That afternoon I plopped down in the backseat of my mom's van after school, gulping nervously as I realized that both of my parents were in the car.
Uh-oh.
They gave me a few minutes of peaceful conversation, lulling me into a false sense of security before the unleashed their wrath.
The account of what follows is too horrific to retell word for word.
If there was ever an event worthy of the phrase "ganging up," it would be this one. I tried to close my ears to the screaming but there were some things I couldn't block out.
They knew about Sam. Matt had called them.
That jerk!
Crushing disappointment overcame me. They were never going to let me see her again. What was I gonna do now? I was so afraid of this happening.
The rest of the car ride home was excruciatingly tense. What was I supposed to do? Apologize? I knew that was what they wanted. But wasn't going to give them that satisfaction; I stood my ground. I wasn't in the wrong here. They should be apologizing for what they'd put me through.
They kept me away from any form of communications that night. No phone, no computer. God forbid, I might try to contact Sam!
I locked myself in my room all night and did a lot of crying thinking counting, and plotting. There were only 23 months left until I turned 18 and could do whatever the hell I wanted.
But until then, I had to find a way to keep seeing Sam.
Please Michael? I’ll love you forever.”
“You already love me forever.”
“I’ll do your homework for a week.”
“No thanks.”
“Oh come on, please!”
I got down on my knees and practically begged. His face broke out into a big smile.
“Okay, okay.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
I stood up and threw my arms around him. He then dug around in his backpack and pulled out his old iPhone, handing it to me. He had a new phone and never used this one anymore. I asked him if I could borrow it for a while, explaining what had happened with my parents yesterday.
“I have to have a way to keep in contact with Sam.”
He seemed understanding. “Alright. Just don’t get caught with it, okay?”
“I won’t.”
Ah, what would I do without Michael?
The first thing I did when I got the phone was go into the bathroom and send Sam a message explaining what had happened. I apologized for not calling her all day Monday and told her not to call my home phone anymore. She was infinitely sympathetic and appalled at the behavior of my pastor and my parents. But I was used to it. People like them were always pulling shit like that.
“This is really gonna suck…”
My heart broke. I couldn’t stand disappointing her like this.
“I know, babe. I’m sorry.”
I heard the door open and footsteps walking into the bathroom. I told Sam I needed to get back to class.
“I’ll text you tonight, okay?”
“Okay. Tty then, beautiful.” My heart swelled and despite the circumstances I couldn’t help but smile. I loved it when she called me that.
The rest of the day went by in slow motion. I was so distracted all day that if a teacher asked me a question, they had to repeat themselves at least twice before I heard. I probably wouldn’t have noticed Casey walking up to me at lunch except for the fact that well, it was Casey.
