My Little Girl

January 5, 1997
6:00 am

Brayten had been home for around 3 weeks now and was completly sleeping through the night. That made me very happy. I, myself,had adapted to Brayten's condition, unlike 98% of my family and friends. Remember my grandma? Yea, she moved in with us. Well after I got the whole "This wouldn't have happened if you would've use a condom" speech from her. It was quite embarrassing.

On another note, Erica was still here. And her dad hadn't called once. We knew it was coming but, it hadn't happened yet. Which is why I'm downstairs with Brayten checking her levels while Erica talks to her dad.
"No, Daddy. I'm not coming home! Why? Because my daughter needs me! Fuck dad, thats all you care about is the money. Money this money that. I have a child Dad. Oh no, Don't even try to tell me that if we'd used a condom it wouldn't have happened. I'm glad Brayten is here. Because she's a reason to get away from you!" I heard her yelling. I had just picked Brayten up when she came downstairs, her bag in hand.
"Are you leaving?" I asked.
"Zacky. He is pissed I came. I have to go. I'll be back though. I promise" she said and walked out.

Well, it was good while it lasted

I stared at Brayten as she slept. The past two months, man they had been a rollercoaster. Full of surprises. I lifted her up and took her downstairs.
"Mom! Me and Brayten are going to the park" I said and sat Brayten in her stroller. I quickly packed a diaper bag and a couple of bottles. I walked to the park and sat on a swing. Brayten was asleep and I saw other people my age playing tennis or basketball. I saw men several years older than me playing with their daughters. I saw teenagers in love making out. Then I saw my little girl. And I realized that the love I give her so much more different and other people my age won't understand until they're parents.
"Hello." A girls said beside me. She didn't look much older than me and she had a little girl asleep in a stroller too.
"Hi. I'm Zacky" I said.
"Tori. This is my daughter, Breyleigh." she said.
"My daughter, Brayten." I said.
"You look sad." She said.
"Yea. My best friend, Braytens mom, went back to Texas today. She doesn't have the best home and when Brayten was put in the hospital she came out. That was 3 weeks ago. I'm rambling. I haven't seen you around before" I said.
"Yea. I just moved here. My boyfriends aunt and uncle bought the house next door and our bands staying there. Shauns a decent skateboarder. From what I heard, he's a good snowboarder too." she said.
"Oh Shaun White? Yea. My best friends little brother competes with him. Yea, he's cool. Whats your boyfriends name" I said.
"Zackariah but we call him Zack. Most people call me Toro, though. I have a twin brother, Kyle. We call him Kye. His boyfriend, Brayden is an awesome bass player, fills in for Jake if he's hungover or too high to play. This is our band. My cousin Maverick or Mav, is the singer. Me and Zack are guitarists, Brayden/Jake are bass. Corey is back up vocals/guitar/piano. and Kye is drums." She said. I smiled.
"I have weird friends, too. We have Brian, we call him Synyster Gates, he plays guitar. Matt or M.Shadows, he sings. Me, Zacky Baker aka Zacky Vengeance, I play guitar. Jimmy aka The Reverend Tholomew Plague, he plays drums. We need a bass player though." I said.
"Well here comes Kye and Brayden. He might be interested."She said pointing to two guys walking, holding hands. People were making rude comments and they were shooting them right back. I smiled as they came up.
"Hey Sis," Kye said.
"Hey Kye. This is Zacky Baker and his daughter, Brayten" she said.
"Sweet" he said. The obnoxiously loud ringtone of Jimmy's started coming from my back pocket.
"What James" I said.
"Ohh. James? I'm so scared Zachary!" he replied.
"Fine. What Jimmy." I said.
"Where the holy mother of my foot are you?" He said.
"Holy mother of my foot? Jimmy? Seriously?" I said.
"JUST ANSWER ME!" he yelled, He could always wake Brayten up no matter how far away he was.
"I'm at the park." I said
"Be there in five! Bye Honeykins!" he said
"Bye Sweetcheeks!" I said and hung up.
"Best friend" I told them as I lifted Brayten up. Her cries stopped soon after. Here came Brian, Jimmy, and Matt up the path. Matt's leg in a cast.
"What did you do?" I asked as he sat beside me and took Brayten. She had him wrapped around her finger too.
"Fell down Jimmy's stairs.. twice" he said as he made cooing noises at my daughter. I rolled my eyes and dug for my pack of cigarettes in my sweatshirt. They weren't there.
"Fuck you! MATTHEW!" I yelled at my not-with-me brother. He always took my stuff. God, for 13, he was annoying.
"Here!" Jimmy handed me one. I lit it and took a drag.
"Isn't it like really bad to smoke around kids?" Toro asked me.
"This is the first time I've smoked in 10 months. I'm not addicted. I only do it when I'm stressed." I assured her. Brayten started crying and Matt handed her to me. Of course, when she wasn't crying, he would hold her but as soon as she started crying, it was back to Daddy. It was quite annoying sometimes. We started back to our houses and laughed as Matt struggled with crutches.

Needless to say, an hour later, we were home. Brayten was crying and I was trying to get homework done. I had to go to regular school until next year, then I had online classes. No one was home besides me and I was 3 weeks behind. I hated to go bother Kathy and Roger but I needed someone to watch Brayten. I walked across the street and Shaun answered.
"My mom's in the kitchen" he said. God for a ten year old, he was stuck up. I rolled my eyes and went into the kitchen.
"Hello Zacky." she said. I smiled and tried to get Brayten, who was still crying, calmed down.
"Listen, I hate to bother you but I'm 3 weeks behind in homework. I have to get it done and no one's home but me and all of my friends have ditched me for the beach, even crippy. Could you watch her for a couple of hours?" I asked, nicely.
"Of course. Have you met my nephew? He's downstairs with Breyleigh while Tori's at work. You can take her to him."she said. I nodded and walked downstairs to see the teenage father playing with his daughter.
"Zack?" I asked. He looked up.
"Yea? You are?" he said.
"Zack. Thats my name too. I go by Zacky though. This is my daughter Brayten. I have to get homework done and then I have my shift at work. Kathy told me to bring her to you." I said.
"Well, how old are you?" he said.
"Same as you. I met your girlfriend at the park earlier."I said.
"Well, Leave her with me and go get your books. Let's see what I can help you with. I'm going to go put Breyleigh down. She's a handful, I tell you. Looks like yours is too." he said.
"Oh yea. Except I'm mommy and daddy. I have it twice as bad." I said.
"Bet your parents didn't ship you and your girlfriend to your aunts when they found out you were having here though?" He said.
"My parents and I didn't even know Brayten was coming. Her mom showed up when she was 3 days old, gave her to me, and left." I said.
"That sucks" he had just sat the baby down and I handed him Brayten, who he laid beside Breyleigh.

Oh Joy. This is going to be an adventure