Substitute Father (Ross Lynch)

Chapter 21

"Sky, is there anything I can get you?" Ross asked softly, running his fingers through my hair. I just shook my head, a few stray tears escaping my eyes. He sighed and kissed my forehead gently. "You shouldn't be in bed all day. We don't have to go anywhere, but come out in the living room or something. I'll even make you something to eat."

I sniffled. "I'm not hungry." I croaked out, my throat raw from crying. "Just leave me alone." Nothing would get me out of bed today. Today was a day where I just wanted to be alone.

"I'm not leaving you alone, Sky." He firmly said. "I know this is hard for you. This is hard for me to, but pushing me away isn't going to help." He crawled into the spot next to me, and wrapped his arms around my body. He gently placed my head on his chest, allowing his fingers to run through my hair. Tears were staining his shirt, but he didn't seem to mind.

"It's not fair." I whispered, my voice cracking. "It's not fair."

"I know, baby." He murmured, his voice cracking as well. "They didn't deserve this at all. But you can't think of the day they died. You...you have to think about all the good memories you made with them."

I closed my eyes tightly, trying to control myself before I broke. "It's so hard. A-All I can think about is t-the accident." Tears began to stream down my face as sobs wracked my body. Ross' hold on me tightened and he remained quiet. He knew how hard this day was for me, as it was for him.

It was the anniversary of my parent's death.

The day I found out about the accident, it was like a part of me died.

"This lesson is so boring." Ross whispered in my ear. "I don't understand why he's still teaching when finals are next week." I wasn't looking at him, but I knew he rolled his eyes.

I rolled my own. "Because this stuff my be on the exam, Shor." I focused my attention on the board and wrote down the notes.

"I just want Senior year to be over." He grumbled. "I'm so done with high school."

"You and me both."

A knock on the door caused everyone's heads to snap in that direction, and I furrowed my eyebrows when our Principal walked in. Our Principal only came to classes when someone was in serious trouble, which meant that someone in our was in deep shit.

"Principal Bailey, hello." Mr. Padlock greeted our Principal, smiling brightly. "How can I help you?"

I noticed that Principal Bailey didn't smile in return, which had me extremely worried. What was going on? "I need to speak with Skylar Evans immediately."

My eyes immediately widened, and all eyes snapped to me. "What the hell did you do?" Ross whispered harshly.

"Nothing!" I exclaimed quietly. "Holy crap, my heart's racing."

"Just relax and deny everything."

I stood up slowly, grabbing my bag in case I didn't return. I followed Principal Bailey out of the room and into his office which was down the hall. I couldn't help but notice that he wouldn't even look or speak to me, and I didn't understand why. I had done nothing wrong.

"Take a seat, Skylar." He instructed, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk. I obeyed and placed my bag on the floor while he sat down in his own seat.

"Principal Bailey, I swear that I did nothing wrong." I blurted out. I was sweating so bad that I could fill up a bucket in matter of seconds. Gross.

He shook his head. "You're not in trouble, Skylar." He laced his fingers together and placed them on his desk.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Then why am I here?" What other explanation was there for why I was here?