Chapter 18

Justice's eyes slowly opened, her alarm clock ringing annoyingly. She groaned, throwing her hand at it to shut it off, and rolled over on her side. Suddenly her father's head poked eagerly through the door. "Justice?" He said.

Justice moaned tiredly, "Hmm?"

"I heard your alarm clock. Are you awake?"

"Yeah." Justice mumbled.

"Okay, well when you get up I need you to meet me downstairs, I need to talk to you."

"Okay." Justice mumbled into her pillow and her father left the room, slowly closing the door. Justice groaned and laid on her back. She was still too tired to grasp the concept, or even care what her father had to talk to her about.

After finally rolling out of bed and landing with a thud on the floor, she trudged down stairs. Wiping her eyes she searched lazily for her father who she found sitting at the diner table, drinking a cup of coffee reading the alcohol section of the newspaper. So that's where Justice got her taste for alcohol from.

Pulling back a chair, she slumped into it across from her father and struggled to keep her head up, as her eyelids felt like lead. Her father looked at her and gave her a strange look. "What time did you go to bed, Justice?" He asked.

"I don't know." She said, completely exhausted. "Like…I don't know."

"I told you, you should not have waited up for me." He frowned.

"I needed to…to…I-I needed to t-talk to y-you dad." She said drowsily.

Her father looked at her. "Just go back to bed, Justice." He said. "I'll drive you to school."

"Okay." Justice yawned and walked back up stairs to her room, where she slept for another couple of hours. When her father came in to wake her, she was still tired but not as much, and got ready. Her father decided he would talk to her during their ride since she did not need to be any later.

"How are you feeling now, bud?" Mr. A asked as he drove her to school.

"Fine." She said, peering out the window.

He glanced at her. "You still willing to see the baby?" Her father asked her.

She nodded. "Yes. Why?"

"Because I talked to your mother, the other night." He said. "She was a bit upset, but she is willing to allow you two to see the baby."

Justice looked at him suddenly.

"But there are some conditions." Her father said, rather firmly.

Justice groaned and she sat back, preparing for the worst.

"Like I said, your mother is unhappy about this." Her father said. "But the first thing is, she wants us to call her on the day we leave, and on the day we arrive. She wants to have the house prepared for when we arrive so that we can spend our time there." He explained. "The next thing is, she wants to talk to Johnny over the phone, a fill him in on a few things-"

"Great." Justice mumbled. "Let me guess, to scare him away?" She rolled her eyes. "What's the last thing?"

"She does not want Johnny left alone with the baby."

Justice looked at her father in astonishment. Her mouth opened to protest on Johnny's behalf, but she felt it unnecessary to scold her father and sat back and crossed her arms. "Fine. I'll let Johnny know." She said. "When are we leaving?"

"This weekend, since it's spring break."

Johnny's face was completely expressionless during the whole time Justice was speaking to him, when she spoke of the part where he could not be alone with his own child, he grinned and rolled his eyes but still said nothing. "…and we're leaving this weekend for the whole Spring Break." Justice concluded.

"Is there any other rules I should be informed about?" He asked sarcastically.

"I'm sure my mom will fill you in on more when she calls, if you do." Justice said, not the least bit of amusement in her expression.

"I'm surprised your mom actually listened to your dad. He must have finally stood his ground." He said, and whispered. "So passive."

Justice sighed. "Yeah, so you might want to inform your mom, get packed and be prepared to be lectured by my mom."

"Anything else?"

"Don't piss her off." She said and started to walk away but turned back, "Oh, and don't tell anyone about this."

Johnny just stared after her. Like I would.

As she walked into the theatre room it got really quiet and everyone looked at her. After a moment, they all went back to what they were doing. Justice frowned, confused and continued passed them until someone gripped her arm and she turned around. "Can I talk to you?" She nodded and allowed Declan to lead her to the stage where no one was working.

"What's up, Declan?" She asked, as he turned to face her.

"There's been a rumor spreading around all morning about you."

"That seems to be happening a lot lately." Justice mumbled.

"This is serious, Justice. And I need to know if these rumours are true."

"What rumours are true, Declan?"

He stared her in her eyes. "Is it true that you and Johnny have a child together?"

Justice's heart skipped a beat and it felt as if she could not breath. Her heart began to race as they continued to stand eye-to-eye, a serious scowl upon Declan's concerned face. "Is it true, Justice?"

Justice opened her mouth to speak, but found it difficult to release any words. "Where did you hear this from?" She asked, her voice shaky.

Declan's expression softened a bit and he leaned back. "I don't know who the source is." He said. "Too many people know to tell. But if this is not true, Justice. You might want to clear it up quickly." His face completely softened as sympathy and concern changed his expression. "I don't care to know if it's true." He said. "But whomever told this story, really made you look bad. My advice to you is that you find a way to clear this up. Things don't look to well."

Justice nodded. "Thanks Declan." She said. "I'm going to miss this period, okay."

Declan nodded and she left the auditorium. Racing down the halls she could only think of one name that fit it all perfectly.