The Parental Bond

Mr Gowan

Chapter Two... Mr Gowan

Tuesday.

For the first time in a long time, I was keen to go to school. I wanted to see if Mr Gowan knew anything else about my mother that I didn't. And maybe he'd seen my brown eyes before on the man who was my father. They definitely came from my father.

I was still reeling from the knowledge that my mother had grown up here, gone to school here, and conceived me here. My father had lived in this town, too, but who could he be?

My head hurt from thinking about it.

When I arrived at school I sat down in the corridor beside the entrance to the library. This school was massive, so I had my nose buried in the map that was supposed to help me find my class, but I couldn't even find the library on it! What a useless piece of paper!

"If you keep staring at that thing, you'll go mad," a familiar voice spoke softly.

I dropped the map to the floor. Looking up, Mr Gowan stood over me, smiling.

"Holly," he smiled brightly. "Good morning."

"Hello, Mr Gowan," I returned the smile. "And yes, the map's not a help," I groaned, bending down to pick it up.

"Do you know you squint when you read?" he questioned, frowning. "Maybe you should get your eyes checked."

"My eyes are fine," I muttered, folding my arms. "This map is just crap."

"Something tells me that the map is the least of your worries, Holly," he chuckled, taking a seat next to me. "What's on your mind?"

"My mother," I sighed heavilly. "I didn't know she grew up here in Blakehurst until I mentioned you to her yesterday. I feel like she never tells me anything! She still treats me like a child!"

"Well, you are a child, in a way," he frowned slightly. "In her eyes, you'll always be her child. And your mom went to this school."

"She didn't tell me she went here, too!" I groaned loudly.

"I know your grandmother," he continued with an amused smile. "She had her hands so full with Tilly that she never had time for anything else. Your mom was with that Dave Harris for a while, but I know she cheated on him. That's why they broke up."

"So he's definitely not my father?" I asked, frowning.

"No, I don't think so," he sighed. "They broke up a few months before Tilly left town. And I never knew that she was pregnant, Holly, though my guess now is that's why she ran away. The guy she was with then was a real loser. I hope for your sake that he's not your father. But you're smart, and he'd killed all his brain cells by taking anything and everything. What your mother ever saw in him, I'll never know."

"Mom said you had a girlfriend back then, too," I said casually.

"Yes, Ella," he smiled thoughtfully. "We broke up around the same time that Tilly and Dave did. So long ago now, like seventeen years..."

"You know more about my mother than I do," I sighed sadly. "I barely know her. Except that she's reckless and wild, and in her thirties."

"Perhaps being back in town will reveal your mother's history to you," he winked, standing up. "Or perhaps she'll tell you. Or I will," he laughed.

I wondered if it was strange that the teacher who had been a friend of my mom's was being extremely friendly to me. He's nice, though. And handsome.

Why couldn't my mother have grown up to be something?!

Suddenly, the bell rang. My thoughts disappeared as I realised I had to go to my first class, and I had no idea where it was. Running, I somehow managed to end up exactly where I wanted to be! Walking into my art class, a girl approached me.