"Are you asking me out on a date?"
"In your dreams Lahote"
Mattea Whitner has always been a sometimes quiet person. When she moves to a small town named Forks Washington for an escape from her old life and a fresh start she is thrown into the world...
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As the months slipped into January, Bella continued to be in her slump. She was making slow progress but still was acting like a zombie. Going through the motions but not really living.
The most progress she made was the huge blow out between her and Charlie that happened earlier this morning.
Me and Bella were sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast before school when Charlie slammed his fist down on the kitchen table. I flinched at the motion. "That's it bella I'm sending you home" he said sternly.
"I am home," she mumbled confused.
"I'm sending you to Renée, to Jacksonville," he clarified.
"What did I do?" Her face crumpled.
Charlie scowled, "You didn't do anything. That's the problem. You never do anything."
"You want me to get into trouble?" She asked, her eyebrows pulling together in mystification.
"Trouble would be better than this...this moping around all the time!"
"I am not moping around" Bella denied.
"That was the wrong word," he grudgingly conceded. "Moping would be better—that would be doing something. You're Just... lifeless, Bella. I think that's the word I want."
Bella sighed, "I'm sorry dad." Her apology was flat and even I knew that Charlie wouldn't be satisfied.
"I don't want you to apologize" he finally said.
"Then tell me what you want me to do."
he hesitated, scrutinizing her reaction to his next words. "Honey, you're not the first person to go through this kind of thing, you know."
"I know that." Her reply was limp and unimpressive.
"Listen, honey. I think that—that maybe you need some help."
"Help?"
He paused, searching for the words again. "When your mother left," he began, frowning, "and took you with her." He inhaled deeply. "Well, that was a really bad time for me."
"I know, Dad," she mumbled.
"But I handled it with the help of others" he pointed out. Charlie looked over at me sitting quietly watching this anxiously play out. "If I didn't have Alison I don't know where I'd be."
My heart lurched from the mention of my mother. Sometime I forget how close she and Charlie once were.
"I'm handling it just fine" Bella said.
"Honey, you're not handling it. I waited, I hoped it would get better." He stared at her and she looked down quickly. "I think we both know it's not getting better. Maybe, well, maybe if you talked to someone about it. A professional."
