Sing- Sequel to Speak

4

E L L A

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked baffled.  A part of me hoped I heard Ashton wrong.  

"Your um, biological father wants you to come visit him.  In Melbourne." Ashton repeated himself, stumbling over his words.

"There must be some sort of mistake.  Why would he want to see me? Why would he think that I'd want to see him?" I asked, looking around at everyone as if they had the answers even though I know they didn't.

"I think maybe he just wants to talk to you.  Give you some answers." Ashton said calmly.  I thought about his words.  I've needed answers for as long as I can remember.  I wanted to know why he did what he did.  I wanted to understand.  I wanted to understand why he thought it was okay to treat me and my mom the way that he did.  I wanted to know why he couldn't love me, like every other father was supposed to.  

I felt a tear roll down my cheek before I quickly wiped it away.  I let out a shaky sigh, before saying anything.

"Fine." I said in a low whisper.  Everyone looked at me quizzically.

"Surely we need to talk about this, I mean what he did wasn't right." Bryana said.

"I need answers and this is the only way I'm going to find them.  I don't expect you guys to let me go but-" I started before Ash cut me off.

"No.  If this is what you want to do, who are we to stand in the way of that? I get it.  Even I would do anything to know why my father left my family." He said quietly.  I nodded as he walked over and wrapped me in a hug.  "We'll figure something out." He said and pulled away from.  I gave him a small smile and nodded.

I grabbed Caleb's hand and we walked up to my room.  I sat down on the bed and he laid his head down on my lap.  I slowly brushed my fingers through his fluffy hair.

"What are you thinking?" He asked me quietly.  I thought for a moment before answering.

"I'm thinking that right now, I'm glad that I have people in my life who finally care." I said quietly, as another tear slipped out of my eye.  I felt my eyes start to get heavy and slowly I drifted to sleep.

///

I woe up to someone softly shaking me and saying my name quietly.  I opened my eyes a crack to see light flooding through my window.  

"Hmm." I sighed and opened my eyes all the way to see Ashton sitting at the side of the bed.  He smiled at me before opening his mouth to speak.

"So I talked to Bryana last night.  We have decided to let you see him.  Calum and I are doing a radio show on Saturday morning and Bryana has a modeling shoot.  So Michael and Luke are going to drive you to Melbourne on Saturday morning and then you guys will stay at a hotel over night.  I scheduled your appointment during visiting hours on Sunday.  You'll meet and then drive back with Luke and Michael.  I wish I could be there with you, but we're booked."  He said sadly.

"Don't worry about it.  I'll be fine." I smiled at him reassuringly.  He smiled back and kissed me on the head.

"Okie dokie.  You need to get up and ready fro your first day though, okay?" He said.  I nodded and he left, shutting the door behind him.  

I sighed and hopped off of the bed and went into the bathroom.  I took a quick shower and then picked out an outfit.  I decided to wear overall shorts with a white cropped t-shirt under it.  I went back into the bathroom to blow dry my hair and then straighten it.  I put my clothes on and then put some makeup on, which I had gotten better at over the summer thanks to Bryana.  When I was done with all of that, I put on a pair of white converse and grabbed my new Herschel backpack.

I headed downstairs and into the kitchen where Michael stood rummaging through the refrigerator.  I chuckled as I reached in next to him and grabbed some milk.

"Do you know what happened to the left over pizza?" He asked me.

"Is that all you eat?" I said giving him a strange look.  He shrugged and settled on a yogurt cup.  I went to the pantry and grabbed some cereal.  Cinnamon Toast Crunch will forever be my favorite cereal.  I grabbed a bowl and started making myself breakfast.  Calum walked in, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"Why are you guys up so early? You aren't usually up until later." I commented on the unnaturalness of the situation.

"Our manager thinks we should start being more productive during the day.  Plus we have an interview this morning and then we'll be in the studio all day." Calum explained as he grabbed the cereal and milk from me once I was finished.  

"Oh.  Sounds fun?" I laughed.

"At least try to make it sound a little less sarcastic on our part" Michael groaned, as I laughed at him once again.

"Hey, I have to get up at this time every day too, you know." I stated.

"Yeah but your young and have more energy." Michael retaliated.

"Well, I don't have anymore energy for this conversation, so on that note I'm gonna eat me breakfast." I said as I put a spoonful of cereal in my mouth.  Calum chuckled and Michael rolled his eyes, but there was a smirk on his lips.

I finished my cereal and put the bowl in the sink, saying my farewells to everyone as I headed out to the bus stop.  As I neared the stop, Caleb came into view, and it was evident that he had seen me too as he ran up to meet me halfway.

"I am super sorry that I didn't tell you I was leaving or something, it's just you seemed so peaceful while you were sleeping and my mom said I needed to get home and so I just tucked you into bed without even thinking of making sure you were okay after last night.  I'm really sorry." He rushed out with a sorry look on his face.

"Don't worry.  You're okay, I'm okay, We're okay." I reassured him, placing a kiss on the tip of his nose.  A sigh of relief left his lips and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder as we walked the rest of the way to the bus stop.

The bus arrived shortly and we got on.  You could hear the excitement in everyone's voices as they talked animatedly about the year ahead.  Caleb and I were excited, but Junior year was kind of an awkward year in general since it's not your last year, but you weren't a stranger to the school and the students in it.  It was an important year nonetheless, since we had to think about what we would be doing for our senior projects and stuff.  Plus, we had prom this year and we go on a big trip for choir as well.

Soon enough, we had arrived at school and everyone eagerly got off the bus and piled into the school to go see their friends.  That was another good thing.  Since I only had two really close friends, we were able to hang out a lot over the summer before and after the tour I went on with the boys.

I had actually forgotten about the video that had fluctuated around the internet after the summer party, considering at home there wasn't that much talk of it.  But I should've known better as I walked into the school and all eyes turned to me.  Considering a lot of students didn't even know I had began talking, the video was kind of a shock to everyone.

"Why are they all staring at us?" Caleb whispered to me.

"The video." I said, and that's all he needed for me to understand.  We walked to my locker and saw Diana standing there.  Once she was me, she immediately ran over and hugged me.

"Caleb told me what happened last night, I would've texted you but he said you were asleep so I wasn't sure.  I just want to make sure you're okay." She said.

"I'm okay.  Gosh, everyone keeps asking me the same thing. 'Are you okay?' It's getting a little bit annoying." I laughed lightly.

"Everyone just cares for your well being.  But this isn't just a minor thing.  This is something that has impacted your life, and we want to make sure that you're okay during this process." Diana told me with a small smile.

"Thank you, and I appreciate that very much.  Just know, that I'm okay."

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Very long overdue but finally here! Thank you guys so much for 600 read already, because that is absolutely insane to me.  I hope you guys have a good week :)