asylum [rafe cameron]

thirteen

I groan, waking up to the sound of yelling. I toss over to the other side, seeing Rafe and Ward. Shit, he already saw us.

How did I sleep through that?

"We didn't even do anything. I just needed someone and she-" Rafe murmurs.

"I don't want to hear it Rafe." Ward shouts.

"You're gonna wake her up-" Rafe stutters.

I didn't know Rafe was this scared of his dad until I saw the emotion on his face.

"I don't care!" Ward yells in his face.

Ward rants about how Rafe should tell him about what goes on in his household because he's nearly an adult now.

Rafe starts pacing around the room, looking as if he was about to go insane. He was going to burst out in anger any minute now.

I didn't know what to do, so I closed my eyes, acting out that I just woke up, stretching my arms out and yawning loudly.

Both of them look towards me unhesitatingly.

"Morning, Gia." Ward waves at me, pulling the fakest smile I've seen in my life.

"Oh- I'm so sorry I-" I pretended to look surprised.

"Don't worry. Why don't you join the family for breakfast, hm?" he looks at me, then to Rafe.

Rafe starts laughing sarcastically.

"No, I couldn't." I laugh awkwardly.

"I insist." Ward states.

Ward walks out of the room before I got to say another word, looking at us as he leaves and quietly shutting the door.

I let out a sigh as Rafe looks at me.

"What do I do?" I ask, my hand on my head.

"Guess you gotta survive the Camerons." he groans.

"I mean we could just sneak out from there and-" I point towards the tiny window, sighing, realising how stupid my idea was.

"Don't worry, I got you."

~

We reach the dining table. Ward and Rose sit on the heads of the table, me and Rafe on one side and Wheezie sat on the other with an empty seat next to her.

I haven't had a family dinner in forever. I don't even remember if I've ever had one.

"Hi! Hi." Sarah barges in through the door.

"Hello sweetie." Ward smiles.

She sits on the table next to Wheezie, looking at me confused.

"Sarah, Gia, Gia, Sarah." Ward introduces us with his hand as if we were strangers.

"Hey!" Sarah smiles.

"Hi." I smile.

A woman wearing a white apron, looking as if she had no sleep comes walking towards the table with trays of food.

"Here are your breakfasts." the maid says.

"Thank you." I say, as she hands me my plate with an English Breakfast laid on it.

Rose basically gave me a death-stare when I thanked the maid. I really didn't want to be here. I was in kook hell.

"So Gia, how are you finding school away from home?" Rose asked.

Everyone thought I went to another school away from home for school year, I was actually in rehab. But I wasn't going to tell her that.

"It was a good experience." I say, cutting up my hash brown.

"So where are you applying to college. Or are you not going?" Rose continues.

"I don't know yet." I murmur, startled by the amount of questions.

I wasn't planning on ever going to college. Firstly, all the money. My mom would never lend me that much after everything that's happened and I knew asking my dad wouldn't result in anything good.

Also, I don't go school. I don't have good grades. How was I supposed to get accepted?

"Well that's not a good plan?" Ward questions.

"Yeah, I mean I'm just figuring things out."

"So who would pay for college?" Ward asks.

"Dad." Rafe says.

"Maybe my mom?" I reply.

"Mhm. I heard she kicked you out?" he goes on.

Wheezie whispers something I didn't hear to her dad, making her him look at her angrily.

My face was filled with mixed emotions. How could kooks be this harsh? And how did my mom tell him. And how many people did she tell?

"What are you doing?" Sarah asks looking at her father, her face looking disappointed.

Things like this always made me nervous, but these kind of kooks in general made me want to gauge my eyes out.

My legs were shaking, bouncing up and down like crazy. I feel a hand slowly touch my thigh, stopping them from doing so. Rafe's hand.

It made some of the anxiety fade away, he made me feel safe?

"Sarah, honey we're just asking some questions." Rose smiles at her.

"Right." Rafe replies sarcastically, chuckling.

"So where do you stay now?" Ward looks at me, his eyes beaming, making me nervous.

"Uh- at John B's." I lie.

"Of course." Ward laughs hysterically.

"Yeah- I'm gonna go." I mumble, standing up, pulling myself away from the table.

"Wouldn't want to go to that dad of yours." Ward shakes his head.

Rafe banged his cutlery on the table and stood up, making nearly everyone flinch.

"Don't- don't." he stresses out.

He takes deep breaths and walks over to me.

"Rafe. Sit back down." Ward orders him.

"Lets go." he says miserably, his hand on my back.

"Thanks for the breakfast." I look back, giving a genuine smile.

I see Sarah leaving the table, then Wheezie before walking with Rafe outside.