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Jaden's father →

~Jaden~

"Dad..."

I walked into the kitchen where my dad was making pasta later on that evening. Mom was nowhere in sight, so I figured she had left already.

"Hey, baby. Sorry I didn't get to give you a little hug when you came home." He put his arm over my shoulder, giving me a brief, tight squeeze. I was definitely a daddy's boy, which Kari teased me about insanely. She kept saying that I was supposed to 'be a teen' and talk back to my dad or rebel, but that just wasn't me. I was very attached to my dad, even more so after my mother left. If he somehow abandoned us (which he would never), I wouldn't be able to handle it.

"I heard you practicing your violin for the past two hours. It sounded beautiful."

"Thank you. Um... What did Mom come here for?" I inquired. I could tell that he knew that question was coming sooner or later. Of course it would' Mom hadn't been back here for an entire year.

"She misses you guys," Dad answered, trying to stomp out my curiosity.

"And?" I pressed on the subject. That response was just not enough for me.

He sighed, lowering the gas on the stove and facing me. "Did you tell her that Raina can't remember who she is? That's what she told me, and I guess it stuck with her. It clearly breaks her heart that her own child can't remember her, but..." Dad shrugged. "I mean, she chose the drugs over our little girl, over you and Emery."

"I don't think she chose the drugs, Dad. She's just... addicted."

"People who want to change go to get help. They go to rehab. If she really wants to better herself and be in all of our lives, she'd stop refusing my help." He turned away, blinking away his tears. It was clear to me that he was trying to be stern about the whole situation, but being without the woman he loved was hurting him. Seeing her like that must've been painful for him, more than it was for me. "How was school?" He changed the subject, wiping at his eyes.

"Right, I wanted to tell you I got the part in the play!"

"Did you?" He gazed at me in surprise. "I honestly never thought you were interested in acting."

"I-I'm not. Well, a little but nowhere near playing the violin and composing my own music. Another thing is-here's the shocker-Corbyn broke up with Kris during lunch period."

My father's eyebrows knitted together. "Wait, should I really be shocked?"

"Yes!" I nodded with my eyes wide. "I'm still appalled as it is. They're like the royalty of the school, but Corbyn's like... the person whose name you shudder to when anyone dares to utter it. And, Dad, once he finds out I got the part, I'm so screwed."

"What do you mean? He's not going to be mean to you, is he?" My dad's face expressed concern as he stared into my eyes.

"I..."

"Jaden. I'm serious, if he's ever mean to you, you let me know." He turned off the stove. "I don't want people ruining your confidence."

"Don't worry. Kari and Mae have my back. Speaking of which, Mae joined Corbyn's group of friends. Friends slash minions, however you wanna look at it. But the twist is, she's like our spy. I mean, a lot of people would kill to be in Corbyn's inner circle. They get first invitations to his mega-huge parties, they become popular, go shopping with him... Whatever."

"Why does your high school life seem like a chick flick?"

"You mean dick flick?"

"Jaden, language," he scolded, shaking his head. "And... sure, that. My life was never so dramatic in high school."

I shrugged. "But that was a long time ago."

He chuckled. "Food's ready."

"Is it a disaster?" I looked inside the pot and we laughed, knowing that the answer was 'probably.' "Well, you tried, Dad. I promise to help tomorrow."

"Cooking was never my strong suit. Go get your sisters."

"Okay." I obeyed his word, going up the stairs and walking to my sisters' room. They shared a room while I had my own because I was older and of course a boy. I knocked on their door and heard Emery give me permission to come in. I entered to see Emery braiding Raina's hair on her bed.

"Hi!" my littlest sister waved both of her hands at me, her eyes expressing her excitement.

"Hey, you!" I walked over to her and picked her up, carrying her weight in my left arm. I kissed her cheek and she squealed happily.

"I was braiding her hair!" Emery complained, standing up to finish the pigtail braid. She tied the end with a hair tie.

"Dinner's ready, come on." I was about to leave the room but Emery called me back. "Yes?"

She bit her lip, looking at me with sad eyes. "I thought I heard mom's voice earlier when I got back home. I came straight to my room, but it had to be her. I don't know, I haven't heard her voice in forever so... was she here? Is she coming back.?"

I swallowed, giving Raina a quick glance as she stared at us.

"No. She's not."

