The Prince and His Pauper

Chapter 70: The Pauper Finally Speaks Up

What am I going to do? I didn't see Antonio at all the next day which just so happens to be a Friday which means I won't see him until Monday. Though, I saw Leo around but he was surrounded by his fan club and even some of Antonio's friends. I'm guessing they don't know where he is either. So I couldn't ask Leo about his brother's whereabouts since I'm sure Thomas or his other flunkies would just block me from talking to Leo too.

Though, texting Leo isn't helping because I sent him a text on Friday after school but he never responded. If I could, I would've also texted Antonio's chauffeur friend, Sebastian, but I don't have his number. Then again, I don't think he would've responded to me either. It seems like Antonio and Leo are avoiding me because I found out about them. What I don't understand is why Leo went to school but Antonio didn't?

A loud voice shouts my name, followed by the sound of the front door closing, draws me out of my thoughts. I sit up from the couch that I was laying on and turn around so I could see my dad walking in with four bags of groceries. I quickly got off the couch and ran to help my dad out with the groceries. Once I had two bags in my hands, we went to the kitchen and placed the bags on top of the island countertop.

"Thanks, son." Dad says while he starts to take out some groceries from the bags.

"You're welcome. What did you get?" I ask, also taking some things out.

"Oh, the usual necessities. Plus some ingredients for tonight's dinner." Dad replies to which I nod my head. "I'm glad to see that the house didn't burn down while I was away."

"You were only gone for half an hour." I point out, though that didn't stop my dad from being overdramatic.

Dad releases a loud gasp then pulls me into a tight hug as he exclaims, "A half hour?! My poor son was all alone! Anything could've happened while I was away!"

"Dad, what do you think I'm going to do at home by myself?" I question a bit sarcastically.

"What wouldn't you do? Parents away and he has the house to himself? He'd throw a huge party that he'll be grounded for." Dad replies then pulls himself away from me.

Though, I released a short laugh from Dad's answer. Before I could even think, I responded back with another sarcastic comment. "Yeah, with what friends? I have one friend and he's busy trying to get laid."

"You have more than one. Four in total if I'm not mistaken." Dad points out which only causes me to frown. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Dad... D-don't worry about it..." I mutter quietly and grab the gallon of milk.

As I was putting the milk in the fridge, Dad decided to probe some more about my comment about not having friends. "Cassiel, is something wrong? Or is someone giving you a hard time again?"

I was about to lie to Dad again but a cold voice made me change my mind. My doppelgänger whispered, "How many times are you going to keep your parents in the dark? Until they find you bleeding out on the bathroom floor? Because they were going to see you like that last year. All because you didn't want them to know how fucking miserable you really were!"

His harsh words actually caused me to flinch when I placed the milk inside a compartment by the right side door. Since I don't want Dad to think I'm crazy, I thought back a response to him. It's not like that. This is completely different from last year.

"How? Because no one is jumping you every day? You don't have any bruises to hide from them so there's no reason for you to tell them that you're having a hard time? What's the difference?!" He shouts inside my head. "You're still keeping secrets from them! They think everything is fine because you don't want to tell them that the Sex God's dad threatened you! Tell them! The worst that would happen would be that they don't believe you but that's not going to happen! Mom and Dad are going to believe you. Just tell him!"