Hailee Jones-Thompson

Chapter 9

I walk into class and look at Mr.Harrelson. He looks like shit..he has a bruised eye, a broken nose, and there is a cut on his cheek. He glares at me and I sat down along with looking down at my table. Others walk in and they notice Mr.Harrelson. No one knows what to say or asks what happened. Everyone is seated and the bell rings. "Kids. I know like I look like shit..I got in a bad mugging last night..a very pissed man who needed to have a conversation with me. Luckily he didn't take any of my money or anything. So I guess I'm lucky." He looks at me with a frown on his face and I don't know what he's talking about or why he is glaring at me. It's not like I mugged him or anything.  "But anyway.." He goes on about recent events and I stare outside along with thinking still. That photograph is stuck in my mind and I feel sick about it. I wanted to ask dad about it but he would get mad that I went through his things and probably would think I'm trying to ruin his pre-wedding week. Dad tends to only get mad if I do something stupid or if I get into trouble.. Then I think to myself that,Maybe I could find someone that knew Mom..but who? I never had seen anyone but mom in those photos..except in one where there's a blonde female who looks an awful lot like the Trish Walker woman that Sarah listens to every afternoon. Mr.Harrelson stops talking and everyone began their projects again. I grab my laptop and I search up Trish Walker online. Maybe I could find her and talk to her. Maybe she knows some stuff that I didn't and I copy down the address where she has her talk show. Maybe I can find a way to meet up with her after her show..it wouldn't take long to get a few bits of information from her. Her show ended at 4 PM, so I can sneak up there and be home around 5 PM. Dad never liked me coming home late because he would get overly concerned. I continue to work on my project and don't get very far because I don't have enough information. I sit there and stare at my laptop with a frown. I look over at Winn, who types away happily and I sigh. I stare out of the window and think to myself. I think about mom mostly...I remember when I was little I would always ask dad if mom was coming back and he always said no. I always thought that my mom had just gone out for the day or that she was at work like most moms do. I always waited for her to come in the door one day but she didn't..I stopped believing my mom would come back at age 6. Dad raised me alone..no help..just him and I. Until he secretly started to see Sarah when I was..about 7. They had Nick three years later and I was never aware that Dad was with another woman. Dad said that he could never be with another woman after what happened with mom. I assumed he stayed that way and I never questioned it. The nights that dad came home late, I just assumed he stayed late for work or he was out drinking. He did that when I was younger and I never understood why he did. He stopped drinking when a incident happened and it caused him to be in a hospital for over 5 months. He doesn't talk about it because he is keeping things that happened in the past stay in the past. Maybe that's why he never told me about mom because he wanted to keep it in the past. I would never know because I'm to cowardly to ask why or if I did ask. He would simply decline to answer my questions. Dad has always made sure that I didn't know much about my birth mom because of how she had broken his heart and had left me alone with him. But with this new information I knew..was anything that I knew from the past even true? The documents and photos are confusing as hell plus I think some of them are missing..maybe dad took them and hid them away..or he decided that those papers weren't important and he just threw them out.I sat in the rest of class and I left immediately after the bell rang. I go to English and I take my seat along with checking my watch. Why could time go faster? I lie my head on my desk and I sigh. I was devising a plan in my head for how I can ask Trish Walker simple questions without revealing who I am..or I could just go up and say "Hi, I'm your adoptive sisters daughter that she never talks about. Can I ask you some questions?" No. I can't have an approach like that..she'll probably think I'm damn insane..I sigh and keep thinking of ways to introduce myself.