Accident Or Not?

Nice to meet you?

I couldn't stop staring at them. It's like my feet completely froze on the spot. Different emotions were going through me. I was angry and sad, but surprisingly, a little defeated too. Of course, I already knew Mother was a cheater, but what I didn't expect was that Mr Hawkins would propose to her so fast.

And then, Mother's gaze came to me. Her eyes balled out as she looked at Mr Hawkins with panic. I saw him frowning and turning around to me, looking surprised.

My eyes went around the crowd, and I realized most of them were colleagues and some friends. Kate was there too, and she was at least the only one who looked at me with pity in her eyes.

''Honey...'' Mother began, but I didn't want to hear it.

I turned around and walked over to Jackson who was standing at the fountain, watching the whole situation happening from afar.

''We should go now,'' I said, anger boiling in my blood. He nodded.

When we got outside, I saw Mother trying to get by us, but it didn't really help with her high heels. We rushed a bit to the bus and got in. The bus driver closed the doors and drove away. I saw that she stopped running after us. She knew that there was no way she could keep up with us.

A few minutes later, we got off the bus and arrived home. I went straight to my room, and lied on the bed. I grabbed Father's picture and went with my finger over his face.

''I can't stand this any more dad,'' I said. ''I miss you so much. Without you, I wouldn't know what to do anymore. I've tried getting a bit distracted, but it didn't really help much. I am really sorry you have to see how Mother is being happy while cheating on you. Why is all of this happening,'' I sobbed while tears were streaming down my face.

While lying on the bed, tears couldn't stop streaming down my face. I didn't even stop them. I held Father's picture tightly against my chest with my fists clenched with anger and frustration. I closed my eyes and hummed my dad's favorite song. He said once that I sounded like an angel, especially when singing that song.

Eventually, darkness swallowed me.

The next day.

I woke up from hearing two voices, almost screaming at each other. I got out of bed and washed my face quickly before descending the stairs.

When I got downstairs, I saw Jackson glaring at Mother, his face all red.

''What is going on here?,'' I demanded to know what was going on. Jackson pointed at Mother.

''She wants us to move in with her fiancée,'' he spat. ''For your information, I'm not going,'' he declared.

''Well then, get out. Pack your things and leave.'' Mother yelled at him.

Jackson scoffed. ''Fine by me,'' he said, walking upstairs.

''Wait,'' I tried stopping him. Mother then turned her gaze on me.

''Ava, you go pack your things. We are moving in with my fiancée Andrew tomorrow,'' she demanded.

''WHAT?!'' I yelled in shock.

''And that's not all. He and his son are going to be here in almost two hours, so get ready,'' she said, walking away while my jaw dropped.

''I am going to meet up with Kate. I'm going to be home when they are almost going to be here, so clean things around here,'' she said, already walking outside and slamming the door.

I grunted and ran upstairs to Jackson's room, and saw him packing his things.

''Jackson, please don't leave. I don't want to be alone with them,'' I begged him, tears began rolling on my cheeks uncontrollably.

He walked up to me, and pulled me in for a hug. ''Don't worry. One day, I'll get you out of there,'' he promised.

''But where are you going then?'' I asked.

''I'm going to grandma and grandpa's house,'' he said while I sighed and wiped my tears. It would've been fine if Jackson could stay in our secret room.

''Okay, I'll visit you later today or tomorrow then,'' I said, and he gave me a last hug before leaving. But then, I came up with an idea.

''Jackson?''

''Yes Ava?''

''We still have like two hours to hang out before they come here...'' Jackson knew exactly what I meant.

We went down the ladder to our secret room and I turned on the Nintendo Switch. We played video games for the next hour and laughed so hard that I nearly got tears rolling down. I'm going to miss these fun times.

I went over to our small fridge and grabbed two bottles of cold water.

''Did you receive homework from your teachers?'' Jackson asked while taking a sip from his water. I shook my head.

''It's like they are celebrating an early vacation,'' I chuckled while he nodded in agreement.

''Well, I need to get ready to leave,'' he sighed, while standing up.

''Okay, I'm going to get ready too. See you later,'' I said, and he patted my shoulder. ''By the way, I called an uber for you. Otherwise, you might see Mother on the bus,'' I said, and he gave me a grateful smile.

