Afterglow

stormy

~1 Month Later~

"Pencils down, everyone."

The cacophony of groans filled the classroom around me as the rest of the students rushed to fill in the final test bubbles while I sat back and cracked my knuckles, stretching my stiff body as the test had forced me to sit in the same spot for hours.

The SAT's were finally finished, and considering the fact that I had studied for the damn thing for almost an entire month straight told me that I was going to get an amazing score on it, which would hopefully help my chances when it came to getting away from my family and getting into a school far far away.

My dad had returned from California and moved back in to my mother's house with his child bride and their spawn steadily growing in her belly, making things more than awkward for my mom but she allowed it anyway because, what else could she do considering it wasn't even really her house to begin with.

I had barely spoken three words to any of my authority figures since he returned, and none of them had tried to rectify that so there really was no point in fighting considering it got me nowhere.

It had been complete and utter radio silence from my birth father, and for a moment it was like he'd gotten into a car wreck not dissimilar to what had happened to Ian and he had died.  One could only hope.

One of the side effects of this silence, however, was not knowing where I stood when it came to him and my friends, so I kept away from them and Sloane, my head buried in the books to catch up with school and studying for the biggest test of my life, avoiding my old friend group at all costs to keep them safe.

They'd tried to get me to give it up, and it was almost comical at how hard they'd tried to get me to talk to them, but I'd even gone so far as to moving back into the dorm with Jenna to show them how serious I was about this shut out.

It wasn't hard to ignore Lachlan, though, especially because it was almost like a sixth sense when he was near, and I just knew that he was close, so I high tailed it out of wherever the hell I was to keep my distance.

I hadn't returned to the koi pond since I came back to the school.

I took my punishment diligently, both from the school and from my father.  The school learned their lesson and made sure detentions were all supervised the entire time, but it wasn't like I ever wanted to ditch with my old friends ever again.

Vera had shown up at Jenna's dorm room every night, begging me to answer the door and talk to her, but I kept my head under the covers with my eyes on the digital textbook on my phone, refusing to let in the emotions that came with talking to my best friend about what had happened.

The plane ride back to New York was awkward and sad, Blythe tearfully recounting the horrors her family had seen since her father had started his abusive streak.  Apparently it didn't matter what he had promised Lachlan, his father had already taken his pound of flesh from his youngest child, using the threats of beating his other children to control them all under the guise of protecting their siblings from the monster.

And he was the man I'd compared to being exactly the same as Lachlan.

I cringed as I recalled the hurtful words I'd hurled at him in my anger, but I couldn't find it myself to apologize to him or talk to him, not after everything that had transpired between us.

I still felt used and betrayed, no matter the fact that he was doing it for his sister.  He still could have told me the truth after what I'd told him about my own dangerous birth father. 

But he didn't. He didn't respect me or trust me enough after I'd spilled my guts to him and given him almost everything I had to return the favor and confide in me.