He's My Daddy Now

Chapter 9

*Emmy*

“Dad, please,” I beg. “Don’t make me go back to school.

“It’s been a month,” he tells me. “You have to. They won’t excuse any more absences.”

My lip quivers. “You can homeschool me.”

“I have to work, Emmy,” he says, taking my hands. “They won’t be mean.”

“They will, though!”

He shakes his head, and I can see he’s growing angry. “You have to. End of discussion.”

Begrudgingly, I get into the car and let him drive me to school. I’m wearing a light blue skirt and a white shirt. It’s simple, but I’m sure Ava will still say something about it. The tightening I’ve felt in my chest begins again. It started when Mom got sick, and it hasn’t really stopped. I take a deep breath, trying to make it go away, but it won’t.

“It’s going to be a great day, Emmy,” Dad tells me with a smile as I climb out of the car.

“It won’t.”

I go to my locker, place my bag inside, and get out my English books before going to class. I’m surprised when a sub walks in. Great, and on my first day back.

“I’m Mrs. Abrams,” she tells us, writing her name on the board. “Your teacher left a note that we’re to discuss chapter ten of the book. Let’s begin.”

Chapter ten? No. I did all the work she gave me. She didn’t give me anything about chapter ten. I must have missed something. I flip through my papers from her and then my book to look where I read, terrified to see that I truly only read through chapter eight.

“You,” she says, stopping before me. “What did you think about it?” she asks, looking down her long nose at me.

I blink up at her. “It was nice,” I lie, trying to hide that I didn’t read it.

“Nice?! The character’s mother died in this chapter,” she says rudely.

Her mother died. That’s why she didn’t give me work past chapter 8. All the air leaves my body as my chest tightens more.

“Emmy has been out for a bit,” my friend Lucy speaks up. “It’s her first day back. I think she may not have received the most recent update on homework.”

“You all are in eighth grade,” she says. “There is no excuse for not being prepared for class.”

I nod, staring down at my desk as my lip quivers. Her mom died. Her mom died. MY mom died. Quickly, I stack my books and walk out of class as the substitute calls after me, but I don’t stop. I run straight into the bathroom, locking myself away in a stall as the tears flow.

My mom died. I’m not prepared for class. My stomach hurts. I just want to go home. I can try to call my dad, but he won’t come. I sit on the toilet, pulling my underwear down to find that I’ve started my period for the first time. Just great.

I can’t stop crying about this miserable day. I don’t have a pad. I don’t even know what to do. I just want my mom.

“Emmy was so upset,” I hear Ava’s voice say. “How ridiculous. She didn’t do her homework and expected everyone to just ignore that.”

“I don’t think that’s why she was upset,” her friend tells her.

“It was,” she cuts her off. “I did MY homework, and no one treats me special.”

“Her mom just died,” her friend says softly.

“Who cares? Lots of people only have one parent, and they still get their homework done.”

I hear the bathroom door open and close again, their voices now gone. I quit trying to hide the sounds of my crying, but I quickly realize I’m not alone. A hand holding a pad slips under the stall door.

“I don’t think anyone else saw, but you’ll want to put your sweater around your waist,” is all that Ava’s friend says before she leaves.

I sniffle, taking it from her. “Thank you.”

She doesn’t respond before I hear the bathroom door open and close again. I get everything situated the best I can and tie my sweater around my waist before I leave the stall and splash some cold water on my face. The bell rang a while ago, so I’ll definitely be late for math.

I stop by my locker to switch out my books before I sneak into an empty desk in the back row of my math class. Mr. Turner looks up and nods once when he sees me, thankfully not bringing any more attention to me. I try my best to follow the lesson, but it’s hard. I didn’t fully understand the work I missed while working on it at home. My dad tried to help, but I didn’t understand how he explained it.

I sigh, glancing over at Lucy, who slides her notes from a few lessons I missed to me with a note on top. ~Keep them however long you need.~

I give her a sad smile, glancing through them as I try to work out what he’s explaining to us. The bell rings, and the tightening loosens in my chest a bit.

I return to my locker, grabbing my notebook for music class, but I see Lucy, and she’s holding a gym bag.

“They switched the schedule while you were out,” she says. “No one told you?”

I shake my head. “No. I thought we had music today. I didn’t bring anything for gym.”

She smiles sadly. “Maybe he won’t be too hard on you.”

He will. We both know he will. He takes physical education entirely too seriously. I walk into the gym, slowly making my way to him. “Coach Barnes,” I say timidly. “I… I didn’t get the updated schedule while I was out. I didn’t know we had gym today, and I didn’t bring anything.”

