Don't Talk To Daddy

Chapter Sixteen

    Due to my "rapid healing", as the doctor put it, I was able to get my pain medication dosage lowered by Thursday, which meant I could go back to school Friday. Going back to school, I had to deal with the many questions from peers and teachers, explaining my injury. It was almost embarrassing, having to explain to teachers how I had managed to put both my own and Jake's lives at risk. Peers, they could care less. Most of them have totalled several cars.

    Lunch was awkward ---- to say the least. I had a close, small group of friends that I usually spent time with: Jake, Ryan, Diana, and I. Somehow it seemed like in the small week I had been gone, the whole groups' chemistry was off. Ryan didn't even show up to lunch, and Jake kept glaring at Diana, while I just sat there, confused. Many people would've been concerned; would've cared a lot more than me about how my friends were getting along, but it didn't really bother me much. While I was close with all three of my friends, the only one that really knew me was Jake. Diana and Ryan didn't know much about my family; about my life away from school. They knew I had family issues, but they didn't know the details. We never talked about it much, which I was happy about.

   The lunch room was loud and noisy, partially disguising the silence that had overwhelmed the table. I kept trying to silently ask Jake what was going on, but he either never noticed me, or pretended not to notice. The only way I was to find out was to break the silence that had been going on for nearly a half hour by then. "Where's Ryan?" I asked, not speaking very loudly, just loud enough for them to hear me over the commotion of the lunch room.

    Diana glanced at Jake quickly before answering quietly, "Um, Ryan and I broke up Tuesday."

    "Oh," I muttered, although it didn't really make a difference. Diana and Ryan had had an on and off relationship for the past year and a half. It wasn't a suprise to me that they weren't together, and it wouldn't surprise me when they would get back together. I would've continued to conversation to try and figure out what was really going on, but I was interrupted by my phone. It seemed like it was constantly ringing.

     I quickly got up and moved into the hallway, where it was quieter before answering, "Yeah, Mom?"

    "Oh, Trinity. You're not in a class right now, right?" Mom said.

    "No, don't worry," I reassured her.

   "Can you do me a favor? I need you to drive over to Aaron's today and get Harmony."

   Her question surprised me, "Um, Aaron's?" I thought for a moment, "Um, sure, I guess. Doesn't Aaron have custody of her though?"

    "Well, I granted him custody for now, but I just need Harmony home for the night. Um, I'll be out late, so don't wait up for me. Boss just slammed with extra work," Mom said, very bad at lying.

    "Sure, Mom," I said, acting like I believed her lie.

   Mom gave me the address to Aaron's house, and then hung up. I walked back into the lunch room and then finished my lunch in silence. I wasn't looking forward to facing Aaron, I just hoped I'd be able to refrain from killing him when I saw him. I couldn't hate anyone in the world more. No one.

***

    Later that afternoon, Jake drove me up to Aaron's house, which was only a half hour away from my house. I would've driven, but I had broken my right ankle, which I needed to drive, and also, I was still a little traumatized from the incident. I used the half hour car ride to try and figure out what was going on. 

    "Jake, what's going on with Diana?" My question was innocent, but he acted anything but.

    "What are you talking about? Nothing, of course nothing. I mean, what do you think is going on?" He was speaking quickly; he was nervous.