Revealing Lennon ✔

17 || Lennon

Everything was back to the same old, same old. My parents were constantly asking how school was and I would lie and say it was fine. School was a daily struggle of avoiding him and trying not to run into Rowan. Rowan was everywhere. He never once tried to approach me after dropping the bombshell of him reading my journal.

I was setting on my bed working on my homework as Dakota played with some toys on the floor beside me. Occasionally I would lean over the side of the bed and make sure he was doing fine. Mom was downstairs working on getting a family night together, a punishment for Raven sneaking out while grounded. I personally would have killed her for sneaking out. She was in the same vicinity as him. That was too close for comfort. What if I wasn't there and something happened, I would have blamed myself.

Raven still wasn't talking to me. She acted like we didn't even live in the same house. On the bus she didn't bother to wake me up. She left me there asleep in the seat. My nightmares had increased, causing me to fall asleep on the bus more frequently. I was exhausted.

I wanted to skip the whole family night and just go to bed early. I didn't care if my mom thought we needed bonding time, I couldn't stand the way Raven looked at me like I was some monster. I was just trying to protect her. Why did that make the bad guy?

"Lennon, come down here we’re ready to start the movie!" Mom yelled at me from the bottom of the stairs. I groaned and got up off of the bed. You would think she would have let me stay in my room to do homework and get some sleep, but no, watching a movie was more important.

I picked Dakota up off of the floor and carried him down the stairs. He was all excited for the movie, he loved the moving pictures on the screen. That's what he like to call them. Down stairs in the front room, it had been turned into a home movie theater. The family laptop was hooked up the projector and was shining onto the wall. If it had been warmer, we would have had family movie night outside. Last year Dad had a white sheet hanging off of the clothes line that we used as a screen.

Mom took Dakota from me and I sat down on the long sofa. I figured my mom would sit where she always did, with Dad, and Dakota between them on the other couch. Raven would sit beside me in her normal spot. Raven entered the room with a glare in her eyes. She was still angry. I didn't see why. Even if her phone hadn’t gotten taken away, she wasn't allowed to be on it during family time, so it wasn't like she was missing anything. No, her phone wasn't the reason for the glare in her eyes, it was me.

She walked right past me and sat in dad's chair over in the corner, as far away from me as she could. I tried to ignore the sting I felt in my chest. Just another thing I had to pretend was not effecting me.

"What movie are we watching, mom?" I asked as she took as her seat.

She smiled. These were the first words I'd said to her all day. "Cars." She replied.

I smiled and thanked her silently. Mom knew how much loved the movie Cars. When I was a kid I would watch the movie every night before I went to bed. Back then I believed the movie would guarantee me a good night's sleep, free of all nightmares.