked.
"B-but I can't think of what I want..." Chandler insisted once more.
"Well then I guess you'll get what I—what Santa wants you to have." Andy said, winking at Chandler on the Santa part.
Chandler grinned and hung up another ornament.
Laura's POV
"So when exactly do we get to meet this boyfriend of yours, Laura?" My mom asked, coming inside the house.
"Whenever you want to." I say absentmindedly, flipping through the pages of my parents' old yearbook and eating an apple.
"We know nothing about him so far, other than his name is Chandler. Does he treat you right? I swear if he hurts my little girl I'll—" My dad started to say, but I didn't let him finish.
"You'll do nothing dad. He's the sweetest person ever. And he's had enough pain in one lifetime so no more, alright?" I say seriously.
"What do you mean?" My mom asks, sitting next to me.
"Well his parents suck, he lives with his...hm. He's like...an adoptive father I guess? Basically Chandler was kidnapped and Andy saved him and now he lives with Andy." I shrug, not caring to explain further.
"Well he couldn't have just taken custody like that, Laura. He must be related somehow. Or a friend of one of his parents. Who are his parents?" My mom asked.
"Gena and William Russell. They're in jail now." I answer, and both of my parents' eyes go wide.
Weird.
"What is it?" I ask, confused.
"No way...let me see that." My dad sits on the other side of me and grabs the yearbook out of my hand. He flips to a certain page and points to a picture of a woman. Under the picture it says Gena Marie Michaels.
"That's his mom? You went to school with her?" I asked my parents. My mom smiled.
"Yep. And here's his dad." She took the yearbook from my dads hands and flips a few more pages.
When she shows me his dad I can see the resemblance immediately.
Hair color similar, eye color similar, but it was mainly the smile.
"Chandler has his smile." I told them.
"Wait a minute, I thought their son was much younger...didn't they just have a baby a few years ago?" My dad asked my mom.
"Yeah but they already had a little boy, Gena was always posting about him on Facebook. And then she just stopped. I don't know what happened." My mom answered.
"Well that makes no sense. Why would she post about him when they're in jail for hitting him?" I ask, dumbfounded.
"What? They're in jail for child abuse?" My dad asked, shocked.
I nodded and my mom goes and gets her laptop. "Wait who's he living with?" My dad asks me again. "Andy, his full name is Andrew Lewis." I answer.
What is going on?
"Debbie, their son is living with Andy Lewis. From the same High School." My dad said to my mom as she made her way back to the couch.
"Ahhh see now it makes sense, Will and Andy were best friends." My mom says and logs into Facebook. That makes so much more sense, I knew it was weird how the state just...allowed Chandler to live with Andy without any sort of blood relation.
"What are you doing?" I ask my mom.
"Finding Gena's Facebook. I can't....Ah! Here it is!" She clicks a profile with a little boy wearing overalls as the background.
"Is that...?" I trailed off.
My mom clicked on a video. It showed a man and his son at the park, a woman talking behind the camera.
"Chandler where are we?" The woman asked the boy.
"Park!" The boy said excitedly. "Oh yeah, what are we doing?" The woman asked again.
"It's my birfday!" The boy, Chandler answered.
"Wow! Tell mommy how old you are now!" The dad said.
"Momma I'm four, I'm almost a whole hand now!" Chandler shouted, smiling and holding four fingers up.
My mom turned the video off when she noticed a tear sliding down my cheek.
"Baby, what is it?" She asked, and my dad wrapped his arm around me.
"I-I just don't get it. What changed? Everyone was happy there, everything was fine and now it's just...it's not? I don't understand it." I said, wiping my eyes furiously.
"Well the latest post on her Facebook was of Chandler's 7th birthday, so something clearly had to have happened somewhere around that." My mom replied sympathetically.
My dad turned to look me at me.
"Listen to me. There's a reason for everything. These people didn't just...wake up one morning and decide to hate their child. You gotta remember that everything happens for a reason, Laura." My dad said. I nodded and wiped my eyes.
AN: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 🎁🎄
I'm sorry this took so long and it doesn't really get into the details about Christmas but the next chapter will get more into that. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed!!!