The Fall of Family

Chapter Thirteen

I gasped and put my hand over my mouth.

I couldn't believe Mathew was asking me to prom. My mind shouted SAY YES, SAY YES!! This was my chance, I needed to say yes.

But something stopped me, what would dad and Drew think about this relationship? I rolled the question over and over in my head.

"Yes," I said, "Yeah, I'll go to prom with you Mathew."

He smiled as wide as he could physically smile and got up. In the process, he grabbed my hips and he pulled me up with him.

We stood there, our heads inches apart. I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him. We stood there for so long the kids started to stare.

"I'm really happy right now, Maria," he whispered, "Really happy,"

I nodded into his shoulder and whispered back, "I am, too."

We finally sat down after a few minutes of hugging and continued to talk. We laughed and talked for about 30 more minutes.

About then, the sun started to really beat down and it began to grow warm. We decided to move out of the sun and into the overhang at the park.

After another 30 minutes of talking, he checked his phone.

"Oh, by the way, my friend is throwing a party tonight at 8, his parents are out of town. Do you wanna come?" He asked.

I shrugged and said, "Sure, who is gonna be there?"

He replied, "Just some kids from school. Maybe some of their friends,"

"Okay, that sounds good. I get I can pick you up at 7:30."

"No, I'll pick you up, my pleasure," he insisted. I agreed and changed the topic.

"Anyway, do you mind if I head home? I have lots of homework to do for school and I need to get ready for the party."

"Sure," he said, "Let me escort you home,"

I smiled as an answer and we walked to my car. When we reached the car door, I looked at him and said, "Thank you so much for making my day."

He smiled and replied, "Yeah, thanks for making my day also. We will do prom arrangements later, is that okay?"

I replied, "Yeah, that sounds awesome. See ya later, Mathew."

"See ya later,"

We stood there for a few seconds and stared into each other's eyes. Mathew reached over and grabbed my hand. He slipped his fingers in between my fingers and squeezed my hand. I smiled as he looked up and said, "Anyway, see you later."

He smiled and turned around, walking to his car.

I got in my car and started it.

I sat in the drivers seat and sighed. Then I put the car in drive and drove home. Mathew followed me the whole way, never leaving from behind me.

I pulled into my driveway and got out of my car. He did he same and walked over to me. We looked at each other and he grabbed my hand again.

I broke the silence and said, "Thank you so much. For everything."

He smiled back at me and replied, "As I said, it's no big deal." He looked into my eyes and continued, "Thank you, for everything. Anyway, see you at seven-thirty."

"Okay, I'll see you later." I said as he walked off.

He got in his car and drove away. I sighed and walked into the house through the garage. I slumped into the living and saw my dad and my brother sitting on the couch, watching the stupid walking zombies show again. I smiled when I saw dad and Drew interacting, then I remembered that dad applied at McDonalds.

"Did you get a date for the job interview?" I asked dad, without a hello.

He looked away from the tv screen, put a smile on his face and said, "Yeah, I did actually. Hopefully I can get a better job than $12 an hour."

I have him a smile and replied, "Awesome, I got a date for the laundromat, too. He seemed really interested."

My dad replied with cool and went back to watching his zombie show.

I walked into my room and heard a sound I never heard before. It was like a metallic tapping, over and over again. I looked around the room and finally glanced at Bear's cage. I walked over to the wire cage and saw Bear, drinking from his water bottle. I saw his little tongue lapping against the metal ball. He stayed there for a good 30 seconds, and afterwards waddled into his little hit, and I'm guessing fell asleep again.

I went and grabbed Drew's laptop, which was still on top of my bed, and opened it. I opened my school email and emailed all of my teachers. Within 10 minutes, I got all of my assignments. You wouldn't believe how much homework teachers can assign in 3 days.

I held my breath and accepted the next 3 hours of math, English, biology, science, computer science, geography and history.

After 3 hours, 2 energy bars, 1 water bottle and 4 Netflix breaks, I was caught up. I glanced at the clocks and realized it was 7:15.

I exclaimed and jumped up, running to the kitchen, grabbing another power bar and en sprinting to the bathroom. I put on minimal makeup and grabbed sweatpants and a T-shirt.

When I finished running around the house, I saw Mathew at the door and his car in the driveway. I grabbed $20 and opened the door. Mathew was dressed in loose fitting jeans and tshirt.

"Hey, you ready?" he asked.

"Yeah, I was finishing up homework, sorry about that."

"No, no, no, that's fine. Here, let's go."

"Okay," I said, I yelled back at Drew and dad, "I'm leaving for the party!"

I closed the door without waiting for an answer and walked out to the car with Mathew.

He opened the door for me, like a gentleman. I thanked him and sat in the car. We drove down the street, making small talk on the way. The drive was about 5 minutes long. We pulled into a light brown, boring house. About 6 other cars were already in the driveway, and people were walking into the party. He led me up to the front door and we walked in.

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I woke up to a splitting stomachache. I clutched my stomach and curled up into a ball. The room I was in was dark, and I was dizzy, despite laying down. My entire body ached, but my stomach the most. I felt like it came down with the flu. I removed my hands from my stomach to look for a trash bag if/when I throw up. My arms were covered in scratches and I felt my face was bruised. My head was as clear as mud and my chest felt like it had a bowling ball on top of it. I tried to stand up off the scratchy piece of furniture I was on, but fell on the floor in the process. I felt my stomach lurch, and I threw up on the carpet.

Soon after I started vomiting, I felt footsteps coming my way. I felt a hand on my back and a voice talking to me. I couldn't recognize who it was. I continued to vomit, trying to identify the voice through the horrible taste. After I was done, the person that was behind me brought me a cup of water and a piece of gum. I swallowed the water and started to chomp on the gum. I looked up as the light turned on and it immediately made the pain in my head worse. My brain started to focus more and I looked around the room.

I was in what looked like a living room. The scratchy couch that I was on looked like the pile of barf in front of me. The windows were open, revealing a dark night outside. After my eyes adjusted to the light, I looked up to the person behind me to find Mathew. I was immediately embarrassed and I felt my face flush red. I somehow managed to form words through my muddy head and said something like, "What am I?"

Mathew laughed at the sight of me and spoke, "Well, you had a rough night last night, let me tell you that. And it looks like you're gonna have another rough few hours."