Never Too Late

Aria's Point of View

Hearing that dreaded bell ring meant that lunch time was over. I was already in my next classroom, which was English. I didn't mind the class. It was pretty easy since English was more of my thing. Miss Day was a nice teacher too. She had her moments when she could be really serious but other than that she was pretty chill. The second bell rang which meant people were out of time to get to their next class. I pulled out my English notebook and binder. I grabbed a pencil and waited for Miss Day to come into the room. She walked in a few moments and looked at me.

“Oh Aria, you're wanted in the principal’s office,” she said.

I was confused about why I was wanted there. I hadn't done anything lately to get myself into trouble, unless my older sister Lucy had done something. I put my stuff into my bag and started to head out.

“Here, take the essay that I was going to hand out in class for homework just in case you aren't back in time,” Miss Day said.

I nodded and took the paper. I started to walk down the hall when I saw my sister waiting outside of the office. She looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. So she had no idea what this was about either.

“Did you do something?” she asked me, a half-whisper.

“No, did you?” I asked back.

“Not that I know of,” she said.

“Let's just get this over with,” I said with a sigh.

We walked into the room and saw our father, step mother who we both hated, and then our Uncle Nick. The principal walked in after us with a few extra chairs.

“Girls, please take a seat,” Mr. Reed said.

We both sat down next to our father. I was starting to get really confused about why we were there. I saw papers on Mr. Reed's desk but I couldn't make out what they were.

“So I'm pretty sure you girls are wondering why you're here,” Mr. Reed started.

Lucy and I looked at each other and nodded.

“Your father and step-mom are signing over parental rights to your Uncle Nick for the time being,” he explained.

Lucy and I didn't say a word. We didn't know what to say. I was surprised Lucy hadn't opened her mouth like she normally would have. If she wasn't going to break the silence, then I would.

“What the fuck?” I blurted out.

Mr. Reed looked at me and I said, “Sorry, didn't mean to swear but seriously, guys? You just think you can do this to us? Dad, does she have anything to do this with this? Is this all her idea? She's brainwashed you! She's nothing but a bitch to us and you let it happen! We haven't seen Uncle Nick in ages. How are we supposed to go live with him? I know he's Mom's brother and all but I can't believe you're just throwing us away from some woman who you claim to love.”

“Excuse me?” our step-mother demanded.

“You heard her. I'll repeat it. You're nothing but a bitch,” Lucy practically spat.

“Knock it off, girls,” Dad said.

“You know what? Fine. Throw us away; throw us away like you did to Mom when she was on her death bed, so you could go cheat on her some more with this slut. You think Mom didn't know? Oh, she was well aware of the situation but she didn't have the strength to do anything about it. This thing you make us call our step mother is nothing to us,” I ranted.

Everyone got silent at that point. Lucy was already thinking about what I’d said. She was angry. I could see it in her face. She just didn’t want to add any more fuel to the flames that were already going. Our own father was getting rid of us so he could go run and hide somewhere else with his new wife. She always got her way with him. She would blame Lucy and I for things we never did just to get our father to kick us out of the house for days or even weeks. Some nights we would sneak out and go somewhere and just sleep in Lucy's car for the night. If this was what he truly wanted then he wasn't thinking of the outcome.

“So Nick, if you would just sign these papers the girls are yours,” Mr. Reed said as if none of us had ever spoke.

Uncle Nick looked at us and then sighed. He grabbed the pen my father had been holding and signed them. Just like that I was no longer in my father's custody. I was sad and upset but on the other hand it made my life feel ten times better. I no longer had to deal with my step mother.

“You girls can either go back to class or go with your uncle to grab your belongings out of your father's house,” Mr. Reed said.

“I think we'll go get our stuff,” Lucy answered for us.

“That's fine. You girls can wait out in the hallway for a moment,” Mr. Reed said.

We got up and walked out of the room. We sat on the bench and waited. I was getting really worried about Lucy. She hadn't said much.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Do I look okay?” she shot back.

I looked down and I heard her sigh.

“Sorry, just that bitch gets to me,” she said.

“I understand. It happens to me, too,” I said.

“I just don't see why our own father could do this to us,” she added.

