it's you, it's always been you

chapter 10

Sam walked through her front door, and headed to her room. Deena had just dropped her off, and she knew it was better to come home before her dad got home late on the weekends, so she could hide in her room while her parents argued.

But as Sam turned the corner to the hallway, her mom stopped her in her tracks. "Samantha, where have you been? Caleb has called here three times already and said something about that Johnson girl hitting him when he walked up to you? I warned you to stay away from her."

Sam's mom grabbed her arm, and forced her down the hallway to the living room where Caleb was in a suit that matched a dress that was laid out on the couch. She looked at Caleb in horror, realizing what her mom was trying to do.

She had completely forgot about homecoming, and technically Caleb and her mom still thought that Sam was going and with Caleb.

"Caleb had just been telling me that you are on homecoming court. That's so great sweetie, and Caleb is too. That makes you a perfect couple." Sam's mom exclaimed and clapped her hands together. It was so easy for her mom to turn into this fake happy person for all the world to see. Sam could hide her true emotions, so she wouldn't worry anyone, but she could never act like her mother, she would rather die than do so.

Caleb raised his beer in his hand with a smirk on his face. "That's exactly what the whole school is saying, Babe. We got this in the bag." He finished the rest of the beer in his hand, "Mrs. Fraser, could I get another while she gets ready?"

"Of course, my future son-in-law." Sam's mom happily fetched Caleb a beer as he laid across the couch. Then she took Sam's arm and the dress to Sam's room to get her ready.

As Sam watched her mom and Caleb talk and how her mom fetched him a beer. She saw her future flash before her eyes. The way her mother called Caleb her son-in-law, made Sam sick to her stomach. This is the future that her mom had planned for her and the whole time all she could think about was Deena.

Sam took her medications as soon as she got to her room. Just missing one dose of them could send Sam to the hospital. Her mom sat her down in front of her mirror and fixed her hair and make up. Sam's mom spoke the entire time, of Caleb and how Sam would be homecoming queen. But none of it registered with Sam, she could only watch as her mother controlled her, preparing for tonight.

She told Deena that she wasn't going to the dance anymore, that she would go back to her house as soon as she could sneak out that night. She knew this would hurt Deena, but she couldn't move or tell her mom or Caleb no. She just let them control her, she was too tired to put up a fight with her mom, she never won with her, and she didn't have the strength to stand up for herself.

Sam wore a sliver and black dress that went down to just above her ankles. It matched Caleb's suit perfectly, which was obviously all her mother's doing.

Sam could smell the beer on Caleb's breath as they started driving to the dance. She was worried what would happen now that he was driving after her mom gave him two beers.

Her mom knew that Caleb would be driving and with Sam all night, how could she let him drink and then drive and be with her daughter? But that's exactly the type of mom she was, and Sam wasn't the least bit surprised.

Sam scanned the parking lot, looking for any sign of Deena or Kate or Simon, but she couldn't find any of them. Caleb grabbed ahold of her arm, and led her to the gym where the dance took place.

It still felt surreal to Deena, what happened between Sam and her the day before. Sam loved her, and not as a friend. Sam was in love with her, those words kept echoing in Deena's mind. She had went to the store earlier, to get all of Sam's favorite snacks and she planned a date for them for the night, and Deena couldn't help but be excited for it. She was cleaning up her room, after cleaning the dishes and beer cans from her kitchen, suddenly needing to impress Sam even though she's been there hundreds of times.