Chapter Three

The moment I arrived home, I could sense the tense atmosphere.

"Dylan, get in here now!" I heard Eliza yell from the living room. Her shrill voice making me cringe.

Of course, as if my day couldn't get more difficult I now had to deal with my hormonal, lunatic step mother. I dragged my feet across the foyer, taking my time to get to the living room. Once I got there, I saw her sitting on the sofa, and beat up Justin sitting across from her.

"How can I help you Eliza?" I asked sweetly, preparing for the worst.

"You can help me by explaining yourself Dylan. Explain to me why you had my son beat up, and why did I have to take time out of my busy schedule to pick him up from school today." She said sternly, her blue eyes filled with anger.

I laughed internally at the "busy schedule" bit, this woman did not have a job. She lived off of my father so I'm not exactly sure what this busy schedule could possibly consist of. Perhaps she meant that her online shopping had been interrupted.

"Well, I definitely did not have your son beat up, I'm not sure what led you to that conclusion, but it isn't true." I said, looking directly at Justin. "If that was the case, I would have been punished by the principal and not your son." I answered, switching my attention to her.

"I see, so you're calling Justin a liar then?" She asked, squinting at me.

Yes, I thought. Yes I am. Justin was a liar, he'd been a liar since the day I met him at 8 years old. Nine years later, and nothing has changed.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time." I said under my breath.

"You little bit-" Justin started, and was quickly cut off when his mother held her hand in front of his face in a silencing motion.

"You are digging a deeper hole for yourself young lady, and for this, you will be punished." She said as she stood to her feet.

"I will be taking away your reading privileges for the rest of the week." She continued, stepping into my personal space. She grabbed my bag off of my shoulder and dumped the contents on the living room table. Seeing the book I had been read The Testaments by Margaret Atwood, she immediately took it and held it underneath her arm.

My main source of solitude and escape from Eliza and her children, ripped away from me for something I hadn't done.

"This isn't fair Eliza! I didn't do anything." I cried.

She then turned to her son. "Look at her, crying over a book, I've never seen anything more pathetic." She laughed, as her son grinned.

These people are monsters, I thought to myself.

I held my breath and angrily wiped my tears away as they both continued to laugh at me. I grabbed the remaining contents of my bag from the table and ran upstairs to my room. I felt hopeless, even though there was so much I wanted to say to Eliza, I knew that I couldn't. My mother taught me to respect my elders and that was something I couldn't waiver on.

I lied in bed and stared at the picture on my nightstand. It was a picture of me, my mom, and my dad on my 6th birthday. The same year she had died.

"I wish you were here, mom." I whispered, as I stared at the picture.

I couldn't find it in myself to look at my father. The man in that picture all those years ago is not the same man I know today. That father would never have left me for months at a time with people that despised me. He would never have worked so much or called so rarely that sometimes I would forget the sound of his voice. And the father I knew in that picture would have never married a woman like Eliza. A woman that used him for his money, and degraded his daughter for being black. But to his defense, he didn't know about that last part.

I took a deep breath, and turned away from the photo. Things will never be like they used to. They hadn't been for a while now, I thought, sadly.

Looking down at my phone, I saw that it was 3:15pm, and I had to be at work at 4. I got up, wiping my tears away, and went to my bathroom freshen up.

People usually dread going to work, but I was the opposite. I didn't need the money, but I needed the separation. When I worked, I got to escape the misery that I felt in my house even if it was just little while, and I felt much more at peace.

I quickly ran down the stairs, and out the door so that I wouldn't have to interact with whoever might have been down there.

When I got to the diner, I could see we weren't very busy.

"Hey Dyl, how was the first day?" Hector yelled from the kitchen as soon as he saw me.

Hector was one of the cooks at the diner, and one of the only people in my life that showed me kindness. He was a 52 year old man from Mexico, and he treated me like I was his own daughter.

I looked up and smiled at him.

"It was an eventful day, but I think I made a friend." I said, grinning.

He gave a look of shock. "About time mija, tell me about her." He replied.

Before I could say anything, the door chimed, signaling that I had customers to attend to.

"It'll have to wait, I have to take this table." I said quickly.

Two people had walked in, and the hostess sat them down. It was a little girl around 6 or 7 with wavy blonde hair, and a guy sitting across from her, his back facing me. I went over to their table to take there order.

"Good afternoon, can I start you guys off with something to drink." I asked. When I looked up at them, I was met with familiar green eyes and a bright smile.

"I want lemonade, please." The little girl said.

"Of course sweetie, and for you?" I asked, smiling at Callum.

"I'll take a coke." He responded, still smiling at me. "It's nice to see you Dylan, I thought I wouldn't get to until tomorrow." He said, as he ran his fingers through his sandy blonde hair.

My cheeks began to warm.

"It's nice to see you again too." I replied, trying to lessen the grin on my face.

"Is this your girlfriend Cal?" The little girl asked, with a curious smile.

My cheeks got even redder, as did Callum's to my surprise.

"No, she's my friend." He replied, looking back at me sheepishly.

"I'm Dylan, it's nice to meet you." I said, looking down at her. Her eyes were identical to Callum's and she was absolutely beautiful.

"Hi, I'm Sara, Cal's sister." She said, her smile showing two missing bottom teeth.

"You're very beautiful Sara." I said.

She smiled and responded "Thank you, I think you are very beautiful too."

I smiled back at her, I could feel Callum's eyes on me.

"Thank you, let me get those drinks for you guys." I said, and turned around, not being able to look at Callum.

As I got further away from them, I could hear Sara giggling excessively. I wonder if they were talking about me.

When I came back to their table, they immediately stopped their conversation and Sara looked like she was about to burst with laughter.

"Are you guys ready to order yet?" I asked.

I took there orders, and attended to the three other tables I had. I went to the kitchen to check if there food was ready after some time.

"I seen you talking to that man and little girl over there, you know them?" Hector asked, when I got to the kitchen.

"That's the friend I was telling you about, his name is Callum and the girl is his little sister." I said, and couldn't help but smiling.

"Seems like more than a friend if you ask me." Hector replied as be handed me their plates.

"Oh no, it's nothing like that." I said mumbled, feeling embarrassed. I quickly took the plates and made my way to their table.

"Here you go guys, I hope you enjoy." I said, smiling at both of them.

"Thanks, Dylan." Callum replied.

"Is there anything else I can get for you guys?" I asked, and Sara was the first to speak.

"Can you come with us to get ice cream?" Sara asked, her green eyes filling with excitement.

"Um, I would love to, but I don't get off work until 9." I said, sadly.

"Oh", Sara frowned. "How about tomorrow then?" She asked quickly. Callum looked up at me hopefully.

"Tomorrow is perfect." I said, grinning at her and then turning to Callum.

"Is that okay with you?" I asked him.

"Definitely." He responded, his eyes boring into mine.

Something told me that ice cream wasn't Sara's idea. I left their table to check on my other customers. Some time had past, and I went over to see if they needed their check, but they were already gone. A crisp hundred dollar bill was underneath Callum's cup. I smiled and shook my head, he had left me a 70$ tip.

I was giddy for the remainder of my shift, excited for what tomorrow would bring.