Who She Left Behind

Chapter Twenty-Five

I scrolled through social media, anxiously waiting. Five thousand signups for the March on Vegas. They couldn't all be coming, could they? My screen lit up. The call I was waiting for. I answered it.

"Ruthie!"

"Hey," she said, her voice soft. "I wasn't sure you'd want to talk to me anymore."

"What? Why?"

"Because I'm friends with Charlotte, who, since I'm guessing you've heard by now, is sending a huge army to your family."

"Are you going?"

She let out a long, drawn out, overdramatic sigh. "My parents said no. It's 'too dangerous.'"

"But you wanted to?"

"Well...I—" She paused. "I'm kinda torn. Because I have two best friends, one on one side and one on the other...but it's the Shadows though. Look what they did to me."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not even going to go on about this again."

"Anyway, as I was saying, I totally get it. Like, if the VLF was sending protesters to my parents' house I'd be pissed. You know my parents and I are completely different when it comes to vamp rights, but they're my parents and I love them. I don't want someone breaking down their door. You've been there for three weeks. I'm sure you feel the same way."

"I love my brothers, that's true...my stepdad I think I'm still warming up to."

She laughed. "I can't say I blame you. The guy's a psycho." I heard an excited scream from outside. I sat up and looked out the window. Ace and Dexter were running around in the darkness, aiming water guns at each other. "Di?"

"Yeah, sorry."

"So, are you ready for tomorrow?"

"I don't think there really is a way to you know, prepare to meet your biological mother for the first time...if you took every emotion and put it into a blender, that's what I'm feeling right now...what if she doesn't like me? What if for some reason I don't like her? What if she's seriously awful like my dad said? What if—"

"What if you did what you were supposed to do and found out for yourself?" she asked. I leaned closer to the windowsill, watching them. A cool breeze hit my face. The wheels in my brain were turning. "Dianna Jane Guthrie, you're terrible at answering me tonight."

"What if you did the same thing, Ruthie?"

"Huh?"

"What if—" I jumped off the bed and found myself standing in the middle of the room. "What if you came to my big welcome party next weekend? I could have you and...and Charlotte could come too! I bet if she met everyone she would change her mind about the Shadows and go back to the VLF, then change their minds and poof! No more protest."

"Hold the phone. They're throwing you a party?"

"Yes! I had a seamstress measure me today. They're giving me a custom dress and everything. It's gonna be a really big deal," I said. "I bet if I ask really nicely I can have your tickets paid for. What do you think?"

"I'm legit dying of boredom with the both of you guys gone. Sure. I'll go if you can get my tickets taken care of...you think they'll really let me back in?"

"Just don't spit on anyone or call them a fascist, and you should be good."

"I highly doubt Charlotte will come there, though. Good luck with that one."

"I think I can do it." I looked down. Dexter was waving at me. He wanted me to come down. "I have some ideas."

Ruthie let out her loudest laugh yet. "You couldn't convince an elephant to buy peanuts!"

"You're right. I can't...but I think someone else can."

I could hear her yawning. "Well let me know how that goes." She yawned again. "It's like, one in the morning so I'm going to bed. Text me tomorrow."

"I will. Goodnight."

I set the phone on the nightstand and went downstairs, out the sliding door to the patio. The bonfire was fizzling out. Dalton and Jay's faces were buried into their laptops.

"Doesn't that kinda...ruin the point of being outside?" I asked.

"Not really," Dalton said.

I leaned over Jay's shoulder as he casually sat there typing. A word document full of bullet points lined the screen.

"Your introductory speech to everyone," he said.

"Oh, let me see!"

He quickly closed the laptop. "These things are sort of classified. I'm really sorry, Di."

"Why?" I asked. Jay sighed and tugged at the corner of his waistband. I saw the black S with the two fangs underneath the top curve. Dalton lifted his t-shirt. He had one on his hip, too. I looked to my right and saw Ace showing off is as well. "Okay, I get it."

Out of nowhere, Dexter tackled me from behind. I almost fell face-first into the bonfire. When I turned around, his eyes were lit up with excitement. He handed me a pink and purple water gun.

"You can use Mom's," he said.

I ran around the overgrown yard with my brother and stepdad, getting filthy and soaking wet. As the time went on my oldest brothers went their separate ways. Dexter whined and tugged on me to keep playing, but I had enough. A shower and my pajamas were all I needed. Sleep was something I didn't expect, but it happened. It was a dreamless night.

"Hey, Lady Di! Hey, Lady Di!" I woke up, as usual, to Dexter hanging upside down and banging his palms on the bedframe. He did a summersault and landed with his feet on the floor. "Today's the big day!"

"Why don't you ever use the ladder?" I asked.

"You are just gonna love what it's like when Mom is here!" he said, grabbing a hair tie and working his knotted curls into a ponytail. "The firth—first thing we should do is—"

"Is go back to sleep because we have like, six more hours," I said, placing my phone back under my pillow.

Dexter sighed, threw on a t-shirt and shorts, then left me to my own devices. Six hours and the sun was already peaking through the window shade. Who was I kidding? There was no sense in sleeping now. I propped the pillows up and scrolled through my social media. All of my favorite vamp rights pages were boasting about the March on Vegas.

"And it looks like I'm getting out of bed," I said to myself.

I walked over to my suitcase. The blue sundress and my favorite bow were placed on the top. Once they were on, I tried to get my hair into a bun so I could feel fancy, but it didn't work. My usual high ponytail would have to do. I opened the door and went down the hall to the bathroom. There was a much bigger mirror. I looked myself up and down. This was how I would look meeting my mother for the first time.