Once Again

chapter 1

Bentley

I used to swim, I was really good at it too, now however, as I sit in the patio chair, staring at the water in our pool, it just reminds me of that day. A couple months ago, I was supposed to have a swim meet in New River, I didn't often have meets there, but I was competing at highschool level now, so the New River Twisters were a team I would be going up against. I was excited, because it meant better competition, they were a good team, my previous team and there's may have never directly  competed before, but they have been in some of the same tournaments as us, or swim camps.  I can be a bit competitive and I loved a challenge, so it was something I was looking forward to when our coach announced it. 

When I told my parents about the upcoming meet, my mother did the typical "can't wait to see your meet", my siblings however weren't as excited, Oscar and Olivia hated going to the meets and only enjoyed the concessions part of it, Raymond was only interested in soccer and wouldn't give the time of day to anything else. It was my fathers reaction that felt odd, he was typically my biggest fan, so when he told me i couldn't go, I didn't understand. He claimed he didn't think I should go to the meet. Then he went on about how he's done some work over in New River and the area that the meet was supposed to be held in wasn't a good area, It was unsafe and I was most likely to get mugged or kidnapped. My mother seemed to believe him, and backed him up on his decision. I had Googled it though, it was nothing how my father described. I argued with him for days over it. I tried talking to my best friend about it, hoping maybe she could tell me what to do, but she had practically been MIA while her parent prepared for the arrival of her sister. So not fully thinking rationally, I did something I never usually do, I went to bother my father at work.

When I got to his office, his secretary looked a bit confused, I don't think she knew who I was and was surprised to see a teenager walking up to her desk. "Hi, I'm here to see my father, Kenneth Whitmire?"

"Oh, I didn't realize he had children, he's usually tight-lipped about his personal life." I knew he was leaving for a business trip this evening, but I thought I could catch him before he left.

"He's still here right, he hasn't left for England yet?" When I say this she scrunches up her face in confusion.

"England? I don't know about that, all I know is he's scheduled to be in the New River office for the next two weeks. Did he say he was going to England, I'm new, so maybe I got something wrong." She starts to look at her notes and then I guess finds what she was looking for. "Yep, right here, New River, just like he is every month."

I step back from her desk, now feeling confused. I'd never gone to his office before, so maybe I got the wrong one. I was about to double check the name on the door outside when my father walks in. He stops when he sees me. "Bentley, what are you doing here, you know your not supposed to come down to my office."

That's when things start to feel like they're sliding out of place a bit. "Dad, why did your secretary say that you spend half the month in a city only an hour away?"

The woman stands up, "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize." She starts to say and I can tell she really had no idea what she had done.

"Bentley, listen, it was a mistake,  and it just grew. Please you can't tell your mother." He begs and I look between him and the secretary who looks like she wants to be anywhere else but here right now.

"Is this why I couldn't go to my swim meet? Because Mom might run into you with your mistress?" I look at him disgusted, how could the man who taught me about being truthful and honest to others, about Integrity and how to be a good person in general, be the same man who's cheating on my mother and standing here, begging me to keep his secret for him. "Why would you do this to mom, to our family?"