Hours later, I was finally allowed to see my dad. He'd been moved to the ICU and was still unconscious but I was allowed to see him for just a few minutes.
On stepping into his words, my heart clenched at the sight of my dad lying on the bed with all manner of drips connected to his body. His face was also pretty messed up with cuts and bruises which had been cleaned and a black eye. The whole of his forehead was also completely bandaged.
Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I slowly approached the bed he was lying on and slowly took his head. I couldn't stop thinking that this was all my fault.
If I hadn't abandoned him, if I hadn't left... maybe, just maybe my dad wouldn't be laying on this hospital bed.
"I'm so sorry, Daddy. I'm so sorry," I whispered, crying silently. At that moment, my dad gripped my hand which was still in his before releasing his grip with his eyes still closed.
He was still breathing but unconscious and it made
The day had finally arrived. The first round of the competition was being held today, Saturday, and I was incredibly nervous. My palms were sweaty and trembling and my heart was beating a lot faster than was normal for any human being.I was seated in Miss Audrey's car with Max beside me and Nellie seated in the passenger's seat in the front. The car was silent and I guessed everyone was just giving me time to put myself in the right mental space to be able to go ahead with the competition.While I was trying to handle my nerves, I was also very much aware of the individual sitting beside me, almost completely pressed to the door he was leaning on.After he'd almost kissed me a few days ago, things between us had been dreadfully awkward since then. I was hoping we could go back to how we were before but it couldn't be easy for him, having to just be friends with someone he had feelings for.I felt bad and wished I could do more after everything he'd done
After the auditions, Miss Audrey drove by the hospital and dropped me there so I could tell my dad the good news.He was ecstatic as expected and wouldn't stop hugging me."I knew you'd blow them all away. I do wish I could have been there," he admitted somberly."Well, you can always watch the auditions on TV. I'll tell you the channel it's being shown on before I leave.""I'd like that. At least one good thing came out from everything that happened. If I hadn't started drinking, you probably never would have started dancing.""That's a positive way of looking at it, I guess.""So tell me all about it. How were the judges? What did they say to you? I want to hear it all!" he said, patting the space beside him so I could sit beside him. Still grinning, I did as he directed, placed my head on his chest, and began recounting my entire experience at the auditions.***A week after my auditions, my dad was finally disch
It was another day in school. The next round of the competition was fast approaching as were finals. Amidst dealing with classes, dance practice and study sessions, I was still contemplating whether or not to approach Derris and confirm if he really had paid my dad's hospital bills. We still weren't talking so it would be a little weird to approach him. Then again, him paying my dad's medical bills was just as weird. I gained the courage to approach him just as the bell for recess rang. He stopped by his locker to drop some stuff and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity. "Hey," I said as he closed his locker. He didn't seem overly surprised to see me standing behind his locker, almost as though he'd been expecting me. Then again, he'd probably seen my feet under the locker. "What?" He sounded tired and I resisted the urge to ask how he was feeling. "We need to talk," I answered instead. "No," he answered back, already walking
Just like it had last time, Derris' question stumped me. He had pretty much admitted to being in love with me and now he was asking if I felt the same way.I could tell him the truth and answer ‘Yes’ but as much as I wanted to do that, I didn't want to jump into things with Derris, or I risked having my heart broken again."Do you want me to be honest?" I asked before I gave my answer."I'd like that. Yes," he accepted."I do like you. I always have which probably doesn't surprise you considering the number of admirers you have.""But this isn't about them. It's about you," be stated. I managed to keep a smile from appearing, cleared my throat before going on. "As I said, I've always liked you and even though this is a dream come true for me, I'm still not sure about... us — if there even is an “us”.""I understand why you would be hesitant to trust me and I'm sorry for making you feel that way. But my feelings
The next day at school proved to be quite the struggle. Turns out orgasms were only fun when you were getting them. Afterwards, you were sore in places you never imagined being sore and you couldn't exactly talk publicly about it.This was the exact dilemma I was in. The whole day, I had had to keep up with Nellie while trying not to limp or show that I was still having problems walking. Interestingly, Derris and I hadn't even slept together yet.We concluded that it would be best if we took things slowly but he'd definitely taken things way too fast yesterday if you get what I mean.Still, the thought of being with Derris and being as intimate with him as a woman and a man could get excited me more than I could say. He would be my first which was fitting considering he'd been my first everything; my first crush, my first true love, first kiss, first heartbreak and just yesterday, he'd given me my first orgasm.Perhaps, it was time we made it official and
