AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He blinked. “What happens if I call your father?”
I felt Roy grinning at me. Marina’s crying stopped as footsteps came into the front office. I swallowed hard, watching as the principal leveled his eyes with mine. All I had to do was say it. Tell him these bruises were from my father. Tell him what he was doing. How my father was about to abandon me and never return.
But I was also eighteen. The hell was some principal going to do?
I sighed. “Can’t you just trust me on this?”
The principal picked up his phone. “You know we don’t compromise rules. It sets a dangerous precedent.”
I wanted to strangle Roy when I heard him chuckling at my side.
His mother came and collected him as I sat there. No explanation of how I got my bruises. No having to grovel to his mother. She cooed at him and
checked him over. Made sure he was all right before tossing me a disgusted look. I ignored it, though. I had larger worries on my plate.
Like the words coming out of the principal’s mouth.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Clarke. But I’m going to need you to come pick up your son. Yes, sir. Immediately. A fight with another student. Though, one I’m not sure he—no, I’m not sure he start—Mr. Clarke, your son didn’t start this fight. But he does have to be picked up from school. Yes. Uh huh. He’ll be in my office.”
It wouldn't matter, though. Not to my father. The only thing that mattered was the word ‘fight.’ The fact that I was probably interrupting his day. I pulled out my cell phone and quickly started texting Rae. Spitting out everything I could before my father stormed through those doors.
“Mr. Clarke, you need to put your phone—”
I whipped my eyes up. “I’ve got things I need to take care of. Things that are beyond the scope of your reasoning and what I want to tell you. Now, you can either let me send a message to Rae so she can take care of it, or you can throw me out. But I’m not putting up my phone until I send this message. Are we clear?”
The principal sighed. “Tuck in that attitude.”
“Let me send one message to make my life just a little easier, and it’ll be put away.”
My eyes fell back to my phone and my fingers flew across the screen. I didn’t bother editing it. Because any second now, my father would walk into this office with steam pouring from his ears and I’d be dead.
Or, at least wish I were.
Me: Rae, I need something from you. The money, it’s in Mkie’s locker. Make sure it stays safe until I can get to it. Dad’s about to pick me up. It looks bad. I won’t be here after school. Don’t come check on me until you hear from me. I don’t want you hurt. I’m sorry you have to deal with me all the time.
And just as the principal’s door whipped open, I slid my phone back into my pocket.
I slowly turned around and saw my father’s angry eyes. I swallowed hard as I stood up. I took one last look at the principal and I could’ve sworn I saw regret in his eyes. But it didn’t matter now. The smoke blowing from my father’s ears had nothing on the daggers flying from his glare. He watched me as I walked out the door, then left the principal’s office without a second thought. The heat of his body worried me. The fact that he hadn’t laid a hand on me yet only put me on edge. What would he do to me once we got home? Were we even going home?
I slipped into his car and neither of us spoke a word as he drove us back to the house.
He didn’t say anything as we got out of the car and walked inside. Or even as he slammed the door behind him. Which gave my mind more than enough time to theorize what might happen next. I felt my body already crumbling. I didn’t know if I’d be okay after this. I jumped when the door slammed shut. But dread filled my gut when I heard him flip the lock.
“You are a mystery to me, Clinton.”
The growl of his voice kicked my body into overdrive. I whipped around, but not soon enough. His hand came down against my neck and he slammed me into the wall, pressing my cheek against the pristine white walls. I pressed my hands into the plaster, struggling to breathe as his fingertips closed down against my pulse points. Tears welled in my eyes, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry.
Although I felt the little boy within me screaming out for help.
“Did you really think I’d punish you for some stupid little fight? Hmm?”
He ripped me away from the wall and tossed me against the banister of the stairwell.
“Did you really think I’d let you get away with what you’ve done to me? To our lives? After that stunt you pulled last week?”
He fisted my shirt and pulled me up to his face, and my body fell limp. I didn’t have the strength to fight him any longer. I didn’t have the ability to push him away. I hurt in so many places. My muscles ached for death. My mind went blank and I found myself traveling to my happy place as my father’s voice melted away into nothingness, growing further and further away the deeper I sank.
Like the river waters that almost swallowed me whole.
