Mom jumps between us
,
screaming
,
before he can hit me again. Black makeup trails down her face with her tears.
"
Please
,
stop! Don
'
t fight.
"
Mike looks over her at me. He
'
s got a busted lip
,
but he smiles regardless.
"
You
'
re done for
,
kid.
"
Mom tries to stop him as he pulls out his cell phone and dials. I don
'
t try to run. Probably couldn
'
t move
even
if I wanted to. I slide down
to the
floor.
He
'
s not even my dad.
And she still let him treat me this way.
***
The police ask me a million times what happened. Each time I admit to taking the first swing. What
'
s the point in fighting it? They bring me to the hospital first. My hand is broken. Obviously punching two people in one night didn
'
t agree with me.
Mom comes to the hospital
,
but I tell them I don
'
t want her in the room and since I
'
m eighteen
,
they can
'
t do anything about it. The police supervision is already enough of a downer.
She let someone who doesn
'
t share my blood make my life hell.
I can
'
t get over that.
Next
I'm
transferred to the police station. More supervision
,
like I'm some kind of criminal.
I
'
m here for a few hours
,
telling them the same thing over and over
. Yep
,
I hit him first. Yep
,
he defended himself.
A little while later
,
they tell me he
'
s not pressing charges. I
'
m his son
,
after all. Yeah
,
right. Anyway
,
it
'
s still getting sent to the DA
'
s office for review. Apparently it
'
s not
only
up to him what happens.
I
'
m sitting in the waiting room chair when Mom runs in
,
pulling me into a hug.
I don
'
t hug her back.
"
Jaden!
Why in the world would you talk to him like that?
You know how he gets
,"
she whispers as she sits next to me.
"
Is it true?
"
Her
silence
tells me it is. A million questions bear down on me. How? Who? Why? But I don
'
t ask any of them.
"
I called Courtney. I didn
'
t tell her everything that
'
s going on
,
but she said you
'
re welcome to stay with Sebastian until you guys leave.
"
This makes my head whip around to face her.
"
You
'
re kicking me out?
"
It
'
s not like I want to go
home
anyway
,
but how can she do this? After everything
,
how can she choose him? How can she stay with a man who
treats her
,
and her son
,
like garbage?
Her voice is even softer when she speaks again.
"
I don
'
t think it would be a good idea to put you guys in the same house again. You
'
re leaving in a couple weeks anyway
...
"
And then
,
I have no idea where the words come from. I
'
m angry and hurt
,
but I also don
'
t want to be alone. I don
'
t want to leave her with him.
"
Come with me. I don
'
t have to go to New York. We can go anywhere.
"
She cocks her head
,
tears pooling in her eyes
,
and I know damn well she
'
d rather be there with him than anywhere with me.
The list of people who feel that way is piling up.
"
Jaden
...
I love him. You
'
re grown up. You have your life
,
and he
'
s mine. I know it doesn
'
t make sense
,
but he loves me
,
too.
The things he said last night were only spoken out of anger
. Things will be easier now
...
for both you and me. I want that for you.
"
She means
thing
s
will be
easier for her. She wants that for
her
. Her life with him will be better when I
'
m not around.
"
What if he hurts you?
"
My voice actually cracks and it pisses me off.
"
He won
'
t.
"
Because the reminder of the one time he didn
'
t have control over her will be gone?
"
I don
'
t know who I am without him
,
Jaden.
"
This is so far from funny
,
but I can
'
t stop myself from laughing.
"
Maybe it
'
s time you find out.
"
My words hit me. I
'
m not who I thought I was
,
either. I
'
m not Mike Sinclair
'
s
son;
I
'
m just the bastard kid he hates. I haven
'
t been Pris
'
s best friend since last summer. Sebastian and Aspen don
'
t need me following them around anymore either.
What do I know about myself? I
'
m
the mooch
,
the loser
,
the guy who broke Pris
'
s heart
,
the one she doesn
'
t want to be there for her.
Yeah
,
totally not a prize winner.
Not like I ever thought I was.
"
I need you to do one thing for me
,
Mom. One thing and I
'
m gone.
"
***
I lie to Mom and tell her Sebastian is on his way to pick me up from the station
,
which actually
,
could be true if she called Courtney. She hugs me
,
cries
,
playing the caring Mom routine pretty well. It can
'
t be true
,
though. If she did care
,
she definitely wouldn
'
t be choosing that asshole over me.
I plop back down into the ugly
,
brown chair. I have no idea what I
'
m going to do. I swear it can
'
t be more than thirty seconds after she walks out that my eyes dart toward the door of the waiting room. Pris is standing about ten feet away from me. She
'
s wearing a pair of pajama bottoms and a hoodie
,
al
though it
'
s too hot to be wearing it. Her hair is tied back in a messy ponytail
.
Courtney must have told Sebastian
what happened
. He probably called
Pris
and she rolled right out of bed to come here.
I
'
m going to kill him.
With no other option
,
I push to my feet and walk over to her.
"
Hey
...
"
The awkwardness between us is so screwed up. It
'
s not supposed to be this way with my friends. It
'
s the one thing I
'
ve always been able to count on.
"
Hey
...
I got your hat. You dropped it when
...
"
Yeah
...
When
. I still can
'
t think about Craig without wanting to lose it.
"
Thanks.
"
I take it from her.
"
Bastian called to tell me you were here. We were all going to come get you
,
but I told him I wanted to
do it alone
.
"
There
'
s a question in her voice
,
wondering if it
'
s okay that she
'
s here. And it is. I didn
'
t realize it until this second
,
but I
'
m glad it
'
s her.
"
Cool. Thanks.
"
Her eyes travel to my casted hand
,
to my face
,
and yeah
,
I know I'm screwed up. I look around
,
knowing how everyone else in this place sees me: wrinkled clothes from wearing them for two days
,
piercings
,
the
whole nine. They
'
re probably wondering what the hell the District Attorney
'
s daughter is doing here with me.
Shit.
And he
'
ll see the case
,
too. How bad does that suck?
"
I can give you a ride to Sebastian
'
s.
"
Yeah
...
yeah
,
I definitely need out
of
here.
I w
ant
her
out of here. Seconds ago I was glad it was her and now I feel guilty. Picking me up at the police station?
Classy
,
right?
"
Priscilla. Can you come here for a minute?
"
Both our eyes snap to the side to see her dad standing there all suited up like he always is. He looks at my bruised face and busted up hand totally different than Pris just did.
Yeah
,
I want to tell him.
I know I
'
m a mess and she deserves better.
That
'
s the whole reason things are so screwed up between us. He says something to her in Spanish and she gives me a sad smile before saying she
'
ll be right back.
"
I
'
ll wait outside.
"
I don
'
t look at them as I walk out so I can
'
t see the disappointment on his face.
"
You shouldn
'
t have come
,"
I tell her five minutes later as we
'
re sitting in her car.