One Last Chance

chapter 9

ATLAS
As she gets out, i think of her words over and over again... our lives weren't necessarily planned out.
We just had great things expected of us, what's the harm in playing around a bit until that time comes?

Anya just had slammed the car door shut and was making her way to the school doors. "Thanks a lot, Simon. You just had to mess with the one kid who wasn't scared of us or wanted to use us."

He just sighs and pulls Leilani with him, she glances at me curiously trying to gage my emotions before exiting with a strange look on her face.

Leilani has always been like this, silently judging, silently waiting for the right moment to speak. 

She was similar to a vulture, waiting for the right moment to analyze you while your down, picking apart your weak spots.

We never had the best relationship at times, especially since she was what some would call a, "bastard child."

My mother cheated on my father, and seventeen years later, a girl drenched, rains dripping down her heartbroken face stands on our doorsteps looking for a place to stay and answers from her birth mother.

My father couldn't even stand the sight of Leilani, but that distaste towards my mother has always been the same. 

We just had to put on a united front for the media, but as soon as the door shuts, dad goes to the alcohol cabinet and locks himself in his office. 

While my mom locks herself in the room she shares by herself, sometimes she's weeping and sometimes it's dead silent.

Leilani is probably the only one who has brought life into this damned house, will i admit that to her? No.

Even with our strained relationship, she's always been silently there for me, and i've always been loudly there for her.

Family is family, blood or not.

Sebastian turns to me with a tilted head and a crooked smile, "She's quite the unpredictable one."

"Yeah... it makes her more intriguing."
-

We all make it into class, and with my luck I make it right when the bell rings.

Ah, Mr. Corrigan, glad for you to join us."

I spare him a measly glance and sit at the back of the class, putting my head down, I tune out the teacher.

There was really no need for anyone in our inner circle to be at school, we've all been educated by private tutors since we could talk, shit they even taught us how to talk.

 It was more for show, to support Mr. Greenwood's academy and to make the others send their kids here.

An annoying familiar voice interrupts my nap time, i lift my head just a little with one eye open.

It looks like the teacher was bickering back and forth with Indiyah, a small chuckle surprisingly escapes.

"You listen here, you balding piece of cow turd. These hallways are confusing for no reason whatsoever, I showed up to class didn't I?" 

She places her hands on her hips, "I could've been doing anything else with my time than listening to an old fart talk my ear off, but no i decided to run all over this place to find this middle of nowhere classroom."

I've never seen this man turn as red as he has now, his voice was shaking while he pointed at her, 

"Headmasters office now."

"What?"

"I said-"

"Ever." She exits the room her small victory noise echoing through the hall, and then a groan once she realizes how much trouble she's about to be in I assume.

I shake my head at her childish antics, it was funny sure, but something about her set me off.

I couldn't wrap my head around how I felt about her.

-
INDIYAH
The headmaster looks back at me with an unimpressed face, finally breaking the awkward silence.

"You really are my daughter's child."

Any need to let out a humorous retort instantly disappears, "Oh?"

He twirls his feather pen and intensely stares at me, "I expect great things from you, Indiyah, more than your mother could achieve."

I start to pick at my hands, my legs threatening to start bouncing.

Looking at only my eyes, he continues, "You could have the life you were born to have, not that shabby, small town life."

"But a life without laughter, love, freedom?" I calmly argue back.

He tsks and briskly gets up, walking toward a cart with a bottle of alcohol and he pours himself a glass from a bottle I'm familiar with.

"He sent me his best whiskey with it...again." my mom would slur every time my grandfather sent her a letter. 

The letter would always start off with nice words, until she would get to the middle of the letter where the words would get crude.

His letters would always end up balled up, thrown in as a three-pointer into the trash accompanied by an empty whiskey bottle.

I would sigh and cover my sleeping mother on the couch with a blanket, wiping her tears and giving her my prized stuffed animal for comfort. 

Some days were really hard for us, and I resented him for it.

"You need to act better, you represent me now." He finishes off his glass and slams it on his desk, "I have big plans for you after graduation, Indiyah, don't disappoint me like she did." 

He turns away from me and stares at the painting hung above his desk. I guess it was my cue to leave.

As I leave, I say, "I'm not another her you can mold into your liking."

Slamming the door, I rush to the girls' restrooms. Struggling to control my breathing, my vision gets spotted and I try to find where the sinks were.

I didn't even notice the girls near the sink, "Hey watch it!" The other girl laughs at me, "What are you? Dumb?"

I don't even bother trying to respond to them, listening to the hum of the air conditioning, trying to find some comfort in the noise.

"Is she ignoring us? So much for the headmaster's granddaughter, she's a total idiot." They shove past me and exit the girls' restroom.

I put my hands on each side of the sink, and look into the mirror. Why can't I breathe? Why does his words affect me so much?

It was probably the realization that hurt me the most. The realization that my mother's constant showering with love and care was to provide me with something she never had. 

Love or care.

Now she was forced to throw me into this life to provide me a better future, and it wouldn't be easy for me.

Would I make it easy for them though?

Definitely not.
-

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