Ungodly Hour

Chapter 1: I don't know.

Wait. What am I doing? Oh, that's right, leaving my middle school for the last time and turning it in for high school. Swapping childhood for my teenage years, which will someday become my adulthood. 

I don't want to, it's more like an 'I-have-to' kind of thing. It happens to the best and the worst of us.

"Rory!" I hear a voice call out behind me. I turn, seeing Asher sprinting towards me.

"Sup, loser?" I ask jokingly, standing underneath the bus stop sign.

"Waiting for the bus, what about you, geek?" He retaliates, smirking.

"Same." I smile, bumping my shoulder into his chest. I look up to the sky and find, with no surprise, that it's filled with dark clouds. "God, I wish it wouldn't rain for just one day." I murmur, shaking my head. The sun is nowhere to be found just like every other day.

"Impossible. Do you remember where we live?" He kids, clapping a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah." I shoo him off. "Oh," I exclaim, suddenly remembering something from earlier. "My parents are going out tonight, and they invited your parents to come, so you're coming over to watch a movie." I state, the bus finally arriving.

"Okay." He replies as we clamber on, going to our usual seats. I don't talk to anyone but him, so it's unusual if I told anyone but him to come over. I lean my head on his shoulder as we ride, the bumps making it hard to do so.

"Sleepy?" He whispers, glancing down at me. I nod tiredly. I've always had trouble sleeping through the whole night.

"You promised me you'd call me." He sighs.

"I know, but I'd already called you three times this week alone!" I whine, punching his open palm a few times. He chuckles.

"You promised." He retorts, humor in his voice.

"I just didn't feel like it." I murmur. I lay there for a while, my head on his shoulder, til our stop.

"We're here Ror." He shakes me slightly. I sit up properly and rub the drowsiness from my eyes, then stand up, following Asher to the front of our bus.

"Bye kids, have a good day." The bus driver grumbles, to which we return a small "Thanks." as we walk down the steps and onto the sidewalk.

"So," Asher starts as we walk towards our houses. "What time do I come over?"

"I'd say around 5-ish. I'll call you if you need to come before." I smile, nearing my front porch. I climb the steps onto it, waving to Asher as he walks past the house and into his. I go inside, throwing my bag on it's hook.

"Mom?" I call out, usually she waits outside on the porch. As I near the steps I hear Mom yell.

"You what?" She gasps, her voice muffled by the door.
"I'm sorry!" Dad screams. "It meant nothing, Jean, nothing!"

"If it meant nothing then why would you do that?" Mom questions and I can feel her wrapping her arms around her head.

"I don't know!" Dad exclaims as I near the door, making me cringe backwards slightly. You don't ever tell a girl I don't know like that. Ever.

"Then why, Greg, why?" Mom whispers as the bed creaks. "I thought you loved me, for 15 years. Gregory I thought you loved me." She mutters.

"I do, Jean, I really do! I love you!" Dad says and I peep through the key hole.

"Then why would you do it?!" Mom screams, jumping off the bed. "What about Rory, Greg? Did you think about her? Did you think about our family? No,because you pay the bills, you should be able to sleep around and cheat whenever you want!"

I jump away from the door, my back against the wall, creating a loud thump that echoes down the walls of the hall.

Suddenly the door is yanked open, revealing Mom, her cheeks stained with eyeliner and tears. "Baby," Mom murmurs, sitting down next to me. "Baby, I'm so sorry." I practically leap into her arms, burying my face into her ginger hair, her perfume comforting on her sweater.

"Rory." Dad sighs from the doorframe. I want to look up but I know I can't.

"Mom?" I ask scared.

"Yea, Ror?"

"What's gonna happen?" I shake, looking up to her eyes. The same gray eyes as mine.

"I don't know." She whispers, wiping tears I hadn't noticed fall. I bury myself back into her as her arms wrap around me, cradling my body. I feel her head turn slightly, probably glaring at Dad.

"Go." She whispers to me and I pull away from her chest. "Call Asher, go to your room, we can talk later. For now I need to talk to your dad." She says sternly as I nod. I wipe away the rest of my tears and stand up, walking to my room. The next thing I know my phone's in my hand, and I'm sitting on my bed.

"Asher?" I call into the phone hoarsely.

"Yeah?" His voice rings into my ear.

"Can you come over?" I ask, my hands starting to shake.

"Yeah, no problem, Ror." He says and I can hear the worry in his voice.

I open my window slightly for him, even though the rain still seeps through. I quickly change out of my jeans and T-shirt into a deep blue sweater and plain black leggings, as I pull my brown hair up into a ponytail.

I hear a rustle in the tree, notifying me he's here. I throw my hair up into a messy bun and pace the floor as everything that just happened sinks in. He cheated? Why? Doesn't he care about us? Doesn't he love us? Why would that be an option? What's gonna happen now? What's gonna happen to our family? All these questions swim around my head, drowning me in my own thoughts. Suddenly a pair of hands on my shoulders pulls me out, like a life boat, and I'm on the floor.

"Rory?" He asks, his voice  overcome with worry. "Are you okay?" I shake my head.

"I'm not okay." I murmur.

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If you look you will probably notice that I have changed some slight details from my Book Ideas to this.

Written in: August 2015

October 2, 2016: hi! So I'm publishing this as a tester to see if you guys like it or not! Mainly for my friend Hailey though tbh. I love you guys anyway 💜

I love you all dearly ~ Victoria Lynn H.