As they got to the car, she could tell that everyone was concerned about Luna’s happiness. Even the boys showed they were worried about Luna. Luna sat next to the door and just leaned against the window the entire time. The car ride back to Laurissa’s place was silent. No one wanted to talk. The radio was playing, but no one wanted to sing. Luna could tell her emotions were dragging everyone down, but she didn’t know what else to do for herself. She had to figure out what was going to happen next for her dad and Luna’s relationship; she thought about what her mom said. She thought about the idea of not talking to her dad anymore; she felt like it could be a good idea. The idea is good, but the thing was Luna couldn’t cut her dad out of her life completely, she would miss him too much. All the crying she did, the fighting that she and Oliver did to get her this strong. She had to think long and hard about this.
When everyone got inside, Luna stayed on the front porch to think she had to make a decision about her safety and happiness. She also knew that her dad wouldn’t look for her in front of the house first, he’d look everywhere but on the front porch. She had a million things, from the idea of kicking her dad out of her life to the idea that her dad was going to show up to her graduation and make a scene in front of everyone. As she heard his car pulling into his grassy driveway, she could feel her nerves getting worse with the idea that he was going to yell at her and make her feel like a terrible daughter. She was terrified because she remembered that those misfit kids were going to be with him; she didn’t want to be near them. She also knew that this was something that she could cry her way out of. She got out of her seat and slowly walked over to her dad’s house. The first person she saw was Lucas. He gave her a smile that anyone would describe as evil, but she knew she had to apologize to her dad. As she was walking closer to her dad’s house, she heard her name called from behind her. It was Sammy. He was probably going to stop her or he was going to also apologize to her dad.
“Luna, you should have told us you were going over there. I will go with you, because I didn’t like how Lucas looked at you and I don’t trust him near you.” Sammy truly was one man that could keep her safe in this timing. He grabbed onto Luna’s hand and they walked over together.
“Luna, thank goodness you are here. I didn’t want to end your time here with us being mad at each other. Thank you, Sammy, for taking her, but she can stay here with me now.” That confused both Luna and Sammy. No one understood what was happening.
“Blake, Luna isn’t staying here. We stand by that line. Laurissa made it very clear. Also, Luna doesn’t trust being here alone. You have to respect that line.”
“Well, I am sorry you and Laurissa feel that way, Sammy, but this is between me and Luna. Luna, don’t you want to stay with me?”
“No, I don’t. I’m sorry, but no. I wanted to say sorry for acting the way I did at the park, but I don’t feel safe with someone else’s kids around me right now. I’m sorry dad, when you drop them off, you can come back and then drop me off back home.” Luna’s head was spinning because she knew she was being very mature for her age. Her mom would be proud of her for standing up for herself against her dad.
“If you feel that way, I can drop you off after I drop them off, but I am not doing two trips, so you can be with us in the car when I drop them off. Sounds like a plan?” Her dad was still not listening to her. She wanted to scream at him, but she knew it would be no use in screaming because he wanted to yell back at her.
“Fine, but I am sitting in the front seat since they are all leaving at the same time. It would be weird to place me in the back with them since I will end up in the front with you after dropping them off.”
“Fine. I will see you tomorrow then. Make sure you pack everything.” She felt her heart get heavy because he was okay with that, but he clearly couldn’t see why she didn’t want to be in the back with them. As Sammy and Luna walked away, Luna was squeezing Sammy’s hand because she was trying to stay strong without hurting herself.
“You have quite the grip, little one. You did good. I am proud of you. I didn’t have to say much, and you didn’t lose your cool.”
As the day progressed, everything went fine. Laurissa asked Luna to help her make dinner, but Luna knew she wanted to keep an eye on her. Luna could tell that they were trying to make her feel better, but she knew that this was something that no one could save her from, but herself. She had to think about how to get out of this mess without causing more issues. As she packed her clothes, she decided to sing a random song. The song she had stuck repeating was Take Your Sweet Time by Jesse McCartney, she didn’t know why it was stuck in her head.
“It isn’t a crime to want/A little space to breathe/But you will be fine/The sun again will shine on you/Whatever you do/Take your sweet, sweet time/‘Cause I’ll be here, when you change your mind/Take your sweet, sweet time/I’ll be here for you, baby/Anytime.”
Luna could feel her heart in this song because she was only thinking about Oliver. She wanted to sing that song to him every day to remind him that she would always be there for him. She kept singing.
“I’m feelin’ you pull away/‘Cause letting go isn’t easy for me/But you’ll never fly/With someone else’s wings, I know/Wherever you go/Take your sweet, sweet time/I will be here, when you change your mind/Take your sweet, sweet time/I’ll be here for you, baby/Anytime.”
As she was singing her heart out, she heard someone clapping. It was Lucas. He was standing at her door frame, watching her. She knew it was real because she saw Laurissa by the sink cleaning the dishes.
“What do you want, Lucas?”
“Well, I want you, of course, but you like to cause scenes, so I can’t do anything about it right now. What were you singing?”
“A song, why do you care?”
“I thought you were singing about me and you. What’s the name of the song?”
“It’s a song. You don’t need to know the name of the song. I wasn’t singing about us because there was and never will be anything between me and you. I was singing a song to someone that actually cares about me, which I know you don’t, so please leave or I’ll scream.” He got away from the doorway and stepped into the room. He was going to close the door, but he knew that would be an automatic scream of terror from Luna. She didn’t know what to do, so she kicked a ball into the kitchen near Laurissa to get her to turn around.
“Hey! You almost hit me, Luna.” She turned around and saw how close Lucas was getting.