It took a while before I was able to recover from the kick to the guts and slap that Aria gave me. When I did, I stood up and began hitting on the door, hoping and praying that somebody heard me but it was almost as if I was all alone.After I eventually grew tired, I fell to the floor in tears of despair. Who would have thought that after going this far, all my efforts would be thwarted by my boyfriend's jealous ex?This couldn't be the end, right? It couldn't end like this.I buried my face in my hands and ran my hands through my hair while wondering what was the next step from here. Was anyone going to find me today? Was I going to have to spend the night here?I looked around the dark and dusty room, a shiver running down my spine at the idea of sleeping here overnight. The thought was not a pleasing one.I continued to think and think about what to do and had just about given up hope when my hand brushed against something. Slowly, I reached fo
"Allison, what are you doing?" Nellie queried, quizzical eyes fixed on Derris and me who, only minutes ago, had been in each other's arms."Um Nellie, I can explain — ""We're together. Allison is my girlfriend and I'm her boyfriend," Derris announced, draping his arm around me and pulling me close. The look on Nellie and Max's faces made me wish I could step away from Derris but I didn't want to make things any more awkward than they already were."Boyfriend? You're joking, right? Tell me you're joking!" Nellie insisted."He's telling the truth. We're... dating," I managed to say, unable to look at either Nellie or Max in the eyes."Allison! Why would you keep something that huge away from me? Was that what you meant to tell me? Wait, was he the reason — Oh God! Have you two slept together?!" Nellie exclaimed, a horrified expression on her face."No, no. Of course not," I quickly answered. "And I was going to tell you — ev
Slowly, after giving it a lot of thought, I began to walk towards the car which still hadn't moved. I couldn't see in because all the windows were tinted so I decided it was best to just find out what was going on instead of wondering.But I trusted Derris and I knew that nothing was going on in the car.On reaching the car, I tapped on Derris' window and watched the window come down."Hey, Derris." I planted a kiss on his lips before passing a look at Aria who I noted had her shirt unbuttoned. Noticing the change in my expression, Derris looked behind at and groaned."For the love of God, Aria, can you just do without acting? Did you seriously have to try and pretend as though something was going on even though nothing was!""It's pretty obvious, Derris. Stop leading poor Red here on and just get with me already," she grabbed his hand and was about to place it on her chest but I wasn't having any of it.I grabbed Derris' wrist and freed him
"Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" I inquired, looking at his stitched-up wound with concern. "I'm sure. You heard the medic. It wasn't really serious. The bullet just grazed me. I'll be fine," he assured me but it did nothing to abate my worry. "But still... You could have been seriously injured. Why did you have to rush in like that?" "It was all worth it to make sure you didn't leave here in a body bag. I'd do anything to protect you," he stated, staring seriously at me. "How about you try not to die while you're at it?" He chuckled. "I'll do my best." I nodded to show that I was satisfied and continued to look at his wound. "Allison?" he called. I looked up from the wound. "Yes?" "About what Aria said—" he started. I raised my hand to stop him. "I don't want to hear it. Be it the truth or not," I told him. "I still want you to know. I've kept it to myself for so long but I didn't know how I w
I had several hours before my flight to England which was taking off early tomorrow morning. Nellie being Nellie, she'd organized a get-together for all of us. A farewell party for me.At the party, she'd decided to embarrass me by unexpectedly showing up with an album containing pictures from my childhood that had somehow ended up at her place.Baby photos, bath photos, birthday photos, embarrassing pictures; it was there and Nellie was taking great delight in my embarrassment."I hate you!" I whispered to her while Max and Derris were laughing over a picture taken of me trying to steal a piece of my birthday cake before the birthday and ending it with it all over."Aww! I love you too, boo," she replied, blowing a kiss at me. I rolled my eyes at her before attempting to snatch the album from them."Hey! What gives?" Max whined. "I think that's enough pictures for one day, don't you think? Besides, aren't you guys supposed to be sad that I'm leavi
Neither Derris nor I spoke about the situation with his mom again. Things were a little tense because of it so ignoring it was probably for the best. The next day, Derris got discharged from the hospital so he could finally go home which was enough cause for celebration. But I was also reminded of the fact that that meant I would be leaving soon. I had told my dad to book another flight, guaranteeing him that nothing was going to stop us from leaving this time. The flight was booked to go in three days. Three days to say goodbye to everything and everyone I'd ever known and loved. It was a little depressing but I tried my best not to focus on my nearing departure and just live in the moment and at the moment, I was happy that Derris was doing okay and out of the hospital. After he was released to us, we — consisting of Max, Caleb, Jeremy, Nellie, Derris and I — piled into Max's car and drove to Derris' house. The atmosphere was filled with excitement
Derris made a quick recovery afterwards. It was probably because of his phobia for hospitals after his experience when he was younger but either way, I was happy about that. But despite all my pleas, he'd still refused to see his mom and even when she tried to speak to him, he'd either ignore her or coldly tell her to leave because she wasn't wanted. It was clear he'd made us his mind and that was what worried me. I knew that if he continued to hold on to his resentment for his parents, it would only come back to harm him later on. In a way, it already had. I just had to make him see that. A day to his discharge, I was with him in his ward, reading a book to him like he'd asked me to. When I looked up from the book though, he wasn't looking at me like he always did. Instead, he was staring into space thoughtfully. I dropped the book on my lap and tapped him. "Hey. What are you thinking about?" "Everything and nothing, I guess. Why'd you stop?"