I guess I could understand where our dad was coming from. I had the urge to protect her from the disappointment, and Dad wanted to protect all of us. No wonder he didn't want to answer my questions. I didn't even want to answer Emery's.

✨✨

"He's... smiling. Something's not right," I observed.

That Wednesday morning at school, Kari and I were standing beside her locker as we watched Corbyn and his posse strutting down the hall with their heads held high. The funny part was, his best friend Brooklyn, who usually walked a step behind him, had her arms linked with his as they laughed. Tiana, Mae, and a male cheerleader walked closely behind them.

"Didn't you get Mae's text?" Kari asked me. "He and Kris got back together."

My heart dropped at her statement. "You're just playing games with me," I doubted her. "Th-there's no way." I shook my head, frowning at her.

"I think I know why you didn't get her text. Mae knows how much it would crush you, so she let me do the job. So... yep, they're back together. Mae said that Brooklyn went to Corbyn's place last night, and they were naked in bed."

"They had sex," I understood, feeling an ache in my chest.

"I'm so sorry, J. Somehow I thought seeing your hopes trampled on would be amusing, but it kinda sucks to see you this sad. Look, there are plenty other guys to like-"

"Not one of those guys is Kris Hamilton. I can't believe I actually thought I had a chance. That for once, the universe was on my side." I rolled my eyes. "I'm gonna head to the music room. I just wanna play my violin until class begins." With a defeated sigh, I walked away and right past Corbyn and Brooklyn's animated laughter.

Wow. If anything, they should be at each other's throats. I couldn't imagine Brooklyn chatting with her best friend after seeing him in bed with Kris, who was just as much her crush as he was to most people in this school.

I slowed down to look at Mae, but she was busy in a deep conversation with Tiana. She was wearing yet another dazzling outfit that I'd never seen before. Corbyn must've bought it for her. Was she going to go shopping with him or something? That must be torture. I turned away and kept going until I arrived in the music room where Ms. C sat at her desk. She smiled at me through her bold red lips and a gaze that pierced through her glasses.

"Jaden," she acknowledged. "Here to de-stress?"

I sighed, nodding. "Yes."

"Everything okay? You upset? Maybe I can help."

I shook my head. "Thanks, Ms. C, but... Unless you can get Kris Hamilton to like me and my mother to come back home..." I squeezed my eyes shut. "I'm sorry, that was way too much information."

"That's perfectly fine. I'm always here to help if need be,"

I looked at her and softly smiled gratefully. "Thanks. It's okay, playing will do the trick."

"You like Kris Hamilton, from the football team?" She asked with her eyebrows raised.

I shrugged. "Who doesn't? Only difference between me and everyone else in this school, I want more than one night alone in his room. I... I don't think I should be telling you this."

She lifted her finger to her lips as a smile spread across her lips, a gesture that told me she had an idea up her sleeve. I pulled my eyebrows together in suspicion.

"If you could play any song for him, what would it be?" She questioned.

I chuckled, taking a seat in front of her desk, squinting my eyes as I thought. "I've dreamed about doing that actually. Playing a song for him on the violin and him admiring me. I just never imagined what song it was."

"Well, why don't you think of something you know very well that you'd like to hear. I'll get him to listen."

My eyes widened and I sat up sharply, completely intrigued. "W-what do you mean? You couldn't possibly..."

"Try me." She folded her arms across her chest.

"I don't understand. How?"

"I could make something up. Get him to visit the music room while you're just happening to be playing a beautiful love song or whatever it is you younglings listen to these days. He's a football player, yes?"

I blinked, still in awe of her idea. "Uh, yeah. Why, what does that have to do with anything?"

"He's more than likely in need of a grade boost in one of his classes. I'll offer him a deal he can't refuse."

I rubbed my temples. "This isn't happening. No, I-I can't..."

She leaned close to me, her eyes imploring me to agree. "Say yes. I'm bored; this at least gives me something to do. And you get your crush to listen to you."

"Ms. C, I appreciate that so so much but... what if he finds out it was planned? He'd literally hate me!"

She leaned back slowly. "Or, like any other human being who appreciates the gift of music, he'll find the gesture flattering." She sarcastically added, "No I'm sure the probability of him hating you is much higher."

I inhaled deeply then let the breath out. "I'll do it. You're going out of your way to do this for me, so I'll agree. One condition."

She grinned. "Name it."

"I don't want him to know it's me."

Ms. C threw up her hands and rolled her eyes. "That defeats the entire purpose of our conspiracy."

