On My Own

“Hey! Where were you this weekend? I texted you,” Stephanie said as I walked into Consumer Education. “Are you okay? You look awful, no offense.”

“Bad weekend,” I sighed, resting my head on my arms. My stomach growled slightly, but I ignored it.

“Ade, seriously are you okay? Is your mom okay?” Stephanie asked.

“I am and so is she. I would’ve texted you, but my phone is dead and I didn’t have a chance to charge it,” I explained. Our teacher did role call and gave us a worksheet to do since it was shortened periods today. “I just seriously had a crappy Saturday and Sunday.”

“Sorry…How was hanging out with Matt?” She questioned.

“Amazing,” I giggled. “We made out, I made dinner, we drank a little and made out some more.” Stephanie laughed. “Oh and I guess you could say we watched movies, even though I have no idea which ones.” She snickered and I rolled my eyes as the bell rang. “See you in a bit.”

I headed to my Biology class and did the chapter work that was assigned. Just fifteen vocabulary words and seven questions; it was no big deal. The half hour went by quickly and I went into the locker room. “I am not doing gym,” I told Stephanie. “I’m just going to chill in here.”

“They probably won’t even notice. Our class is so full.” Stephanie shook her head and I waited until everyone was gone before heading to the showers. I took a quick shower and pulled up part of my hair. I grabbed a few paper towels and squeezed as much water from my hair as I could. When gym was over, Stephanie didn’t ask, but gave me a confused look.

Third and fourth period flew by and I sat at the table while Stephanie got her lunch. She sat down and handed me her apple. “Thanks,” I mumbled, taking a bite. She told me it was nothing and asked if I was okay again. “I had some trouble sleeping this weekend.” She nodded and let the subject go.

“Hello, ladies,” Matt greeted from behind me. I turned around and looked up. “Enjoying your lunch?” He gave a disapproving look at my apple. We nodded and he looked down at me. “Miss Armstrong, I need to talk to you for a moment about a missing assignment, if you don’t mind.”

“Um, okay?” I said, getting up. I followed Matt down a hallway and to his classroom. He shut the door and glared at me.

“Adeline, what the hell?” Matt asked me. I raised an eyebrow. “You were supposed to call me, remember?”

“I’m sorry-“

“And then, I decided to just go to the hospital and find you or your mom. There was nobody under the name Armstrong,” he said. Fuck, think. Think.

“Armstrong is my dad’s last name,” I explained. “My mom still uses her maiden name. I didn’t call because I got home late and literally fell asleep the instant I was home.” Matt sighed and pulled me against his chest.

“I was just really worried about you, Adeline,” Matt mumbled. I smiled slightly and hugged him back. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve been sleeping on a rock.”

“I’ve just had some trouble sleeping,” I explained. “Could you do me a favor?” Matt nodded and I pulled my phone and charger out of the bag. “I forgot to charge this and I’m dying without it.” He chuckled and took them from me.

“You should head back to lunch,” Matt said. “I’ll give you this after school.” I thanked him and headed towards the door. “Do you want to go out tomorrow night?” I gave him a grin and walked out of the classroom. I sat across from Stephanie and said that Mr. Sanders couldn’t find one of my assignments, but I managed to find it for him.

We talked a bit more and then the bell rang. We walked to Matt’s class and took our seats next to each other in front. Matt stood up and waited for everyone to come in. The bell rang and he walked up to the front of the class. “Alright, I think for Mondays I’m going to just give you a topic and you guys will write a one to two page paper about it,” Matt explained, picking up a marker and writing on the board. Family. “What does family mean to you? You can explain about how people become your family, what your family means to you, what family’s do, anything you want as long as it is relevant to family. I expect everyone to finish by time the bell rings. If you need help, just raise your hand.”

People always say that your family is the people that raise you, shelter you, and are bound to you by blood. I don’t agree with that. There’re plenty of people who treat me much better than my family.

I ripped the paper out of my notebook and started on a fresh, new paper. Brittany Perkins would talk about hating her family because her family hater her. Adeline Armstrong had a really sick mom.

Your family are the people that love you unconditionally. They’re the ones who helped raise you and teach you so much in your life. They’ll always be there for you whenever you need them. Families support each other and respect each member. Sometimes, families aren’t your blood, but that doesn’t even matter. You’re close enough that because you do what families do, you become family.

I was happier as Adeline Armstrong, as strange as that sounded. Because even though she had a tough life, it was going to teach me more lessons I could ever ask for. I may not know where I was sleeping of if I was going to have dinner tonight, but I knew that the two people who were most important to me cared about me. And that was better than being suicidal Brittany any day.