My Understandings

-1 Week Later-
We were all sitting in the living area talking about random stuff and occasionally laughing at each other’s random comments. “I just love how two or three days with you turned into a week.” Aaron laughed.
“Anyway we’re on our way to my house.” I said to Aaron.
“Are you staying there or coming back with us?” Austin asked.
“I don’t know. I’ll probably stay at home.” I said and shrugged.
“NO!” Screamed Phil and Tino in unison. “You can’t leave us!” Phil yelled. I laughed.
“I don’t know if I’ll stay or not.” I said. “All depends on how she’s acting when I get home.” Austin leaned over and latched onto my side laying down across the seat at the same time.
“You can’t leave us! We need you Calli!” He whined. I laughed.
“Yeah, okay. What do you need me here for?” I asked.
“Um, you like to cook for us sometime. And you like to clean. Oh and you like to sing for us in your bunk.” He said and I blushed.
“I don’t sing for you! I sing to myself!” Austin ignored me and kept talking.
“And you like to hang out and you’re the only one that can talk some sense into Alan.” He said. “…So, yeah. That’s why we need you on the bus.” He said.
“Well, for one can you let go of my hip and two you don’t need me on the bus, you want me on the bus. You could do all of that for yourselves if you really tried. Or if you called your moms.” I said and laughed. “Hey when are we gonna be at my place?” I yelled to the bus driver as Austin let go of my hip.
“Uh, bout another minute or so!” He called back.
“Alright thanks!” I said. I got up and grabbed my suitcase. I had on some jogging pants and a shirt with some black vans. I stepped forward as the bus lurched to a stop right in front of my house.
“Holy crap. That’s a nice house. In the dark I couldn’t see it but now I’m asking myself, ‘Why did she leave?’. Even if I got in a fight with my mom nothing would stop me from staying in that house.” Said Aaron. Everyone but me nodded. I rolled my eyes and started walking.
“Bye guys!” I said. They all stood up and gave me a hug. Austin was the last one to let go.
“Hey, text me if you need me and I’ll be right there. We should be in town for a few more days.” He said. I nodded and let go of him.
“Thanks, I will.” I said and stepped off the bus. Well, back to square one.

When I stepped in the house I saw my dad. I dropped my stuff and stared. I looked outside and seen the bus had pulled off already but I wanted to leave. “Dad?” I said. Mom and dad were both looking at me. Mom had both her hands on the counter and dad was sitting across the bar.
“Calli!” He sighed like he was relieved. He came over and hugged me but I pushed him off.
“Get off of me!” I screamed. “Don’t touch me!” He back off but looked shocked. I saw behind him was a young girl. She may have been 13 or 14 but she didn’t look as old as I was. She had perfect curly blond hair, red lips, and bright green eyes. She had an emerald dress on that made her eyes pop and black flats. I just looked at her. “Who is that?” I asked.
“Oh, Calli this is your sister Halley.” I raised and eyebrow and gave him a look that said ‘You must be crazy if you think that’s my sister.’ and just stood there. “Whose sister?” I said. “I know she ain’t mine.” I said.
“Callista please.” My mom said.
“No! I don’t even know this girl!” I shouted at her. The girl didn’t look offended. “Neither of you have blond hair either! She’s Courtney’s kid! Not yours,” I said pointing to mom. “And certainly not yours!” I said to dad. “And I have no idea where you got the idea that she’s my sister!” I screamed.
“Callista please just sit down so we can talk.” Mom said. I was breathing heavily but I sat down anyways on the chair farthest from dad. My mom sighed. “Look, Calli. Your dad and Courtney are having some financial…trouble. For the time being they’re going to stay here. All the kids are in your room right now and Courtney is sleeping in mine. But please bear with it.” She begged me. I could see in her eyes she was hurt. Something in her wasn’t the same. “Please don’t leave. You have no idea how worried I was about you the past week. I’m so glad you came back.” She gave me a crooked smile. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t day anything or show anything on my face. Why? Why would she be letting dad and his new wife and kids live here? I hate her. I hate him. I hate this. I hate me. I hate everything. I just want to give up. I turned on my heel but I felt someone snatch something out of my hand. I turned and saw mom holding my phone. “I don’t plan on letting you call that boy.” She said. I was about to snap.
“Give me my phone.” I said as calmly as possible.
“So you can leave with those boys again? Not a chance Callista.” She said. I nodded my head.
“Alright, alright.” I said. “Don’t blame me for anything that happens to one of those kids in my room.” I said ad started running up the steps.
“Callista!” I heard my dad scream. I heard footsteps behind me and when I got to my room I opened the door enough for me to slip and slammed it shut then locked it. There was banging on my door and I seen all the kids looking at me. I sat down at the bottom of the door and hugged my knees to my chest. I put my head in my knees and started to cry. When I finally stood up the kids were still looking at me. One of them, a boy, was on my bed. That infuriated me even more. “Get off my bed.” I said. He stuck his tongue out at me and said, “NO!” I raised my eyebrow at him but he didn’t move. I went over to my dresser and picked up an old picture frame with no picture in it. I threw it at the boy as hard as I could ad it hit him in his side. He squealed in pain.
“Get. Off. My. Bed.” I said. This time he complied. I went over to the door and opened it. Dad was still standing outside my door. I looked at the kids. “All of you get out of my room.” They all scrambled out and ran downstairs but dad just looked at me.
“Callista. What happened to you?” He asked going to touch my shoulder. I smacked his hand away quickly.
“Don’t you dare ask me what happened to me. You and her ruined my life. You’re exactly the same. The only difference is that I decided to put my trust in you but boy was I a fool.” And with that I slammed the door in his face.

