Secret Bay High Confession (Secret Bay High #3) Page 2

  There’s got to be more to the story than what you’re seeing, but what? It’s not like dad was very open about what he did at work all day, and maybe there was a reason for that.

  But, his name and signature was on that piece of paper in Mr. Brodwick’s office. He did personally agree with the idea that he wanted you to come live with Susan if something happened to him. Of course, he had no idea something really would, and maybe he was studying her in the event that it did.

  Just remember that this wasn’t mom’s doing alone. You weren’t brought here because an alcoholic had a good friend she thought would make a good mother if something were to happen. She didn’t have any friends. If Susan was really the friend of the family she claimed to be, then she would have to have known dad more than mom.

  But how does this all tie in with Dean? How does it tie into Damon’s parents? Why were the four of them all brought together on a single file? Dad had weird ways of doing things, but he was always very organized. He had to keep them together for a very specific reason, and now you’ve got to connect the dots there, too.

  For a brief moment, I wondered if talking to Dean would be a good idea. Maybe he would have more answers about the situation – and Damon. The two of them were close, and I knew Damon had gone to Dean more often these days than he had gone to Susan.

  Though she was the one who had raised him since the fourth grade, the two of them fought about practically everything these days. He found a father figure in Dean, and more than once he had told me that Dean was on our side a lot more than Susan was.

  But then, with Susan and Dean starting to see each other again, it was likely he would take her side and keep information from me if she didn’t want me to know the truth. I didn’t know how much they talked about my past, and I didn’t know how much Dean knew about me as a person.

  I had only talked to him a couple times, and it was always brief and rather vague when I did. I never went to him over anything, and though Damon might think the world of him, I wasn’t sure who to trust in my life.

  With a sigh, I sat down on my bed and skimmed over the notes, my head pounding from the stress of the day. There were so many things I wanted to know, but I was at a dead end. For now, at least.

  Until I was able to get more information about those two people who were listed with Dean and Susan, and until I could get Damon to open up to me about his home life before Susan, I was back to square one. I had more information, but nothing that was leading anywhere productive.

  I wanted to call Abby, but with all the stuff she was going through in her personal life, I didn’t want to dump more of this on her. I laid back on my pillow and stared up at the ceiling. The sound of Susan getting home echoed through the hall, but I didn’t bother moving from where I lay.

  There wasn’t any sound coming from Damon’s room, either, so I knew he wasn’t in any hurry to go downstairs to see his mom. We both were likely just going to wait until she called us for dinner to even bother opening our doors.

  It would be over an hour until that happened, so I just closed my eyes, resting for a moment and trying to quiet my thoughts. I would take a nap if I could manage to get to sleep, even if it was just a short one at best.

  Anything to quiet the storm that was brewing inside me was a welcome distraction from my life.

  Anything.

  Chapter 2

  Sutton

  My eyes fluttered open and I realized morning had come too soon. I’d only been out of my room for dinner the night before, then I went straight back and closed myself in. Damon had refused to come downstairs to eat with us, and Susan was too tired to argue with him so she just let him do what he wanted.

  I kept the conversation lighthearted and avoided most of her questions about my day during dinner, but I got the impression she could sense there was something wrong. But, I wasn’t going to tell her what Damon and I had discovered that afternoon, and I kept bringing the topic back to school.

  Susan had learned I wasn’t very social after dinner, and lately she had given up on trying to get me to hang out with her during the evening. So, I’m sure it didn’t come as a surprise to her when I headed back to my room as soon as the meal was over.

  I’d watched tv for a while, working on my homework as I did. But, I still ended up going to bed on the early side. I was stressed out about what I had found at my father’s office, and I didn’t want to spend the night tossing and turning over it.

  Though I hadn’t slept well, I finally drifted off around midnight, and woke now feeling tired. Grabbing my phone, I checked to see what time it was and saw I had missed a call from Abby.

  She had called at some point after I’d gone to sleep, and I was immediately alarmed. Abby wasn’t one to stay up all night, especially on a school night. And, the fact that she didn’t leave me a voicemail was also concerning.

  Though it was still early, I called her back, laying on my pillow and listening to the phone ring. Finally, she answered.

  “Hello?” her voice was groggy.

  “I saw that you called last night,” I said. “Are you okay?”

  “No,” she said, her voice cracking. “Sorry. I just woke up. Give me a second.”

  I waited in silence as I heard her on the other end of the line. I tried not to read into the situation, but I was sure I could hear her muffling sobs. With all she had going on right now, I hoped it wasn’t anything too bad, but I wasn’t going to push.

  She would talk when she was ready, so I just sat silently and waited for that to happen. It took a couple moments for Abby to compose herself, but when she did, she explained to me what happened.

  “I know it’s dumb, but I really want to work things out with Peter,” she said. “I didn’t realize how much I really liked him until things started to fall apart, and now I want him back, more than anything.”

  “Did you talk to him about it?” I asked. “That might help if he knows how you feel.”

