Sidelines ✔️

13 • my name on paper • 13

The next day, I woke up feeling more at home than I had for a while. Going to Billy's with Joe and Taylor was a nice change. I was able to go out and socialise with kids my age, without anyone looking at me and realising I really was now a Lakewood. It was good, it made me feel more normal. I liked that.

Billy's friends may have mentioned my newly acquired last name when I first arrived, but after that it was never mentioned again. Nobody who came looked at me twice and I blended into the crowd of the party just like used to always be a given whenever I went anywhere. It made me feel good, it made me feel like me.

I headed downstairs to breakfast to find my whole family present. They were doing what they usually did. My Mom and Peter were preoccupied with whatever conversation they were having. From the snippets I heard, I could tell my Mom was wanting to do up their bedroom and every so often she was showing Peter snippets from the magazine she was holding, asking for his opinion.

I felt a small smile makes its way onto my lips as I saw that Peter, being as easy going as he always was, told my Mom that he didn't mind or commented that the colour was nice. It was more than obvious he wouldn't have cared if my Mom painted their room pink or black. He was happy if she was.

The way Peter let my Mom have her way over something she seemed to really care about, was something I wasn't used to. If it was my parents having the same conversation, my Dad would have pointed out a problem or issue he had with every single suggestion my Mom had. It wouldn't be clear why he was at odds with my Mom. There was no way in telling whether he cared or whether he just wanted to piss of my Mom.

It was really starting to seem like Peter was good for her and that made me happy.

"Hey, Charlotte." Tommy said to me as I sat down beside him.

I decided to him a smile, realising Tommy I was starting to warm to Tommy. He didn't seem to have the best boundaries, but I didn't think he was a bad person. I was starting to see Tommy was a sweet guy and apart from him going along with his brothers, he had never single-handedly done anything that really made me hate him. Tommy seemed sweet.

Tommy looked at me like he was analysing me to see if he could see any lasting effects from the night before and I couldn't help but wonder whether he had picked up on the fact that I had effectively gone to a party last night.

"You doing okay?" He asked me.

I felt my heart warm at the question. He wasn't as self-involved or as self-centred as I had once collectively concluded all my stepbrothers were.

I felt the corners of my lips lift upwards, remembering that I had gone to Billy's last night. "Great." I smiled. "You?" I asked, remembering the boys had also said they were going to Jack Williams' party last night.

My Mom looked up from the magazine she was reading and looked at me carefully. "You missed dinner last night, Charlotte." My Mom pointed out. "Tommy said you went out. Where were you?"

I subtly glanced at Tommy, hoping he wouldn't say anything. I knew my Mom was coming round to the idea that I could go to a party, but I think her idea of me going to a party was with my stepbrothers, who she deemed more responsible than me. I wasn't sure how she'd feel about me going to a random boy's house, who just happened to be my stepbrothers' enemy.

"I ate something with Joe." I lied, hoping she wouldn't be able to tell. "We hung out at the café all night." I added and pushed myself away from the table. I headed over to the kitchen to get myself some breakfast.

Peter nodded, seemingly okay with me missing whatever dinner Harry had told me we were supposed to be having. Given how calm our parents were being about my absence, I wondered whether Harry had made up the importance of it last night.