Shae

Chapter 12

I stormed out of the room, throwing the pillow I was holding across the hallway. I screamed in frustration as I ran upstairs. I slammed my bedroom door and hit as many things as I could. I was not going to be on the run. I couldn't believe my dad could do this to me. He was my favorite parent, one of my favorite people, and he betrayed me. For heavens sake he was kicking me out of my own house, bringing down the walls in my life.

I furiously began calling Toad out of habit. He picked up and didn't even say hello. I cautiously and awkwardly greeted him instead. "H- hello?"

"What." That was it. Man, I had completely forgotten he was upset with me.

"I-... Do you want to hear?"

He sighed and his tone softened. "Shae, I may be angry with you, but I still care about what matters to you. Go ahead and tell me."

"My dad is back.." Toad gasped.

"Shae that's great! When did he get back? Why don't you sound happier about it?"

"He came back before I got home from school. He's on the run from the government. He wants my family to go with him. He's been accused of extortion against his own company."

"Oh my gosh.. Do you need me to come over?"

"No I'm going to go over there, I don't want to be anywhere near my dad right now." And I hung up. I grabbed my charger and a backpack full of overnight clothes just in case.

I got to Toad's house not too much later. I had seen his house before, but he hadn't told me his family had renovated. Instead of just a mobile home on about an acre lot, there was a front porch with an overhang, a pavilion/gazebo thing in the backyard, and additions that blended very nicely with the house it used to be. I walked in and plopped on his new-looking couch, tossing my backpack onto a nearby chair.

I shook my hair out of my braid as Toad came back from the kitchen with a Gatorade in each hand.

"Feeling pretty rough, huh?" Toad said while tossing me one of the drinks.

"I just need a Gatorade and some Netflix and I'm sure I'll be fine." Toad got the hint and flipped on the television. He winked as he turned on my little pony. I rolled my eyes with a smile and settled into a comfortable position on the couch.

Toad fell asleep on the floor in front of me after three episodes. I smiled weakly, feeling like things were back to normal, and wishing they really were. He really was pretty adorable sleeping like that. As I looked at him, my lids drooped and I followed his example.

We awoke a few hours later to the smell of stir fry. I opened my eyes and felt something brush against my hand. I glanced down at it realizing that my fingers were in Toad's hair. I smiled and ruffled his medium long locks. He groaned and rolled to face me.

"Stir fry," was all I had to say and he was struggling to stand up. I laughed at his efforts and checked my phone. Almost dead, and I had like thirty text messages from my mom, dad, and Beau. They all said basically the same thing, the typical "WHERE ARE YOU COME HOME" text you'll get if you leave your house for hours on end without warning after a big fight. Except one text. It was from Kade.

'Your parents just called my mom asking where you were. Are you ok? Do you need me?' I was touched. But it also made me nervous. Nothing could get serious with Kade, Beau would hate me again, Toad would hate me again, I had to go back to hating the boy. I didn't have the heart to text back, so I just plugged my phone into the wall and walked into the kitchen, joining Toad at the table.

🔻🔹🔻🔹🔻🔹🔻🔹

Toad and I spent the evening attempting to play apples to apples with only two players. We tried changing the rules around and everything, but all in all, it was pretty much and epic fail. After giving up, he and I talked and laughed until it was dark. I checked my phone again, the texts had doubled and the caps locks had disappeared replaced by pleading and apologies.

"Hey, do you want to watch a movie?" Toad suggested, reaching for the cabinet he kept his DVDs in.

"Yeah, what you got?" We decided on X-men origins and took like half an hour making popcorn and getting distracted. By the time we started the movie, it was 10:00. Halfway through, I started dozing off, so I snuggled up against toad, tucking my legs up under me. I was out like a light after that.

I don't know when Toad fell asleep, but I'm guessing he was awake until the end of the movie, because when I woke up to a knock at the door, the tv was off and the remote was on the floor. Toad rubbed his eyes groggily as his mom shuffled around to answer the door. We knew she was getting it, so we started to fall back to sleep. I buried my face in Toads shoulder and yawned.

Not long after, I felt someone else in the room and opened my eyes. Kade stood in the doorway fists clenched and jaw set. My heart jumped into my throat. Toad stretched his arms, going rigid when he saw Kade. He jumped off the couch and his voice was hard and accusing when he spoke.

"What. Are you doing here."

Kade narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "My mom was bringing your moms sewing machine back and I actually came along to apologize to you. For ticking you off over this one." He tilted his head towards me ignorantly.

Offended, I shot out of my place on the couch. "Excuse me! You will not refer to me as 'this one'. I will be treated with respect for once in the last three weeks. I've been ridiculed, shrugged off as if I were nothing, and my favorite person was missing that whole time! I am on the run! My dad wants me to go on the run! Because he was too stupid to make his own money! If I am disrespected any more by either one of you, I swear I'll make your lives a living heck." Kade and Toad just stared at me, dumbfounded. I pursed my lips and held my ground, finished.

Kade spoke first. "I apologize, Shae, I'll be more considerate. Just.. Stay away from him ok?"

That was it. I walked up to Kade and slapped him across the face. I said menacingly, "I am not yours. You do not own me. I can make my own choices, and you are absolutely not going to interfere." I walked over to Toad and wrapped my arms around him. I buried my face into his shoulder again and resisted the urge to cry or scream or whatever.

Toad wrapped his arms around me before I was ripped off him and thrown to the side. I fumed and bolted to my feet. I shook my hair out of my eyes just in time to see Kade haul off and punch Toad in the face.