Welcome to the Family

Welcome To The Family

Betrayed

The next two weeks were spent prepping for graduation. My mom would be flying in from Georgia to California where I was just a day or two before my graduation ceremony. I had spend most of my childhood in Georgia up until I turned 20, when I decided I wanted to move to Cali. By 22, I was going to college & life, for the most part, was going pretty well. Mom was pretty torn up when I left, but she was happy for me nonetheless.
When she finally showed up at my dorm, I opened the door, greeting her with open arms.
"Hey, baby. Excited for graduation?" she asked me with her warm smile.
"Yeah, totally. I'm so over all this." I sighed, running a hand through my dark hair.
"It's almost over, Jazz." she grinned, sympathetically as I stepped aside to let her in.
"Yeah, thank God." I chuckled.
"Wow. Uh, you really like Avenged Sevenfold, huh?" she asked me, surprised as she looked around my room at the various A7X posters I had plastered all over my walls.
"I love them. They're awesome. Especially, The Rev. He's so cool. He's actually probably my favorite drummer." I grinned, happily.
"Oh. Cool. Yeah." she said with what seemed to be a tone of disapproval.
"Mom, come on. It's not devil music. They're actually really good."
"To each his own." she forced a smile.
"In other news, graduation is in a few hours." I said, trying to lift the weird vibe.
"Come on, let's go get you ready, princess." she smiled, kissing my cheek.
Finally, graduation time had arrived. I sat in my seat alongside my fellow class mates, awaiting my name to be called. After what seemed like an eternity, Jasmine Monroe was called to the stage. I stood up, walked up on to the stage, walked back to my seat, almost busting my ass on the floor from tripping over a microphone cord on the way back.
After it was all over, I met up with my mom by the car.
"Congrats, sweetie." she smiled, excitedly, hugging me almost to the point of suffocation.
"Okay, mom. I can't breathe. Let go now." I said, trying to break her hold.
"Oh, sorry, Jazz." she said, letting go as I gasped for air.
"Good lord woman! Trying to kill me?" I lightly laughed, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly.
"I'm just so excited for you. I'm so proud of the woman you've become." she beamed.
"How about we go celebrate?"
"What would you like to do?" she asked me.
"The beach. It's still light out & afterwards, we can go grab a few drinks. Johnny's Bar is practically right across the street."
"Yeah, that sounds great, Jazz. Let's do it!" We ran back to my dorm so I could change then ran to her hotel so she could change as well. We walked out to her car, got in, & headed for the beach, having no idea that it would forever change our lives. About thirty minutes later, we arrived at the beach. I stepped out of the car, took off my black tank top, revealing my black & purple skull patterned bikini top, & then slipped out of my jean shorts under which I had the matching bikini bottoms. As I proceeded to the beach, my mom finally got out & followed me. We put a beach towel down for both of us, then I dropped my clothes on my towel & ran for the water as my mom sat & watched from her towel.
"Come on, mom. Get in. The water feels great."
"You go right on ahead, honey. I am going to get a little color over here." she said as she laid down on her towel. I splashed around & enjoyed the water for a short while longer when I turned around to go to my towel. They had just started to walk onto the beach. They'd laid their towels down along with a cooler. I almost screamed with excitement. Hurriedly, I ran to my mom.
"That's them! Right over there!"
"Who? What? Where?" she said, looking around.
"Avenged Sevenfold." I beamed.
"Shit." she said, panicking.
"What?" I asked her, confused.
"Come on. Let's go. Come on."
"What? No. I'm going to talk to them. I have to." I smiled, taking a step in their direction.
"Jasmine, stop. Don't go over there."
"What is your deal?"
"They're famous. They don't want to be bothered. Just leave them alone." she urged.
"It'll only be five minutes." I said, walking towards them.
"Hey there." Matt looked up & smiled.
"Hi. I don't want to bug you guys, but I'm a huge fan." I grinned, nervously.
"Oh yeah? Awesome. Good to hear." Zacky smiled, walking up & standing next to me.
"Yeah, you guys are amazing. Great stuff."
"Are you here alone or...?" Matt asked me, his voice trailing off at the end.
"No, my mom is right over there." I grinned, turning around & waving to her. She just sat on her towel & hung her heaad.
"Get her over here & you guys can hang with us if you want. We have plenty of beer." Matt offered.
"Really? Yeah, that'd be great. " I smiled, trying to contain my excitement.
"Cool. Go get her & we'll throw back some cold ones." Johnny chimed in. I turned to face her & she was shaking her head no. I gave her a pouty face as I was heading in her direction.
"They want to hang out with us. Come on. Live a little. It'll be fun. They have beer."
"Jazz, no. You go. I'm just going to sit here & relax."
"But-" "But nothing." she cut me off.
"Fine. I won't be too long. We'll go back soon." I assured her.
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." she grinned, weakly. As I walked back over, I saw Jimmy.
"Hey there...I don't know your name."
"Jasmine Monroe." I said, heart racing.
"Ah. Well, pleasure to meet you, Jasmine." he grinned, handing me a beer.
"Thanks." I grinned, cracking open the bottle & taking a sip.
"Is she okay? I thought she was coming over here?" Brian asked me, curiously.
"She's pretty tired. She's just going to relax. It's been a busy day."
"Oh yeah? What happened?" Brian asked.
"She drove from Georgia to watch me graduate." I beamed.
"Congratulations, Jasmine." Johnny nudged me.
"Wait a minute, we're talking about college, right? Not high school?" Zack asked, cautiously.
"Ha ha yeah." I laughed, taking another swig from my bottle. We sat on the beach, all talking for a few hours when I looked up & couldn't find Jimmy. Then I spotted him with my mom. She looked kinda pissed. I walked over & immediately, she glares at me.
"Let's go no! Now!" she practically screamed.
"What happened?" I said, hoping one of them would give me an answer. No such luck.
"I guess I'm leaving. It was great-" but before I could finish, Jimmy had walked away. I gathered my clothes & towel, then got in mom's car. It was a quiet ride until halfway home, I couldn't handle it anymore.
"What the hell happened back there?"
"We're not having this conversation right now." she sighed.
"No, we're doing this. Right here, right now." I said, getting fired up.
Jazz, I don't have the energy for this."
"You can't run away from everything all the time. What is your deal?" she said nothing, just stared out at the road in front of her.
"I can't do this anymore, mom. If you keep this up, I'll quit talking to you until you decide to quit all this & talk to me." I threatened. She looked at me with pleading eyes.
"No, I've said my piece." I replied, crossing my arms & looking out the window.
"Damn it, Jazz. Even if I told you, you'd never believe me." she sighed, looking over at me.
"It can't be that big a deal."
"Brace yourself."
Yeah, yeah, yeah." I rolled my eyes.
"Those guys from yesterday? I know them."
"Only because I told you about them."
"No, dear. I KNOW then. Jimmy is your...your...he's..."
"Spit it out!" I yelled, impatiently.
"He's your dad. He never left us. I left. Jimmy was well on his way to being a successful musician, I wasn't going to let us get left behind or get put on hold so he could do that. I knew I could take care of you myself, so I did."
"This is a joke, right? You can't be serious."
"Unfortunately, I am. Jimmy & I were two kids in love, but not ready for a family yet. We were each other's everything."
"WHAT?!" I screamed. I was angry, I was excited, I was, hurt, I was just lost in a whirlwind of emotions.