She doesn’t say anything else the entire road and about 10 minutes later, I pull into our driveway before getting out and walking up the porch steps with her. When we walk into the house, we notice our parents sitting at the couch with work stuff sitting in front of them and when I see my dad, I have to look away because he was the cause of all this pain and all this suffering.
My mom looks up, immediately becoming aware of the emotion on my face as my sister closes the front door. Kade, what happened ?
I don’t want to talk about it. I’m going to bed, I say, trying to walk past them, but my father grabs my wrist to pull me into the kitchen where we’re no longer in site or hearing distance from my mother or sister.
Did you do it ? He asks me and I conjure up enough strength to push him away from me. He gives me a surprised look when he lightly hits the fridge that stands behind him. More tears start streaming down my face, starting to wonder if being in his life was genuinely a good option at this point if he was so determined to hurt me.
Fuck you, I bite out before turning around and charging up the stairs as I leave my father behind, stunned from what just happened to him. I get into my room before slamming the door and falling face forward onto my bed to dig my face into the pillow as I start to sob.
I love Joey, I really do, but my family is my everything. At least my mother and sister are my everything. No matter what had happened with me, those two women have been there for me through everything and just imagining them not being in my life hurts me down to my core.
I hear a knock on my door, but ignore it because the last thing I wanted right now was confrontation from anyone. Along with that, I heard my phone dinging in my bookbag that I had discarded to my floor when I walked into my room and I assumed that Joey had gotten home and told Cody and Melissa what had happened. I let my sobs drift me off to sleep as a terrible headache started to make my entire body feel disgusting and dizzy.
Kade’s POV
I walked into English class the next day, noticing how the three people I usually sit next to are staring at me as I sit on the opposite side of the classroom. After I get out my notebook and start scribbling along the white page, a hand comes down on my shoulder, making me jump back in surprise as I look up to see a beautiful African American girl and I realize that it’s Tyler, the girl who’s my partner for the dance routine that I had gotten lead for.
Oh, hey, Tyler, what’s up ? I ask, looking back down as my pen makes random lines on the paper and I can still feel the stares from the people across the room. My palms start to sweat as the feeling of being watched catches up to me and I have to run my hands down my joggers to get rid of the sticky feeling.
I was wondering if I could sit with you ? I don’t have too many friends in this class and since you’re sitting alone, I assumed that we could get to know each other since we’re dance partners and all, she says to me I guess that wasn’t a bad idea even though I didn’t really feel like talking to anyone at all.
Oh, yeah, go ahead. Rather you sit here than some random person I’ve never seen before, I tell her, moving my bag so she has more room to sit. She sits down, pulling out a light blue notebook before looking over at me and I notice the slightly confused look on her face.
If you don’t mind me asking, why’re you sitting alone ? You and Joey always seemed so inseparable, she asks and I have to hold in a sigh because I knew that someone would ask before lunchtime. I continue my scribbling on my paper as I try to think of what I should tell her because I don’t know if he was telling anyone from the pack or not.
Let’s just say that there’s some stuff going on between Joey and I that’s a little personal, I tell her, wondering if she was a wolf because everyone at school knew that we were together, so just because she knew doesn’t mean she automatically was a wolf. I had never seen her around the pack, but that might be related to the fact that I barely ever left the quarter house.
She leans in closer to me to whisper so no one else around heard. Is it, like, pack stuff that we should be worried about ? We all know about the rogue pack because of the meeting, but is there something else we should be worried about ?
Yep, she’s a wolf. No, nothing having to do with the pack, don’t worry about that. It’s just more personal stuff having to deal with my family that I don’t really feel like talking about.
Oh, I’m sorry, she tells me as the teacher walks in and that was the last thing she said to me in first block since we had a lot of learning to do before finals in a few weeks.
As I was walking to second block, I felt like everyone was staring at me even though I knew they weren’t because Joey definitely hadn’t told anyone by Tyler’s reaction when I answered her question. When I was a few feet away from my next class, I was pulled by the arm into an empty classroom that seemed like the teacher had just stepped away for a few moments and would be back any second with how the computer was still bright.
What the hell is the matter with you ? Melissa asks me, slapping me on the arm and I notice the worried look on her face ; whether it was for Joey or me, I had no clue. My headache suddenly got worse as she cornered me in the small room and I genuinely just wanted to run home and never look back.
Melissa, let’s not do this now, I tell her as I try to walk away, but am pulled back in front of her by her strong muscles. When I look at her face again, she looks super confused like she has no idea who I even was at this point, and right now, I don’t even know who I exactly was and it was the scariest thing I’ve ever had to deal with.
Kade, what’s going on ? You wouldn’t just break up with Joey out of your free will, we all know you better than that, she tells me, reaching out to hold my hand as she begs me to tell her what’s going on.
Trust me, it’s already too much for me handle. You don’t want to have to deal with all of this, I tell her, starting to feel my eyes burn with salty tears.
She squeezes my hand. Kade, you can talk to me.
I can’t talk to anyone because this isn’t something that I could’ve controlled, I tell her and she gives me another confused look as she takes a step closer to me to try and give me some silent comfort because I know that if she was to actually comfort me, she would feel like she was betraying Joey who probably asked her to do this.
Just tell me why, she desperately asked.
The tears are desperately trying to come out and I have to tilt my head up to keep them inside my eyes. Melissa, please, I’m about to cry and I really, really can’t do that right now. Not right here.
She backs away from me as I walk out of the empty classroom to the actual room that I was supposed to be in. I have to rub my hands together to distract myself from crying in front of a bunch of strangers that I’ve never even noticed are in this class before since I’m usually too invested in my school work or thinking about Joey or something.
After dance is over, I start to walk through the parking lot as I pull out my keys so I can get out of here as fast as I can. I can hear someone’s footsteps behind me as I’m a few feet away from my car. A hand comes down on my shoulder and I jump back from whoever it is because I wasn’t prepared for anything right now.
When I look at who it was, I see Tyler standing back with her hands up along with a confused look on her face. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you !
I chuckle, pressing my hand against my chest as I open my car to throw my bag in the back before walking back to the front of my car where she’s leaning against it. Hey, how are you ? I know I seemed a bit lost while we were practicing for our routine, so I’m sorry for that.
She shakes her head, crossing her arms. No, don’t worry about it. You must have a lot on your plate right now, so I completely understand.