i (Pretty in Punk sequel/frerard)

Chapter 20

I held my dad's hand, leading him to the side of the classroom.

"This is my cubby," I said. "Look, I got to put little stickers on it."

"That's very nice, Gee," he said.

I smiled, bringing him to my desk. School ends in one week and we were having this event in class where all the adults came in so we can show them all the things we did over the year. The other parents kept giving me weird looks but my dad told me to ignore them.

"Did Mikey go to school today?" I asked.

"No," he said quietly.

"Has he talked to Pete?" I asked.

"No," he said.

"Why not?" I asked. "They were gonna get married."

My dad sighed, holding my hand.

"Why don't you show me some of your other stuff," he suggested.

I smiled, showing him some of the drawings I made. They passed out cookies but I didn't want any.

"I thought you loved cookies " my dad said.

"Lindsey used to always give me cookies," I said.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, rubbing my back.

I hugged my blankie, looking around at all the kids and parents.

"Look, I drew a picture of me and Gee and Chris and Joey," Suzy said.

"That's nice, sweetheart," her mom said.

I smiled as I looked at it.

"I miss Mama, I wish she was here too," I said. "Everyone else has moms and dads but I only have one dad."

"It's okay to only have one dad," my dad said. "Because I will love you and care for you enough for two people."

I smiled, holding his hand.

"After class can I go see Pete?" I asked.

"No, Gee, he just needs time alone right now to heal," he said.

"Did they not date anymore?" I asked.

"I don't know if they're dating, Gee," my dad said. "They're both going through something really hard right now. They need time to accept it and heal before they can talk about their relationship."

I didn't completely understand what that meant but I nodded anyways.

"I miss Pete, he's so nice but he doesn't come over anymore," I said.

"Maybe one day you'll get to see him again," he said.

"It's been a few weeks," I complained. "Mikey won't play with me either, he barely leaves his bed."

"He's upset, Gee," my dad said. "He's going through a lot."

"He's walking through things?" I asked.

"No, he just has a lot of emotions," my dad said.

I frowned in confusion.

"It's like how you felt after I died," I heard Frank say. "You were all upset then and Mikey is upset now."

"Oh, that makes more sense," I said.

I bit my lip when a sudden thought occurred to me.

"Did the baby die?" I asked.

"How did you know?" My dad asked.

"Frankie told me it was like when he died, does this mean that the baby died?" I asked.