Chapter 5Song for the chapter: Echo - Jason Walker “Sometimes when I close my eyes I pre

Chapter 5 Song for the chapter: Echo - Jason Walker “Sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I’m alright, but it’s never enough.” ★☆★ Vivian’s POV I slam the front door closed, and wipe some stray tears off my cheeks. The stench of alcohol hits my nose, causing me to wrinkle it. No matter how many times I walk into the house, to this smell, it always bothers me. A wave a relief washes over me, knowing that if this is the smell I come home to, my mother is either A.) passed out on the ground, B) couch, C) kitchen table, or D) in her room. I pray that it’s D, because I do not want to have to deal with taking her to her room with Sonya. Taking slow, cautious steps, I make my way into our enormous kitchen. She’s not hunched over the counter or kitchen table, so that’s good. I make my way into the living room, and the smell becomes worse. I groan when I see my mother face down with her hand wrapped around a bottle of scotch. “Sonya!” I yell, my voice echoing throughout the empty house. After a few seconds she hurries down the stairs, “You called for me Miss Vivian?” She questions, then notices my mother. “Oh, yes. Shall we take her to her bedroom?” I shake my head, “No, just help me get her on the couch.” We both grab two of her limbs, and lift to get her on the couch. I throw a blanket over her and walk up to my room. “Thank you Sonya.” I call from the stairs. “You’re very welcome Miss Vivian. Is there anything else you’d like?” She replies politely. I think for a minute, still walking up our grand staircase, “Chocolate chip cookies sound good right now.” I turn around, and smile at her. She nods, and smiles back, “I will bring them up to your room when they’re ready.” “Thanks.” I chirp, and turn back around rushing to my room. I throw my bag on the ground, and collapse on my bed, exhausted. Just the events of today are enough to exhaust me for the whole week. First Luke being so sweet as he helped me with my math, then Trent annoying me during French, lunch and talking about my Sweet Sixteen, Luke calling me out at the end of the day, then he jumps out of a moving car to come apologize to me. That boy has crazy mood swings, and I don’t know if I can handle them without doing something I’ll regret. I sigh, and close my eyes, just wanting to forget about everything. Wanting to forget about everyone. Wanting to have a new life, where I don’t have to be fake, and I can actually have a good time around my friends, instead of being miserable. I want to have friends like Charlie and Annie, who are there for each other, and feel safe telling each other anything. With Kenzie it’s all one sided. How she got a date on the weekend, how she bought the cutest purse, how her new puppy ruined her favorite pair of jimmy choo’s, how Ashton just won’t pay attention to her. She never asks how I am, which is a good thing sometimes. There’s no way I could ever tell her about my parents, she’d just tell the next person she saw, until the whole world knew. It’s quite exhausting being her best friend. Not wanting to think about any of that anymore, I pull out my homework, and get started on it. After I write a semi-satisfactory essay for English, I move onto history. After I Google my way through half of the assignment, I take out my math homework, sighing when I see Luke’s messy boyish handwriting on my paper. I just don’t understand what happened. As he was helping me with the math, which I don’t understand at all, he was so nice and sweet. I was beyond embarrassed at how many he needed to help we with, and he dismissed it right away. Then he had to go and ask to be my tutor, and foiled what we had. We didn’t even have anything, but I didn’t think of him so badly anymore. Then he had to say everything about me putting on an act, and be spot on about everything. As he called me out for everything, he wasn’t even being rude about it. He was calm, and collected, and civil about it all. Even though what he said was more on the side of being mean, he didn’t show any anger or resentment towards me, which confuses me even more. What is he trying to do? What confused me the most, is that he jumped out of his friends car, to chase me down and start to apologize. How his face fell when he saw I was crying messed with my heart. How I allowed him to see me crying again makes me pissed at myself. I angrily wipe away a tear I feel falling down my face. I really need to stop crying because of this stupid boy. A sound of knuckles rapping on my bedroom door brings me out of my thoughts. “Come in, Sonya.” I call, wiping every tear off my face. The smell of chocolate chip cookies invade my senses, causing me to snap my head up. My father walks in the door with a plate of fresh cookies, wearing a huge smile on his face. “I decided to bring these up for Sonya, I needed to talk to you.” he says, handing