Billy Hargrove // DNA

Chapter Twenty-one

Amelia was awakened by the annoying sound of her alarm clock. She stretched her muscles and yawned hard before smashing her hand on the clock, making the sound stop abruptly. After she had admired the ceiling for a few minutes, she climbed out of bed and walked over to the bathroom to take a refreshing shower. 

She combed her wet hair until it was completely smooth. She preferred letting her hair air-dry for a few minutes before going in with her old fashioned hair dryer. She had no particulary reason for doing so, perhaps her laziness was the answer.

Amelia went back to her bedroom and put on the clothes she had laid out the day before - a high waisted denim jeans with a brown belt, paired with a green shirt and her typical red converse. She hesitated for a second before pulling up her mattress and grabbing her diary. She walked over to her chair by the window and sat down. Amelia began to scroll until she came across an empty page. She wrote down today's date and afterwards started to write about the feelings she felt for both Steve and Billy.

Steve is really a nice guy. I feel comfortable around him and he often makes me laugh. I know he would never hurt me on purpose. He's the perfect boy any girl could ever long for. But somehow I can't give my heart to him. If he would have asked me to be his girlfriend only a few months ago, I would have happily said yes but things are different now. Billy is now a part of my life, I know that deep down he cares about me. Even though he's not easy at all, I'm still prepared to fight for his love.

Amelia closed her diary and slid it back under her mattress. Ever since she had received her diary as a birthday gift from her mother three years ago, she had changed the secret location several times, not wanting a family member to locate it and read it. A diary was a personal item but not everyone could resist their curiosity and no one needed to know the words she spilled. 

Amelia went back into the bathroom to apply some light makeup, just enough to give her skin a fresh appearance. Like every morning, her thoughts wandered off to a certain blonde-haired boy named Billy Hargrove. After his dominant confession last Friday night, she hadn't seen him for the rest of the weekend. Billy had pulled stunts like this before, confessing his feelings and then disappearing for a few days. She knew that he was struggling but hoped he would one day be prepared to not walk away after communicating honestly.

Amelia knocked softly on the door of Cora's bedroom. Without waiting for an answer, she slipped inside and watched as Cora slowly woke up. "Good morning, princess, it seems like today will be a beautiful day. Why don't we put on a dress, huh?" She asked in a courteous voice. Cora smiled as she held her thumbs up. Amelia quickly studied the small wardrobe and soon found a dark blue dress which she paired with white leggings. After she had helped her little sister get dressed, they went downstairs.

When they entered the kitchen, Amelia felt surprised by the unusual display. John was leaning against the refrigerator, instead of sitting at the kitchen table with a mug in his one hand and the local newspaper in the other. He stared at the floor, murmuring a few unintelligible words and didn't seem to notice the girls walk in. Cora, as innocent as ever, didn't pay any attention to the strange behavior of her father and climbed on a chair. "Good morning, sweeties." Their mother said in a soft voice while glancing over her shoulder. She stood with her back towards Amelia and Cora whilst preparing their lunches for today.  

Amelia sat as far away as possible from John and smiled politely at her mom. She hardly ever ate breakfast so she simply enjoyed watching her little sister devouring her breakfast. She almost succeeded into forgetting John's presence until her mother opened her mouth to ask him something. "Could you mow the lawn this week? It's getting really long and-" John suddenly awoke from his zombie-like state and immediately raised his voice. "I'm too busy, why do I have to do everything here?" He yelled with such anger in his voice that Cora froze with her spoon mid-air.