Start a Revolution

Drew peeks around the corner of the staircase, swallowing as she spots her mom across the room in the kitchen, stirring something that sat atop the stove while glancing down at the cookbook in her hand. Her heart clamors as she comes around the corner fully, her throat running sore.

"Sweetheart?" her mother asks as she sees her daughter out of the corner of her eye. "Could you grab the basil for me?"

Drew gulps, ignoring this request. "Mom, I need to talk to you."

"What about?" her mother asks, her eyes flicking up to Drew's face briefly before moving back to the cookbook. "And the basil, honey, please." She nods to the cabinet beside the microwave. Drew huffs and opens the door, grabbing the little jar of basil. She sets it down next to her mother.

"Mom, we need to talk," she reiterates herself, grinding her teeth together.

"About...?" her mother asks wistfully, setting the cookbook down on the counter.

Drew has to pause and take a breath before replying, her nerves slowly dying down. Can't she wait to confront her parents later? "I want to talk about, uh, about...what happened."

Her mother looks up again, tilts her head to the side, then looks back down at whatever it is she was brewing. "What happened?" her mother repeats, either not understanding what Drew meant or pretending like nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened to them. This made the teenage girl angry because she knew it was the latter.

"You know what I'm talking about," Drew murmurs with a gritted jaw, her eyes narrowing as her mother just shrugs. She sets the wooden spoon she was using to stir down.

"I actually don't," her mother replies, moving past Drew stoically to go to the fridge.

The young girl scoffs loudly, flinging herself around to glare at her parent openly. "The hell you don't!" Her mother pretends not to have heard her again, causing Drew to see red around the edges of her vision. "How about the fact that you neglected to mention that the accident Annie got in was the one that killed John's brother?" Her mom was still turned away from Drew, but her daughter could see the tenseness that entered her shoulders. "Or the fact that you came storming into my school and demanded that John and I break up when it's my choice as to who I date?"

Her mother turns around and looks at her. "Can we discuss this later, sweetie?" she asks. Drew wasn't fooled by the casual question; she could hear the bitterness in her mother's voice and could see the anger flashing across her eyes. "I'm cooking."

Drew growls and reaches over and snaps the stove off. "No, you aren't. We are going to talk."

Her mom slams the fridge closed and unties the apron from around her waist. "Fine," she snaps, the wrinkles around her eyes more prominent then before. "Jeff! You're daughter wants to have a chat."

At this, Drew's father comes running into the room. He had his glasses halfway down his nose and a newspaper in hand. His tie was crooked and his shoulders were slumped. Drew knew he had just gotten home from work minutes earlier but at this moment in time she didn't care if he had just returned from fighting the apocalypse; she was going to get them to talk.

"Now that I have your attention," Drew begins, clearing her throat, "talk."

Her father scrunches his brows, tossing his paper down on the counter as he removes his glasses from his face. "Talk about what?" he questions in genuine confusion.

"You're daughter wants us to discuss Annie's accident," her mother says through seethed teeth, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. It was the typical mom-stance that Drew had seen during lectures and "family meetings" and it was a stance that told her her mother was not in a good mood. Well, fuck her mother's mood. She wanted answers.

Jeff's eyes widen. "Erm, how about another time? I'm pretty swamped right now..."

"No, you aren't," Drew corrects, crossing her owns arms much like her mother, wanting to seem strong and put-together. "I have the right to know why I was forced to break up with my boyfriend. A boyfriend who was kind to me and genuinely cared for me and a boyfriend who did not deserve to be broken up with. So talk."

Her parents exchange a look. Her mother was quite adamant to stay quite, but her father broke.

"Annie was drunk when she hit Kyle," he starts, his voice going soft at the declaration. Drew nods, waiting for him to continue. He averts his gaze, rubbing a hand over his graying hair. "There would have been a lawsuit. A large lawsuit since your sister was underage and drinking and driving. We couldn't very well have you sister being arrested at such a young age."

Their daughter clears her throat, shifting. "All right. How did we get out of the O'Callaghan's suing us?"

They exchange a look once more. This time, her mother was the one to answer her question. "We paid them off. Quite the large pay-off, I might add." Jeff sends her a quick flick of the eyes. "They at first tried to refuse, saying they would sue anyway, but they came around. We don't know why, but they did. I think it was because they didn't want to tarnish Kyle's image anymore than it had already been tarnished." Her mother bites her tongue then, shaking her head. "If they had filed a lawsuit, our family would have been ripped apart. What else could we have done?"

Drew throws her arms in the air then, incredulously. "Oh, I don't know! Let them file?" Her parents look at her then, their jaws dropped, ready to defend themselves again. "Annie killed someone. I think she fucking deserved to go to juvie."

The gasp her mother gave then was like a bucket of water running over Drew's body. "You take that back!"

"No!" Drew spits, her hands balling into fists as she faced her mother head-on. Her face was screwed up tight, the lid she'd had on her rage these past weeks since her and John's break-up popping off. "You expect me to sit back and be quiet and just let you make my decisions for me?! You've got to be kidding me!" She smacks her hand against the surface of the counter. "We have no reason to hate the O'Callaghan's! They were the ones who went through heartache, a death of a son, and a death of a brother! And we are the ones who dare to have the hostility?" Drew says this in disgust as if she were ashamed at her parents. Which she was. "I can't fucking believe you two. Annie murdered someone, drunk or not, and she didn't even get as much as a slap on the wrist. And then you twist my perspective to make me believe that the O'Callaghan's are the bad guys? You guys are the ones with the twisted perceptions, you belittling assholes!"

Jeff was outraged at the way his daughter was speaking to them, his mouth opening wide. "How dare you speak to us like that!"

"I don't give a shit!" Drew shouts back, tears pricking at her eyes as her frustration hit its peak. "I love John! I love him so fucking much it hurts and you made me dump him! For absolutely no fucking reason! He was my world and I was forced to break his heart, and my own, because my family can't get over the fact that their daughter committed a crime." She breathes out deeply, realizing just then that was her first time proclaiming her love for John out loud. But it was the last thing on her mind as she continued. "I can't believe I let you guys brainwash me into believing that they were terrible. They didn't do anything to us. They were trying to protect their family and get justice for their dead son. And we have the audacity to despise them?" Drew makes a shrill noise, her arms throwing themselves in the air again. "If I should be feuding with anyone in this God-forsaken world, it should be you two!"

Then she was gripping her hair, tugging at it harshly as she finally came to a finish. "If I should be ashamed anyone, it should be Annie." Then she said the words she'd wanted to say since she found out about this entire fucked up situation. "And I'm ashamed of you two. You're my parents. And if I could change that, I would."

Mother and father stare at their daughter open-mouthed and wide-eyed, not knowing what to say. Drew felt like she had run a mile, pants passing her lips loudly and harshly.

"Fuck you," she then utters before attempting to race past them to the front door.

She didn't make it, something her mother saying making her stop halfway to leaving the house. And what her mother said made her more mad than she had been before. Even madder than she had been at Annie and her parents.

"Joey was the one who told us about you and John," her mother says venomously. "Chew on that while you stew in self-pity and betray your family."