me the plate of cookies. I set them down on my desk, and turn to my father, with my arms crossed over my chest. “I am going on a business trip. I should be back by your birthday, but I’m not positive that I will be. I’ve spoken to your mother about the party. You can have it wherever, and invite whomever.” Not saying a word, I continue to stare at him, no emotions on my face. He sighs, “You’re keeping up the silent treatment act I see. Well, when you want to grow up and be mature about things, you can call me.” he states, “My flight leaves in an hour. I’ll see you in two weeks.” He starts to walk towards me, but I take a step back. He rolls his eyes and leaves my bedroom. I slam my door shut, letting out a scream of frustration. Tears start to stream down my cheeks again. By business trip, he means to go meet up with his slut, we all know it. My mother knows everything, and she does nothing about it! She knows that her husband goes away on so called business trips, to cheat on her, and she sits at home waiting for him to return. Our family is so messed up, I don’t even know what to do anymore. Part of me wishes that he would leave her already, and get out of my life, but another part of me prays that they’ll work everything out and get back together, so we can have a normal. That can never happen. Our family can never be fixed. My appetite completely gone, I leave the cookies exactly where he put them. I head to my bathroom, strip down all of my clothes, and get into the shower, hoping that the hot water will wash all of my problems away. ★☆★ “Vivian!” A familiar voice pounds on my bathroom door. My voice is too raw from sobbing and screaming to answer. The pounding continues for a few minutes, until the door opens. “Vivian?” Julian’s worried voice calls, no reply. He pulls back the shower curtain, to find me curled up in a ball on the shower floor, with the water hitting my bare back. His eyes fill with many different emotions, relief, confusion, worry, sympathy. He reaches over and turns off the water, that was now cold. “Viv?” he whispers, trying to get my attention away from the white tiled wall. “He’s going again.” I rasp, finally looking up at Julian, tears continuing to run down my cheeks. “I know,” He clenches his jaw, grabbing me a towel, “I got home right as he was leaving. That bastard had the audacity to tell me he was going to Boston for a business trip.” He hands me the towel, and turns around, allowing me to stand up and wrap the towel around my naked body. Julian turns back around after a few seconds. “You do this every time Viv, and it terrifies me. This time it was for two hours before I came in here.” He murmurs, placing another towel around my shivering body. “I’m sorry.” I whisper, still crying. He sighs and wipes the tears from my cheeks, “C'mon let’s get you changed into some warm clothes.” I allow him to take me into my room, he grabs a big sweater from my closet, as well as some sweat pants, and socks and undergarments from my dresser. He places them on the bed, and walks out the door, letting me have my privacy. With shaking hands I put everything on, then exit my room, to find Julian waiting outside my door. “Hot chocolate?” he questions, knowing exactly what I want after this happens. I nod, and follow him to the kitchen. He quickly makes both of us some, and we take it to the theater room. He puts on a random movie. Thankfully the movie takes my mind off of everything. About half way through it my eyes start to droop, and I allow myself to fall asleep. After a while I feel Julian place his strong arms under me, and take me to my room. Once I’m securely under my blankets, Julian leans down and places a kiss on my forehead, “Everything will get better, I promise.” He whispers softly, before exiting my room, allowing me to fall completely out of consciousness. ★☆★ “What for breakfast Miss Vivian?” Sonya asks when I sit down at the counter stool. I think for a moment, “Eggs and bacon, please.” “I’ll have the same.” Julian calls, jogging down the stairs in his pajamas. She nods and gets to work on our breakfast. “Why are you up so early?” I question, looking over to Julian. He groans and rubs his eyes, “You woke me up with your sobbing an hour ago.” I look to my lap, “Sorry.” I mumble, ashamed that the first thing I did in the morning was cry my eyes out. “It’s all good. Ever thing will get better soon, I promise.” He whispers, rubbing my back. We make small talk for a while, then Sonya finally finishes our breakfast. After eating, Julian and I part to our rooms, and get ready for another long day at school. I put on all of my makeup, covering my tear tracks, making sure that no one can tell I was crying at all. I put on my warm, but stylish outfit, curl my hair just right, and do everything else I need to get ready for school. “Viv, you almost ready?” Julian yells through my door. I grab my purse after tying up my boots, and open