My Saving Grace (Book 3)

March 1, 2030

The next day was slow for everyone. Scott had spent the evening before in the hospital where he and Mitch talked non stop. Mitch was due to go in for surgery on the Friday and until then he just had to sit it out and wait in that awful hospital bed. Seb spent most of his day there on Sunday with Jake but he soon became restless and Seb had to find a way of keeping him preoccupied but to the point that he wouldn't disturb anyone else. It was hard. A three year old in a hospital was in no way a good thing.

The Monday morning dragged along like a three wheeled car with an eighty year old man at the wheel. As planned Scott and Alex didn't send Jessica to school and Kevin and Andrea kept Connor back too. Despite this Toby went off, quietly that morning as not to disturb the peace and would return after school.

It wasn't until lunch time that Scott and Alex sat Jessica down and they began to talk. Alex wanted to get straight to the point. He was done tip toeing on this imaginary tight rope that held everything together. He wanted the truth and all of it. "I want you to tell me everything. Everything that's been going on. Who your friends are. What you do after school. What you do when you ditch school. Why you ditch school. Why you had sex with Connor. Tell me it all." Alex stated. The words sounded harsh when they left his mouth, wanting his daughter to have privacy, but he was done with the not knowing. There was a danger there and if she didn't tell them so,etching bad could happen.

So Jessica did. She told them about the big group of friends and how she just wanted to fit in. She told them about the house parties and the alcohol and the smoking. She told them about ditching school to go and "hang out" and it being normal to have sex with whoever you are dating now-a-days. Both Scott and Alex were astonished. They couldn't speak for emotions were battling against the both of them. Anger, fear, sadness. What had they done wrong?

"I'm sorry, okay? I really am.... I just don't know-" and that was when she broke down. The tears that spilled down her face were real this time. She realised how wrong everything was. She realised that it was all so stupid. She had been dragged into something that she knew wasn't right but went along with it for fear of being different. Man society was fucked up!

"I'm an idiot! I'm so sorry. I don't blame y-you for not trusting me anymore. I-I just wanted to f-fit in with everyone but they just made me do bad things. That's not me." She spluttered. Her words slurred together and her chest heaved as she tried to breathe.

It was then and only then that Alex and Scott caved in. They both pulled her into a death grip hug as she cried into their arms. "I'm sorry." She mumbled again. Scott looked up at Alex and sighed.

"We know, Jess." Scott whispered, kissing the top of her head. "And I know that before you said that you didn't want to move schools-"

"No." She interrupted him. "Please take me out of there. I hate it. I don't want anything to do with them. I want a clean slate. I want it to be back to normal again." She sniffled. Scott raised his eyebrows at her change of tone but nodded. He could tell that last time she was lying now. How blinded she had been by the popularity!

"Hey, stop crying. It's okay. It will all be okay in the end." Scott whispered and she looked up at him. Tear marks streaked down her dark skin and her eyes shimmered with more tears. She looked absolutely broken, shattered.

"I really am so sorry." She whispered. Scott chuckled a little and hugged her again.

"No more apologies, okay? We move on now. We'll start looking for new schools by tomorrow morning." Scott told her. He wanted things to go efficiently and quickly and he was ready to give her a new start.

"And we'll make sure it's the best school we can get." Alex reassured her. He looked over at Scott and smiled, their silent communication enough to make them both feel like they were doing something right again.