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She walked in and sat at the table across from me and waited for Hayden to come in. When Hayden came in, he sat next to me then Natalie started talking. “Nice to see you guys.”
“Hello, it must be a pleasure,” Hayden said rolling his eyes at her.
“Hayden don’t be rude!” His mother yelled at him.
“Ms. Clay, it’s ok.” Natalie told her, “he deserves to be rude and mean to me, after all that I have done to them.”
“It’s Mrs. Ross,” Hayden’s mother said with a warm heart, though she secretly hated that girl’s guts.
“Well, I came here to apologize to you guys, Lilian and Hayden. Look I am so sorry for making your life a living horror film. I am going to a special school next week and I just thought I would apologize. My father is making me apologize to you so let me start. I’m sorry for bullying you and your friends, practically getting you guys suspended, and spreading rumors.” She smiled her sweet smile that she always smiled when she was up to something.
“Wow, that was deep.” Hayden said, “Thanks for your apology I guess.”
“Thank you, I love my English and language arts skills. Can I have a hug?”
“Sure,” I answered getting up from my chair when Natalie leaped up.
Natalie first hugged me then she turned and hugged Hayden. I pretended to accept her apology, which inside I was still very hurt by Natalie.
Hayden and I sat back down at the table after Natalie left and talked for a while, “That was weird!” Hayden exclaimed, “Natalie never apologizes for anything! And that red dress, and those slippers she looked like a little girl from a horror film!”
I could not help but laugh, “I know, why do you think she apologized?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, maybe she wanted us to say it was all ok to where she didn’t have to go to the special school.”
“I don’t know, she did say her father made her apologize.”
“I do,” Summer started. “Look Hayden, you know that talk we had earlier?”
“Yeah,” he said confusedly, “what does my real father got to do with anything?”
“Your real father we met with him last night and talked about you. He has five girls, and you happen to know one of them or maybe more. His name is Noah.”
“I don’t know any Noahs.”
“Maybe the name Sweetie will be recognized better.”
“Natalie’s father!” Hayden screamed in freight, “Eww! That is so nasty! I am going to be sick! But Natalie and I are the same age!”
“Yeah, I know and that doesn’t matter, and let’s not ask why that can happen sometimes.”
“So, I have seven sisters?”
“Yes.”
“That must be some sort of curse, mother you’re a slut.”
“Don’t say stupid stuff like that and maybe you should get back to packing.”
“As soon as you tell me something crazy that you’ve been lying to me all my life you want me to go pack?” Hayden was furious, “No I’m going to sleep!” He rolled his eyes and ran off to his room in fury.
Summer put her head in her hands in shame as Hayden left the room. She did feel bad for not telling him earlier, but the plan was that he would never find out.
I asked if I could visit Ashley—trying to get Summer’s stress off of her by changing the subject— Summer said, “Yeah, she can come out to eat with us if that is ok with her father.” Ugh, drama, fathers.
“Yay! Yeah, that is probably ok, and thank you!”
“I think Conner will probably come with us also.”
“That sounds fun.”
I packed some more stuff that Summer had asked me to pack. I had also figured out that the truck was coming that Wednesday. It was a long stretched out few hours then it came time to leave to the café for dinner.
First, we picked up Conner out in the middle of no-where and then picked up Ashley and went to eat.
At the café, Summer, Nathen, and the twins sat at a booth, and Conner, Ashley, Hayden, and I sat at a booth next to them.
Everyone was glad to see each other, but we did not really talk much, because there were so many things to talk about that there was nothing to talk about. We ended up talking about the beach and the fun things we did in California but nothing really about Sabrina or Natalie or Matthew or Jacob Thomas.
It came time to say goodbye, we all had tears in our eyes. It was goodbye forever. Hayden may get to see them when he has to come up here with his dad. But this would be the last time I would see them.
“Have fun at your new school,” Ashley smiled innocently at us.
“Thanks, have fun at our old school! Hey at least you won’t have to see Natalie,” I gave a hideous smirk at my rude comment.
“Bye Lilian, thank you for being my friend my only friend,” Ashley said as she walked into her house, bawling. I did not think that she would lose it.
Then they dropped Conner off Hayden and Conner said their good-byes. Hayden could probably see Conner on weeks in the summer when he would visit his dad.
We rode home, Hayden and I were sitting in the back of the car. Both of us were staring out the window. Summer stopped the car and told us that we should get out, but we did not, it was cool outside so it should not kill us for staying in the car. We gave it almost five minutes before we got bored.
Hayden walked inside and went to his room. He told himself he was not leaving his room till he was done packing. He did not leave. He finished; around two in the morning. When he is determined he is unable to stop.
He fell asleep without his bedsheets and his light was still on. He kept waking up in the middle of the night because he was cold and thirsty.
Downstairs, the same thing was happening to me except I had bedsheets. We both ended up waking up, getting out of bed, going to the kitchen, and grabbing water bottles.
We both jumped when we saw each other. Then grabbed the water and left. It was strange when we did not speak to each other, but we were both tired and really wanted our beauty sleep. Well, that is what I wanted anyway.
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING THE truck arrived—just as planned— and we started putting stuff in it; we were done packing except for putting stuff in the truck.