He looks at me, and I know he wants to say SOMETHING about it, but thankfully, he just nods. “Take a seat in the bleachers. Here’s the new schedule. Don’t forget again.”

“Yes, sir,” I say, taking the page from him. “Thank you. It won’t happen again.”

I spend the class reading chapter 9 of the book for English. I see why she didn’t tell me to read it. Her mom gets sick. I swallow hard, trying to hold back tears. Her mom gets admitted to the hospital. I swipe at my cheek and close the book. I shouldn’t have even brought it with me.

Thankfully, the bell rings, and after she changes, Lucy and I grab our lunches and sit under a tree outside.

“Don’t read the book,” she tells me.

I nod. “She didn’t tell me to read past chapter 8.”

“She probably planned to be here and had something else for you.”

“Probably,” I say softly, taking a bite of my sandwich.

“On the ground where you belong,” Ava says with venom as she walks past us. She doesn’t even stop. Why bother?

Lucy looks ready to punch her. “Just ignore her. She’s always been a jealous bitch.” Unfortunately, Lucy’s voice is loud enough for Ava to hear.

“Jealous? Of what?” she says, walking back toward us.

Lucy shrugs. “Everything.”

I look down at my food, not wanting to get into it with Ava today. I just want to go home.

“What’s there to be jealous of? Her stringy hair? Of how chubby Emmy is? How about her rich b***h name?”

“Rich b***h name?” I ask, thoroughly confused.

“Amelia Alexandria Montgomery,” she says in a mocking tone. “It’s ridiculous. And you know it. That’s why you go by Emmy. It doesn’t hide the uppity b***h that you are.”

“You don’t know anything about me,” I say softly, still trying not to engage too much.

“I know you’re so horrible that your mom faked having cancer and killed herself to get away from you,” she says.

It’s like everything around me was suddenly gone, and Ava and I were left in a tunnel. I know it’s not true, but I can’t bring myself to say it. I can’t hear anything around me, just Ava.

“Your dad probably will next,” she continues. “Honestly, I hope he does die. Maybe becoming an orphan would knock you off your princess pedestal.”

My lip quivers. If something were to happen to my dad, I really would be alone. Dad’s parents don’t talk to him, and Mom’s are both dead. What would happen to me? The world around me spins, and I can’t hear. There are noises around, but everything is so muffled.

I stand, leaving everything there, and walk away. I walk out of the fence around the school. I walk down the street. I cross the street and walk. Walk. Walk. Walk. We live ten miles from the school, and somehow, I walk home. I don’t know how I got here, but when I find the door locked, I realize I left my key in my backpack- in my locker.

I climb over the fence, lie in a lounge chair on the back patio by the pool, and cry myself to sleep.

--------------------------

I wake, confused and disoriented, as I wipe tears from my cheeks. I’m not at home. No. I’m at Jim’s. Jim. Steady and caring- but Ava’s father.

I stand and slip into the bathroom, careful not to wake him. I grab a rag and wipe my face.

Jim- who said he was falling in love with me when he thought I was asleep. Jim- who I think I may be falling in love with, too.

I wet the rag and press it to my face, letting it cool my skin. I thought he was too good for me, but then I had a dream that reminded me he was the father of THAT. Can he truly be the kind and caring guy he seems to be? Is it all pretend?

The school called Dad when I didn’t show up for science class, and Lucy told them I had left. He panicked because he didn’t think I was home since I had left my key at school. He’d let me cry for hours about how horrible she was to me. I told him the awful things she said, though I left out the part about how worried I was that something would happen to him, too. The tightening in my chest eased as I told him everything.

He knew all the awful things Ava had done. That day was terrible, but it wasn’t even the worst. Still, he’s dating her and expects me to be kind to her. Does he think that I can just let go of the hell she put me through? She ‘makes him happy’, but she made me miserable.

The tears return, and I wet the rag again, attempting to cool my face off and stop crying. I don’t want Jim to see me like this. He’s probably sleeping later because of the storm last night. I go back into the bedroom, crawling around on the floor to search for my clothes. Thankfully, it’s not much, and I’m able to pull them on quickly and slip out the door without waking him.

I grab my bag, pull out my keys, and slip out of the house and into my car, driving away from him as quickly as possible.

How? How can he be her father? How could she have come from him unless this is all just a front?

But he said he was falling in love and had no reason to believe I’d hear him.

It just doesn’t make any sense.