Summer

Lemon

I stared up at the ceiling, counting the tiles over and over again. Ignoring the eyes burning into my soul. She wanted me to say something, anything other than just giving her a blank stare. But that clearly wasn't going to happen. I told her I'd be her, but I didn't say I'd talk. I never agreed to tell her anything. No matter how much her eyes pleaded with me, how she kept saying empty phrases to try to get me to open up to her. It wasn't going to work but I didn't even want to open my mouth to tell her that. I would never give her the satisfaction, not now, not ever.

And so we sat there, me counting the tiles, her trying to coax me into talking. Honestly I wasn't sure why she wanted to talk to me because I was bringing my grades up. I just did it to get her off my back, but she was like a leach that clung on to one thing and traded it for another. A fucking annoying leach that understood nothing about me.

I kept glancing at the clock, watching the time like a hawk and counting down the minutes until I could leave this room. The only reason I didn't was because she mentioned my father. And the last thing I needed was for her to talk to him, for him to know about my grades and corner me about it as soon as we got home. So that was the only reason and the only leverage she had over me. If it wasn't for that, I would care what she said or did.

"Summer, the point of this is to talk. This is a safe space and nothing you say or do will ever be told to anyone else. Unless there's harm to yourself or another person." I heard her words, but they weren't enough to make me respond. "I know what I did was wrong, but really your father should know ab-"

I sat up faster than she had time to finish what she was saying. "You said you woudn't, I only agreed to be here so he would never know." The panic was starting to set in, did she already make the call? How much time did I have?

"Relax Summer, I didn't. I told I wouldn't and I won't. I was just going to say that maybe you should tell him." I shook my head and laid back down. "You see, I won't say anything but I can't promise that no one else won't." I knew it was a possibility, but everyone else in the school knew who my father was. They knew better than to call him because he wasn't a nice man. He would use his words to make someone cry, to accuse them and threaten them with everything he had. No matter how hard he was on them, it was me who always got the really brutal parts of his anger. Aside from that one time he slapped me my father always knew words hurt worse than his hands. And one thing he loved to do was hurt me.

Before she could get another word in, the timer she set went off and I was out the door without another glance back. I didn't want to hear whatever she had to say and really what I was trying to was get out of the school as fast as I could. I hated being here, hated the people, and there were lots of people who hated me. So it just was best to leave.

That was until I saw Duke and Gene walking together, which made me wonder if they were together or if they were just friends. By the way he was looking at her I knew he wanted more. I wasn't sure if she did because she just looked really, really tired. Like she didn't want to talk to Gene or anyone.

I don't know why I did it, but for some reason I found myself walking to him. Their faces exploded in surpise and then shortly after that anger. I knew this was mistake as soon as I walked over but I wanted to talk to Duke. Gene hated me with a passion I couldn't fathom, so I was crazy to even try with him. But with Duke I wanted that friendship back and some part of me would have done anything to get it.

"Go away." Gene hissed, his eyes burning and briming with everything he felt for me. "We don't want you here. You're not welcome, not here." I was only half listening to him because I was watching Duke, wanting to know if she felt the same way. But all she did was stare at me with cold, blank eyes. Like what I did meant nothing to her.

"Please go." Her voice was gentle, but at the same time her words were firm and final. I knew that if she said it meant I really wasn't welcome here. "Just go, Summer." And then she turned away, walking down the hall. Gene glared at me for a second and then followed after her.

I sighed trying to push the heartbroken, sick feeling away and I was about to walk out when my phone started to ring. I pulled it out of my pocket and almost dropped it when I saw it was my father. I prayed, fucking prayed that no one had called. I clicked the answer the button and put the phone to my ear.

"H-Hello." My whole body trembled, squeezing my eyes shut as tight as I could. I really hoped it wasn't what I thought it was about.

"I need you to go dress shopping with Eleanor, I'll text you the address she's at and you'll go there to do whatever she wants. Is that clear?" His words were hard, driven straight to the point and part of me admired him for it. The part of me that wasn't terrified of him.

"Yes sir." And no sooner were the words out of my mouth, did he hang up. I sighed in relief and almost collasped on the floor until my phone beeped again. The address, where I supposed to go.

I went outside, got in my car and drove there as quickly as I could without speeding. I didn't want to get a ticket and have it get back to him. I hated this, being so careful but if I wasn't, he was so focused on setting up the perfect family that I wasn't sure what he'd do. So I just had to do what he wanted so Eleanor would think of him as the perfect father. I suspected if my father had the perfect family he'd get the promotion he was after.

I pulled in front of a small, but upscale boutique and took a deep breath before heading inside. I spotted Eleanor right away holding up two dresses. She looked up and smiled brightly when she saw me, quickly pulling me into the mess of dresses surrounding us. "I'm glad you're here, I really need some help and Sarah is too busy trying on dresses."

"Sarah?" I really, really hoped it wasn't who I thought it was. "Who's Sarah?" But before I could answer, there she was red hair and her perfect slender body. She saw me and narrowed her eyes, before quickly grinning at Eleanor. "Oh, Hi Sarah." I tried but that only caused her to mouth to frown even further.

"Why are you here?" She tried to say it without sounding like a bitch, but it still came off that way. If Eleanor noticed she didn't say anything and started talking to the saleswoman.

"Why are you here?" I retorted back, and Sarah looked even more pissed than she did before. "My father is marrying her." I nodded to Eleanor, who was going in the back to try on another dress.

"I don't have to tell you why I'm here, I can be where ever I want." She held her up up high, showing me that I wasn't going to get anything out of her. I rolled my eyes and walked back to see if Eleanor needed my help.

"She's a daughter of my friend, such a lovely girl." Eleanor was talking to one of the people who were helping with her dress. "I let her being apart of the wedding party to make her mom happy, they say she's completely changed because of the boy she's dating. They want her to focus on something else and I don't blame them, such a waste." She continued to talk and talk, not caring that me or Sarah could hear her.

For the rest of the afternoon, I tried to do my best to to help Eleanor, agreeing to anything she wanted and telling her whatever she wanted to hear. And at the same time there was Sarah who would make remarks about anything everything I said. She clearly hated me and wasn't afraid to show it. I couldn't understand how Tommy could influence her into hating me that much. By the time it was over, I was exhausted and ready to go to bed.

I left, feeling worn out and ready to go home. I had hoped what I did made my father happy enough that he wouldn't focus on me tonight. All I wanted to do was to be left alone, forgotten and think about things that couldn't possibly be.

That was until Laura walked by, smiling and waving. "Hi, Summer." She giggled and I was surprised because the last time I saw her, I was sure I hurt her feelings. But here she was happy and not caring about anything I said. "I was walking to get something to eat, did you want to come with?"

Normally I wouldn't, but after the day I had I thought it would be nice to talk to someone who didn't hate me more than anything. "Sure." I agreed and togther we walked off, talking and conversing like I had never done with anyone before. And to be fucking honest it felt nice, so nice that for the next hour I managed to let my guard down just a little.

Just a little, but something was better than nothing.

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Yes it's two chapters in one day, and it's a little shorter but I really liked writing this simple chapter. Enjoy :-)