"You can't ignore me forever, Avery." My dad sighs from the driver's seat as we make our way to our new home.
"Watch me."
"Ha! You spoke to me! I guess that means I won, huh?" He tries to joke, looking over at me to catch my glare. He can tell that I am not amused.
I turn back to look out the window, still dreading the idea of meeting my new 'family'. The entire concept of my father leading a whole life separate from us that he managed to keep a secret for over 15 years is crazy to me. I don't even know the man who is sitting beside me anymore.
Two weeks ago, I felt like we were as close as can be. Today, I couldn't feel further away.
He pulls the car into the driveway behind the moving van that has apparently been here for hours. The men work tirelessly to move all of our belongings into the house.
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My dad jumps around the car and opens my door for me. "Come on, let's go inside." I stare at him as he continues to beg me to meet the people he hid from me and my mom for years.
He holds his hand on my back, just barely touching me as he guides me inside. A woman, presumably his girlfriend, runs up and kisses him.
Yuck.
She then turns to me and plants a wet, sloppy kiss on my cheek as she throws her arms around me, pinning mine to my sides. If this is how she shows affection, I can't imagine why my father wanted to be with her over my mom. She can't even kiss someone without it dripping down their cheek. Its disgusting.
I stand there as she welcomes me into her home and tells me that it is now my home too. As if called by some silent whistle, children begin to appear out of nowhere, coming at me from every angle.
There are five of them total. I am in complete shock. I didn't realize how many kids my father created with this woman.
"Oh! Kids, come around. Let me introduce you!" The woman squeals and steps back to show her kids off to me. "This here is Logan, his baby daddy died a long time ago." She pinches Logan's cheeks as he smacks her hand away. "Then this is Peter, my second born. Kara is my third. Summer is next, then Mason, and then Tilly!" She smiles after introducing my father's mistakes to me. She is way more excited about this than she should be. "And everyone, this is Avery."
Everyone stares at me. I do the same to them. Finding out you have five half-brothers and sisters is a bit unnerving.
Tilly, the youngest, grabs onto my leg as me and her older siblings have a staring competition with me. My father bends down and lifts the child off of my leg. "Come on Aves, I'll show you to your new room."
I follow him reluctantly up the steps. "This is where Logan and Peter sleep." He points to a messy bedroom. You can hardly even see the beds in there. "Summer and Tilly in here." He notes as he sets Tilly down. She runs and jumps into her bed, giggling the entire time. "And this is where you will sleep. Kara is generous enough to give up her private room and share it with you."
I peer into the room and stare at the empty bed beside the window. Kara stands in the middle of the room, beaming. "I cleaned it up just for you." I have had my own room for my entire life. Now I have to share a room with some child?
"You've been cheating on mom with this woman for years and you couldn't even give her some money to buy a house with a few more bedrooms?" I scoff and push past everyone. I am not going to live here. This is just not happening. I am not living with my father's mistress and her three hundred kids.
The screen door slams behind me as I storm outside. It slams again, signalling that someone has followed me outside.
"You need to go apologize to Kara, now!" My dad begins a lecture.
"Why should I? She is a product of your affair that ruined my life!" I shout back at him from the middle of the half-cut lawn.
"She is innocent in all of this. All of them are. Its me you are mad at. Don't take it out on the kids. They are all genuinely excited that you are here." He throws his hands in the air.
"I'm glad someone is happy that I'm here. I know I'm not happy! You cheated on mom and now she's dead and I'm sharing a room with some kid!" I continue to argue.
"Some kid who is really excited to finally have an older sister. Some kid who spent all day yesterday begging her mom to repaint her room to your favorite color so that you would like it more and be happy." He informs me.
I drop my shoulders. I didn't realize how my actions were going to affect these kids. And he is right, its not their fault our father is a cheating scumbag. They don't deserve my hate.
"Shes just a kid Avery. They all are. They don't deserve to be treated like chopped meat."
