Anger Issues

fifty seven

Jessica

Dad didn't come home at night. When I woke up in the morning, though, he was here, in his office.

"Where did you go, Dad?" I asked, noticing his presence. "I stayed at a friends place," he bluntly responded. He wasn't going to explain anything.

"Are you staying?" I hesitantly asked. He sighed, finally looking at me. "Yes, Jessica. I'm staying, I.. I just needed a break," he explained.

I nodded, knowing he was stressed as well. Going upstairs, I got ready for school. After that, I went downstairs, where Noah was.

"Dad's home," I quietly mentioned. "Why do you think Mom's not?" He asked. I hadn't even realized she wasn't home. I assumed she was in her room.

I looked away, not sure how to react. "How's your arm?" I asked. "Getting better," he shrugged. He didn't have the bandage on anymore, so the wound could 'breathe.'

After a few minutes, my phone rang with a text from Austin telling me he was outside.

"Bye Noah," I said. He quickly waved, as I rushed out. "Hey," Austin said, once I sat down. "Hey," I weakly smiled.

"Is everything alright? You look upset," he mentioned, beginning to drive.

"My dads home," I said. "That's good," he nodded. "But my mom left really early because of that," I added.

I wasn't as worried about Mom as I was for Dad. Mom knew how dependent Noah and I were upon her. She never set a bad example for us unless she was really angry, and started arguing or something.

Dad, though, was making me uneasy. He was the type of guy to drink every now and then for certain occasions, but he recently started drinking for no reason. Not only was he constantly drunk, it came with anger that apparently, didn't take alcohol to unveil. He was sober when he left the other day, so he couldn't even blame the alcohol.

I didn't want our family to be like this. I didn't want a broken family. I wasn't sure how to even approach the thought of having one which honestly, probably was a good thing.

"Jess?" Austin waved his hand in front of my face. I flinched, looking at him. "Yeah?" I asked. "You blacked out. What's up?" He asked. "Nothing, I was just.. nothing," I shook my head.

The only thing getting me through these next few days was this party Kyle told me about, which I needed to get more information about.

When lunch came around in school, I rushed to Kyle before we sat in our group.

"Kyle," I called. He turned around, walking towards me. "Are we going to that party you told me about?" I asked.

"I can't, I have to go to my grandparents house over the weekend," he pouted. "Really?" I asked. He nodded. "Can you text me the information, anyway?" I asked. "Yeah, sure," he agreed.

I nodded in response, sitting at the table. Kyle and Kayla were awkwardly getting over their.. issue. I did my best not to hint at anything, and luckily, I was doing great, according to her. I knew for a fact that they wouldn't be like they were before, though.

"Oh shit, did you see what Damian posted?" Kyle asked Austin. He turned his phone towards us, showing us a photo of Damian's knuckles dripping with blood, and some other dude knocked out on the ground behind him.

Austin snickered and shook his head. "Don't laugh," I gently slapped his arm. He put his hands up in defense, still smiling.

"Are you busy Saturday?" I asked Austin. "I'm not sure yet. I might be doing something," he said. "Why?" He added. I shook my head. "It's not important. Are you busy?" I turned my attention to Kayla.

"Um.. yeah," she slowly said. By the look her eyes were delivering to mine, I assumed she was talking about Sofia.

I nodded and sighed, wondering how to go about this party.

After school, I convinced Austin to come over for a while.

"Why were you asking about Saturday?" He questioned. Coincidentally, Kyle simultaneously texted me the information about the party.

I opened the text and handed my phone to Austin. "Don't go, Jess," he shook his head. "Why not?" I asked. "It's not worth it. Plus, who would you go with?" He asked. "I would've gone, but all of you are busy," I said, partially lying.

"Please don't," he said, begging for obvious reasons. "Alright," I sighed.

But I was definitely going to that party.