Changing Past

Chapter 2: Luck Is For Suckers

Quote of the Chapter:
'We don't meet people by accident. They are meant to cross our paths for a reason.'

My eyes fluttered open as the sunlight poured into my mom's minivan. I returned to my previous position once a sharp pain in my neck made itself known.

'Ugh, why am I still in the damned car? '

My parents and brother failed to notice I had woken up, so they talked among themselves.

"Do you think she knows?"

"Knows what Carol?" my father miserably asked.

My dad's short fuse for my mother grew worse after Max finally mustered up the courage to tell them about his everlasting, yet secret, dream. Not to mention, their marital problems deteriorated since what happened between Michael and I. At times, I wondered if it was all my fault, but my mom just said it was because they disagreed on a lot of minor things. An annoyed glance shot out of my mother's eyes as she said, "Do you think she knows that he's attending UCLA?"

Usually when my parents talked to each other about something it ended in a fight. It was just a part of their nature, and I didn't see how they'd dealt with being married for so long.

"No, they haven't spoken. I'm glad too. She deserves a new start and forgetting he exists is the first step. "

"Well do you think we should tell her, Max? You know her better than anyone, and I don't know if it would be better for her to know."

When my parents did fight with each other, and trust me it was often, Max never liked to get in the middle of it. He always warned, "Never pick sides because, in the end, you'll be the one to lose."

"I don't know mom. I don't want to get in this. She wouldn't listen to us anyway. She's too stubborn."

"Boys, please stop bickering. I''m trying to decide if I should tell her or if I should just keep it to myself. He's put her through a lot, but his mom says that he wasn't mentally...there and that all he wanted was to have the time to explain himself."

How could they sit there and decipher whether I would be better off knowing if the person who ruined me could possibly be in the same classroom as me? They are such f*ucking hypocrites.

"You knew, but didn't tell me!"

The whole car swerved a little as my family sat there shocked and frozen about what they just heard come from my mouth. My mom was wide-eyed and my dad had his mouth shut so tight you would think he didn't have one. My anger radiated off of me causing waves of heat to roll off my skin.

"Well? Answer me."

"Honey, on Wednesday, his mother contacted me to catch up. We started having light conversations with one another, and she brought up that Michael is attending UCLA , just like you."

"I wondered if I should tell you before we left or after we got to campus,  but I didn't want to ruin our road trip. You of all people know that your father and I spent a lot of money on your books, and I don't think that it's fair for you to -"

I cut her off in the middle of her sentence. I tried not to scream at her in the car but my anger took control of me.

"How in the hell did you make this about you? You know this has nothing to do with you whatsoever. I don't care! You didn't tell me because you thought I wouldn't notice the fact that he was there. Mom, you know I could pick out his face even if we were on the Titanic and it was sinking in the middle of the flipping Atlantic!"