Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews/alerts/favorites! Enjoy. : )
Chapter 3
Harry
"Harry, you better wake up or you're going to be late again," Other Dad said as he snapped on the lights to my room. I groaned at the agony of artificial light at six in the morning. "I'm not even giving you the opportunity to sleep in. Up!"
"In five minutes," I mumbled, rolling myself tighter in my blankets and shoving my pillow over my head.
"If you aren't up by the time I get back up here, I'm going to dump water on you," Other Dad said, closing the door. That was his constant empty threat. He's never actually done it, so I'm going back to sleepppp- HOLY SHIT!
"Gah!" I yelled, flying up from my bed and shaking the water out of my hair. "What was that for?"
"I told you if you weren't up I was going to dump water on you," he said with a smirk. "Now up! And get a shower and do something with your hair."
I just mumbled profanities at him as he closed the door and trotted downstairs. Damn morning people. Katy was the same way, up and about at five in the morning every morning, even on the weekends. It was a rare occurrence for her to sleep in.
To avoid getting yelled at again, I showered off and used some of my dad's hair gel to tame my crazy bed head before coming downstairs for breakfast.
"So for colors in my room, I'm thinking very grown up, but not too grown up, so maybe black and white with pink accents?" Katy said animatedly while she pointed out the colors she wanted with her dad. Dad was just sitting there with his eyes closed, sipping coffee and trying to wake up. "And I really do want butterflies again, but I want them to be more grown up, you know? Like, chic butterflies. Classy if anything."
"I'll see what I can come up with. I'm going to be running errands all day today, so I can stop at the paint store and pick up some samples," Other Dad said, marking down which colors she picked. "You look nice Harry."
"Thanks," I said, smoothing out my button up shirt. Other Dad almost had a hernia when he saw me in sweats on the first day of school. This was the least I could do to make up for it.
"I heard you both got into New Directions. That's exciting," he said, smiling at both of us.
"Yeah! The kids in there are so nice. Wait until you meet my new friend Puck!" Katy said excitedly. Both of my dads gave her a weird look, like they were either scared or surprised.
"Puck? Like, Noah Puckerman?" Dad asked, staring at Other Dad.
"Her actual name is Roxanne, not Noah!" Katy said, rolling her eyes at my dads. It seemed like as soon as she said that, they could both breathe again. "She's so cool, minus her attitude."
"Oh God, I bet she's Lauren's daughter," Other Dad said, covering his mouth. "They got married, didn't they?"
"I can't remember. Too early," Dad said, drinking more coffee.
"I know Mercedes daughter is in New Directions. Did you guys meet her? Her name's Jackie," Other Dad said.
"Oh yeah. I had lunch with her," I said, remembering how inviting she was. "You know her mom?"
"We were best friends in high school," Other Dad said. "I haven't actually spoken to her in person for a few years though. We'll get the chance at invitationals I'm sure." I had no clue what he was talking about now, but I didn't have time to ask since Dad looked at the clock and almost spit his coffee everywhere.
"Shit, we're running late again. I'll see you later Babe. Don't do anything stupid or spend money we don't have. You're borrowing one of your dad's cars right?" Dad rambled off, kissing Other Dad on the cheek.
"Yup, since you're taking the Navigator. Bye kids! Have a good day," Other Dad said, giving us all quick hugs as we ran out the door and into the car. Maybe one day this year we won't be running late…But I highly doubt it.
Katy
Today was going to be a great day. I knew this because I told myself all last night that today was going to be a great day! I was going to use my study hall today to go to the library and find the old yearbook, and start narrowing down who could possibly be my mom. Daddy said she went to school here with him and Dad, so I just have to look in their graduating class. It's not like this school is huge.
But what if she graduated before them, or after them? How could I even narrow it down? I don't have anything to go by. It's not like the yearbook says who was friends with who, right? Oh well, I'm sure if I sneak it out of the school, Harry would help me. He has a knack for picking out parts of people's faces. That's why he's so good at drawing.
"I'll see you both in a little bit," Dad said as he dropped us off in front of the building. I looped my arm in Harry's and started skipping with excitement.
"What are you doing?" he asked, either embarrassed or annoyed with my joy.
"Celebrating! Today's the day Harry, I can feel it!" I yelped, letting go of his arm and doing a twirl. "I'm going to go to the library today and do research to find Mom!"
"What?" he asked, his face going from annoyed to confused. "Katy, I know you want to know who Mom is, but it isn't like TV. You aren't just going to know by seeing her picture."
"I can always try right?" I hated how he was killing my excitement. "Just stop being a Debbie Downer! Today's a new day!" I opened the doors to the hallway, only to find us surrounded by jocks, with these weird drink things. "Oh, hi! If you don't mind, we need to get through."
"Sorry girlie, but we have rules here," one of the bigger boys said, closing in on us. "There's a hierarchy, and you two are on the bottom of the chain." With that, he dumped the red slushie all over my white blouse and skirt. The corn syrup stung my eyes as I felt more of this sticky drink being dumped on me. I willed myself to be strong though, like Daddy always tells me to be. Courage, he always says that… But it didn't work because I could feel my eyes welling up with sadness and embarrassment. My outfit was ruined and I didn't have another, I was covered in sticky grossness, and these boys were doing this just to be mean. I let out the most pathetic sounding whimper.
