Odd One Out | Jacob Black

22.

"What happened to my room?" I glance at everyone in the room. I don't know what awkward silence is happening right now but I was still stuck on my room.

"Leah." Jake ran a hand down his face.

Jeremy coughed and crossed his arms again before turning back towards me.

"Pack your shit up. You're staying with me now." He seemed to have deflated a bit.

"I'm in math class. And you won't answer what happened to my room?" I glanced back to the laptop noticing that the video has ended for the third time and I couldn't tell you one thing about it.

"Are you slow? Dad. Kicked. You. Out. How many times do I have to say it?"

I blinked at him and my eyes started burning. "That was mean." I blink and suddenly my whole laptop screen was blurry. "I just can't focus on anything." I weakly explain but my voice cracked.

I could feel Jake's arms around me and he tugged me sideways into his chest and my eyes burned even more before I realized I was full on sobbing.

"I don't want to do this anymore. I just want to go to bed." I sobbed into his chest.

"I know." Jake said from above my head. "I know."

I should feel embarrassed for having a breakdown in a room full of people but I didn't care. My head was starting to hurt, my arm still hurt, my eyes were burning. I just wanted it all to stop.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Jeremy yelled.

"You know what? I'm going to do something nobody has heard of. Call it a gut feeling." I could hear the woman say. "You want to know what's going on with your sister? Follow me." She gave him no choice by grabbing his arm as she passed and yanking him along with her with a strength that didn't seem natural.

"Leah." Jake pulled away from me a little causing me to fall forward a bit. His arms tightened around me.

"It'll be fine, Jake."

"What the—" and then the front door slammed shut. And the room was quiet again.

"Well, that's a first." His dad said.

"I'm going to go check on them. I have a bad feeling about this." Jake pulled the blanket around me and stood up. "I'll be right back."

And then I was alone on the couch. My nose was running and my eyes burning. I used the blanket to try and wipe my face.

"Here." I blink through the tears to see his dad had rolled into the living room and was holding out a box of tissues.

"Thanks. I'm sorry."

"Absolutely nothing to be sorry for. My heart is breaking for you, sweetheart. Nobody deserves to go through this. And I want you to know you're welcome here in any capacity. Permanently or temporarily." I vaguely understood what he was saying but I still didn't really understand what was happening.

"Where did everyone go?" I blow my nose. Which was probably pretty rude but I could literally feel it start to drip down my face.

"I believe your brother is about to be in on the secret." He chuckled a little.

"Huh?" Maybe Jeremy was right and I was just slow.

"Everything will work out in the end. The spirits will make sure of it." He winked at me and spun himself around and went back to what he was doing.

I stared at the now sleeping computer screen on the coffee table. I was in pre-calc, right? I woke the screen up and almost went cross eyed at all the numbers. This seemed torturous. Maybe I was actually sleeping and this was his new way of punishing me.