  “I tried to last night,” she said. Her voice cracked again, and I heard her take the time to compose herself all over. She was really ripped up, and I wondered if all this really had to do with Peter. The two of them were close, inseparable during their brief fling, but in my mind, that’s all they had.

  A fling.

  And it was brief.

  They had only been a real item for a couple of weeks, and though they had gotten intense really fast, the fact of the matter was I felt the two of them were peas in a pod. It was hard to be around at times, and I had to admit, there were times when I felt jealous over how close they were with the feelings I struggled with toward Damon.

  I wanted to have him, but I knew I couldn’t. The two of us had gotten involved romantically, and it was part of the drama I now felt toward him. I wanted so much, but with Susan putting her foot down and telling us it wasn’t going to happen, and with all the extra things that were going on in life, there was just no way for me to try to make it work with him.

  And, it didn’t help that he really didn’t understand why we had to respect what Susan wanted. In his mind, we were nearly adults and able to make our own decisions, and if that meant we were going to be together, then Susan was just going to have to deal with it despite the fact that she was our foster parent and we lived under her roof.

  But, that was all my own personal drama. Right now, I had to be there for my friend.

  “I tried last night,” she said again when she had more control over herself. “But it just turned into a huge fight. I think I missed my chance with him, really. Like, I had a good chance there for a while, but I blew it and now it’s over for good.”

  “It’s going to be okay,” I said, trying my best to be supportive. “He might come around, but even if he doesn’t, it’s his loss, right?”

  I tried to say what I thought she would say to me if the situation was reversed, but I still had a feeling I wasn’t helping much.

  “Right,” she said slowly, though her voice told me she wasn’t convinced. “But it hurts, and I want him. I can’t see myself being with anyone else. I don’t want to be with anyone else, ever.”

  I took a deep breath. I wanted to tell her she was pretty young to feel that way, but I could relate. I didn’t see myself with anyone but Damon, and I wasn’t ashamed to say so. Even if it wasn’t ever meant to be, I knew that he was the one I would always have in the back of my mind and the bottom of my heart.

  “We’ll talk about it at school,” I said. “It might be easier for me to help you if we were face to face.”

  “I’m not going to school today,” Abby replied. “There’s no way I can deal with all that when I’ve got so much on my mind.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to just be at home all day,” I told her. “I mean, you’re going to wind up getting depressed and everything. You know how hard it is to break out of that when it sets in.”

  “I know,” she said, a sob threatening to take over, “But there’s no way I’m going to be able to talk to Peter, or even sit in class with him for that matter. And if he talks to any other girls in front of me – which he might do just because he’s mad at me – I’ll lose it.”

  “Honey,” I said, my voice hanging in the air. I wasn’t sure what to add, but I wanted Abby to feel better. I would do anything to help her, but I knew there wasn’t anything I could do.

  I had been left to deal with my own problems so many times in life, it was hard for me to give advice to others on how to solve theirs.

  “Why don’t you come over after school?” Abby suggested. “You can tell my mom you’re dropping off homework or something.”

  “Okay,” I said, agreeing in my mind the idea would be a good one. Not only would I get to see Abby, but it would be reason not to come home myself after school.
I could tell Susan on my way out the door I was going over to Abby’s, and I wouldn’t have to worry about seeing her or Damon.

  “Great,” she said. “I’m going to try to get some more sleep. But I’m looking forward to seeing you.”

  “Hang in there,” I told her before hanging up the phone. “You’re going to be okay, and this is all going to work out.”

  “I hope so,” she said. We ended the conversation and I set the phone down on my nightstand, reflecting on what I’d just said. I knew I had to get up and get ready for the day, but my own words echoed in the back of my mind.

  Everything’s going to work out. You know, Abby, I hope so, too.

  I tucked the homework under my arm as I rounded the corner to Abby’s house. As I walked, I thought about the day at school and how weird it was my life had turned into what it had.

  I had seen my ex best friend, Molly, surrounded with her cronies. She had been bullying me relentlessly since I started coming to Secret Bay High, and I was glad when she didn’t bother to grace me with her time. We only briefly made eye contact, but I ignored her before she had the chance to give me a look or make some comment to her friends in front of me.

  I avoided Damon like the plague in the hall, and he seemed fine with giving me space as well. Though he was doing his best to be there for me, he had been getting more and more distant from me with each passing day. I had a feeling the whole office incident would be enough to really put a wedge between us.

  Then, there was Chad. He had also been avoiding me for the most part since the night he had tried to force himself on me. It had only gotten worse when I rejected his apology and Damon had kicked the crap out of him in the ring in the basement of Louie’s.

  But today, he gave me a strange look that sent shivers down my spine. He was always creepy and shady, but there was something about him that afternoon that was more so than usual. I was glad we were in the middle of the school. I didn’t want to think about what he might do if he was looking at me like that and we were somewhere away from other people.

