How Heaven Met Hell

Chapter Two

It was Friday morning and my first week at school was coming to an end. After getting dressed, I went downstairs to make breakfast. God forbid my dad wake up and make it himself. As I was cooking, I heard footsteps behind me. To my surprise, dad was already up.

"Good morning, Angel," he muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"Morning, Dad," I faked a smile.

He grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and sat down at the table. "I hope you don't mind, but tonight I'm throwing you a 'Welcome Home' party at the bar. A bunch of my buddies wanted to meet you."

I froze. "A bar?"

"Yeah, you'll be fine," he waved his hand. "You'll be with me so they'll let you in. Invite all your friends, too."

I tried to interject and turn him down, but he interrupted, "It'll be fun. Besides, we need to spend a little time together. I want us to be close like a father and daughter should be."

Nice. He knew just how to make me feel sympathetic and cave in. Of course I wanted a relationship with my father, but was throwing a party in a bar the way to do it? Obviously, I didn't think so, but I was willing to sacrifice my patience to be with my dad.

"Yeah, I'll go," I smiled.

"Good."

By the look on his face, I could tell he was genuinely happy that I was attending. Clearly, I wasn't all that happy, but I owed it to him. So far, he hadn't been the asshole my mom had made him out to be. Yeah, he wasn't the most helpful around the house with cleaning or cooking, nor did he really engage in conversations often unless it was about his buddies that parties with him. Honestly, I didn't mind. Although he didn't say much, Dad listened to stories about school. That was all I had wanted: some one to listen. 

Later that day at school, I had met up with Clara. I was a little nervous about asking her to this party. Truly, I wanted to make my father happy, but I wasn't about to go into a bar with a bunch of drunk forty year old men alone. I knew this wouldn't be any more fun for her than it would be for me, but I had to ask.

"Clara, I know parties aren't really our thing-" 

"You are not about to ask me to go to a party, are you?" She interrupted and creased her forehead.

"Well," I started as she folded her arms. "My dad wanted to throw a party so all his friends would get to meet me and I really want to make him happy, but I really don't want to be surrounded by low-lives by myself."

I could tell she wasn't too willing to go as she frowned and scratched her head. For the rest of the day, I continued to beg and make it known how important it would be for both me and my father. Finally, she reluctantly nodded and confirmed she would come with me, but on one condition: I ask Micah to come with us. What would be the harm in that?

So, I stopped Micah in the hall and said, "My dad is throwing me a party later and I want a few friends there since I won't know anyone. Would you like to come?" 

As soon as he had started grinning and violently nodding his head, I knew I had made a mistake. Even as I walked away, I could still feel his eyes on me and his cheesy grin. After third period, I was repeatedly asked if I was dating Micah. I denied and was told that he was telling the whole school that we were going out. 

Don't get me wrong, Micah isn't a weird kid but he has his moments. For someone who is in all advanced placement classes and a star athlete, you'd think he would be a bit more mature. Obviously, he had probably not had very much luck with females. Should I address this rumor by confronting him? Or should I just go along with it? I had contemplated both options in my head all class period. He was cute, but I didn't want the burden of a relationship to affect my education. However, I didn't want to hurt his feelings, so I decided to ignore every rumor and pretend I hadn't heard anything.