How To Live

Chapter Seventeen

My Father hasn't been back to the house in three days, and I haven't seen my Mother this happy in such a long time. She is singing and dancing around the house, and she has cooked dinner every night without fail. She hasn't stayed in her pyjamas past eight o'clock in the morning for one single day.

I don't know when the affair started between my Father and his Sylvia his secretary, and I don't know when my Mother found out, but I'm glad she finally found the courage to tell me Father where to go. It just pains me to know that Tommy isn't around to see this version of her anymore.

We went to the hospital to see Jenna the day after the memorial but she had already checked out. The doctors told us that the baby and Jenna were both doing well so she had been discharged that morning. I don't know where she lives and I don't want to message Wesley to ask, so we still haven't seen her yet.

Wesley hasn't texted or called me, and I don't want to be the one who breaks the silence between us, even though it's my fault. I want to see him and talk to him, but he hurt me, and I am hesitant to let him back in.

I feel like he knows everything there is to know about me, even things that I struggle to admit to myself, and that scares me.

He is going away to college in the fall and what is the point of letting him back in only to say goodbye to him in a months time? I don't know if my heart can handle that. Its already trying to heal from everything else that has been going on, and I don't think it needs anymore emotional damage.

It's a Saturday morning and I leave the house bright and early, heading towards the old schoolhouse for Saturday school. A lot of kids have stopped coming now that we are part way through the summer. Most of them have finished their extra credit work and the ones who show up now are just trying to get a jump-start on next year.

I'm usually the first person to arrive at the church, so it shocks me when I open the old wooden door to reveal an almost packed room, filled with kids from school. Most of them are from my side of town, but there are a few from across the tracks too, including Joey, Meagan and Lila.

"What is going on? Are you all here for Saturday school?" I ask incredulously.

"No, definitely not." On of the boys in the back calls out, earning him laughs from the others.

"We all watched the news the other day and saw what happened at the school with the memorial service." Cassie, Samantha Weis's little sister says standing from her seat. "We heard about your idea to have a protest against gun laws in Bolton and we all want to join you."

"Okay," I say slowly, trying to wrap my head around all of this. "But a protest was just an idea, I don't have any actual plans, and I doubt I could pull it off anyway."

"We know it is going to take a lot of hard work, but we need this Ashton. The memorial was supposed to be a way that we could say goodbye to the people that we lost, but this protest could be our way to ensure something like that never happens again in Bolton." She says. Mummers of agreement fill the room and I am touched by their desire to want to change things.

"So what do you have in mind?" I ask Cassie with a wide grin.

"Well, I don't know, a protest of course. Something that wont get shut down by the Mayor. Or turned into a riot." She suggests.

"Yeah, the memorial was a cool idea, but the only thing that really came out of it was how well people across the tracks can throw a punch. That is not the message we want to send." One of the boys from across the tracks speaks up and the others nod their heads in agreement.

"Yeah, we want the focus to be on changing gun laws and making our school safe again. Nobody deserves to not come home from school and never see their family again." Another girl contributes.