I sat on my bed thinking of how I was going to get out of this house. I wasn’t going to stay here anymore. I didn’t want to stay here. I laid and thought about it for an hours until it was about 1:00 AM. I was about to go to sleep when I heard a knock on my window. I was a little scared to open the curtain but I did anyway. Who I saw holding onto my window sill wasn’t anyone who I expected to be there. It was Austin. His face was red but he was still smiling. I opened my window and let him in. I was in a short white nightgown. I felt a little weird but I dealt with it. We had to be quiet since my parents had gone to sleep awhile ago. I helped Austin in through the window. “What are you doing here?” I whispered furiously. the truth was I was relieved to see him here. Maybe he was here to take me away. He was still smiling.
“I came over a while ago and asked if I could talk to you. Your mom said that you weren’t here but she sounded suspicious so we parked the bus a few blocks away and I climbed up the side of your house to see if you were here.” He said. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.” I felt myself blushing. I smiled. Wow, he wanted to make sure I was alright. No one had ever done that for me before. I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed Austin on the cheek.
“Thanks so much Austin. I really appreciate it.” I said. He put a hand to his flaming pink cheeks.
“Yeah, no problem.” He said a little dazed sounding and smiling. I laughed a little. “So are you okay?” He asked.
“No.” I said sitting on my daybed again. I patted the seat next to him and he sat down. I put my head down and looked at the carpet floor.
“What happened?” He asked.
“My mom’s letting my dad and his wife move in and all their kids. I don’t want to stay here but they took my phone and I can’t call anyone to come and get me. I don’t know what to do.” I said putting my face in my hands. Austin took my hands from my face and looked me in the eye.
“Stay with me.” He said. “We’re almost on break and you can crash at my place for a while.” He said. “No, not for a while as long as you need to or even want to. I don’t want you staying here if you don’t feel comfortable with the living conditions.” He said. I just stared at him. Then I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck.
“I don’t know how to thank you enough.” I whispered in his ear. He put his arms around me.
“You don’t need to.” He said.
“Why are you doing all this for me?” I asked. Austin stayed silent for a while.
“I…because I…like you.” He said. This time it was my turn to look like a flamingo. I let go of him.
“You what?” I said.
“I like you. Like, like you, like you.” He said rubbing the back of his neck. I smiled. I like him too. I love him.
“I like you too.” I whispered. He looked up at me.
“What?” He said.
“I like you Austin.” I said. All he did was hug me again.
“Than let me take you with me please?” He said.
“Of course.” I whispered back. He set me down and smiled.
“Alright then Princess.” I smiled at him.
“After this scene I think it’s more Juliet.” I said.
“Then I’ll be Romeo.” He said and I laughed. “So how are we getting out because we can’t climb down the house.”
“Ooo…good point.” I said. I took his hand in mine. “Follow me and be quiet. And if I have to threaten someone then don’t say anything. Just roll with it.” I whispered and he held up his free hand. He play zipped his lips. I smiled and opened the door to my room. When we were both out I turned and turned off the light and closed the door so they’d think I was still here in the morning. We quietly padded down the stairs and down into the kitchen but I knew I’d had a bad feeling for a reason because there with the light on in the kitchen was the girl from earlier.