Wish

Chapter 24

It was a surprisingly sunny afternoon in February and I was walking home after school, Justin had dance practice so couldn't drive me home. As I walked, I admired the blue sky and felt a strange sense of contentment that I hadn't felt while I was alone in a while. Things at school had seemed to calm down, which I was grateful for, and I couldn't be more thankful to my friends for helping me get through it all. They had stuck by me, even when I tried to push them away, and helped me ignore the hurtful comments until they grew less and less. On the occasion where those things did get me down, they were always there to cheer me up. Yes, I was incredibly thankful for my friends.

I was also thankful for Justin; he had been an angel ever since I first met him. Of course, having Justin in my life or as my boyfriend was not the reason that my problems had gotten better or easier, but he was a source of light during a very dark time and I was so grateful for him sticking by me. There's not a lot of people who would have stuck around for that kind of negativity, understandably, but Justin did.

I was thinking about how things were going so well as I turned the corner and saw my Dad's car in the driveway. Clearly, I was getting ahead of myself. I stopped in my tracks and seriously considered turning on my heel and walking away until he was gone. I sighed, knowing I should probably head inside and face my Dad. I can't avoid him forever, after all.

My parents were in the kitchen, stood on either side of the kitchen island. On the counter in between them was a large brown envelope. It didn't take a genius to guess what was inside. Divorce papers.

"Hey sweetie." Dad said with a smile. He looked good, like this whole ordeal hadn't bothered him in the slightest. Our family had broken up and you'd think he'd just gotten back from a relaxing cruise or something. I hated that. He should be hurting over this too. He cheated, why does he get to be happy when Mum and I are miserable.

"That what I think it is?" I asked, nodding towards the envelope on the counter, not bothering to greet him in return. He sighed in response, nodding his head.

"It's for the best Amber." he said dejectedly.

"Yeah, no shit!" I scoffed, "Mum deserves better than a cheating scumbag like you!"

"Amber!" Mum said warningly, turning to face me with an expression that clearly read that she wasn't happy with my outburst. I felt a little bit guilty, knowing this was hard enough for Mum without me being a brat on top of it but I pushed that feeling down. Dad had hurt me too.

"No, it's alright. I deserve that." Dad said.

"You deserve a hell of a lot more, too! It's bad enough that you did this to Mum but you could have at least tried to be a Dad to me." I said. "You have called me once since you left. Once. You left months ago!"

"I wanted to give you your space. I-"

"Space? You wanted to give me space? Well you did a good job there, Dad, because I'm not sure we live on the same planet anymore! Do you have any idea what my life has been like these past few months?" I said, my voice raising slightly.

"Your Mum has told me some of what's been happening, yes." he said quietly, not meeting my eyes.

"You knew? You knew that I was having a hard time and you still didn't check up on me. Let me fill you in on some blanks then, since you've missed so much. Let me tell you how I've been branded the school slut, how I get harassed by the boys at my school on a daily basis, how someone gave out my number which caused an onslaught of abusive calls and texts, how I've been pushed around in the corridors, called ugly and disgusting and worthless, how I genuinely started wishing I was dead!" I yelled, tears threatening to fall from my eyes in frustration. What kind of Dad knows their kid is being bullied and doesn't check in on them? A shit on, that's for sure.