Trigger Warning

Chapter Three

It took me nearly an hour to figure out an outfit for the upcoming night with my father and his family. Prior to calling and making sure Emmett was free, I had to check with my dad first.

"Hello sweetie! How've you been, Ana?" Beth, my stepmom, greeted. I let out a small sigh. Beth had a nasally voice, that was almost as bad as nails on a chalk board.

"I'm fine, actually," I answered. I tried to hide the annoyance in my voice, Beth was really sensitive. She almost started crying once when I mentioned to her how funny her voice was.

Beth let out a small puff of air on the other line, and I could hear Janice cooing in the background. Janice was only three years old. "Did you need to talk to your father?"

The thought of talking to my dad put my stomach in knots, and I could feel the bile rising up my throat at the mention of him finding out I was pregnant. With what he thought was Emmett's baby. "No, no it's fine."

I heard something rattle in the background. "Oh okay, honey. So how's school?"

"It's good, Beth. So do you guys have plans for this evening?" I asked. Beth told me to hold on just a moment, and I heard her muttering something to someone in the room.

"No, hon, were free. You wanna go do something?" Beth said, as if she needed to invite me somewhere and she didn't know I was about do to so.

"Yes, actually. Do you guys want to meet me at Toney's and get something to eat?" I offered. I thought of everyone who would probably be there: Percy, Janice, Beth, and my father, who all didn't really look like they went together but somehow they did.

"Absolutely, Ana! We'll see you there by seven, hoes that?" Beth cheered. I held the phone away from my ear for a moment to stop the ringing.

"Yeah," I muttered. "That's great, see you there."

I heard a click from the other end of the line and figured that was that.

I had a whole day to myself. Like most Saturdays, both Clarissa and Emmett were working. I preferred they both worked on the same day though as opposed to only one of them. Clarissa was in fact my best friend, but all she cared about was herself, mostly. She managed to turn everything around to make her the focal point, which was fine, it was her. It just wasn't the most fun thing. Emmett, on the other hand, was way too into me. He never talked about himself, he was too invested in me. He could listen to me talk for hours, it seemed. I just never had much to say.

That's why I liked it when all three of us were together. We clicked as a trio, but whenever I tried it as a duo with either of them it just didn't mesh.

Emmett and I don't even mesh as a couple, honestly.

I need him though. He's promising, he's sturdy. He's the only person I know who would risk his own life and not even think of it to do me a favor.

I need that security, because I have it nowhere else.

I need Clarissa, too. Clarissa is constantly making me laugh with her stupid jokes and is a lifesaver when she teaches me how to properly conceal a breakout or I need good gossip.

I don't see how either of them really need me, but somehow they manage to say they do.

"Anastasia!" my mother called from the kitchen. I was in my room, sitting on my bed.

"Yes?" I called back.

"Headed to work. Make sure you make plans to tell your father!"

"Already did, tonight at seven. Love you, have a good day at work."

"I love you too, Ana."

I heard the front door click shut and I looked around my room at the mess of clothing.

When I was seven years old and my parents sat me down to tell me they were divorcing, I wasn't really all that cooperative.

"What's a divorce?" I asked. I knew what it was-- my friend Evelyn at school came and told everyone about her parents divorce three weeks before.

"Well, honey, it's where your mommy and I can't be together anymore," my dad answered. I never called my mom mommy.

"Why?" I asked. I looked over to Percy, who, despite being only eight minutes older, tried to always be the mature one.

"Because they don't love each other, Anastasia." Percy answered. He was missing one of his top teeth, while the other tooth was so loose it wiggled every time he spoke.

I looked up to my parents who were looking at me like I was so young, so innocent. At age seven I guess I was.

"Well why don't you? Mom, dad is really good at making burgers on the grill. And daddy, momma can make beds really good. Can't you love each other because of that?"

My dad just smiled, a small, pathetic smile, and shook his head. "Not anymore, pumpkin."

My mother looked small, in that moment. She seemed frail, like her bones were made of glass and her skin made of paper. I got up and ran to her, and gave her a hug.

"Dad," Percy spoke up, "Who's going where? Like, Ana and me,"

Dad just stood up and rustled Percy's hair. "Well your mother said I can keep the house, so I'm going to live here. We decided you guys can choose where to live, because it's your lives."

"Momma I'm staying with you," I whispered into her shoulder. We hugged for a really long time.

"I'll stay here," Percy muttered. "Calvin won't want me to move, he doesn't like playing fire trucks with Blake."

So that was that. Percy stayed with my dad in our old home, simply to continue on with his pal Calvin. I chose to move with my mother, who decided we would stay in the city to be close to Percy.

I later discovered my parents wanted a divorce because my dad was fooling around with his assistant at work. That affair later got him fired, and he had to get a new job, where he met Beth.

My dad wasn't good at being faithful. And since my father, my mom wasn't very good at loving anyone.