Mystery Boy

They called me a socialite back home. Told me I was going to be somebody and that I was so lucky to be living the life that my parents brought me into. What they didn't know that my parents were on the edge of a divorce, fighting over their only child and who gets to "keep" her. What they didn't know was that my Mom cheated on my Dad while my Dad was already cheating on her.

The most important thing that they didn't know was that my Dad was leaving... and he was taking me with him. I, Airea Tollefson, socialite, glamor girl, teacher's worst nightmare, was being shipped off to the other side of the country to live with my father and his soon-to-be new wife. Oh, and I can't forget her three children. Three boys.

How was it that I was going from being the IT girl at Westlake, to the new girl at Arbor View public high school. My Dad figured I'd adjust like an animal thrust into a new habitat but I was determined to prove otherwise.

So that's why I was driving behind my father's Dodge SUV Nitro that he had bought for himself over a year ago. To counteract the divorce Dad went out and bought me a white Dodge Viper. It was enough to make me want to travel across the country with him. We were headed to Las Vegas, Nevada to live with my father's new girlfriend and her three kids.

I was told that we'd be staying at their house until Dad could find a new place for the six of us to move into. Some place bigger and nicer. When I did pull up outside of the house, the tires of my car cracking sticks and twigs that had fallen from the trees above, my jaw dropped. The house looked to be no bigger than two or three small bedrooms. It was all one floor and the blue paint was chipping off of the house, itself.

I slid out of my car as a pretty brunette woman rushed out of the front door and threw her arms around my father. I noticed a young boy, maybe 11 or 12 standing at the door. There was another boy next to him who couldn't be hardly any older than me. He held a little boy in his arms, who was exactly four years and 34 days old, if I did the math right.

I looked around the neighborhood as my father continued to greet the woman. The houses were all pretty similar and run down. The fences surrounding the houses seemed to be missing pieces and the grass wasn't green. I sighed and slammed the my door shut, clicking the button on the keys to lock it tightly. I noticed that the boys' eyes snapped to me, as well as my father's and Ina's.

The woman, Ina, grinned up at my father and they began talking about something again. Dad then smiled and looked over to me, waving for me to walk up. "Come here Airea!" He called.

As I approached I looked straight at my dad. "If anything happens to my car or the things inside it, I'm leaving. I'll go live with Grandma Ellis and Grandpa Frank. I mean it," I growled, glancing back at the white and black beautiful piece of machinery.

Dad chuckled as Ina looked genuinely surprised. She spoke anyways reaching out to me. "It's so nice to meet you Airea. Your father has told me so much about you."

I smiled tightly. "Nice to meet you too," I said, offering up my best smile this time, "Thanks so much for letting us stay with you until we can find our own place. It's really nice of you."

Ina looked surprisedly to my Dad who was already trying to console her. "She's just messing around Ina, she knows that we'll be living together from now on." Then Dad lifted his hand into the air and waved to the kids at the door. The youngest one, the blonde, squirmed out of the oldest' arms and once he hit the ground he was running towards my dad.

"I've missed you!" he shouted, his blonde curls bouncing around on his head.

Dad lifted the kid into his arms with a grin, "I've missed you too, Taite."

I rolled my eyes and turned to go back to my car.

"Where you going, Air?" Dad questioned.

I shrugged and looked over my shoulder. "I was thinking I'd go drive around for awhile or something. Let you guys have some family time."

Dad called out to me as I unlocked the door and got in. I glared at him through the tinted windows, wondering why he even fought to get custody of me if he was just going to run off and find a new family. I revved the engine and tore off down the road, not bothering to glance back at the blue house and the people I left standing there, staring after me.

My thoughts when back to the day after I found out that my mother had cheated on my father and they were planning a divorce.

"Heather, Airea, there's something I feel I should tell you," My dad spoke as we sat around the kitchen table, having the last 'family meeting' that we would ever have.

"What is it Dad?" I questioned, being on his side during the divorce.

He sighed and rubbed his face. I was concerned, afraid that finding out about my mother was tearing him up inside. When he looked back up at me his blue eyes were coated with tears. "Oh Air," he murmured, reaching out to run his fingers over my cheek, "I'm so sorry."

"Dad, what is it?"

He looked to my mother and then to me and then to space between us. "I have a son," his voice cracked as the cup that my mother was holding fell to the ground and shattered.

I stared at him. Studying him, wondering if April Fool's Day had come early or something. "You what?" I asked, as if I hadn't heard him right.

"His name is Taite. He just turned four."

That was when my heart shattered like the cup on the floor. I closed my eyes and pictured our family before all of this happened. It was like I was looking at the picture above the fireplace. The three of us were standing there, dressed in beautiful, designer clothes. Dad was holding Mom's hand and they both had their free hand on my shoulders as I stood there grinning at the camera.

One thought raced through my mind as I drove. Oh how naive I was.