Station 53

Caught?

This chapter has NOT been edited! 

***

Not having the slightest idea on how I was supposed to behave in this situation, I simply stood around and let the children greet me. 

I felt my heart race every time he would come anywhere near me in fear that he would somehow see through my outfit. I wasn't even upset that I was forced into this ugly Power Ranger's outfit but grateful instead. This event could have turned into a complete and utter disaster had it not been for this outfit. 

"You can change out of that now, you know?" Daniel told me as we sat at the table, eating our desserts. Well that was what everyone else was doing. I was just staring through my helmet. 

"No she can't," my mother-in-law unintentionally came for my defence. "There's still the photo-booth segment of the party that needs to happen." 

"But she can take it off until then," Daniel tried to save me. Little did he know that he wasn't helping at all. 

"It's fine," I spoke up before his mother could. "I'm comfortable." 

Daniel gave me a look as if I had gone crazy but didn't press further. Which I was thankful to because I was worried that a certain family would be able to recognise me by my voice had I said any more words. 

"You're a lot sneakier than you give off," he said from directly in front  of me across the table. "How did you manage to get married without letting a single soul know?"

He looked at me and then back to my husband with a smile on his face. His wife let out a slight giggle as she nodded. She said something but I was too busy feeling sick and  disgusted to hear it. 

Daniel chuckled before he turned to me from his seat and wrapped his arm around my armour clad shoulder. 

"Love makes one do crazy things," he said. Had I not been so preoccupied in my own thoughts, I would have gagged. 

"I'm a little disappointed though," Stella said with a slight pout, "I was really hoping you would marry my daughter." She turned to face her husband who also happened to be my biological father, "Wouldn't that have been a delight?"

John awkwardly shrugged in seat before sending an apologetic smile my way. Despite it probably being the right response, his reaction still somehow made me angrier. I guess it was because of the fact that I had already hated him and therefore everything he did was infuriating. 

"Well had Juliette not been a cheating bi*ch, you may have just got what you wanted. Too bad she is, though," I snapped. I don't know why I did that. My main goal that night was to go by unnoticed by the very people I was snapping at. I had to claw down on my thigh to stop myself from continuing. If not, this day would end in a nightmarish way. 

Fortunately my words weren't loud enough for everyone to hear but it was loud enough for those sitting a few seats on all sides to hear and unfortunately that included Stella and John Pierce. Stella's face began to colour red and John's face was a mixture of different emotions, none of which I could name. I was starting to feel nervous underneath their gazes. That was the loudest I had spoken the whole night and they would have had to completely forgotten my existence altogether to not have been able to recognise my voice. I felt my hands begin to tremble as John Pierce continued to stare at me, as if he was able to see right through my mask. 

Mrs. Sage suddenly chuckled causing all eyes to turn on her -- all besides John Pierce's. 

"Why don't you head over to the photo booth, Isabella?" she asked, patting me on the back. I didn't waste a second before I jumped from my seat and left. 

"Is her name Isabella?" I heard John ask.

"Isabella White," my mother-in-law replied before she went on to apologise for my words. 

I could hear the disappointment in his voice as he let out a quiet "Oh". I didn't bother looking back to confirm it. I hated that man with all my being and for all I cared, he deserved to feel more than just disappointed. He deserved to suffer in the worst way possible along with that wife and daughter of his. 

The rest of that day went by uneventfully. I basically steered clear of The Pierces and did everything in my power to keep the Power Rangers outfit on until they had left. Luckily that wasn't too hard to do since the birthday boy (whose name I had forgotten) was obsessed and didn't want to let go of me the whole day. Which also meant I had to carry a kid around with me the whole day but that was better than getting caught by my father and his wife. 

Finally the day did end though and I sluggishly dropped myself on my bed. The day was just too much for me to handle. Kids, the social interactions and my family were all enough to drain me by themselves but today I had to deal with all three together. I was just about to close my eyes and let sleep consume me when Daniel knocked on the door. 

"Can I come in?" he asked, opening the door without waiting for an answer.

"No," I groaned. It was too late though and Daniel was sitting on my bed beside me. "What do you want?" 

He didn't say anything for a while, causing me to turn to face him. He had a very puzzled expression on his face. 

I sat my drained body up so that I was completely facing him. 

"What's wrong?" I asked, a slight sigh in my voice. 

Daniel turned his face from the floor to me. 

"Do you have any prior relationship with the Pierce family?" he suddenly asked, making my heart drop. 

"W-What?" 

"Your attempts at trying to dodge them throughout the whole party didn't go by unnoticed," he said with a raised brow. "Not to mention, you were really rude to them today." 

I let out a breathy laugh, trying to play off his words. But who was I kidding? It was obvious that no matter what answer I gave him, he would always have some sort of suspicion regarding this matter. The look on his face was telling me that he knew there was something going on. He just wanted to know what it was. 

"I'm rude to everyone," I said nonchalantly, "is that not what you want anyway? For your parents to hate me? I just assumed if I was rude to their friends, they would dislike me even more." 

Daniel stuck his tongue in his cheek, something he did whenever he was upset I had noticed. He didn't say anything for a few seconds, making me heart beat even harder than before. This whole situation was beyond nerve-racking. 

"Then how did you know Juliette was their daughter?" 

***

Hi everyone, 

I hope you have been enjoying this story so far.

I just wanted to apologise (again) for the late chapter. I know I have been doing this a lot lately but I have been very busy with school these past couple of months. I don't want to give any promises for when I'll post the next chapter because I honestly don't know anymore. I'm going to try and get it to you as soon as I can but I have no idea when that will be. I'm really sorry about that.

That said, I will be continuing this story. I am definitely going to finish this even if it takes me ten years to write (which it won't so don't worry).

Thank you so much for being patient with me and thank you a lot for all of your support! You're my biggest motivation to keep writing!

Sorry and thank you,

Suzy!