  I’d even looked over my shoulder a couple of times when I was on my way to Abby’s house, just to make sure he wasn’t following me. I’d already decided I was going to tell her all about it when I got there, and I hoped she would have some sort of advice on how to deal with him even if she was caught up in her own relationship drama.

  Her mother answered the door when I rang the bell, and I quickly explained I was there to drop off homework.

  “She texted me and said she didn’t want to fall behind with graduation coming up in a couple months, and every day helps,” I said.

  “That’s so nice of you,” her mother beamed. “Abby’s been going through a lot lately, and I’m glad to know she has some friends at school who care about her.”

  “She’s cared about, that’s for sure,” I said as I walked up the hall and toward her bedroom. I knocked lightly on the door before opening it, smiling as I entered.

  Abby was a wreck. It was clear by her smeared makeup and messy hair she had spent the day crying in bed, and I felt bad for her. Almost immediately, I realized it wasn’t a good day to talk about my problems, and I settled in to listen to her talk about Peter and what went wrong. It took about half an hour for her to work through all the details, and when she finished, she just took a deep breath before letting more tears run down her cheeks.

  “It’s going to be all right,” I said again, unsure of what else to add. “Just give him some time to realize how much he misses you, really.”

  “I hope so,” she said. “But I mean, I feel like this is just one more thing I have to deal with, and I really don’t know what to do about it.”

  “I know,” I said. “But really, graduation is coming, and we can all move on with our lives. This seems like such a big deal now, but is it really going to matter when we aren’t forced to see each other every day?”

  “That’s part of what I’m afraid of,” she said. “When he’s not forced to see me every day he’s just going to forget about me and move on with his life. He’ll find some other girl and be happy and I’ll never have anyone.”

  “You’ll find someone,” I tried, but she shook her head.

  “I don’t want anyone else. I just want Peter,” she said.

  I nodded but said nothing. I knew the feeling, and I knew there wasn’t anything I could say that would make her change her mind. On the other hand, I wasn’t so sure that she had to, either. Maybe Peter would come around, I said it with such confidence, but the fact of the matter was I really didn’t know.

  But, I figured sitting with her and just listening to her rant about how she felt was enough today, until she suddenly changed the subject. Looking at me, Abby took a deep breath.

  “Have you ever wondered why my dad is never around?” she asked suddenly.

  Chapter 3

  Sutton

  I was confused. I thought I was coming over to support Abby in her breakup from Peter, and I had no idea what her dad would have to do with any of that. At the same time, I really hadn’t given much thought to the fact her dad was wasn’t around.

  She had made mention about him having legal issues, and though she had been really vague about what was going on in the past, I knew that it had something to do with his absence in the house. I’d tried to get her to talk about it before, but she made it clear she really didn’t want to discuss it, and I didn’t want to push.

  I was used to being the person who was gossiped about, and I didn’t want to put her in that position. Even if I was the one who wanted the information out of her, I knew what it was like to have my life exposed when I really didn’t want people to know certain details.

  But now, I just looked at my friend in surprise, trying to find the right words.

  “I thought you said he got in trouble with the law,” I said quietly. “I’m not sure what that would have to do with Peter.”

  “He did,” she said with a sigh. I could hear the quiver in her breath, but once again, I let it go. I wanted to do everything I could to make this as easy as possible for her, even if I wasn’t sure what to say.

  “But before,” she continued at last. “Did you ever think about why you never saw much of him before?”

  “I guess I always just thought he was out working or something,” I said with a shrug. “I really didn’t give it a lot of thought because I was here to hang out with you. My dad was gone a lot when I was younger, so I really don’t pay that much attention to who’s home and who isn’t. I mean, my mom might have been home when I was a kid, but she spent all her time drinking on the couch, and that didn’t really make for much of her being there even if she was sitting there.”

  “He was working all right,” Abby said, ignoring what I’d said about my own parents. “He was working on stealing from the company. I mean, I’m not even sure everything he did, but I know it was bad, and he’s probably going to be in prison for a very long time.”

  I didn’t say anything for a moment. I knew it had to be hard to deal with that. I had to deal with the death of my family, after all, and I could only imagine this had to be similar. But, I also wasn’t sure how this had anything to do with the pain she was feeling about Peter.

  Neither of us spoke as she absentmindedly flipped through the homework I’d brought for her. It was pretty straightforward, but I was still tempted to explain it to her anyway. It would be something to talk about, and the silence in the room wouldn’t feel so overbearing.

  But then, I got the impression she wasn’t even thinking about the paper in her hand as she skimmed the contents. She was clearly lost in thought over the drama that was unfolding around her, and I wished I could take it all away.

  I knew what it was like to have your life fall apart when you weren’t asking for it to happen. I felt my entire life had been a joke up to that point, and there didn’t seem to be any hope that it would be normal in the future.

  “Peter said he can’t be with me because of my father,” Abby blurted out at last. “He said he doesn’t want to be tied to someone who’s in prison for doing something like that, and he can’t be part of the family because of what my father did.”