****
"In just two weeks, he assaulted two students. Him and his friends also ganged up on a boy and nearly beat him to death", the principal said to the couple. The woman sighed and looked down sad. The man rubbed his eyes tiredly and sighed.
"Him and his friends have been terrorizing the school", the principal continued, "If this repeats itself again, I'll have no choice but to expel him", he finished sternly.
"Alright Principal, we understand. We'll talk to him", the man said.
"Talking? Forgive me Mr. Williams but I don't think talking will solve this. He used to be such a good kid but he suddenly went violent and now it's like nothing gets to him anymore. He breaks the rules without care. And when he's being reprimanded he doesn't even look like he cares. Is that who are you are going to talk to?", the Principal asked them.
The man sighed once again, "I understand Principal. I'll handle this. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again", he assured.
"It'd better not", the principal said with a note of finality.
The couple came walked out of the principal's office. The man stared at the boy who sat lazily on the waiting chair. He was counting numbers as usual.
"1,2,3...", he counted slowly. The man walked up to him and sighed.
"Really? Again?", he said. The boy didn't say anything or show any sign that he had heard him, he kept counting. The man sighed again.
"Honestly, I'm very very disappointed in you", the man said and walked off with his wife.
The boy stopped counting and looked at his father's retreating figure, there was no emotion in his eyes.
****
Lucas' POV
I laid on my bed with my phone.
"Honey, could you take out the trash for me?", mom yelled from downstairs.
"Ok", I responded. I groaned and put down my phone before walking downstairs. I looked round the street, it was quiet, really quiet. As I walked towards the trash can I saw the white car in front of the house next door, drive past. I couldn't really make out the people in the car but there seemed to be a girl sitting in the passengers seat. I shrugged my shoulders and put the trash in the garbage can. As I made to walk back into the house, I heard a honk behind me. I turned to see my dad's car pulling up the driveway. I stood aside and waited for him to alight the car.
"Welcome, dad", I greeted him. He smiled at me and threw his hands over my shoulders.
"Hm, thanks. So what were you doing outside?", he asked
"I took out the trash", I replied as I opened the door and we walked into the house.
"Oh darling? You're back?", mom said as she saw dad walk through the door. She walked towards him and leaned in to give him a kiss.
"Ew", I said jokingly and made a face like I wanted to puke. Mom laughed and took dad's bag before going upstairs. Dad and I sat on the couch.
"So how was school?", he asked
"It was okay", I replied.
"Really?", he asked. I raised my brows at him. Why was everyone so surprised that I found school to be ok. Did they think because I wasn't too onboard with the move, I'd keep a grumpy face and complain about school? I wasn't that childish.
"Made any new friends?", he asked.
"Sort of"
"Hmm. I hope they are good bunch", he said seriously as he stared at me. I understood what he was trying to say and I looked away.
"We already had dinner, so wait a bit while I heat up your food", mom said as she walked into the kitchen. Dad smiled at her. I noticed it and shook my head. Mom came a while after and set dad's food on the small coffee table because dad was too lazy to get up and walk to the dining. Mom settled on the couch next to him and we started talking about school.
"How were the teachers?", dad asked.
"They are ok, I guess. They seemed really friendly and they looked like they know what they are doing", I replied nonchalantly. Dad seemed satisfied as he nodded.
"And your school mates? How are they?", mom asked me.
"Cool....", I replied as my mind wandered to a particular sassy beauty with a gorgeous smile. I must have sat dazed for a while because by the time I came to, my parents were looking at me weirdly.
"What?", I asked them.
"What were you thinking about?", mom asked curiously.
"Nothing", I replied as I scratched my head nervously. She didn't believe me as she kept looking at me curiously.
"Uhm, I'll head upstairs first. I still have homework to do", I said and went upstairs.
I plopped down on my bed and I thought about everything that happened today. Needless to say the main person on my mind was Tiana. I wasn't really the type to show much interest in girls. In my previous schools, I was a well known well player who only dated girls for the fun of it and for bragging. I went out with numerous girls and I took advantage of thier feelings for me, but it wasn't ever really anything serious for me. I never found girls interesting but there was just something about Tiana that attracted me to her. It was like Rico said, she had her own charm to her, and it was working. Someone like her who could go from emotional and sad to okay and then to sassy and confident within a very short time frame was interesting for me. Someone whose words and facial expressions was different from how she really felt. Someone who is really good at suppressing her emotions. She fascinated me.
Ding! I heard my phone ring it was a direct message on Instagram from Rico. I had exchanged numbers and Instagram handles with him. I immediately followed him and replied his message. We talked for a while before he went offline. Out of everyone in the gang, I think Rico was more my vibe, he was goofy and had an easy going personality. I went through his Instagram account and I saw a recommendation with a very familiar face, 'queensdomain_16'.
I clicked on the account and that smile popped up. It was Tiana's Instagram account. I scrolled up to see her latest upload. She had posted a couple of selfies, barely an hour ago. In the pictures were Tiana and a man whom she looked so much like, no doubt he was her father, one could easily see the resemblance. And in each and every picture she was smiling very widely and beautifully. She looked truly happy.
*****
"You think I wanted this?", he shouted at her "You think I wanted to have a bastard child?!"
She looked at him in sobs. So he didn't want her. He had never wanted her. And now? Did he still not want her now? Was she nothing but a stain in his life?
*****
Tiana's POV
I tugged at dad's arm. I wanted to leave, I was getting uncomfortable. Dad glanced at me.
"Alright Desmond, I'll have to head on now", the man said, thankfully.
"Oh alright", my dad replied.
He looked at me and said, "It was nice meeting you my dear"
I smiled politely at him. He was being polite but I could sense the condescending tone in his voice. Soon he left us. Dad and I remained quiet until dad turned to look at me.
He smiled and said somewhat awkwardly,
"So where do you want to go next?"
"Let's just go get the pizza", I said coldly. He looked at me somewhat apologetically before nodding his head, "Ok"
All through the drive, we remained silent. There was an awkward silence in the car as neither of us spoke first. It wasn't the first time, I had encountered something like that with my dad or even with my step mom for that matter. What hurt me was the man and my dad seemed to be really close, with the way he called my step mom sister-in-law, it was obvious. But yet he didn't know about me. Most of the times when I encountered situations like that it was with people who weren't too close with my dad so it was understandable, but the fact that someone close to him didn't know who I was.... Was he hiding me from the people around him? The way he reacted when the man asked who I was.... was he ashamed of me?
I shook my head. I shouldn't have such thoughts but I couldn't help it but being born a bastard child I was always on my toes and perceptive of the people around me. I always had to prove myself better, that I wasn't completely a mistake and as such, over time I slowly got insecure. I sighed once again. Maybe I was just being too selfish. How could I hope to be introduced with pride by my dad as his daughter and not as awkwardly and embarrassed as he did today. But even still was that too much for a bastard child to ask?