My Dad is My Teacher // a.f.i

Chapter 6 - Calum

"Shaylee!" Calum exclaimed. He invited me in, "how are you?"

"I'm good, I guess. So what are you doing now? Now that you're out of the band?"

"I'm just.. a stay-at-home dad," he smiled, and a little boy ran up to him.

"Daddy, who is this?" He asked. He couldn't have been more than four.

"This is an old friend, Jakey," Calum told him, smiling at me. A girl came up to him and smiled at me.

"Who did you say is this, dad?" She asked. She must've been around thirteen or fourteen.

"This is my old friend Shaylee. Shaylee, this is Becca," he looked at her.

"Hi," Becca smiled.

"Hi," I smiled back at her.

"There's one more, Shaylee.." Calum laughed, "Liv!!"

"Yeah, daddy?" A girl who must've been about eight ran down the stairs. She looked a lot like my best friend from many years ago, Jess.

"This is Shaylee, one of daddy's old friends. Say hi," Calum told his youngest daughter.

"Hi Shaylee," she smiled.

"Shaylee?!" I heard a familiar voice. Jess stood right in front of me.

"Jess!!" I exclaimed, hugging her.

"I never knew you'd marry Calum!" I was shocked.

"I never knew you wouldn't marry Ashton!" she laughed, "Where have you been? None of us have seen you since that going away party.."

"Yeah.. Sorry about that," I sort of chuckled. Soon after the party, I had found out I was pregnant and didn't want anyone to know about it. Rylie has always been my little secret. Until now..

"So how did you find me?" Calum asked.

"Well... You always said how you wanted to live in this part of town, and I just drove around until I saw 'HOOD' on a sign on your front porch."

"Oh, yeah," Calum laughed, "come on and sit down in the living room."

We walked into the living room and sat down. Calum then wondered, "what did you come here for? Is there a specific reason?"

"Sort of, yeah. You know that Ashton is now a band director, right?" I told him.

"Yeah, I know. How did you know?" Calum looked at me like I had two heads.

"Well.. My daughter is in his class," I just came out and said it.

"You have a daughter? How old is she? Who's her dad?" Jess asked, and Calum nodded.

"Yeah, I have a daughter. She's sixteen, and her name is Rylie. I'll give you a hint.. She has her dad as a teacher," I told them, then showed them a picture of Rylie from off of my phone.

"Oh my god. She is the spitting image of Ashton. Same eyes, same dirty blonde curls, almost everything.." Calum's jaw dropped.

"Yeah," I began to tear up, "that's the problem. And he doesn't know. Neither does she. I can't bring myself to tell either one of them."

"You'll need to tell them sometime. You should soon. You've already wasted sixteen years."

"I know.. I'm sorry. I just can't, though."

"You'll be fine, Shaylee. Just tell them."

"How? At least help me come up with a plan of how."

"Maybe invite him over for dinner and tell him while he's in a good mood. Always make sure he's in a good mood when you tell him something like that. Rylie, well.. She might be hard to please by telling her that her father is her teacher, and she hasn't known."

"But Ashton is her favorite teacher.."

"That might make it a little harder on her, then, because she likes him as a teacher, then she finds out he's her dad.. But it might be easier since he's her favorite teacher. That way you don't have to worry if she'll like him or not."

"Okay, yeah."

"But make sure you tell Ashton after he eats or while he's eating. You know we love food," he laughed, "he'll be happy if you just buy pizza. Maybe invite him over just to 'hang out'?"

"I don't know. But thanks for the ideas. I better get home so Rylie doesn't worry," I told Calum, standing up.

"Okay. We'll see you soon?" He asked. I nodded, "yeah."

"Maybe I could meet Rylie in person sometime?"

"That would be nice. I'll bring her over sometime soon," I promised. I hugged him before saying goodbye and leaving.

After arriving home, I heard End Up Here playing from Rylie's bedroom. I walked back the hallway and looked in at her.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I looked up 5 Seconds of Summer and put it on shuffle. Mr. Irwin said he was in this band, and well, you probably already knew that," she looked down, turning the music lower.

"Don't worry. I like their music. Go ahead and listen to it," I smiled, then walked out of her room. After End Up Here had ended, I heard Amnesia playing.. I quickly walked out to the kitchen but soon heard, "MUMMM!!"

Oh no...

"What do you want, Rylie?" I asked her.

"Come back here!!" She yelled from her room.

"What is it?" I wondered, standing at her door.

"When I was little, didn't you tell me that this was one of my dad's songs?"

"What?" I acted like I hadn't. I definitely did.

"I thought it was this song," she looked at me, confused.

"I played this song when you were little, but this wasn't the song I told you was your dad's. I don't remember telling you that your dad had a song. Maybe I told you a song was mine and your dad's, like, it was our song. Who knows?" I felt so bad lying to her.

"Oh. Okay," she laid back down on her bed, grabbing her phone out of her pocket. I began to walk away when she called once more, "mum, wait!"

"What?"

"Could I meet my dad sometime?" She looked at me. She was dead serious.

"Maybe soon, yeah? I haven't seen him in a while," I looked down. I had seen him just earlier tonight, but I hadn't seen him since the night I got pregnant with Rylie, other than tonight.

"Okay," she smiled. I walked away once more. I went out into the living room and got out my phone. I just stared at the picture of Ashton that I had in my photos.. How could I tell him he has a daughter? He cheated on me, for heavens sake! He might've been drunk, but he didn't even make an effort to get back with me and apologize after he did that.

I began to cry, not even realizing it. Rylie was soon standing behind me, asking me if I was okay. I'm glad my phone was facing down on my lap or she would have seen me crying over the picture of Ashton.

"I'm fine," I promised her. She walked back to her room. Soon, I heard my phone ring. I looked at it, "Ashton Irwin".

Stupidly, I answered it. I heard him say, "hello?" I froze and just hung up. I felt so bad..