Noticed

Thirty Seven

Becky Adams

It had been a few days since my dad got arrested. I spent most of the time at Ashley's house, but visited Brendon every now and then too. Both of them wanted to make sure I was okay. Even Zoey had stopped by to see how I was doing. It still felt weird seeing her and talking to her with everything that had happened, but I did appreciate the effort. I was nowhere near ready to accept her as a friend again. As long as she was best friends with Hanna, we couldn't be friends. She needed to prove that she deserved my friendship and trust again.

Exams were just around the corner now and Ashley, Brendon, Zac, and I had spent a lot of time at the library studying together. Since I had almost every class with Ashley, we shared and compared notes a lot. Brendon and I only had drama class and we had already completed our final. We got an A on the project and finished with an A+ in the class. A grade like that is just what I needed to get into a school like Queens. Thinking about Queens left a not so nice feeling in my stomach since Brendon had no idea I was even applying to a school outside the country. To him, the plan was for both of us to stay in California so we could try and see each other on the weekends.

"I just can't wait for finals to be over and to have this end of the semester party." Zac said.

"I know right. We'll be that much closer to graduating and going to college." Ashley said.

"Have any of you guys gotten offers yet?" Ashley added.

"I got my top two Berkeley and UCLA for kinesiology." Zac said, flexing his muscles in the process. We all laughed.

"What about you Becky? Anything?" Brendon asked me.

"Oh um, I got Berkeley and UCLA too." I said, leaving out the fact that I also got accepted into Queens. Now just wasn't the time to tell him. Not with everything going on.

"Me and my girl are gonna be the hottest UCLA couple next year." Brendon said as he put his arm around me. I let out a nervous laugh and tried to pass off that I was happy, but I could tell Ashley didn't believe me when she met my gaze.

"Alright, enough talk about college, let's just get through these finals, get through second semester, and then we can talk about the future." Ashley said, changing the subject.

And that's just what we did. We studied. We went over practice questions, flashcards, and tested each other on everything. We helped each other in all of our courses whether one of us actually took them or not. It was the most productive study session yet. And I wasn't sure if it was because I was determined to study or because I was trying to put it out of my mind that Brendon had no idea about Queens.

The worst thing about it all was that we had only had a few weeks to accept a school. Which meant I only had a few weeks to tell Brendon the truth.  I knew that the sooner I told him the better, but I just couldn't put him through that right now. I had already gotten him involved ion so much of my drama, causing him pain, I just couldn't do it to him again. At least, not right before finals.

"Yo dude. Pizza and video games at my place?" Zac asked Brendon after the study session was over.

"Hell yeah!" Brendon said right away.

"I mean..." he said, remembering he had a girlfriend in his life. I didn't mind though. I didn't want us to be that couple that spent every waking minute together as if the next minute one of us were to die. That was too much.

"Go ahead. You deserve to have some fun." I said as I gave him a quick peck on the lips before waving him off.  Once they were gone, it was just Ashley and I as we walked towards my car. 

The ride back to Ashley's was silent -- well other than the radio playing in the background of course. Once we got there, we quickly ran upstairs to her room. As we ran up, I heard the faint sound of the news in the background.

"Los Angeles man was arrested a few nights ago for assault and abuse against daughter. The police were led to believe that he was released too early from mental institute and as a result is being sent back for further examination. The institute also faces charges on the matter. More to come on the 6 o'clock news."

They didn't have to say names for me to know who it was. It was my dad. I had forgotten about him for just a second. And that one second was pure bliss. But it all came crashing down quickly.

"Becky, you gonna be okay?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I reassured her. And I meant it. As much as it hurt, I wasn't gonna let my asshole of a dad ruin my life.

We made our way quickly upstairs, dropped our stuff on the floor and quickly changed into comfier clothes. It was nice looking cute, but it sure as hell was painful sometimes.

"So, any news from Queens?" Ashley asked eagerly. I paused a moment and just stared at her right in the eyes.

"I got in." I finally let out. She screamed in excitement and immediately hugged me.

"OMG! Becky! That's amazing, congratulations!" she squealed. 

"I know, I never thought I would've gotten in." I said in excitement with her.

"So when are you gonna tell Brendon?"

"That's the one thing I'm dreading..."

"Becky...you know the longer the wait the worse he'll feel."

"I know, but I've put him through so much, I can't bare to put him through more pain."

"You have to tell him. Unless you want this to be the end." Ashley said. My heart stopped. I couldn't bare to think of Brendon and I breaking up. The last time we broke up, I thought he cheated on me and never gave him the chance to explain himself. And the worst part was, he never did. I let that lying bitch Hanna lead me to believe that he did. So when Ashley brought up the idea, I couldn't even swallow my saliva.

"You're right..." I said eventually.

"But not now." I added.

"Then when?"

"After finals. At the party."