“Lucas, please get out of Luna’s room. She has to practice and pack her bags.” Laurissa with the biggest save ever. They both watched Lucas leaving the room and walked toward the boys’ room. She felt her heart beating correctly and felt herself breathing again. Laurissa checked to see if Lucas was truly in the boys’ room. She came into the room and checked if he did anything to Luna.
“Are you okay, Luna? Thank goodness you kicked that ball toward me. I was glad I looked at the right time. Did he touch you?”
“No, thankfully I got your attention right on time. He thought I was singing to him. Can you believe him?” In her head, all she could think about was Oliver. She was ready to see him again, but she also just wished he was there to fight Lucas for her.
“Ewww, that’s gross. You don’t like him like that, and also I doubt your true love would like that.” Just knowing that Laurissa knew about her and Oliver, just made her heart melt.
The rest of the evening was calm, no funny business happened. After an hour, Lucas decided to leave because he was falling asleep with the boys. The boys weren’t going to ask him to stay, they said that he could go back to her dad’s place. Luna felt the love when she heard them saying that he couldn’t stay. She asked Laurissa for a set of pjs because she packed everything away to make the next day move quickly without any problems. She was actually happy to know that she was going back home, she was excited to see Chewie.
As she rechecked her bag, she saw the two graduation tickets that she had to give her dad. She wanted to give it to him as a mini gift for everything, but after everything, she was questioning if she would even give him the tickets. Then she thought about how she wanted Laurissa to see her in the dress and heels especially because her mom was doing her hair. She didn’t know what to do with this situation; she wished she had someone to talk to about the whole thing, but she knew that this was her decision.
The next morning, she grabbed all her things, and she packed her dad’s car before anyone could tell her to do it. Luna managed to finish putting everything in his car within a few minutes, so she had time to have breakfast with Laurissa and everyone before getting in the car ride of death. She was glad she was able to be with Laurissa this entire time. Luna needed her big sister more than anything. Luna knew she was going back to school more relaxed. Luna reached into her back pocket and pulled out the two graduation tickets. After a long night of thinking, she knew she’d regret not having her dad there at her graduation. She handed the tickets to Laurissa, because she knew the minute she gave those tickets to her dad, one of those misfits would take them, thinking they were concert tickets. She also knew that Laurissa would give her dad ground rules to follow to not humiliate Luna on her day. There was one last big group hug before she did all the solo hugs. Sammy got his hug last because his hugs were memorable.
She heard her dad honking the horn to get her attention; she knew that was her queue to leave safety. She didn’t know how fast her dad was going to drop the other kids off, or worse, if he was going to make her hang out with them. She got in the front seat, set herself up for a long car ride.
“Did you have a fun week, Luna?”
“Yes, I did. I’m excited to show off my new dress.” Making it obvious to Lucas that his Wicked Witch of a mother needs a reminder that Luna will always be her dad’s first girl. She wanted to make sure that Lucas could hear her, but she couldn’t tell because he was sitting directly behind her seat. She didn’t like him behind her because she didn’t trust what he was doing.
“Well, I am glad that you love your dress. Do you have the graduation tickets so then I can see you in the dress and heels?”
“I already gave it to Laurissa. I didn’t want you to lose them somewhere. I wouldn’t want you missing out on my graduation, it’s important to me that you come see me graduate.” She didn’t want to sound rude, but she knew she didn’t know if she wanted her dad there. If she would have said that, she was questioning her options. There would have been a fight from the beginning of the car ride all the way to the end of the car ride. She knew if they started a fight in front of the misfit kids, then Rania would use this situation against Luna. That was the last thing Luna wanted.
“Okay, good. She’ll probably give me my ticket when I get back from dropping you off.” She realized what he was doing. He wanted to make it seem like he wasn’t upset with her, but she knew more than anyone that he was upset with her.
The car ride became silent. She didn’t want to breathe hard. Luna turned the radio on to listen to music just to loosen the tension in that car. The moment she turned on the radio, her dad turned it back off.
“Luna, Paige is sleeping back there. We don’t want to wake her.” What? How was Luna supposed to know that Paige was asleep? Also, shouldn’t Paige be used to sleeping through loud sounds because of who her mother is.
They got in front of the Wicked Witch’s lair; she watched everyone get out of the back of the car from the windows and mirrors. Luna didn’t want to get out of the car that was the only safe spot for her. Her dad went over to Rania, hugged her, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Luna felt her stomach churning because she could tell this was going to play out badly. Instead of focusing on her dad’s mistakes, she focused on her singing. She turned the radio back on again and raised the volume to the spot where her voice wouldn’t be heard if she was singing loud and proud. As Luna was about to start singing, her dad opened his door and slammed it closed.
“You okay, dad?” She knew she’d regret asking, but she hated seeing her dad this way.
“Don’t worry about it, love. You wouldn’t understand what is going on, it's an adult problems.” So let’s take the guess of what’s wrong. She knew it had to do with Rania, probably rejected her dad and told him he had to start paying for child support to see Paige anymore. As always, what does Luna know? She’s a child, but her mom constantly explained the court system to Luna.
After that line, the car ride was silent. Luna only heard her dad’s silent crying from the heavy breathing to the sniffling. She only pitied her dad because he caused this pain himself, but she felt like she was a bit responsible about it all. They pulled up at her house. She was finally home. She jumped out of the car with excitement, grabbed her stuff, and put it in front of the door to make it easier. She went back and hugged her dad. His hugs weren’t the same since Rania came into their lives.
“It’s going to be okay, dad. I know you think I don’t understand, but I know that it’s going to be okay soon. I love you. See you at graduation, please don’t be late.”
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