“Well, at least Uncle Nick is nice,” I said.

“Yeah but do you remember how he can be grumpy?” she sort of laughed.

“Hey, I heard that,” a voice said.

We looked up and saw our uncle. He was the only one that came out so far.

“Do you want to wait for them or go?” he asked.

“Let's just go get our stuff before they get there,” Lucy said.

We stood up and started to walk towards the student parking lot. Lucy and I told him that we could just meet up at our father's house and then follow him back to his place. The ride to the house was quiet besides the radio being on. We pulled into the driveway and Lucy turned her car off. She slammed her door when she got out. I knew sooner or later she was going to lose her temper. I followed her into the house and went to my room. I packed as much as I could and then started putting things into small boxes, stuff that I would have to come back and get if that was okay with my father. I grabbed the photo I had of Lucy, my mom, and I and put it carefully into my backpack. I heard the front door open meaning my father and step mother were home. I saw our step mother going towards Lucy's room.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you,” I warned.

“And why not?” she asked.

“She's going to lose her temper on you for ruining our relationship with our father,” I said.

“He wanted to do this, it has nothing to do with me,” she said.

“That's a bullshit lie,” I heard Lucy say as she came out of her room.

“Please, you're just mad he's throwing you two out and not me,” our step mother said.

“You're the one who deserves to be thrown out!” Lucy yelled.

I knew I was going to have to be in the middle of this one. Lucy would murder our step mother if she had the chance to.

“Me? I haven't done anything wrong,” our step mother said.

“Please. You may be able to sugarcoat this with our father, but we know the truth,” Lucy said.

“Listen here, you little whore,” our step mother started.

“No, you listen here you bitch, you took our father away from us. He was ours before he was yours. You took him away when we needed him the most, when our mother was dying from cancer. But no, you don't see that because it's always about you. It has always been about you,” Lucy said.

Our step mother was going to say something else but I cut in. “Just let it go,” I said.

She looked at us both and then said “This is far from over. I will win this war.” She walked back downstairs and Lucy was way beyond pissed.

“Go,” I said.

Lucy looked at me. She grabbed her stuff and went downstairs. I heard her say something to our father and sighed. I grabbed my stuff and headed downstairs. Uncle Nick saw that I could use some help and he grabbed one of my bags.

“You can come back and visit when you'd like,” my father said.

“Please, you just gave us up, I refuse to come back here,” I said.

On that note, I opened the door to the house and walked out. I put everything in my uncle's car and we headed off to his apartment.

“So I have two roommates that I think you two will hopefully get along with,” he said.

“Hopefully,” I mumbled.

The rest of the ride was quiet expect for the few questions here and there. I texted the address to Lacey so she could come over whenever she was ready. We finally got there and got most of my stuff out of the car. We took the elevator up to the apartment. We were in front of door number 4D and we heard some yelling going on inside. My uncle unlocked the door and opened it. There were boxes in the middle of the living room. It looked like someone was switching rooms.

“Why does it have to be me to move rooms?!” I heard someone whine.

“Because his nieces are coming to live with us,” I heard a voice say before coming out into the living room.

“Jess, this is -” I cut my uncle off.

“Miss Day?! No way!” I said, dropping my stuff and walking over to her to hug her.

“Well, hello to you too,” she said, laughing a little.

“You guys know each other?” my uncle asked

“Yeah, she's my English teacher,” I said.

“Oh cool,” my uncle said.

“Seriously? That's all you're going to say?” Jess asked.

I laughed and my uncle told me to pick up my stuff that I’d dropped so he could show me to my new room. We heard someone in there. My uncle kicked opened the door. The person I saw was a person I never thought I'd see again. I dropped my bags and told my uncle I was going to go grab my other bags. I ran out of the apartment and pressed the elevator button hoping it would open before I had to face the person I didn't want to see. I got into the elevator and the door was starting to close when an arm made it re-open. I was hoping it wasn't who I thought it was. But when I looked up it was who I didn't want to see. He was looking at me straight in the eyes.

“Aria?” he said.

“Schmidt,” I heard myself say.

He was about to say something when the elevator door closed. I slid down the back of the elevator and sighed. This was going to be really interesting living with my uncle.