The Mystery Fighter II

The Mystery Fighter II (5)

~Julian~

Cassie did a pretty good job at avoiding me the next day. Not once had she looked my way or given me any attention in gym or math class. Was she afraid that I would walk up to her and talk openly about her living with me if she glanced my way?

My quest to charm her into my arms had ended the day I had learned she was homeless. The girl had enough problems, more than I could imagine. I would only add to it if I tried anything with her.
   Still, as I had stood in the kitchen with her the night before, observing as she cleaned her face and shirt, there was nothing more I wanted to do than help her.

I shook my head. Cassie was an exception. So what, if I didn't have every single girl in our grade wanting me, it was just a pointless goal I had set to pass the time in this boring school.

About ten minutes after I had arrived home from school, Cassie and Celine entered the house. I heard my mom, who was sitting on the other end of the couch, welcome them in as I flipped through the channels on the television. My school bag was positioned under my outstretched feet on the couch.

"Can I watch TV too?" Celine asked Cassie as they walked into the living room. I guessed Cassie had nodded, because soon enough, Celine sat down next to me. Her backpack was on the floor in front of her, forgotten as she beheld the show that was playing on the television.

"Your backpack, Ce," I heard Cassie's voice behind me. Celine picked up her backpack and, without looking away from the television, she handed it to Cassie.

I was almost startled when Cassie let out a small laugh at her sister. It was troubling how rare one of those carefree sounds of her was.

Just as I was about to finally get the laundry my mother had been telling me to retrieve for the past five minutes, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it. Just take the clean clothes out of the machine, Jules," she announced, looking pointedly at me and nodding towards the kitchen. I rolled my eyes and made my way through the kitchen and into the laundry room just as I heard her open the front door.

With a pile of my own clean clothing under my left arm and Cassie's t-shirt in my right, I made my way toward the kitchen door. My feet froze when I heard the deep voice around the corner.

"I think now is an appropriate time to ask why a child is watching television in my house."

I walked slowly to the laundry door, looking through the crack that separated us. Just as I had thought, my father stood in the kitchen with my mom, his shoes and jacket still on.

The sound from the action movie playing on the television dimmed when mom closed the glass door between the kitchen and living room. She turned back to my dad.

"Oh, that's Celine. Her sister, Cassandra, is Julian's former tutor. They're staying here for a bit while their parents are on vacation. Their house is in the middle of being redecorated. An awfully strange time for the parents to go on vacation, don't you think?"

"Odd timing, indeed." My father mumbled, staring absently at the wall beside the door. Sighing, he turned back to my mother. 

I hated the adoration in her eyes as she looked back at him. To her, he was still her one and only love. Even after he had left us and sent her the divorce papers to be signed almost four years ago. Even after he had taken my only friend with him,  she still loved him. 

I was only disgusted.

"Where is our boy, anyway? I haven't seen him today."

"Let's be real, you would have liked it to stay that way."