Skater Girl (Editing)

Chap 10 - Twin Flames

dedicated to peace_luv_angel for keeping up even before me giving dedications. You Rock! <3

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"Look, am I going to admit that my friend is pretty? Yes. Am I going to suddenly act like I'm in love with you when 50% of our conversations are us bickering? No."

"You don't need to be polite to him. He's an asshole anyway." I say that to Terry now, but even I couldn't muster up the courage to say what I wanted to my dad's face. Another three years could fly by before I do.

We pull up to a family friend's house down the block. Austin is already out the door, as Kenzie probably gave him the heads up that we'd be getting him.

I hop out of the car to greet Mrs. Vega, the mom of one of Kenzie's close friends, and now Austin's too. Mom got busy with work, and when Kenzie did too, Mrs. Vega was more than happy to watch Austin when the rest of us couldn't.

"Jenning!" Mrs. Vega greets, "It's been a while. I haven't seen you since our Fourth of July barbecue. How've you been? Kenzie told us that your dad is home."

She embraces me in a hug and I hug her right back. The last I did see their family was months ago. Guilt tinges at me. I should visit them more often.

"Yeah. He's back. Probably not for long, but he's here." I turn my attention to my brother, gleaming at me with his lunch pale in hand. As upset as I want to be, I can't be around him.

Austin hugs at my leg. He was only four when dad stopped living with us. I can't help but look at him and wonder how we could be worth leaving. How he could be worth leaving.

"Jenning! Gavin and I made Rice Krispies today!" he tells me excitedly.

"Did you now?" I say back to him. He nods. "I saved some for you. I put chocolate on it!"

"Aw, thank you! Why don't we head home and you can share it with me."

"They had a lot of fun making it. Probably their best cooking session so far." Mrs. Vega hugs us both goodbye. As much as I don't want to leave, we do eventually.

Austin and Terry hit it off immediately. I don't know if it's Austin's enthusiasm or Terry's childish behavior, but they converse as if they were the same age, whether they're both at the mental age of a seven year-old boy or a nearly seventeen year-old boy is beyond me.

When we pull up in our driveway, the black sedan is nowhere to be found. A flurry of confusion, relief, and anger come over me.

"A work dinner is what he said, but I'm sure he just wanted to bolt early and go shopping or something. What kind of dinner starts at four in the afternoon?"

I scoff. "He couldn't even wait twenty minutes," I reply. Kenzie shrugs and continues to put the dishes away. Austin's Rice Krispies lighten my mood, but only at the slightest. Terry serves as a great entertainer as he keeps Austin occupied by showing him different Lego builds. At the very least, we could keep Austin out of this.

Kenzie finishes putting away the dishes and turns to me. "I would've preferred he tell you this himself, but he left me to do it, as he does most things." I straighten out to brace for the worst. A number of things my dad has told me has almost always never been good.

"What is it this time? If he's moving to Europe that wouldn't be so bad nowadays," I joke. Kenzie frowns. "He's not moving. He wants you to."

"Yeah, no not a chance."

"Figures," Kenzie says with a short sigh. "As of recently, though, I thought maybe you'd consider it."

"What makes you say that?" I ask. He pulls his phone from his pocket and waves it at me. "I saw the video. Jason's brother saw it, shared it with him, he shared it with me."

The notability of the video dawns on me. Claire said Jenna wasn't going to report it, but does it even matter? Whose to say someone else won't? Whose to say it won't reach her parents, even? If it could reach Kenzie, it could reach anyone.

"I get it though. This is not the first time, regarding Jenna, I mean." He reaches into the fridge for a half-empty bag of pizza rolls and tosses them onto a plate. "And New York is a ways from here. And why would you want to be out there with them."

Them. We never met them before, but dad has mentioned them. In passing. In family get-togethers. On holidays.

Flynn and Rosabelle. They're his step kids. Or his real kids. They're the same age as Kenzie and I. We never understood why he chose them. Why the kids he already had weren't enough.

Hate doesn't accurately depict how we feel about them. For all we know, they don't even know we exist. But there's always going to be that loathing for the people that your parent chooses over you, even if they did nothing wrong.

"Just me?" I ask. "What about Austin?"

"He wants to see how you fare first, or that's what it seemed like he was getting at. Plus, you think he's thinking about the kid he made and ditched?"

"Does he suddenly expect me to jump on board on the daddy-daughter train? How dense could he be?"

Kenzie sets the microwave to a minute. "Very dense. Either way, he wants you to fly out during Thanksgiving break. Just to spend time with you or whatever. Again, you don't have to go. He'll persist, but you don't have to."

When I go to check on Terry, he's already got Austin building up a new structure. I rain the bad news that Terry is leaving. Austin insists he stays, but after a bit of grumbling, he says his goodbyes.

"He's great," Terry says to me. "I wish he was my sibling. Mine sucks."

"You have a sibling?" I ask in disbelief. Terry nods, "Yup, I have a younger sister. She's an eighth grader. Her name's Presley."

"You have never once mentioned her."

"Neither have you," he smiles back. "Guess it's even."

We stand in my driveway as Terry's phone loudly pings. He reaches for it, when my phone pings a few moments later. We both look at our phones to read the notification. Keith's contact name shines brightly off of the screen.

"I'm sorry I missed school today. I found out I'm moving next semester."