Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Upon arriving, Renae couldn't help but notice the school grounds reminded her of colleges she had seen in movies prior. The grass had been soaked from melted snow and mud puddles collected in the slighest holes in the lawn. The sun was shining bright, warming Renaes' head as she rested her head against the window in the car.
Renaes moment of reflection was filled with nerves, she couldn't help but worry about living in a whole new place all by herself. Knowing nothing of the place she was at and knowing no one, her heart raced. Her heart raced till the thought of Tyler crossed her mind, stopping her racing heart and mind. She thought of how he would have been excited to have the new start.
As David parked the SUV, Renae sat there listening to her heart pick up its pace again. Every new place had a hint of terror and excitement, even she couldn't hide from that fact. David slamming the back hatch jumped Renae out of her blank thoughts. Collecting her single bag out of Davids' hands, Renae stood there hesitant. David himself was hesitant as well to speak his mind; "I don't know if you really don't care or if you're just acting like it, I'm assuming the latter but I don't know either way. I just hope that you'll do better here then you did at home." He nudged her towards the sidewalk.
"Home?" Renae scoffed at the thought.
"Regardless, we'll be meeting with the headmaster first before settling in. It was hard to get you in here with your slipping grades and lack of extra carricular so we're not going to be disrespectful. Okay? At least acknowledge him please." He motioned her in the direction she was supposed to go and followed close behind.
"Kay." She sighed. In her head, she knew she wasn't acting the way she wanted.
They walked across the yard towards the largest collection of buildings. Renae's amusement grew as she saw the entrance to the school, two large dark oak doors, she assumed they had to be crafted in the mid eighteen hundreds. The walls of the school were tall, half covered in light mint green wallpaper and half dark oak accents to match the doors and trim. Distracted by the decor, she was surprised with the abrupt stop at similar doors to the entrance and her uncles hand grabbing her arm before she walked into said doors.
The two large doors opened slowly after a light knock from David. With his hand still on her arm, he nudged her inside lightly and waited for her to enter alone. With a single step, a large man came running towards her. "RENAE!" He screamed with his arms extended out towards her and tears of joy streaming down soaking his beard. Before he could tackle her with a hug, she jumped back dropping her bag, pushing her uncle back against the wall and ultimately watched the stanger trip over her bag and hit the floor. Her heart now racing fater then it previously was, she grabbed her chest.
Her voice frail from lack of speaking, she muttered as loud as she could, "I'm sorry, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Her voice cracked as she spoke, then she cleared her throat.
He looked at her intently as he picked himself up and dusted himself off. "Oh, I'm so sorry..." He cleared his own throat sitting upward. "I'm sure you just don't recognize me. It's been..." He paused looking at her, pain gleaming in his eyes "Been quite a long time since we've seen each other last." Seeing his pain, Renae knew she was the one who caused it.
"I guess... you do actually look kind of familiar..." She stared at him, reluctant to actively try and remember him. "I don't know from where though." She looked away into the office to try and break the awkwardness. Her voice grew with each word. David landed his hands on Renaes shoudlers pushing her from pressing him into the wall.
"Please, come in will you?" He smiled and rose to his feet and motioned for them to enter.
They piled inside while Renae grabbed her bag from the floor. Before the doors could even be closed, David placed his other free hand on Renaes shoudler and looked towards the headmaster. "Raerae, this man is... well, he's..." David tried to search for the right words as time could only tick by.
In excitement and impatience, the headmaster practically jumped as he yelled, "I'm your dad!" He jerked himself back and stood there with a smile on his face, he calmed his voice "I know I'm a bit late but, I'm here now."
Renaes reaction was frozen with shock. All the emotions she had made sure were tunred off over the last several months; all the pain she had suffered came rushing back towards her. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, seeminly returning any strength she thought she had lost. Her mind began to spin as his face formed to the few memories she had of him. The day he was taken away, his face from that day flashed in her mind, she watched as they dragged him into the police car, his face matched the man standing in front of her. "No..?" She remembered telling herself that memory was a lie, that he had died. She didn't know what to believe.
"It really is me... sunflower?" He shrugged his arms upwards with high hopes.
"Dad?" She felt a level of broken she hasn't felt yet. His old nickname for her confirmed who he was. No one knew of the nickname except him and her. Before anymore words could be exchanged she dropped her bag and ran into his arms and squeezed him as tight as she could, scared to let him go again. She sobbed into his shoulder as he wrapped his arms just as tight around her, concern filled his heart as he noticed just how small she was for a seventeen year old. His knees weak, he knelt down and still held her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and continued to cry, releasing all the frustration and emotions that had exploded inside of her.
"I'm so sorry..." He whispered in her ear. Not knowing anything else he could say. He saw just how broken she was, how sick she was and he felt it was utterly his fault.