Harry
I wiped the flavored ice from my eyes as the group walked away, high fiving each other, proud of what they did for some reason. I was about to tell Katy to just let it go, until I heard her whimper. Katy was a tough bitch, and never cried when people made fun of how tall she was or how much of a diva she was, but now she was almost in tears.
"Hey!" I yelled, running up to the big one who had dumped the first drink on her. I grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. "You think you're so cool because you just made a 14 year old girl cry? That doesn't make you a man! It makes you a dick!"
"You'd know all about dicks with your cock sucking fag dads would you?" he said, getting in my face. Oh, that was the last straw. I shoved him hard into the lockers a few times for good measure, screaming in his face.
"Don't you dare say a damn thing about my dads! They're more of men than you'll ever be in your entire life! How dare you, you fucking moron! If you ever lay a hand on my sister or say another thing about my family again, I swear on my grandmother's grave that I will find you and kick your fucking ass!" I never screamed so loud in my life. I didn't even notice Dad pulling me off of him because my eyes were blurred with anger and tears.
"Hey, calm down," Dad said, lowering me to the ground so I could relax. "Stay here. Come with me Ben. Let's take you to the nurse." My dad helped the dick head who'd just called him a fag to the nurse's station. Right there just proved how much more of a man he was.
"Harry?" Katy squeaked, kneeling in front of me. I wiped the corn syrup that was dripping from my hair into my eyes, and the tears away so I could look clearly at her. "That was the scariest, most awesome thing I've ever seen. You were like, crazy!"
"Thanks," I said, still shaking. She sat down next to me, taking a deep breath.
"I can see why Dad and Daddy left," she said. "Daddy always tells me that things have gotten better since when he was in high school… If this is better, I can't imagine what it use to be."
"Let's not think about it," I said, leaning my head against the locker.
Katy
Dad came back a few minutes later, with the look he always gets on his face when he's not quite sure what to say. I remember the look from when he had to tell us that we were moving here. He pulled his car keys from his jacket and dropped them on the floor.
"You two should go home, cool off, clean up, and come back if you can," he said, squatting down so he was eye level with us.
"Dad, did you hear what he said?" Harry said, his frustration coming back. I didn't like seeing him like this, with tears in his eyes.
"Yeah," Dad said, shrugging. "Listen, Harry, Katy, do not listen to them. They just don't understand." He hesitated, staring at my brother. "Maybe I should drive you home. I don't want you driving while you're this upset."
"No, I can do it. I don't want you missing class," Harry said, standing up and taking a deep breath. Dad and I both stood up too, getting ready to part ways.
"Be careful you two. I haven't called your dad yet to tell him what happened, so if he comes home just tell him that I said it was okay and that I'll talk to him later," he said quickly, giving us both side hug things but at the same time trying to avoid getting slushie on himself. "Drive safely. I hope you both do decide to come back."
"Bye Dad," we both said as we walked towards the parking lot. Thankfully, Harry pulled himself together enough to drive us both home safely, although he did almost scrap the side of the car into the garage. I couldn't wait for Daddy to get home and help me get the stains out of my outfit and tell me some kind of story to make me feel better. He always would do that when people made fun of how tall I was. I hope he doesn't think I'm too old for it.
"You can take a shower first," Harry said, putting the keys on the counter. I was in no mood to argue with that, so I ran upstairs, threw my sopping wet clothes on the floor and started a nice hot shower. I couldn't help but hear Harry romping around the house while I was there, like he was looking for something. I didn't have time to ask him though, because as soon as I got out, he ran in.
I changed into my pajamas, having absolutely no desire to go back to school today. I knew that Dad knew we weren't planning on coming back. How could we? I'd end up crying and Harry would punch someone else. It wouldn't end well. Instead, I grabbed my journal off my nightstand and started writing a little.
Dear Stupid Journal,
Today has sucked. Harry beat up a kid because he called my dads the f word and they made me cry. At least Dad said we don't have to go back today.
I didn't get the chance to write anymore because Harry came into my room, also in his pajamas, with something behind his back.
"What do you have?" I asked. He ignored me and threw whatever it was under the bed. He grabbed my brush off of my dresser and sat behind me on my bed, brushing my hair.
"I envy your hair Katy. Be happy it isn't curly," he said, running the brush more gently through my hair than I do. It reminded me of when we were kids and we would play dress up, Harry always loved doing my hair. He'd put pretty barrettes in it and make it all funky. But today, he was just taking his sweet time brushing it out. "I'm sorry they were so mean to you."
"They were just as mean to you Harry," I said, watching him brush my hair from my dresser mirror.
"I know, but I'm older than you. It's different," he said.
"But I'm almost taller than you. That has to count for something," I jabbed. He just laughed and kept brushing away in the comfortable silence. "I wonder if Dad and Daddy ever had that happen to them."
"Maybe," he mumbled, taking a scrunchie off the handle of my brush and tying my hair into a half pony tail. "But we're not talking about that now. I brought you something from our parents' room."
"You know we aren't allowed in there," I said warily, not sure what he could have possibly brought. He reached under the bed and pulled out an old hard covered year book. My heart leapt.
"Let's find Mom."