my door. “Yeah.” I say, and follow him downstairs to the garage. “I can’t wait until you can finally drive.” he jokes, sending me a grin as he drives towards our school. I send him a smile, and laugh a little. I am excited to drive, so I can go places I want and everything, but I’m scared too. We finally pull up to the school, and get out, walking into the building together. We part ways, me heading to my locker, him heading probably to find his catch of the week. Kenzie runs up to me, and starts talking about something I don’t care about, but thankfully the bell rings before I have to respond. We both head to math, her still talking. She finally shuts up when Mr. Hensley starts to talk. I look around, purposely avoiding looking at Luke. Our homework gets passed out, and I start to work on it, not understanding it at all. After a few minutes I hear quiet talking. I look up and see Luke at Mr. Hensley’s desk. They talk a little, then Luke nods and turns around, looking out at the classroom. Just as we make eye contact, I look down at my paper. I hear footsteps approaching me, and bite my lip. “Vivian?” Luke asks. I lift my head to meet his gaze, “What?” “You need help?” He asks, chewing on his bottom lip. I shake my head, and turn my head back to my paper. Luke sighs, but walks away. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in. A few minutes later, and I’m still stuck on the first problem. I don’t know what I’m going to do on the test we’re having in two days, I’m surely going to fail it. Someone clears their throat, and I look up to see that it’s Luke. Before I can tell him that I don’t need his help, he sits down in front of me. “Look, I know you probably hate me, but just let me explain myself.” He says quickly. I sit back and stare blankly at him. “Okay, well, I didn’t think I would get this far.” He admits. I raise an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, okay so first of all, I’m sorry for my friends. They’re assholes, I mean jerks, yeah they’re jerks.” He stammers, and I have to keep myself from laughing at him. “I’m sorry for basically attacking you yesterday, all of that was uncalled for. I just don’t understand what happened. One day I find you crying in the library, and then you act like nothing happened. I just want to know what’s going on Vivian. Is it McKenzie? Julian? Something going on at home? Has Trent done something to you?” He asks, his jaw clenching when he mentions Trent. “Luke, stop. Nothing is going on, and if something was, it’d be none of your business. Now either leave me alone, or help me with the homework.” I reply, staring him right in the eye. He stares at me for a minute, then sighs, “What are you confused about?” “All of it.” I admit. He smiles slightly, “Okay so…” He goes on and explains the problem to me. “Jeez, Luke, you should be a math teacher. You’re better than Mr. Hensley!” I whisper, laughing lightly. “Maybe I will be one, like my mum.” He nods, a small smile on his face. I look up at him, “Your mom’s a math teacher?” He nods, “Yeah she teachers over at the middle school.” “No wonder you’re so good at math.” I mumble, feeling embarrassed at how terrible I am at it. “Yeah, I guess its hereditary.” Luke grin, and winks at me. I feel my cheeks heat up, and I look down at my lap. Just a wink from him makes me feel weird on the inside. Trent winks at me all the time, and all it does is disgusts me. Why was Luke’s any different? “What about your mum, what does she do?” He snaps me out of my thoughts,  I look up at him, giving him a tight smile, “She’s a homemaker."  What I wanted to say is, ‘she sits at home all day drinking her heart away, lying face down by the time I get home.' but of course, I didn’t.  Luke gives me a suspicious look, "Sounds nice.” I nod, “How do you do number 7?” Before he can answer, the bell rings, signalling the end of first period. I let out a breath of frustration, and look up to Luke.  He frowns, “I could always tutor you, and we don’t have to tell anyone, it can be completely secret, if that’s what you’re worried about.” the hurt on his face makes my heart drop to my stomach. “No, Luke it’s not that. I just don’t need a tutor. Thanks though.” I answer, grabbing my things, and getting out of my seat.  “Come on Viv, Trent is waiting for us, or should I say you.” Kenzie squeals, linking her arm in mine, and pulling me away from Luke, who looks more pissed of than hurt now.  Oh joy.  ★☆★ Authors Note: Chapter 5, bonding time between Viv+Julian, and finding out more about Viv. Also a little Luke, bc you know this is a fanfic about him lol So I don’t really know how I feel about this chapter. It took me longer to write, bc I originally planned something, and I changed my mind so I had to rewrite half of the chapter.  Tell me if you like it, by voting and commenting! Love you all,  Hugs & Kisses -Hannahxx -- source link

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