That Girl

Chapter 4

The chuck episode finished and the theme song played. I looked at my phone to find that my sister should have been home. I resorted to texting my mom.

Mom 5:48

Hey, how was your day? Where is Lilly? Shouldn't she be home by now?

It was good, Lilly is at a friends house. I won't be home for another hour. Heat up leftovers if you want dinner. I love you!

I love you too! thanks :)

 I grabbed my keys off the  nightstand and my black hoodie with the beatles faces printed on it, and went out to my car. The engine turned on along with the country music. I turned the volume of the music higher and rolled down all of the windows before backing out of the driveway. 

When I reached my destination, I pulled out the keys and climbed out. I had come here ever since my second summer here. It was a trail up the hill with a lush forest thriving around it. If you went into the woods and to the edge of the cliff, there would be a railing with a beautiful view of the city. It was about half an hour from my house. I had just arrived in perfect time for the sunset. I pushed passed all of the branches that stuck to me and clung to my clothes. Once passed the trees I walked to the railing that was barely visible in the little light. I looked down at the lights as they shone brightly the sky hit the horizon with a rusty orange that faded into blue. I found my self out of breath. 

I turned away from the sight just as darkness was completely taking over the sky. I could never stand to see the hope of day being squashed and burnt out. I shivered as the wind picked up. I hugged myself while cursing myself for leaving my hoodie in the car. I fluttered my eyes closed and listened. silence. Then I heard more; the leafs on the trees moving and fluttering, birds calling out to each other, twigs snapping as little creatures scurried home to their habitats, and then my slow and steady breathing.

I slid down the rails and onto the ground and brought my knees to my chest where I hugged them close to me. I stayed like that for a while before I decided I should probably get to bed since I still had school tomorrow before the big break. With the help of the cold rails I managed to pull myself onto my feet without falling. I dusted myself off for any dirt and trudged back to my truck. I turned the engine on, but left the music off. The drive home was peaceful, but also troublesome. I remembered everything in the silence of the car. Everything, that is, that happened that summer just one year ago.

It was a week after school ended. My mom had told  Lilly and I of her plans earlier in the school year and we fully supported her. I had only told two friends, Haily (the one in Washington) and Diana who had become a very close friend over the year. I had known for more than half of the school year that this summer was going to change everything. I had tried to prepare myself and try to block myself up. I almost didn't want the schoool year to end in order to prevent it from happening.

But I knew. I knew that it would happen anyways. I thought I would have been prepared for when my mom told my dad of her plans, but I wasn't. I wasn't ready for when she gathered the whole family together.

"Corina?" My mom poked her head into my room. I was exhuasted that day had been crazy with me going to a pool party right after I ate out with some friends to get ice cream. I was laying on my bed. I slowly lifted my head to see her.

"Yeah mom?"  She looked sad as she said the next few words.

"It's time to tell him." She then left to go back into the family room. I put my head back down and prepared myself before going out of my room and into the family room where all of my family was. Or where, the family that still lived here was. My mom and sister sat on the big, gray couch while my dad sat in a chair across from them. I shuffled over and sat next to my mom. 

My dad had lighter navy blue eyes with no gold. His face was almost square with white bushy eyebrows. He had bags (just old age bags) with laughing lines around his eyes. His hair had turned white over the years with tints of strawbarry-blonde hair throughout it. This is where I got my hair from. Sometimes he would grown out a beard which had lots of orange in it, and it made him look younger. His nose was wider than my mom's and his cheeks were more lively than my mom's. He has strong arms and calloused hands from working on all of our cars and from being an engineer.  He sat on the chair with his elbows on his knees as he looked at his tablet.

My mom got the annoyed look in her face as she cleared her throat in order to get his attention. He looked up, with fake surprise and kind of chuckled as he set his tablet down beside him. "What do you need?" My mom set her chin and place and told him the news. His face changed dramatically. His smile disappeared and his eyes sullen. His brows furrowed. Grabbing his tablet, he went upstairs. The house was absolute silence, but we could hear him packing up his things from upstairs. 

I didn't even know what to do. I'd never even thought of what I would do straight after we told him. I had thought about the months after it, or even the years, but not the minutes. Nervousness pulsating through me, I went up the stairs. I poked my head in his room that no longer had any traces of mom as she had moved out and into the art room at the beginning of the school year.

"Where will you go?" I asked. I thought he would at least stay until it actually happened legally.

Without looking up he said,"to my parents, I can't stay here and bear the awkwardness and tension that will just grow stronger until it happens." I nodded in understanding. It took him about half an hour to pack up the stuff he would need for a couple of weeks. He told me that he would come back and box the rest up that he couldn't fit in the suitcase. my sister and I waved to him as he drove off in his golden chevelle. When I went back in the house I found my mom in the same spot staring into space. Deciding to leave her alone, I went upstairs and played games with Lilly. 

At night time I got ready for bed and then decided to check on my mom. She was no longer in the same spot but the art room doors were closed so I decided that she probably went to bed. I walked back upstairs and did the same. 

I sat in the driveway in my car for a few minutes and breathed in and out before I got out and let myself in the house. I slugged my way to the bathroom and got ready for bed before falling into a deep slumber on my bed.