The Switch

Chapter 3

Emory

The rest of the afternoon went by fast, I finished putting most of my things away. Asking Aria some questions as I did. I didn't want to be completely hostile to everyone and it's not like it was her or Georgie's fault that I was forced to be here. She even agrees that she thinks it's wrong for her parents to have gotten custody of me. Asking her a few questions though doesn't mean we're going to be best friends, it just means we aren't going to hate each other for the time being. It was when we were called down for dinner that things went south. For the first ten minutes we all sat there quietly as Georgie talked about his day and all the things he wanted to show me later if I was up for it. He seemed to be very excited that I was here. I'm almost positive that Anthony told Jessica about what I said in the car earlier that day, because she kept glancing at me and frowning, which made me feel uncomfortable and I kept squirming in my seat as a result. I just couldn't sit still.

"So school starts in a couple days, and your father and I figured we'd go school shopping tomorrow after lunch, is there stuff you already have?" Jessica says looking over at me.

I could have answered the question, but the defiant part of me disagrees. "Anthony isn't my father and you're not my mother, you're just strangers I happen to share DNA with."

Aria looks up instantly and Georgie stops playing with his dino nuggets. Even at four he's able to notice the shift in the room's mood. "Right now we may be strangers, but I think after you live here for a while you might feel differently and the judge agrees."

"That judge was biased and like a hundred years old." I argue back, not stepping down. I might be forced to live with them, but I am not going to make it easy on them.

"I don't think he was biased at all and I think he made a decision he felt was best for you and everyone involved." Anthony says and I roll my eyes.

"That's a lot of bull shit and you know it, of course he was biased and you don't care because he picked your side!" Anthonys nostrils flare, I expected him to finally snap, but instead it was Jessica that beat him to it.

"That is enough, we get that your angry, but the decision was made. I will respect your feelings of anger towards us, but we are not going to let you talk to us how ever you want. Now the month in the summer and every other holiday are a condition of our custody agreement, but the weekends once a month was our decision and we can take that away, Do you understand?" She says sternly, and I make eye contact with her for a second, I wanted to retort but I honestly hadn't expected for her to scold me and threaten to take away my weekends in New River. Truthfully I had been acting like a brat the entire day, but if I had known that the weekends once a month were going to be used against me, I might have tried harder not to be.

I sighed, looking down at my plate, "yes ma'am" dinner was completely silent the rest of the evening not even Georgie talked.  I didn't even look at them that night, I just avoided talking to them, figuring it was my best approach to avoid trouble. Right before I went to sleep and while Aria was in the shower, I called my aunt.

She picked up on the first ring. "Hey buttercup, how are things going?"

I wasn't planning on breaking down, but one tear had made an escape and then it seemed the rest followed. "I hate it here, I just want to go home."

After calming me down she was able to ask questions and try to figure out what had made me cry. "Emory what happened?"

"They threatened to take away my weekends with you, they said it wasn't in the custody agreement, is that true?" I ask and she paused before answering.