Broken // Michael Clifford [Finished For Now]

Chapter Thirteen

Michael's POV

I rushed to my locker after the last period of the school day was over. I wanted to make sure I talked to Diana before she left.

By the time I reached our lockers I was out of breath. I noticed Diana was trying to ignore me yet again and that was not acceptable. She needed to at least talk about the things going on in her life and it didn't seem like she had anyone to talk to besides me, whether she liked it or not.

"Your dad has a job, right?" I wondered to Diana. The sound of my voice made her stop what she was doing to look at me and my random question caused her to raise an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Yeah, why?" she said slowly, as if she were trying to decipher the rhyme to me reason so to speak.

"What time does he get home from work?" I continued, once again receiving a suspicious glance from her.

"Around 4:00-4:30, why?" she repeated.

"If your dad gets home around, lets just say 4:00, how will he know if you came home right after school like you're supposed to?"

Her confused expression dissipated as she realized what I was getting at. "He will ask questions when he gets home and he can tell when I'm lying to him. It won't end well if I don't listen to him." she responded while lightly touching the mark on her cheek.

"Your dad did that to you, didn't he?" I already knew the answer to my question, but I still had to ask it.

"I already told you to stop trying to help me, so just let it go Michael." she sighed.

"I'm sorry, but I can't. What would you do if you were me in this situation?"

Instead of answering me she lowered her gaze to our feet and stayed silent.

"Would it be okay if I came over your house before your dad came home? That way you won't have to lie to your dad because you still would have gone straight home." I reasoned while changing the subject.

"I guess so. Do you have a car or do you need me to give you a ride to and from my house?" she questioned.

"I can get a ride home, but I do need a ride to your house. If that's okay?"

"I offered, so sure." she said while starting to walk to the front doors of the school and into the parking lot. I texted Ashton telling him I would need a ride later on as I sat down in the passenger seat. Diana turned the heat on immediately after closing her door and starting the car.

We drove in absolute silence on our way to her house. I had just remembered that Diana's mother had committed suicide in this house and that kind of creeped me out. I know it happened about two months ago and you wouldn't be able to tell anything had happened, but the idea of being in a house after that happening is a little freaky, believe it or not.

She pulled into a driveway and I made sure to text Ashton the address that was neatly painted on the mailbox. We both got out of the car and she lead the way to her front door.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting her house to look like, but it was definitely something like this. The front door emptied you out into a small mudroom, complete with a few hanging coats and a shoe rack. The mudroom dumped you out into the living room which had one big L-shaped coach, a comfy looking chair, a bookshelf, and a flatscreen TV. The living room flowed into the kitchen that had an island with two stools, a small family dinner table, wrap around the room counters, and of course the usual appliances. I also took note of the hallway on the other side of the living room, opposite the kitchen. It looked like it had three doors, one of which I assumed was a bathroom.