Grace

Chapter 8| Off Ground

Hillary drove me home in silence that night.

Once I got home, I was yelled at and lectured. My mom was the one that lectured me and pretended that she was worried. William on the other hand yelled at me. I was used to his yelling so I shrugged it off and went inside my room with the bags filled of clothes.

I emptied the bags onto my bed and plopped on my back on top of them. It felt amazing to get off my feet.

I ended up passing out right there...

I yawn and stretch as I hear the door being knocked on.

"Miss Parker, please rise unless you want to be late for school." Pleads George as he knocks on it once again.

I reluctantly get up with a small sigh. Time to start another dreadful day. Well, today wasn't all that bad, I was leaving school early for auditions. Oh wait, I take that back.

Today is going to be bad.

I dress in skinny jeans, black pumps, a tank-top, and applied a bit of makeup before walking down the glass stairs. I am going to skip breakfast, but only because I want to avoid William. Besides, breakfast isn't the important meal of the day anyway.

Suddenly, I heard a honk as I was going out the door. In the driveway, was Daniel's truck. What is he doing here? I hesitantly walked over, not caring that mom was honking at me to get in so she could go to work at a decent time.

"Hey, I figured since I won't be able to cheer you on at auditions, I will take you to school instead," Daniel says. I smile and climb in the passenger seat, resting my backpack onto my lap.

"You alright? You seem a bit quiet," Daniel says a few minutes into the drive.

"How would you react if you found out your mother is married to your boyfriend's step-father?" I ask him instead, Daniel looks taken aback by the question and he goes silent.

He answers, "I think I would be disturbed," and then he goes silent again.

It didn't take us long to get to the school. It was an awkward silence between us during the whole ride. I had glanced over him a few times, seeing if he'd say something, but every time I thought he would, he shuts back up.

I studied the school for a second or two before climbing out of the truck. I make my way to the front of the truck and started walking towards my high school.

"Wait," Daniel says. I turn around to see him comb his fingers through his hair. I glanced back at the school, and hope whatever was going to come out of his mouth would hurry up already. It's not like I don't want to be late, it's just that the faster I get there, the fast I will leave there.

"Do-do you have feelings for me?" He asks as his dark eyes meet mine. I looked away as I blushed. Does Daniel have feelings for me? Our dating was arranged. It wasn't out of love, it was out of force. Every kiss was fake, every feeling was manufactured, and every 'I love you' was a lie. The only reason why we aren't together now, was because our parents haven't found out.

And it should stay that way.

"I-" I paused, thinking about if I should tell him what I thought or not. I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but it seems that I would anyway. "No." I finally say and then took a deep breath.

"Oh, well-" I stopped him right there. "Whatever you feel for me right now is fake. If you had loved me at some point, it was false. You broke up with me. Does that ring a bell?" I say as calmly as I could and walked away.

I could hear a few muffled words behind me as his heavy footsteps clinked against the pavement. As soon as I went inside, I was greeted with a bear hug.

By the red hair that covered my left eye, I knew it had to be Claire. I suddenly felt moisture on my sleeve. Is she crying?

Yep, she is.

The bell rings, and I gently shrugged out of the hug. She apologized briefly for getting my shoulder wet and followed me to class.

As much as I wished my morning honor classes would speed up, I still wanted to stay. For Claire's sake, of course. Trust me, I have no issue being homeschooled throughout this semester, but I just have to be here for Claire.

But, I can't.

A/N: Hey, sorry for the sucky chapter. I just can't think, I have a million of creative juices swirling in my brain right now, but unfortunately, it's not for this book. I have already planned the final chapters and after I complete this awful short story I created, I am going to edit this book to the best of my ability. Some parts will be rewritten (like this chapter).

Stay Graceful~K

Edited on October 21st, 2017