Misinterpreting Fate (Book 2)

12. Day at Home

Chapter 12: Day at Home

Sam

"Sam, come on," Dad called, knocking yet again on my bedroom door. "You're going to be late."

I pulled the covers over my head. "I don't want to go."

He pushed open my door. "You have to go to school, Sam."

Sitting up, I looked at him with desperation. "Please, Dad. I can't go. Not today."

I hadn't told them what happened at school. Obviously they knew something was up, since I cried in Poppa's car for ten minutes yesterday. I just didn't know how to say everything out loud. I wasn't sure I wanted to.

He sighed. "Ask your Poppa, see what he says."

"Dad! He's not going to let me stay home! Please don't make me go to school."

He came over and sat on the edge of my bed. "What's wrong? You can talk to me, you know."

I nodded. I did know that, and maybe talking to him might actually help me this time. I started off small. "There's this new kid at school. He's in my art class and he was actually really mean to me yesterday. Miss Randi is making me help him out because painting is a little difficult for me right now."

"Sam... I unfortunately can't let you stay home because someone was mean to you. What you can do is talk to Miss Randi. I'm sure she'll understand."

"I did that. But he's not really the main problem..." I paused, not sure how to bring up the rest of what happened. I eventually just went for it. "Shawn hates me."

"No. I'm sure that's not true. He's your friend."

I shook my head. "I heard him telling Ryan. He hates me because I'm gay." I started tearing up again hearing myself say that out loud. When will I stop crying about it?

Dad hugged me. "I'm sorry, bud. But you still have your other friends, right?"

Again, I shook my head. "I don't know. I mean, the other three don't care about my sexuality. But Ryan..." I sighed. "I don't know what's going on with Ryan. Honestly, he did something yesterday that really scared me. I don't want to face him yet."

"What did he do?"

I shook my head for the third time. I didn't want to tell him I was kissing someone so recently after they got so mad about Owen. Besides, I didn't know what Ryan meant by it. I knew I should talk to him before I told anyone else, but if he wanted me to forget it ever happened, I wasn't sure I'd ever know. But for now, avoiding him was my best option to stay sane - seeing him on the bus and in school today would make it so much worse.

"You really don't want to go to school today?" he asked softly.

I nodded. "Please."

"If I let you stay, you need to do some chores around here, okay? And you're going tomorrow. No exceptions."

I hugged him. "Thank you so much!" I felt like a huge weight had just been lifted off my shoulders. I would still have to face everyone tomorrow, but at least I had today as a break.

"What's going on here?" Poppa asked. I looked up to see him standing in my doorway. "Shouldn't you be dressed already? The bus is going to be here soon."

Dad stood up. "He's going to be staying home today."

"Allen..." Poppa started.

Dad, thankfully, didn't let him argue. "It's okay. We already came to an agreement, right Sammy?"

I nodded. If doing some chores let me stay home, then I was going to clean the house. No complaints.

As it turns out, agreeing to cleaning the house when you're the only one home all day was a lot harder than it sounded. There were just so many distractions, which I mostly took advantage of because they distracted me from my thoughts too. I didn't realize how much I wasn't doing until I was making myself lunch and spotted the dirty dishes that had been sitting in the sink all day. It made me realize that nothing had gotten done whatsoever.

I hurried through my lunch, wanting to have as much time to do my chores before Dad got home as I could. But, as soon as I was putting my plate in the sink - to be washed with the rest of the dishes - the front door opened.

I froze. Neither of my parents were supposed to be back this early. So who could possibly be here?

I stayed still, listening to the soft footsteps of someone approaching. My heart was racing in my chest. What if someone broke in? Was someone trying to rob us?

When she stepped into the kitchen, I actually yelped in surprise. "Amy!" I exclaimed. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

She burst out laughing. "Sorry baby bro. I honestly didn't think anyone was home. I thought school started already for you."

I sighed. "It did. Yesterday."

"And you're here because...?"

"Dad let me?"

"How come I was never this spoiled? It's not fair." She was smiling, so I knew she was joking.

I also couldn't help laugh along with her. I've missed her, even though I wasn't about to admit that. She was my annoying older sister. I wasn't supposed to miss her like that.

"Wait..." I said, realizing that she didn't actually live here anymore. "What are you doing here?"

She shrugged, leaning up against the kitchen table. "I came back to get some things I forgot. Also wanted to surprise you all. Guess that's ruined now."

"Well you didn't tell Dad and Poppa, did you?"

She shook her head. "And you better not either, Sammy. I want to see their reactions when they get home."

They would definitely be happy. Especially Poppa. I know he missed having her around all the time.

Then an idea popped into my head. "Since you're here... Can you help me clean up? I promised Dad I'd do some chores if I stayed home and I haven't gotten any done yet and I'm freaking out because he's probably going to be home before I can finish them all."

Amy laughed. "Not so spoiled after all, huh?" She sighed when she noticed the glare I sent her. "Fine... But only because you have a broken hand. Meeky told me about that, by the way. And I want to hear the details. He left those out."

If there was one person I told basically everything too aside from Jaime, it was Amy. Recently, though, mostly after she moved out and got married, I haven't told her anything. It was about time we caught up.

While we cleaned, I told her everything. From everything that happened with Owen to Shawn to Ryan. And honestly, it felt really good to tell another person who wasn't going to judge me. And I think the best part was that I didn't even feel like crying, not during any of it. I definitely needed to tell her.