The Rule of Three

Chapter 7

16 AND A HALF YEARS LATER

Copeland brushes one of her blonde locks behind her ear as she focuses on her sketch book. She is sitting under a tree outside her school; she sits here everyday after school while she waits for Patterson to finish her practice and Gaillard to finish her violin lessons. She looks up at Patterson who is running laps on the schools track; then back down to her drawing of Patterson running with her long brunette ponytail blowing behind her. She checks her watch, 4:39 pm. Gaillard just finished her lesson; she should be here soon then they can go home. Copeland looks over her shoulder towards the school; Gaillard is walking towards her right now. Her long red hair is pulled back in a pony tail, and she is carrying her violin case in her left hand. Copeland begins to pack up her things. She puts her sketching pencils back in their box and places her sketchbook in her book bag.

Gaillard finally makes her way to the tree Copeland is now standing under, "Is she almost done?" she asks looking at their sister, who is currently on the far side of the track.

Copeland looks back to her watch, 4:45. "I lost track of what lap she is on; I don't know what her goal was today," she looks up and waves to Patterson. She finally manages to get her attention; Patterson waves back and continues to make her way around the track towards her sisters. "I guess she's done, she is heading this way. So how did your lesson go?" she asks Gaillard.

"It went well, we finished the mash up for the talent show and the concert. So now Ms. Evans just wants me to finish the final touches and polish it for the auditions in 2 months," she says. She watches Patterson talk to her coach for a second before she grabbed her bag and ran to her sisters. "Ready?" Gaillard asks.

"Yeah, let's go," Patterson says as she takes a drink from her water bottle.

Copeland gets the keys to their car out of her bag, "How many miles did you run today?" she asks. Patterson usually has a goal of how far she wants to run each day.

"I just finished my eleventh mile when Gaillard showed up," Patterson answered. The three girls walk side by side to their car in the Junior parking lot. They always meet up at the tree once they are all finished and walk to the car together. They usually use the time to talk about their days and the gossip circulating the school that day. The three girls have always been very close; they even share the same class schedule except for their electives. "What is he doing here?" Patterson says stopping dead in her tracks. The other two look up and see who she is talking about. Normally by this time, their car is the only one left in the parking lot but today there is a black car parked next to theirs, and sitting on it is their father.

"We don't have to talk to him; we don't owe him anything," Copeland said as she grabs both of her sisters hands. They look at each other take a deep breath and begin walking to their car again.

As they get closer to the cars, Daniel stands up and walks towards them. "Hey girls," he smiles and holds his arms open. The girls walk straight past him; he turns around and runs to catch up with him. He runs and stands in between the girls and their car. "H-"

"Why are you here?" Gaillard asks angrily.

"I want to talk to you, maybe we could get something to eat?" Daniel says.

"No." Copeland glares at him.

Daniel looks between the three of them, "You cannot speak to me that way. I demand respect, I am your father and you-"

"No, you're not," Copeland takes a step towards him. "You gave up that job two years ago when you cheated on mom and ran off with your little girl friend. Now you have the nerve- no, the audacity to show up here and speak to us that way? Need I remind you? You're the drunk. You're the cheater. You're the one who left us. You don't get to-" her rant is cut off by Daniel slapping her across the face.