Bailey
"The dean is ready to see you now."
I nod before swallowing nervously then walking into his office to find him sitting on his chair behind the desk "Mr Robinson, I'm so sorry for showing up unannounced but I need to speak with you."
"Have a seat then" he gestures to the chair opposite him and I immediately sit "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Everything is fine." I almost slap myself for lying "I mean no, everything is not fine."
He leans forward in his seat "Finally coming to confess, Miss Harper?"
I raise an eyebrow in confusion "Excuse me? Confess to what exactly?"
"About what you and your roommates did to that boy Simon."
My heart starts pounding in my chest to the point where I can hear it and I try to keep my voice steady "I don't know what you're talking about, Mr Robinson."
He tilts his head "Don't start playing dumb, Bailey. I know it was you."
"I'm not playing dumb" I shrug "And if you claim to know it's us then why haven't you done anything yet?"
"Because I don't have proof yet but believe me when I say, I will find proof."
"And I hope that you do so that the people who actually did it can be punished for their wrong doings." He won't find any evidence, that much I'm sure of.
His eyes narrow slightly "So why exactly are you here?"
My entire body tense as I get reminded about why I'm here in the first place "I-" my throat close up and I clear it softly and sit up straighter "I'm your daughter."
"I don't understand."
I nod "Right, of course. My mom is Michaela and the two of you were dating years ago yeah? And had a daughter together." I put a hand on my chest "Me."
His cheek twitch as he clenches and unclenches his jaw "That can't be. There's no way in hell that you're my daughter."
My head pulls back in surprise at his harsh tone "I am, my parents told me the truth."
"I thought your parents are died."
"They are." I rush to say "But I saw them in the afterlife and my mom told me."
He shakes his head "I don't believe a thing that you say."
"What? Why not?"
"Because I choose not to believe you, as simple as that." When I frown in confusion, he scoffs and says "I thought I loved Michaela but then I found out she's a manipulative cunt."
My hands clench into fist "Watch how you speak about my mother."
"I'll speak about her however I goddamn please" he casually leans back in his chair "For a while I felt helpless when she took my kid and practically vanished from earth but do you know what I realised?"
"What?" I ask softly, already knowing that I'm not going to like his answer.
"She did me a favour. I was young and stupid for thinking I was in love with her and that I wanted to be a father." He shrugs "I still don't. I especially didn't want a child that shares Michaela's blood, it just took me a while to realise that. And that's why I put a spell on the entire Shadow Sisters."
My heart drops to my stomach "I don't understand."
He sighs heavily like this whole thing is so simple "I'm the one who put a spell on your mom's sisterhood, I wanted them to suffer a long and painful death. I didn't expect them to all burn their houses down, but a win is a win. That's what they get for killing innocent people and that's what your mom gets for taking me for a fool."
I feel like my whole world just crumpled and I feel a sharp stabbing feeling in my chest "It doesn't matter what she did or what you did, it doesn't change the fact that you're my father."
He scoffs "I am no such thing. The only thing that you are is the devil's spawn and you better hope that people don't find out you're the daughter of Michaela because they might hold a grudge against you. Or hurt you."
My bottom lip quivers and I feel tears welling up in my eyes but I don't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me break down so I just stand up and head to the door.
"Bailey." I pause with my hand on the doorknob as a flicker of hope goes through me "This stays between us and as a matter of fact, we never had this conversation."
I feel a tear slide down my left cheek and I scoff "Why? Don't want anyone to know that you have a daughter that you don't care about?"
"No. I don't want you coming between me and Lisa."
I feel a pit in my stomach and without saying a word, I walk out making sure to slam the door as hard as I can ignoring his assistant's look of outrage. When I'm out of the building, I lean against the wall as a sob makes it way out of my body and I clench my jaw to not make too much noise as I squeeze my eyes shut as the tears flow. My heart starts pounding in an unhealthy way as my breathing quickens and I press my hand to my chest as I gasp for air. I loosen my school tie and clench my hands before unclenching it again.
Think of something to make you calm. Mom singing 'Hometown Glory by Adele' pops into my mind and I shake my head.
No, no, no. Don't think about your parents right now. I rummage through all the memories in my brain to find the absolute best ones.
Aunt Lisa cuddling me to sleep when I had nightmares about that night when my life turned upside down. My first kiss with my neighbour when I was 15 on new years under the fireworks. Skipping class and smoking weed with Marcus. Tyler staying with me at the nurse's office while we listened to 'The Cut That Always Bleeds by Conan Gray'. Liliana constantly making me laugh and being a good friend to me. And Eli. Oh, Eli.
My heart rate slowly gets back to normal and I take in a lungful of air before slowly letting it out again. I'm alive. Shitty, but alive.
I glance around to make sure no one just saw that embarrassing scene before wiping my tears and I glance back at the building before raising my hand and with a flicker of my wrist, all the windows shatter.
I wish that made me feel better but it didn't. Somehow I feel worse and knowing how tense my dorm is right now doesn't help with the situation because I definitely don't want to be there and I haven't forgiven Marcus for what he said to both me and Liliana.
It looks like it's about to rain.