Love Me | Series Book #1

FORTY ONE

A knock at the door startled me awake. I shifted in bed, wincing as dam the had been holding back the pain in my slumber caved under the pressure of consciousness.

"Kaya," came my mother's voice from the other side. I glanced at the red digits on my bedside displaying that it was 7:45 A.M. Only fifteen before I'd have to be sitting in homeroom, if I had actually planned on going in.

"I'm heading out soon, but your father should be back this afternoon."

If the thought was supposed to bring me comfort, it had the opposite affect. What did it matter that he was coming home. He'd proved yesterday, that he didn't care what happened to me. Even my mom couldn't deny it. Making sure to call him my father as if she had no part in the blame.

"Why?" I asked, taking a wild guess. "Team didn't make it to the finals?"

It was the only reason he'd be on his way so soon. My mom avoided my eyes as she pulled an excuse together.

"Aaron wants to come home," she said. "He refused to get off the bench after we told him what happened."

Aaron. The one person I could count on in this family to actually gave a damn.

"I'll give him a call and tell him I'm okay. I'd hate to get in the way of another championship."

And I knew if I didn't, then Aaron would get the worst of it. Another loss all because he was too worried about his careless sister who landed herself in the hospital with a broken useless arm.

"Kaya-"

"Mom, please just stop," the words were out of my mouth before I had a moment process them. "It's true, and you know it. Or else he'd have been here yesterday. But, he wasn't. And he isn't now."

Her knuckles paled white she held onto the doorknob.

"I have to go. Call my direct line if you need anything at all. I'll be stopping by on break."

"Don't waste your gas."

"I almost forgot," she took a few steps forward and laid my phone on the table beside me, without acknowledging that I'd said anything at all. "I found this downstairs. We'll talk about the back door when I return."

Oh god.

I'd completely forgot about the shattered window, and there was no avoiding that conversation once it started. A broken arm was a completely different story without the added edition of a broken window. She turned on her heel, drawing my door closed behind her. My eyes shifted to the device on my nightstand, clinging onto life with a 3% battery charge. The screen was bright with notifications, but Aly's name stood out on top of the list.

Are you coming out? I thought I was giving you a ride today?

Hello? Are you not gonna answer the phone?

If you're not down in five minutes, I'm taking off . I've got one more late slip before Mr. Monroe screws me with a detention.

- Sent circa five minutes ago.

My fingers hovered over the keyboard. Without me in school today, Rachel had a direct trail straight to her. Or even worse...Chase. Whomever she'd come into contact with first, and I didn't even want to take a lucky guess at which one it would be.

But, I couldn't go in like this.

It would raise even more questions that I couldn't even begin to answer. No matter what I choice I made, at the end of the day, they both would know the truth. I had batted myself out and there were no strikes left to give. And the worst part about it – I had zero chance of defending myself. But, I was never very good at that part to begin with, was I? And now, everyone was in the stands, watching me. Waiting for me to exit the stadium now that the game was over.