𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐖𝐞 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲

𝟓𝟕-𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐈𝐬 𝐀 𝐒𝐢𝐧

𝓠𝓾𝓲𝓷𝓷

I run a million scenarios in my head trying to figure out why my mom asked me to come home. 

Oh please don't be knocked up. 

Imagine at their age trying to have another kid. 

"We have arrived." Michael says from his spot at the drivers seat. 

I look up at the house. 

I hate that house. 

"Thank you." I say getting out of the car. 

The moment I enter the house I can sense something is off. 

Wrong. 

The staff are giving me pity looks.

I send glares their way and they quickly look away. 

If there is one thing I hate more than losing to Jordan Campbell, it's pity. 

Walking into the dining room I see my mom sitting in an unusual spot. 

Usually she sits beside my dad but now she is sitting at the other end of the table. 

The spot my mom once occupied is now filled by that young maid. 

Bella I think.

Wow I really do suck at remembering names. 

"Please have a seat." My father says and I eye the group suspiciously. 

"What is she doing here." I say directing my sights on the girl with raven black hair. 

She shrinks in her seat. 

"Beth is here to stay Quinn." My father barks.

 Woof woof to you too. 

"Now." He says sharply, "Take your seat."

I plop down in the seat all the way at other end of the table beside my mom. 

My dad gives me a nasty look and I return it. 

"Why am I here?" I ask looking. between my mom and father. 

I not only hate missing school but I miss Jordan as well. 

Before my parents so rudely forced me to come back we had planned to spend some time together listening to music. 

He even has a new record he wanted me to listen to. 

"We have some news, news that surely will go public within the next few days." He says and I brace myself for the worst.

"Your mother and I are getting a divorce." He says and my eyebrows shoot up. 

A divorce?

He's not done with the news. 

"Annabeth is pregnant with my child."

Oh fuck. 

"We are getting married next spring."

Jaw meet floor. 

"Wha-" Words seem to not be able to form right now. 

How could they?

My parents are getting divorced and my dad is getting married to a girl my age. 

Oh and she's carrying my half sibling. 

Honestly I wish it had just been my mom who was pregnant. 

"So what you're saying is you knocked up your young maid and now you want to marry her?" I ask and my mom snorts. 

Actually snorts. 

My father sends a look her way. 

"Beth and I are in love Quinn, not that you would know anything about that."

Love?

I know love better than anyone in this room. 

Whatever is between Bella and my father is not love. 

Maybe my father's midlife crisis and her daddy issues but not love. 

"What do you think about this?" I question my mom. 

She raises one blonde eyebrow, "I don't see how I can have any say in the matter."

"You always have opinions, how do you feel about some girl taking your place?" I ask bluntly. 

"Well I cant say I like it but I have no other choice. Your father has made up his mind Quinn." She says with a shrug. 

Who is this woman and where is my mother?

"Mom can I talk to you alone for a moment?" I ask and she nods. 

We head upstairs to my room. 

"How are you not upset about this?" I ask and she laughs. 

"Upset?" She squeaks, "I am furious."

Oh there she is. 

"You listen to me Quinn, and you listen good." She starts and I instantly regret bringing her up here. 

"Never marry someone you love, never." She whispers the end. 

"Marry for money, for rank but never marry for love. One day he'll get tired of you, when your looks fade and you're nothing but a burden for him. He'll find someone new, someone to please him. You are disposable Quinn." She says angrily. 

I gap at her. 

"That boy you're with might want you now but in twenty, thirty years." Her eyes flash with hatred, "You'll be nothing but memories to him."

She really knows where to hit me where it hurts. 

"Leave him." She says and my eyebrows shoot up. 

"What?"

She laughs dryly, "Don't play dumb Quinn. Leave him because I can see how much you love him. Do you really think he feels the same?" She asks, bitterness dripping from her words. 

"He doesn't and he never will. He isn't capable of it, that's just who he is. So leave him, leave him before he has a chance to hurt and embarrass you."

I chew on my bottom lip thinking over what she said.

"He's not like that." I whisper. 

She scoffs, "If you really believe that clearly you aren't as smart as I thought you were. Men like your father, like that boy mistake attraction for love. Don't let that ruin you the way it's ruined me" 

Could she be right?

I know how I feel, what if I am just trying to make myself believe he feels the same?

We all have discovered I am not the best at reading people even if I want to believe I am. 

I thought Sarah was a friend and I had been completely utterly wrong. 

I thought Poppy would be some terrible bitch and she couldn't be more the opposite. 

I couldn't see how Della was hurting or how it had affected Casper. 

Hell I couldn't see that my father would be okay with embarrassing our family for some girl he got pregnant. 

"I need to go." I tell her before heading out of the room. 

The whispers of my parents infidelities I can handle. 

But the tight pain in my heart that my mom might be right about Jordan. 

That could destroy me. 

"Can you take me to back the academy?" I ask Michael as I head towards the car. 

He quirks an eyebrow, "Are you sure I-"

"Yes." I bite out. 

He just nods, "As you wish."

I refuse to let my mothers words become a reality.