After a sleepless night at Laurissa’s, she heard the car pulling into the driveway. Finally, her dad came back. Luna was ready to scream at her dad for leaving her.
“Dad, where’s Paige?” Luna's concerned face showed because she didn't understand what was going on.
“If you must know, I only had Paige for the day and since you were having a big girl tantrum. I decided that your punishment was that you wouldn’t come with us.” When he said big girl, he gestured air quotes to make it look like I don’t understand what he meant.
“So, let me get this straight. My punishment for telling you how I feel was to prove my point by leaving.” She was waiting for the horrible response that he would come up with.
“Oh, Luna. You act like you’re grown up when you still have so much to learn. That wasn’t your punishment. Your punishment is staying home the entire day without seeing Laurissa.” Wow, good punishment, dad, but that won’t happen.
“Okay, so let me see if I am grown enough for this line. When you told me, you were going to change your ways for me. Did that only matter when others were around, or does that matter when it's just us? I bet you didn't know that I waited all day for you to come home yesterday. No? I figured. So, while you were out with Paige, I waited in that dangerous house because I wanted to have this conversation with you alone. So is everything I just said, right?” Laurissa could tell that Luna was about to cross a huge line. No one knew what to say. No one knew what anyone was going to say next.
“Luna Amelia Ramos! I am your father! Show some respect right now!” Oh, he’s going to use that card. Luna knew the exact response. It was almost like she planned it all in her head to be a step ahead of him. She wanted to curse in front of all of them, but she made a rule for herself. The rule is: unless they said it is okay to curse in front of them, don’t curse even if Luna really wants to.
“Okay, you’re my father, but if I’m your child. Can you tell me anything that is going on in my life right now that you didn’t just learn about me in two days? I’m not being disrespectful. All I am doing is stating facts. Just like the fact that when I told you I didn’t trust Raina and her band of misfit toys; instead of listening to me, you wanted me to give them a chance. I didn’t want to give them a chance. I told you I had a bad feeling about them, but you said you trusted them. I let them slide because they gained your trust. Now, let’s look at the situation. You lost your home, car, and job, thanks to them. Can you really tell me they were good for you?” Luna finally felt like she was being listened to. She knew she wanted that more than anything in her life, and she was only 11 years old. She was shocked that she said all of that aloud, but she was more shocked that she said it all in front of Laurissa and Sammy. They feared what her dad could say next. And so was Luna.
Luna had to hold her breath once again to keep herself from crying from all the extra pain that was crushing her heart. She had to think about only good things; she thought about how she wasn’t afraid to let her true self be shown in front of the people that truly care about her. She thought about how she could stand up to her music teachers that thought she was a better singer when she only sang female singers. She thought about being able to possibly hold Oliver’s hand in the hallways on their way to their next classes. She could feel her chest slowly getting lighter, which made things easier because her dad didn’t know what he was going to say. He looked at her. She could read his face. He saw his daughter breaking from all the pain he put on her. He saw his daughter and realized that he hadn’t been listening to her for a while and that he still wasn’t listening to her, even in the current argument.
“Luna, you’re too young to know what I have been going through. Having this tantrum isn’t making things easier. So, what I am going to do is walk back out that door and come back in and we are going to restart this week together and you are going to be happy to be with me for the week and stop talking back.” Yeah. He would rather restart everything than face everything head on. She was used to that, sadly. She knew she had to restart the past 2 days. She knew she would have to be the one to explain it to Laurissa and Sammy. She knew they would be completely confused and would want some sort of explanation, but sadly, she couldn’t give them one.
Luna turned around to see Laurissa and Sammy confused. All she could was hope that she could pull off this restart. “I will explain the restart. Can we just wait until he gets it? It’s a weird thing he has me do if our time together isn’t going according to his plan.” Clearly, they understood that moment.
They went to the kitchen to stay out of the way. She could feel a sharp feeling in her chest. It was always the same pain Luna would have after a call with her dad. This pain was five times worse. She could barely focus on one thing. She didn't know if she could pull this one off because all the pain was causing her to tear up. She was on the verge of crying and just leaving, but she knew that wasn’t an option for her right now. Instead, she did something that started a dangerous habit. She slapped herself in the face and reminded herself that she was safe. She wasn’t able to tell herself that she was going to be okay, because she knew she was lying to herself. She forced herself to smile from ear to ear.
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