When we got outside, I waved him goodbye while he stepped into the car. The uber drove away, and I was left standing there.

I only had twenty minutes left before Mother came home with her fiancee and his son, so I went to my room and changed before brushing my teeth and packing. Even though I'm pretty sure it's Caleb, I'm still a bit nervous for some reason. How is he going to react to all of this? Did he already know? Or is he going to find it weird?

The house was already clean, so there was no need to clean it up. There was still some time left, so I continued with packing.

When I heard the door closing, I stopped packing and went down the stairs.

Mother, Mr Hawkins and Caleb were already sitting at the table.

''Hi, you must be Ava. Your Mother has told me lots of things about you,'' Mr Hawkins held his hand out with a smile. His expression had something strange…

''Nice to meet you sir,'' I said, while forcing a smile.

''Stepdad,'' Mother tried correcting me, but I ignored her.

''Uhm, this is my son, Caleb.'' he said.

''Hi Ava, it's nice seeing you again,'' Caleb said while giving me an assuring smile.

''Oh, you guys already know each other?'' Mother asked. I nodded.

''Were in the same class,'' I said, taking the chair next to Caleb's.

''Wow, what a small world,'' Mr Hawkins chuckled.

The next thirty minutes, Mother and Mr Hawkins were talking the whole time. Sometimes they talk about Caleb being my stepbrother now. I've never seen people talking non-stop for such a long time as this.

''Shall we go upstairs?'' I whispered to Caleb.

''Good idea,'' he whispered back.

We got upstairs and went into my room. I saw him looking at the picture of Father, Jackson and me.

''That's my dad,'' I said softly. He turned to me.

''Sorry, I didn't mean to…''

''It's completely fine, don't worry,'' I interrupted him softly.

''Can I ask... what happened to him?'' he asked.

''He... passed away recently. He was involved in a car accident,'' I sighed, sitting on my bed while tears filled up my eyes.

''Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that,'' Caleb said, sitting next to me. ''Did the police or something find something about the accident?''

I shook my head.

''They would contact us if they did, but they never did,'' a tear fell down my cheek. ''Everything happened so quickly, I mean that it turned upside down so quickly,'' I sobbed a little bit.

Caleb hugged me, and we sat there for a few minutes. It was nice, having some comfort. And then my eyes fell on my candy can. I grabbed it.

''Here, you won the other day by dancing, so it's only fair if you get a reward,'' I said.

''No, you don't have to,'' he said, but I insisted.

''No please, it's fair and square,'' I said firmly, and he sighed a bit.

''Alright, thank you, Ava,'' he said, sharing some candies with me. ''It sounds fun, you know, that you are moving in with us,'' he said.

''Yeah, about that,'' I began. ''Did you already know that my Mother and your Father are together?'' Caleb put the can down.

''To be honest... yeah. I knew that,'' he said, looking down.

''Why didn't you say anything then?'' I asked, frowning.

''I didn't know how you were going to react to it or if you already knew. Especially when we had some misunderstandings in the past. I just wanted us to get along. Sooner or later, we had to try to get along anyway.''

It did make sense what he said. I'm actually happy he did that.

''Can I ask where your Mother is?'' I asked.

''My mom and dad divorced almost a year ago, so my mom moved to England,'' he responded.

''Really? My best friend moved to England too.''

''Do you mean Sara?'' I nodded. ''Wow, what a coincidence,'' he said, smiling.

And then Mother and my 'stepdad' stepped into my room.

''Ava, we are moving in with your stepdad today,'' Mother announced.

''He is not my stepdad,'' I murmured.

"Excuse me?''

''Mother, you literally told me that we are going to move in first thing tomorrow,'' I said, furrowing a brow. ''Secondly, I'm not even done packing yet,'' I tried holding myself from yelling.

''Well, change of plans. And what are you planning on bringing anyway? You already have everything you need,'' she said, pointing at my suitcase. ''You don't need to bring all of your clothes, we can go shopping tomorrow.''

''There's no need to go buy some more clothes when I already have them.'' I said, while she sighed with frustration.

''It is now two o'clock. We are leaving at five o'clock, so you better speed things up.''