Unexpected

[1] California Bound

I've re-written this story about three times now, but this is the first time it's been on Wattpad. Hope you like it! Please comment and/or vote! It really helps. :)

Clara.

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When I was a little girl, I used to make up stories as to why my father wasn't there. I would tell people he was a secret agent, that he worked for the government in a top secret location and so he couldn't always be home with us. At six years old, the word "divorce" didn't make much sense to me. So I grew, and my father became more distant, more absorbed in his own life to the point where he couldn't be bothered to even visit anymore. Mom would always fly me out to see him and me and my older brother Dean would spend the summer together, occasionally joined by our father. But then I got too old and refused to go; Mom tried to force me but my father just said "the girl doesn't want to see me, Laura, just give it a rest." He was probably just relieved he could stop pretending to care.

So obviously, the fact that Mom bought me plane tickets to California to spend my summer away from my friends and with my indifferent father hadn't exactly excited me. In fact, I was pretty sure I might hate her for the first time in my life. I didn't understand why she was doing this now, after six years of birthday cards and Christmas gifts. But I knew better than to argue with one of the state of Michigan's top prosecutors. If I'd ever learned anything in my life it was that you could never win an argument with a lawyer unless they wanted you to. And on the rare occasion that you did win, they would never admit it.

"Come on, Kodi, don't be like that. You haven't seen him in years. Things might be different."

I raised my eyebrows and sent her an incredulous look from my place in the passenger seat. Mom laughed, shaking her head.

"Okay, so that's probably not true. I'm sorry sweetie, but it just has to be this way."

"But why? I don't understand. Why did he even agree to this, anyway? He's never been interested before."

Mom sighed and stared pointedly out the windshield. "Well, you know my boss, Mr. Buchanan."

At my nod she continued, "He wants me to go to this conference thing. It's in London for a week and after that he's giving us a little time off for sightseeing. I just don't feel comfortable leaving you alone that long with me across the ocean."

"What?!" I demanded with a scowl. "That's so unfair! You get to go to England and I'm stuck in Cali. Why couldn't I just stay with Jake and his family? They wouldn't mind at all."

"I know that, honey, but it's more complicated than that. Mark's parents are having some family reunion and they kept begging for you to come down and visit. They've been on my back for months and I knew that now was the perfect opportunity."

A groan ripped through me and I put my head in my hands. Lifting my head, I sent my mother a dirty look.

"Why are you just telling me this now?"

"Because I knew that if I told you earlier you'd have a fit and try to refuse going. And I'm sorry, but that just isn't an option. It won't be all bad, Kodi. You'll have Dean there and it's California. I'm sure you can find something fun to do."

"Yeah, without my friends!"

"Dakota, you're going. End of discussion. Just try to look on the positive side, okay?"

Sighing, I crossed my arms over my chest and stared moodily out the window. I guess I couldn't be too mad; I didn't really expect to win this one, seeing as we were on the way to the airport. It still wasn't fair. And she got to go to London? What was that? I would much rather be with her in England than in California with Mark. Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice. She was right, though. One good thing about this was getting to spend my summer with Dean. He hadn't been able to visit last summer because he'd needed to take several summer classes. The last time I'd seen my older brother was Thanksgiving. Usually he came for all holidays, but for winter break he and a few friends ended up going to Barbados, so he missed Christmas.