"No, no! This could still work! I just... Corbyn Starr already has it out for me. I swear, he wants to kill me where I stand and... there's no possibility of Kris hating me if he doesn't know it's me."

"You poor younglings. What're they feeding the children of your generation?" She squinted, lowering her glasses. "It's like you guys take everything way too seriously." Her pale hand flew to her chest dramatically as she mocked teenagers of today. "'Oh, my mother forgot to tear the crust off my sandwich bread. Let me go jump off a cliff because she hates my guts.'"

"Whoa, okay. Noted."

"Grab your violin. Practice your song because you'll be playing it before lunch."

✨✨

"You know the one thing that would make this day awesome?" Nico asked me as we changed into our gym outfits.

"What?" I responded, glancing behind me before pulling off my jeans.

"If someone died."

"Wow. Should've heard that one coming," I mumbled.

"I'm serious. A spontaneous freak accident."

"Well, don't be surprised if that person turns out to be you, you heartless satanist."

"That would be totally fine, actually. I'll finally be united with my king Lucifer. My real family."

"Why do we even talk to each other?" I pulled on the shorts. I was being as quick as possible. Kris usually went to hang out with his buddies on the opposite side of the locker room and I tried to avoid him at all costs.

Which was really stupid of me. For someone who was so head over heels for this perfect guy, I was so shy about being around him. Maybe that shyness was linked to the fear of Corbyn, and that he might do something to make me miserable. I knew firsthand how manipulative he was. I couldn't risk it.

"Not that I care, but... dude, the break-up between the royal couple was hilarious as shit."

I slipped on my left shoe then tied it.. "They're back together." Saying those words was so bitter against my tongue.

"They are. People were sharing a video of them kissing or some shit like that. Tongue and everything."

I stared at him in horror. "Are you serious? Someone took a video? I-I wanna see it. When and where was this?"

"I don't know the deets, man. My friend showed me that crap, but it's on instagram. Someone put it up on Kris H's fan page."

"I follow his fan page!" I snatched up my phone from the bench that I was sitting on to see if I'd gotten a notification. Nico was busy laughing at me.

"Dude, you're obsessed. That is not healthy."

"Oh, shut it," I said, looking at my phone still. "You literally talk to the devil. At least I don't have a shrine set up for him." I went to the fan's profile and clicked on the latest video, watching it. The lighting wasn't very good but I could clearly make out Corbyn wrapping his arms around Kris's neck as they kissed deeply. It was eight seconds of them making out and it was captioned 'true love prevails,' hinting at their surprising break-up. The caption even included Corbyn and Kris's handles, with over two thousand likes. I sighed heavily and looked back at Nico.

"You done feeling sorry yourself?"

I put my phone away and put on my right shoe, tying it as well. "I don't wanna think about it or... them."

"Oh! You know the best part? Look at Corbyn's profile, the latest post."

I hesitantly clicked on Corbyn's handle, furrowing my brows. "Any hint on what I'll see?" His page popped and I tapped on the latest post which included a series of four pictures. They were selfies of him with his circle of friends and some with people from band and the academic decathlon. One girl had her lips to his cheek lightly in a friendly gesture. I didn't understand it, so I read his caption and was surprised to see one simple hashtag: #apologytour. Of course, it was liked by Kris, Brooklyn, Mae (I knew that one had to be forced), and about five thousand of his followers. "You're joking."

"Nope."

"An apology tour. These are kids from band, the decathlon. I recognize one guy in the back that Corbyn completely humiliated in front of the entire cafeteria before Kris ever came to this school."

"That was my favorite day of freshman year. Seeing someone suffer so early in the school year was super satisfying."

I locked my phone and stood up, putting it inside my locker. "This is bull shit. Why would Corbyn Starr ever apologize to people he considers 'nobodies?" We all know it's only a matter of time before he snaps and the monster in him comes out. But I need to know what the motive is behind this stupid tour." That was what Kari and I had Mae for. We needed to know what prompted the break up in the first place. This apology tour was bull crap and everyone knew it. If he was being sincere, he wouldn't post selfies for the school to see what a 'nice' person he was. "I gotta head to the gym before Kris comes around here."

"Will you shoot hoops this time?"

I swallowed, pondering over it before nodding. "Yeah. I suck but... it beats walking around and dwelling on this drama. I'll see you there."

"A'ight," he said while I walked out the locker room.

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