|Misunderstood| Ashton Irwin

Chapter thirty-six

Song for this chapter- Right Now~One Direction

Bella Waters' pov

I sit up as soon as I hear the front door slam signalling that Ashton has just left for work. I sigh as I look around my messy bedroom, the suit case I took to New York still sat in the corner of the room, but I'm not unpacking it today, I honestly cannot be bothered.
Throwing the duvet off of my body I swing my legs out of bed and stand, stretching slightly, then slipping on my famous pink fluffy slippers.
To be perfectly honest, I'm not actually ill, it's just I couldn't face college today, not after the week I've just had. I didn't mean to lie to Ashton, I just wanted some time to myself and didn't want him fussing.
It still hasn't properly sunk in that I found my mother after she left me but then I left her after what she did. It doesn't even seem like she's her anymore, she's so different and it just seems like the day my father died, she went with him, she has basically just disappeared from the face of the earth and some one else who looks like her has taken her place.
But of course I know it still is her and that leaves me confused about how she could ever do the things she has done to me, I'm her daughter, I'm supposed to be her priority, aren't I?
When she first got her depression I knew something was going to change in my life but never did I think it would get as far as her leaving me as she ran away to a different country just so she could be happy.
Tears start to prick out of the corner of my eyes so I quickly shake my head and try to push the thought of my mother to the back of my mind, instead I walk over to the small cupboard in the lounge and start to rummage through all the junk in there. Old bills, pictures of me and friends (when I had friends that is), birthday cards, christmas cards and so many other things clutter it up but I doesn't take me long to find what I was looking for. Probably one of my favourite possessions I have ever held. A photo album that was given to me about three weeks before my father took his own life. It was on my tenth birthday when my parents gave it to me, exactly nine years ago today...

Flashback- 21st November 2005

"Happy tenth birthday Bella!" My dad sang as both parents walked into my bedroom. My mother held a cake and my father held presents and balloons. I sit up so fast my head spins a little but the dizziness soon disappears when both of my parents wrap their arms around me and hold me close.
"Double digits!" My mum said, "how did you get so old!" She smiled and I shrugged, eyeing my presents that were wrapped in red and gold paper.
"You want to open them?" My dad asks me as he takes a seat on the edge of my bed. I nod my head and he passes me the first one. I rip open the paper without hesitation and gasp. A beautiful art set lays in my hands, dozens of different coloured paints waiting to be used.
"Thank you!" I squeal.
"We can do that later" my mum quickly takes it off me before I have the chance to open it. She has a thing about mess and if I got paint of my bed sheets, she would go mental.
After fifteen minutes of unwrapping I receive: a huge teddy bear that I called Ted, some new pink pumps, a pearl bracelet, some kitten pyjamas, loads of books and a white dress with tiny pink daisies on with tiny pink edging around the bottom. I loved them all and continually thanked my mum and dad for such wonderful gifts.
However, just as I thought it was all over, my mother held out one final present.
"I hope that you will keep this and treasure it forever, and maybe one day you could show this to your children and tell them all about the wonderful childhood you had growing up" she smiled.
At first I was confused and took the present cautiously. I looked between the two of them, my dad nodded at me to open it and so I started to rip the paper off.
At first I thought it was another hard back book or something but when I opened it, my eyes grew wide and a huge smile fell onto my lips. It was a photo album of me, showing nearly every moment of my life so far growing up. There were pictures of my mum holding me at the hospital, just hours after she have birth to me. Both my parents looked so young, but so happy. Other pictures included my first birthday, my first day at school, day trips to the beach, me riding a bike, it just went on and on.
I closed the album again and examined the front. It had a black cover with 'Isabella Elizabeth Waters' printed on it with flowers and love hearts all around it.
"We left a few pages blank at the end and hoped that as you grow older you could add your own pictures. We just thought you would like something like this, to keep all the special memories we've shared" my dad told me. I stood to me feet, standing on the bed so I was the same hight as my parents and wrapped my arms around their necks.
"It's perfect" I smiled.