Long story short, I missed my flight the next day. It was a little hard to explain why I couldn't leave town just yet to my dad but being the caring person he was, he understood. Since the family who bought our house didn't have plans to move in just yet, we didn't have to move out yet so our accommodation was settled, at least for now. The next few days after Derris' accident though, were anything but. As it turned out, his injuries were a lot severe and he had to be rushed into surgery two times while still being in a coma. Every moment he spent in surgery was a moment I spent wondering if he would come out alive. And when he did, I was torn between being happy that he made it out and devastated that he was still in a coma. But after seeing his car and the accident scene, it really was a wonder he hadn't died on the spot. Supposedly, Derris had crashed into a parked car from behind and then had his car run into by another car. The police rep
Things progressed smoothly for a while. My dad got a few offers for the house and eventually decided on one. With the down payment, we were able to find a little flat abroad which we paid for upfront.The plan was to move to England about a month before I was to resume at Sunnyside which would give us the time to settle in at our new place.To get rid of the stuff we couldn't bring with us, my dad insisted we had a yard sale which turned out to be a little harder than I thought.We kept only the things that were important to us and our family as a whole and put the more trivial things on sale but even then, seeing other kids touch my little sister's old dolls, the twin's colouring sets and other things like that...It was a lot harder than I thought it would be.But after the yard sale ended, it felt as though a load had been lifted off my shoulders and I could finally breathe. We'd kept those items around for so long and now that they were g
After my conversation with my dad, I got back to Mr Raymond as soon as possible and told him that I had accepted his offer. He was ecstatic, to say the least. He told me to inform him whenever I planned to come to England so my accommodation could be made available.I did, however, have a few months before the dance academy came back into session.My dad and I planned to move to England though as soon as the house sold so we were working towards that.The thought of moving filled me with fear and excitement. I would be leaving Nellie and the life I had known for years to an entirely different environment. Then again, after the year I had had, the prospect of moving was pretty exciting.It was a mix of emotions. Nellie had been pretty sad when I told her my plans."You know I'm always going to have your back no matter what. I'm so happy for you— and also sad. I'm going to miss you, Allison," she sniffled. I rolled my eyes at her dramatics.
Later that night, I was in my room, browsing through my computer for information about Sunnyside. Turns out it was a pretty big establishment and a highly respected one at that.I had no idea how I never knew about them but the more stuff I learnt about, the more my desire to attend the school was piqued.There was just one problem. The school was far away in England and would require me to stay there. Was I ready to uproot my life and that of my dad's? Would my dad even agree to it?I sighed as I turned off my laptop and walked over to my bed, sighing heavily as I flopped on the bed.I still hadn't told my dad about the leaked video and now there was this. The offer was literally godsent but what would my dad think of it?At that moment, there was a knock at my door before it was opened and my dad popped his head in. I sat upright and smiled as my dad walked in, bearing a tray."Hey Dad," I mumbled."Hey, sweetheart. Just thoug
The next few days after my return to school were tumultuous, to say the least. After what Derris did to the guy who assaulted me, no one approached me directly again.Instead, their attacks were more discreet. I got messages instead. Notes, private anonymous messages from people telling me all the nasty things that they couldn't say to my face for fear of upsetting Derris.Every day, I walked into school, looking at the faces around me, wondering who sent the last messages.Nellie told me to just ignore it and not read them but sometimes I just couldn't help it and I got hurt.Some were even accompanied by pictures from the clip and lewd messages. The video had been taken down but pictures couldn't exactly be erased.I tried to ignore it and not let all the whispers, murmurs and messages get to me like Nellie advised but it was easier said than done.I felt trapped at school like my every move was being watched and at home too. I knew that s