The Bad Boy's Dancer

Chapter One

01: A Fresh Start

Present day

AUNT RHONA HAD spent the first hour of my morning lecturing me about the consequences of my actions from being arrested. It was half past seven in the morning, and I was struggling to stay awake. I wasn't sure if she had purposely called me because she knew that it was the summer break, and knew that I would be asleep at this time, or because she had just dropped my three cousins off to school for their extracurricular activities before school had actually begun. Either way, neither worked in my favour because she had been talking about the implications of having a criminal record for a person of my age, what had gotten into me lately, and whether or not I needed to start seeing my counsellor again.

     In many ways, I could see how her and dad were very alike, but also very different people. Dad had a laidback approach to him, and rarely ever let on that he would worry about anything, whereas aunt Rhona worried about everything. I guess having three kids does that to a person. Where she and dad were alike, was how they would go over something, until it becomes all that they talk about.

     That was my current predicament.

     When she found out that I had been arrested, the first thing she said to me was that I was to come back to Manchester. That was the last place I wanted to be right now. It still hurt too much to being around a place that I had spent growing up with my parents, and to now be reminded of them from everywhere that I would go around the city.

     "Are you even listening to what I am saying, Flo?" Aunt Rhona asked, breaking my train of thought.

     "Mmh, yeah, breaking the law is a serious offence, I know. It won't happen again," I told her absentmindedly.

     "I asked whether or not you're sure about seeing a counsellor," she corrected me.

     "It's bad enough that I have to see a social worker for an hour every week," I pointed out. "I'll be fine."

     "You're not though,"

     "It'll pass, I guess."

     There was a pregnant pause that settled between us, almost as if Aunt Rhona was choosing carefully what to say to me.

     "Flo, what you're going through, no teenager should have to deal with, and I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I understand what it is you're going through because I don't. I don't know what to say to you, or how to comfort you, but I do know that not talking about how you feel, and just letting it bottle up inside of you isn't good either. So please Flo, if you can't talk to me, then try to find someone that you can talk to, because you will start to feel better about talking about it, and about yourself."

     The silence occurred once again, this time I was at loss for words. I didn't expect for what she had said to affect me as they did, but it struck something inside me, which unsettled me greatly, and I found myself on the brink of tears. The sob that so desperately wanted to be let out got lodged in the back of my throat, as I tried my hardest to suppress breaking down over the phone.

     I didn't want to allow myself to feel so vulnerable. I already felt alone, not having the two most important people that you're supposed to have with you, the last thing I wanted to feel was vulnerable because of it too.

     "I'll speak to you soon," I said quickly, before hanging up so that Aunt Rhona couldn't detect that I was about to cry.

     Throwing my phone to the side, I covered myself under the bedsheets in an attempt to hide myself away from the world, it all starting to take its toll on me. As I sat there curled up in a foetus like position, I broke down unable to then stop the tears that were threatening to spill out.