Fallin' From The Tree (StemxStud)

58

{ Anaela }

I packed up all of my things in the hotel room and thanked Valentine's mom and my own for staying and keeping me sane through such a rough moment.

"Are you and Tino gonna talk?" my mom asked as we left the room. "Hopefully," I sighed. I was a little more levelheaded now but I'm still overwhelmed. "I'm going to try talking tomorrow. I just needa calm down and sleep on this."

"There's not much you can do baby. Nobody will ever see a relationship with your first cousin right. Either you and Tino break up peacefully or you leave things where they are. That's the only options."

"I know," I said quietly and respectfully.

It's so hard to let go of someone who've you just started to love and patch things up with. Why did it have to be this?

"What was the lesson in all of this?" I asked.

"What do you mean, sweetie?" Valentine's mother asked. "I mean, there's always a lesson to be learned, apparently, when something in your life goes wrong. So what was the lesson I learned from this?"

"I don't know sweetie, I think that would be up to you to find out," she patted my shoulder. "Everything is always up to me," I mumbled, shoving my hands into the pockets of my black jacket. "Can you call and see where Tino is so we can have this conversation set for tomorrow."

"I don't know if she'll pick up right now. When she gets all angry like she was, she usually blacks out and distances herself for awhile."

I grew worried. "Did she ever do bad things?"

"Sometimes she would come home three days later with cuts and bruises. Charges. Addicted to drugs. It was rough. I hadn't seen her like that in awhile. I think she really cared."

"And now there's nothing I can do but hurt her even more," I whispered. "This isn't your fault, Anaela. It's no one's," my mother said after talking to the front desk man, and entering back into the conversation.

We left the hotel and I thankfully spotted Tino on the side of the building, banging her head. "Tino." I started to rush towards her, but her mother pulled me back.

"She isn't safe right now. Just- I'll- You guys go home. I'll handle her." My mother and Valentine's mother shared a sad look before my mom grabbed me and made us walk towards a waiting car. "I'm driving this time," my mom said gently. She made me get into the passenger seat and put my things in after telling the driver "thank you". She quickly hopped in and looked the doors, I didn't know why until I saw what Tino was doing.

Tino was fighting her mother, screaming and raging as she tried to stop her from hurting herself. "Anaela!" Tino screamed over and over again, tears pouring down her face.

Why was there blood coming out of her mouth? What was wrong with her? My baby, she needs me. I wanted to cover my eyes but my mother held them down so that I could see Tino as her mother shepherded her into a waiting car. "Tino," I whispered each time she screamed my name. I was shaking as I cried. I can't leave her. I can't leave things like this.

My mother pulled off suddenly, ripping me away from the sight of Valentine. "Why? Why did you make me see that?" I turned on her, holding my arms tight to my body as I dug my nails into my sides. The cold of the car, the terribleness of what I just witnessed. Everything was too much.

"You needed to see."

"But why?" I rasped.

My mother stayed silent, a sad expression on her face as she drove and drove. "What about Teece? Will I ever get to see her again? You know what? Fuck all of this! I'm going back to high school. I wanna be normal. I will be normal."

"You're going to be the lead-

"No I'm not!"

"You're acting immature right now, Anaela. It's time for you to start acting like a grown up. You're 17, you're not a baby anymore. You have responsibilities. When you go out into the real world you won't be babied nor pitied."

"I didn't ask to be born! I didn't ask to be hurt this much! To be hurt like this! I just wanted Tino!" I cried, sobbing loudly.

"You're acting irrationally right now. Once you walk away from this situation, take a step back, you'll realize what needs to be done. You're acting like a baby. I'm taking you somewhere else. I'll send whatever note or whatever you need to Teece, but I don't want you talking to her anymore either," she waved her hand dismissively as she mentioned Teece, as if she was just anyone to me. It looked like it pained her to be saying these things to me. Maybe she thought it was necessary. Was I not tough enough? What is good about treating me like this?

I looked out the window and everything was crystal clear. I pulled up the lock and opened my door. My hands grazed the ground before my mother started tugging on my body to get me back inside of the car. She was swerving, cars were honking. I felt rain. I felt this close to freedom.

Every little responsibility feels heavy.

My mom stopped the car so that we didn't crash and I rolled out. I got up into a run, my bloody hands clutched my chest as I kept running and running back to the hotel, closer to Tino. My eyelashes were heavy with water and tears, my clothes soaked to my body. A couple of cars honked at me, one guy yelled out a vulgar word. My boots kept sliding on the pavement besides the road. I just need to get back to Tino.

"Tino!" I screamed. "Tino!"