Between the Raindrops | ✓

Ch.17 | A Very Long Morning

B E T W E E N

T H E

R A I N D R O P S

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I didn't tell my parents about Jared's threat to Jacob. I didn't want them to worry even more, and I didn't want to cause my dad to spiral again.

I told Shane, and he almost had a meltdown. I had to hold him back from leaving me and going to hunt Jared down for threatening my little brother.

I managed to calm him down, and explained to him that we need to keep calm over this. If we spiral out of control and lose ourselves, Jared will only use it to his advantage.

I decided from then on that I would make it a point to walk Jacob home from school every day, or at least the days that my parents weren't able to pick him up. I'm never going to leave him alone and I'm going to make sure that he always has protection.

Jared Winston can punch me all he wants, but I will not let him touch Jacob. That is something Jared Winston will never do, is hurt my little brother. If he tries, there will be severe consequences.

I hope that my threat to him at Fred's last night will keep him away. At least away from Jacob. I can handle his small torments and evil glances, but I won't let anything happen to anyone else.

"Addie, are you ready for school? You're running late." I hear my mom say from behind my bedroom door.

"Yes, I know mom. I'll just walk to school, don't worry about me. Oh, does Jacob have a ride home today? If not, I'll walk him home." I offer.

Thank God today is Friday.

"That's awfully nice of you. What do you want?" She chuckles.

"Nothing." I laugh as I walk over and open my bedroom door. I give my mom a smirk and then walk back over to my closet to pick out an outfit for the day. "I just don't want him left there waiting for someone to pick him up."

"Alright, well then you can walk him home today. Your father is going to be at the office late tonight and I can't get away from work to pick Jacob up due to a meeting late in the afternoon." She says, nodding her head yes to the clothes I pick up and hold out for her to judge. My mom works at a magazine studio. She runs stories, takes photographs and even helps design the covers. She became an executive partner in the office and she even has people working under her.

My mom smiles every day when she leaves the house for work and is smiling when she comes home too. I hope one day I have a job that I love going to every single day. I don't want to be one of those people who wake up every day hating life because they can't stand their place of employment.

Maybe I'll even take over for my mom one day. I would love to work at a magazine publishing office. I'm shy and pretty soft-spoken, which is the perfect person for the job of snooping and finding out other people's secrets.

"Have a good day sweetie!" My mom says as she leaves my bedroom and heads for the front door with Jacob to drop him off at school.

"You too mom!"

After taking a shower and brushing my hair out, I pull on my black skinny jeans and pair it with a white v-neck T-shirt that surprisingly fits nice. I grab one of my black zip up jackets and put it on, leaving it unzipped.

I leave my hair down, but run some moose through it and grab my purple glasses, putting them on. After putting on my black doc Martens, I grab my cell phone from my bedside table and bolt down the stairs.