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“I see,” Felicity frowned.
“You know I had no plans to apply for college, not this year. Not after everything that’s happened.” I swallowed over the lump in my throat unable to meet either of their heavy stares. “You have both been so generous, and I am so grateful. More than you’ll ever know, but I need to stand on my own two feet. It’s something I have to do. And I can’t afford to waste five more months in high school when I could be working, earning.”
“Peyton, sweetheart, while that’s admirable, it is completely unnecessary. We didn’t take you in and expect you to contribute. That was never—”
“I know, I do. But it’s important to me to do this. I spent my entire childhood feeling like a burden, Felicity. Feeling unworthy and never good enough… It took me a long time to get over that. But I’m not a kid anymore. I’m eighteen and I need to know I can support myself.”
“I-I don’t know what to say.” She let out an exasperated breath, and I noted how still and silent her husband was. He was still seething over everything that had happened, but I hoped that he could put that behind us to do the right thing here and give me permission to graduate early.
“With your generosity, I already have enough for a security deposit for my own place. And Cindy has already offered me more shifts at the diner, so I’ll be able to find my own place.”
“Sweetheart, there’s no rush. Tell her, Jase.” She nudged her husband. “If this is about what happened… You don’t need to leave, Peyton. We love having you here.”
I finally met Jason’s eyes. A storm brewed there, the air cooling around us.
“There’s just one snag,” I said. “I’ll need your permission. Mrs. Bennet says—”
“No,” he said, flatly.
“Jason!”
“No fucking way, Felicity. She’s just a kid. She doesn’t know what she wants.”
“Peyton, honey, why don’t you go find Lily, and me and Jason will discuss this.”
“Yeah, okay.” I got up, but not before looking at him again. “I know you’re only looking out for me. But this is my life. I should get to choose how I want to live it.”
I hadn’t even left the kitchen before their raised voices filled the air. But I was too weary to care. Felicity would fight in my corner; she would try to get her husband to do the right thing.
Their argument grew louder, and I winced, hating that I’d come into their lives and caused all this. Digging my cell out of my pocket, I pulled up a new text message to Bryan.
Me: Can you come and get me, please?
Bryan: I’ll be there as quick as I can.
* * *
I staredout at the lake, Bryan quiet beside me.
“I’ve been worried,” he said, finally breaking the thick silence.
“I know.” I inhaled a thin breath. “I couldn’t…”
“Yeah. What happened?”
“I told them I want to graduate early, and Jason was having none of it.”
“He only cares.” Bryan gave me a sympathetic look.
“I know that. But it’s my life, Bryan. I need to take control of my future.”
“Have you talked to him about everything? About Coach Chase?”
“No, we’ve pretty much avoided each other. I don’t know what to say.” When I’d first found out he sent Xander away, I’d wanted to fight. To argue and stand up for him, for us. But then I’d remember Xander’s words.
I can’t love you… this was a mistake.
A mistake. He’d called me a mistake. God, it had hurt. At first, I’d been so convinced that he was just trying to protect me, to avoid the potential fallout from Coach Huckley discovering the truth. But you didn’t hurt someone you cared about like that.
