Wren and the World

1.1 | It Begins

God I am a beast, a real repugnant Rebecca. Staring back in my mirror was the aftermath of sleeping at my desk in combination with split energy drink all over my work, hair, face, and arms. Even looking as bad as I did I still couldn't be deterred from having a wonderful day, as today was going to be the day I finally dropped a bomb of a question on my mother. Today was the day I was going to finally get an answer to the question I've only been holding in since the second grade. Today I would get to know who my father was.

To understand why there is such monumental build up to a very mundane question requires background knowledge. You see, when I was nine I had my first encounter with a dad. My friend Susanna invited me over for a birthday party extravaganza sleep over, my first one ever may I add, so I was already terrified. And then out of nowhere at ten o'clock at night in pops a grown ass man into her room. I screamed my head off because well stranger danger, and who creeps around in their own home, creepy people that's who. It wasn't like I had never met a man but the only male figures I had in my life were my pops and uncles all of which I stopped regularly seeing around age five, when we moved. I also didn't think that real dad's existed, like Karis Myers talked about hers all the time but he would never pick her up or drop her off at school so like did he really exist or? Back to Susanna's though, it took her mom fifteen minutes to calm me down, and let's just say I never got invited to another sleep over again. Nine year old me didn't know it but this seemingly innocent event would define my next eight years. I would always beat around the bush with my mother, because maybe there was some scary reason my dad wasn't around. Maybe he was an international spy, or time traveler, or maybe even a felon; but no matter what occupation he held he was still first and foremost my dad. So sure, I might have been immensely sticky and my homework might have been unsalvageable, but nothing was going to crush me today; no retreat, no surrender.

Twenty minutes later I was still repeating my mantra as I danced about my room trying to find my uniform while simultaneously drying my hair. Throwing on my skirt and grabbing a pair of black flats, I rushed into the kitchen to find...no one. Not necessarily odd, but considering today was a mere three days away from my eighteenth birthday I would have guessed my mom would have been around as much as possible. It was her tradition to pressure me into some crazy party and throw a lavish event that I never wanted in the first place. I think in her mind she thinks that the busier I am on my birthday the less time I have to question where my other parental figure is, thus avoiding total meltdown. It wasn't that I was disappointed that she wasn't around this morning to pester me, major relief washed over me as I was able to eat my breakfast in piece, but it was peculiar to me and today was not the day for surprises.

Unfortunately for me, curveballs were being thrown left and right all morning, and school hadn't even began. First it was my keys missing, so in order to avoid disaster I took my mother's overpriced Benz, hoping she wouldn't mind too much. Next, it became the ordeal of parking said car and not becoming a beacon of light for the entire student body to gawk at. It was not that I was not popular, I knew the right people, but I tried to give off the best 'girl-next-door' vibes that I could muster for the eight hours I was engaged in my educational activities. I drove a jeep, which was extremely modest compared to my mom's sleek white luxury vehicle.

In my greatest attempt to all but sprint across the student lot, I knocked right into my biggest disbelief of the day so far. My arms flailed so that I could keep my balance as I stuck a muscular being, scalding hot liquid freely flowing down my top and skirt. But who may you ask was the devil in disguise spilling coffee on me on one of the most important days of my life, well none other than the notorious school king. To say that Sebastian Hail was anything but ordinary would be an understatement. St. Mary's had one unanimous standing, the Hail boys were infamous for their looks and their mischief. Sebastian was no different than his older brothers, ruler of the high school kingdom and adorned by many. However instead of being utterly unkind about the burning fluid seeping through to my skin, I stopped and just stared at my blouse.