Summer and Nathen had decided that they were going to be ready to leave by Friday so that the kids could start school sooner than later.
We were taking the truck the two of the family cars and Jasmine had a car she was driving over there. It is an awfully long drive. All our clothes and stuff were in the cars and the truck had refrigerators and bookshelves.
We finished putting our things in the truck and Hayden sat down. Summer sat down next to him. On their concrete slab of a porch.
“Ok, Hayden good news.”
“What do you want?” Hayden asked, he was still mad due to what happened earlier. I would be mad too. That is why I do not blame him.
“Tonight, instead of eating with us, Noah and Nadia want you to eat with them.” He did not look overly impressed.
“Yeah, whatever, who are they?”
“Well, I thought I told you this earlier, but... Noah is your dad and Nadia is her wife. His wife, excuse me.”
“Oh, Eww! My half-sister, Natalie’s parents!”
“Don’t be like that, she is just as much your sister as the twins.”
“But she is Natalie a bully, poor Lilian being in hell.”
“Hey!” She stood up angry and pointed a finger at him.
“Heck, I’m sorry mom!” He was obviously not sorry.
“Well, you’re going no matter what!”
“Yeah, I know. You’re my mom and you’re competitive so you’re surely going to win.”
Summer walked away and went to go talk to Nathen. Then I walked and sat next to Hayden, “What’s wrong?” I decided to go talk to him. I was definitely not watching their conversation before.
“Ok, it’s good and bad news.”
“Bad news first.”
“Ok, so umm, I got to go eat with Natalie, but I get to meet my stepmom, dad, and sisters.”
“Wow, ok.”
“Well, that is it, what do you want to do now?”
“Heck, I don’t know. I have my coloring books in Jasmine’s car.”
I walked to my favorite teacher’s car, opened the door, and grabbed the coloring books out of my travel bag. I walked into the house then because Hayden had left me outside. I found him on the ground in his room.
I then threw him some coloring books.
“Lilian, where are the colored pencils or crayons?” Hayden asked.
“Those are in Jasmine’s car,” I said about to laugh.
He looked at me for a few seconds then said, “How are we supposed to color without the colored pencils?”
“Do you want me to go get them?” I asked sarcastically.
“Yes,” Hayden said as I jumped up and walked back out to Jasmine’s car. Hayden followed me outside and sat down on the porch (concrete slab) with his coloring book. He watched me return to him with colored pencils and crayons. I handed him the crayons and sat down next to him.
“Thank you, Lilian, love you, hon!”
“Love you too,” I said.
“What?” Hayden asked surprised.
“Well, you know because you’re my high school lover and all.”
“Yeah,” Hayden said looking at me giving me a shy smile. Then he looked down at the coloring book and opened the colored pencils. He started coloring and I did as well.
We colored until our hands were tired and it was time to go eat. I think it got Hayden’s mind off of everything.
Hayden got in the car with Summer, and she drove to meet his father, which all that coloring must have been done for nothing. He was incredibly nervous he was scared that something would go wrong, or he was overdressed in his nice pants and shirt.
“Mom don’t make me go,” He said as she stopped the car at the restaurant.
“As you said earlier, I always win.”
“Mom, please don’t make me go! Secretly you don’t want me to go either!”
“Hayden, look at me. If you do not go, they are going to try to fight me over you, he is manipulative and will blackmail and yes, they can possibly because of that dumb contract. Also, if you don’t go you will get separated from your little girlfriend forever.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I know about your secret little relationship! No more closing that door and locking it,” she was getting angry.
“Ok mom,” he turned and hugged her, “mom I love you and I don’t want to lose you, or Lilian.”
He got out of the car and walked into the diner Summer watched him walk in then she drove away. Summer drove to the small pizza place down the street from the diner and picked up the pizza she ordered.
She drove over to Jasmine’s, where everyone was, and brought the pizzas in. “Who wants pizza?”
Nobody answered but she set the pizzas down and broke the top of the boxes off for plates. “Here are the plates,” Summer said, handing people cardboard.
We started getting the pizza and then I got pretty bored not talking to anyone, so I started listening in on the adult conversation. My buddy was gone.
I found out that they had changed the time we were leaving to noon on Thursday because it was not going to take long to get Jasmine’s stuff into the truck.
Though we were leaving, the truck was not going to leave until Friday because that is what the drivers had planned on and they were going to charge more for going a day early.
* * *
“OH, LOOK IT IS ABOUT time to go pick up Hayden,” Summer said, jumping up.
She leaped outside and opened the door to her car. She hopped in, tiredly, and drove to the diner. Hayden was already waiting outside with his other family. (The disgusting Sweetie’s who are ruthless and homewreckers.) Summer was disgusted by that family and how sick that man was.
She knew she was not the only one, but she knew Hayden was his only son, he had told her that before. He had told her that many times.
Hayden jumped in the car and Summer snapped out of her daze.
“How was your night?” Summer asked.
“It was good.” He replied, “I have five step or half-sisters their names are, Natasha, Nelle, Nicole, you know Natalie, and there is a little one named Noe. They are cool I think they like having a brother. My stepmother’s name is Nadia, and she is having a baby and I think it is a boy.”
“That sounds fun.”
“It is fun.”