Tied By: AFFECTION

Chapter Two

Alex: Kenny, please.. answer me? :)

Me: What did I tell you earlier?!

Alex: You said to stay away from you. This is a text.

Me: Don't be a smartass, Alex. Goodbye.

"Dad, I have a question. It's about boys" I propped my head up with the palm of my hand and turned to my dad, taking a huge bite of cold pizza whilst still making eye contact.

"Oh Jesus, already? Well, when a boy likes you, a lot-"

"Dad, I'm seventeen years old. I know what a boner is. I want to ask you about cheating" his entire face immediately frowns with anger.

"Oh, right. Yeah." He awkwardly chuckles. "Who is he, where does he live, I'll rip his tiny little d-" he began to shout.

"Dad! I don't have a boyfriend.. Anymore. I don't need one" He smiled.

"That's my girl. You're independent, just like your mother was before I met her, always at work making sure she had her own money" His eyes always light up when he talks about my mum, I want someone who feels that way about me, maybe someday.

"Anyway, why do boys cheat? If you don't love someone anymore, why not just tell them rather than hurt them even more by seeing someone behind their back?" My dad's face frowned less, he was actually struggling to answer my question for once. When I was little, I asked so many questions and he'd always have an answer. I guess he wasn't expecting a question like this. After a few minutes, his mouth finally moves.

"Well sweetheart, sometimes it's hard for people to let go. Maybe they still love that person very much but have also found someone else who makes them happy. Sometimes it's best to lie when you have people you love and don't want to hurt"

My head tilted to the side "But surely if you love that person you wouldn't want them to feel like they weren't good enough so you found someone else, that would be sad"

"I know, Kenny, but that's just how some people think, I agree with you but not everyone has the same mindset as us, I wish they did" he looked down at his slice of pizza
"let's say, this slice of pizza is a nice, pretty girl, I know it sounds odd but just follow along" I nod my head. "And, this other slice of pizza is another nice, pretty girl. However, I love the first slice very much but I also love the other too. What do I do?"

I say nothing and frown at him.

"Uh. Okay, well. They both make me happy so why not just have both of them instead of getting rid of one"

I continued to frown at him "So you're saying cheating is better because you can have double the fun?"

He laughs "God I wish your mother was here to talk to you about this sort of stuff, I'm useless"

"Dad you're not useless, you just don't make any sense" he laughed again.

"In my opinion, cheating is the worst thing you can do to any person, but, I was trying to explain how other people might see it, the stupid people of course"

I chuckled and nodded in agreement "well, now that we've eaten all the pizza maybe we should call it a night, you have school tomorrow anyway ken"

"Okay dad, goodnight. I love you"

"I love you too Kenny, sleep well. Oh and I have an interview for this new architect job early in the morning so you probably won't see me till late tomorrow evening"

My dad currently worked at a lousy building center, which doesn't pay well and doesn't give him many hours. Guess he finally realised that.

The next morning I awoke to silence like I always have, finished my daily ritual face treatments, showered, curled my hair and headed off to school. The walk to school was normally peaceful but today, it was complete chaos. Normally, when I walk to school there aren't any first years running around like toddlers and screaming, there aren't any popular boys driving past me shouting inappropriate slurs.

Arriving at school was the most fun, I'd meet Veronica, my best friend since nursery. Then we'd go to Starbucks and both order a Venti Caramel Frappuccino, with two extra coffee shots and extra caramel sauce. We both have a small job working as waitresses at the local Pizza Hut, so it gives us money to spend on this sort of stuff. I would miss my first morning session, but it wasn't important and I'm already fluent in French so I'm not going to fail exams this year.

"You coming to my party?" Veronica asked, sipping her coffee and smiling because it tastes amazing, like always.

"Yeah, I have nothing to wear though" I sighed.

"Kenny, I'm taking you shopping"

"What now?"

"No after the party.. of course now!"

"What about school? We'll miss it"

"They won't notice we're gone, we never say anything in classes and we always sit at the back anyway, don't worry"

I was always a worrier, I always thought what if this could happen, or that. Since my mum died I've never not worried about anything I do.