Abused and Unloved~

Chapter Twenty Four

I shove him away from me and I hadn't noticed that tears were coming out of my eyes. Greg had never been this aggressive with me, he had never laid a hand on me.

"Jess." Maria finally jumps in timidly, I didn't even respond, I felt betrayed by them for a number of reasons today. I raced up the stairs into my room feeling that it was too late for her to try to soothe me. Once I reached my room, I slammed the door, despising myself for crying. I roughly sat on my bed trying to calm myself down, wiping my cheeks with aggression.

Within minutes there was a knock on my door and when they realized there would be no response, it slowly cracked open, Maria popping her head in.

"Jess, I want to know the whole story."

At this point I saw no benefit in telling it. I was probably still going to be punished because Greg seemed to have something against me all of a sudden.

"It doesn't matter anymore."

She walks in, closes the door, and moves to sit next to me on my bed.

"Of course it matters. I'm sorry about Greg. Work is hard, he's been having to wake up extra early and he's been stressed, that's no excuse for his behavior but that's the cause of it. He's just taking it out on you, and it isn't fair. It's not easy to fight him when he's like this. But I know you wouldn't do something like that without cause."

I didn't feel sorry, I didn't feel sympathy for him, but I still nodded like I did.

"So please, tell me what happened."
"Trevor cheated on Maddie, the situation was super messy. Then he came outside being disrespectful and acting like an entitled ass— he said some really... hurtful things, and I guess in retrospect I could've reacted more calmly, but at the time a punch felt necessary."

She just sighed in what appeared to be understanding, "I mean the punch wasn't that big of a deal. At least you didn't hit the kid's face." I didn't respond. I loved Maria but I hated the married people dynamic and sometimes wished I could just take care of myself. I had already practically raised myself and now I was being reprimanded constantly because I'm not used to or comfortable with other people trying to raise me.

Adoption is a crazy thing because two people who have no relation to you take you and try to raise you and discipline you, shaping you the way they want simply because they have a legal document that says they can. I'm not a pet and I'm way too old to be shaped a different way or shoved into a new mold. I was hardened concrete and they both needed to understand that. On top of that, finding out they didn't even really want me in the first place and lied about it made it all that much harder.

Greg enters, his face blank, he wasn't apologetic, but he also didn't seem like he had the intent to hurt me again.

"I didn't know the whole story. I just heard..." I knew he wasn't going to apologize because he didn't think he was wrong. He was only doing it so he wouldn't have to fight with Maria. "I still don't think that gives you the right to hit someone who can't defend themselves. If you were a boy, I'm sure he would have pounded you to the floor. The situation really had nothing to do with you, but if you claim to have been provoked by his words then I guess..." He was trying to make he feel stupid and push my buttons, and for someone reason it was working.

"This is your second-strike Jessica."
"What happens on the third one Greg? You kick me out?"

This was the first time I had called him Greg to his face in a while. Even though I called him Greg in my head, I made it a point to call them "Mom" and "Dad" to their faces. But right now, it didn't feel like I had a dad or a mom.

His face hardens and I alertly watch as he turns around and leaves without a word.

"Jessica, don't be so hard on him." I didn't want to argue, but I was also an individual who was intensely swayed by my emotions, and right now I was feeling a roller coaster of them.