Those words rang in her ears, her pain and suffering faded just as fast as her emotions had shown. That last simple yet strong word hid her sadness and relief and flooded anger. Her body began to burn with rage as she pushed him back as hard as she could forcing him to the ground on his rear. Pure adrenaline pumping through her, she had no idea what she was capable of.
"Excuse me? Sorry? Where have you been?!" She screamed stepping back. Tears stained her burning red face. "I've been looking for you, for forever! How did you even get a job here? Schools can't hire felons. No, not important right now. What about Kelly? She ran away with a guy who I'm pretty sure beats her! You promised us, you promised me. You promised you'd come back for us? Not to mention poor Jace! His wife left him to take care of a baby all by himself." She continued stepping back, scared she'd hurt herself if she let him close to her.
"I-I thought you died..." She looked down at her shaking hands.
Jarrod had no words; he had no choice but to take the verbal lashing his daughter was unleashing upon him. He knew he deserved it. "I can't believe you. You left us with that awful woman. That woman would rather see me dead in a gutter just so she can have another hit of whatever is in a god damn syringe! Jace and Kelly left me with her too, did you know that? Do you have any idea what she did to me? What she made me do? Not to even mention the trauma I had to endure by myself nine months ago. You weren't there for me! I found my best friend..." Her voice dropped to a whisper as her eyes fell to the floor, filling with more tears "My only friend... he wouldn't wake up... I tried to wake him up..."
Her eyes fell back to her hands. Just as she clenched her fist, "HE NEVER WOKE UP!" her voice boomed, shaking the walls and cracking the windows.
Feeling her suffering come rushing back she looked at her aunt, uncle, and her dad. "Do you know how... You can't even begin to understand what that does to a person. What that did to me? I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat. I couldn't breathe. I had to sit at school and deal with it. I had no choice but to suck it up and exist. I lost hope in everything when he killed himself. My only hope was that maybe I'd get hit by a bus and not have to suffer anymore. You didn't care enough to come get us. You didn't care about me. I've never been worth anything to anyone... why am I even here? You weren't there. None of you were." She backed up enough she had passed her bag and her back was pressed against the shattering window.
David held back his tongue and slowly walked towards her. He pulled her into his chest, the three adults fighting back the tears after listening to the only venting she had ever done. All Renae could manage to do in that second was sob into Davids shirt. Taking a deep breath after feeling Davids hand on the back of her head, she gently pushed him back and looked to Jarrod. Legs shaking, she had only a few more words she wanted to say to him. "Do you want to know what I learned about myself? The thing that killed Tyler is inside me." She could only push the rest of her words through her clenched jaw. "It eats at me every day. I'm lucky enough to be able to stand here and yell at you the way I did. I don't even know how I'm able to stand here and look at you."
All of her emothions finally poured out, she stood there watching him breathe. She felt his pain, but her anger was stronger. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Suddenly Renae realized the words that spilled out of her mouth. She didn't mean to sound so hurtful, she lost control of her mouth, just as she had lost control of everything in her life.
"I... I don't know what to say..." He said looking her up and down. Not knowing what else he could do, he stood up and stared at her.
After a few minutes of silence, the bell rang. the halls filled with students and teachers, a group soon formed around the opened doors. "Can you close the doors please?" Renae asked her uncle, wiping the tears from her cheek. She watched the students stare at her, nothing she hadn't felt before.
"Why don't we just give you two some time? I'm feeling a bit hungry anyways. Come on hun." Raeven said as she grabbed Davids arm and Renaes bag. They left the room in a hurry and closed the doors behind them.
"To start answering your questions, I'm not a felon. Not anymore anways. With the help of Jace, I was accuited of all charges. They let me go. I was going to come after you but Jace said that your girls were different. That you thought I hurt your mom on purpose. Jace was old enough to leave on his own and I was scared to show up and you hate me. You never responded to my letters. I made Jace decide between me and your mom and I didn't want to do that to you girls so, I didn't come back. I got a new teaching job here and worked my way up. Your uncle told me about how your grades were suffering, so I figured maybe coming to the academy would have been better for you. I thought maybe I'd give you to option to come here, or not and maybe I'd be able to help you through this rough patch-"
"Sorry? Rough patch? This isn't a rough patch; this is my life!" She interrupted.
"Renae, please just let me finish explaining myself." He pleaded. Reluctantly, she nodded.
"I got a restraining order from your mom shortly after I got here. I wasn't allowed to go back or the restraining order would have been void. Nobody would honor a restraining order if I got it and went straight to her. Plus, I couldn't stand the idea that you thought I would hurt your mom, or you. I didn't know what to think when I never got any replies to my letters. I was scared." He sat in one of the swivel leather chairs in front of his desk.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone