A/N: hey everyone thanks as always for your reviews! I realize this story is kind of moving in a different direction…well at least it looks that way
This chapter is where you will see where exactly this is going…aren't you excited?
I know you are, so read! Now!!
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"Paige! It's time to go!"
She groaned and picked up her bag. She huffed down the stairs and saw Dylan sitting on the couch in his pajamas, shoveling cereal in his mouth as he stared at the TV. She stopped dead in her tracks and screamed, "Mooomm!"
Her mother came running out of her bedroom, "what? What is it?"
Paige folded her arms, "Dylan isn't going?!"
She shook her head, "no, he has hockey practice tomorrow"
"Then i'm not going," she said flatly
Her mother went up the stairs and grabbed Paige's shoulders from behind and started pushing her down the stairs. She gave Dylan a few reminders and blew him a kiss as she and Paige made their way to the door. Just before she shut it Paige shot a horrible glare at her brother, who just laughed as he leaned back on the couch.
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Paige sat on the train, trying her best to be positive. It was only two days; it couldn't be that bad…could it?
She flipped through the last few pages of her magazine, and then looked at her watch, they weren't even close to Pembroke. She looked around at the other passengers to try and entertain herself. A woman across the aisle had three kids in the seats around her and a baby in her lap who was whining and pulling at her hair, she looked exhausted. There were twin boys that were smacking each other, a girl who was pouting, and an older boy who was trying to corral the twins. Traveling with five kids by herself, was she nuts? She started wondering if she was going to meet her husband, or maybe he had left her, that's why she was alone. She found herself getting angry with this person that she had just imagined for leaving this poor woman. It wasn't fair of him to abandon his family.
Her eyes wandered to a guy standing up in the aisle, he was reaching up for a suitcase that was stored in the overhead compartment. He had short brown hair and a nice build; from behind he looked just like… …She saw a tattoo on his forearm and she froze, she tried her best to breathe. He turned and she saw that it wasn't Dean, just a guy with a goatee and glasses. He came back up the aisle, suitcase in hand and sat in the seat with the woman and all the kids. The little girl jumped on his lap and he reached in the bag and pulled out a teddy bear. She smiled and hugged his neck.
Despite her protective wall that was almost always raised, Paige wasn't handling any of this well. She never could deal with her dad…but no one had ever really given her a chance to. He wasn't a subject that came up often in her household, and when he was…the subject quickly changed. After seven years none of them had forgiven him.
The Dean situation was killing her, although she acted like it wasn't. But how was she supposed to tell Spinner, or anyone about how the death of her rapist was making her feel. She was seeing his face everywhere. It was completely unfair; he was ruling her life again, even in death.
She closed her eyes, and tried to sleep. Or at least turn her brain off for a while. She leaned against the window and quickly slipped into a dreamless sleep.
A little while later she was awoken when someone tapped her shoulder. She turned to see the man she had mistaken for Dean, he told her that the train had reached its stop. She smiled politely and thanked him and hurried off the train.
She stepped off onto the platform and quickly scanned the crowd for her dad. She didn't see him at first so she decided to walk around a bit. After a while the crowd started to disperse and Paige started to get a little aggravated.
It had been an hour since she got off her train, and still no sign of her dad. She had seen three other trains load and unload. She called her mom twice and she assured her that her father knew when and where he was supposed to pick her up.
When she hung up with her mom it started to rain, "great" she said to herself as she walked quickly to the cover of the main building. Could this day get any worse?
She sat down on a bench and sighed, she was on the verge of tears. But she was not going to just sit and cry on a bench in a train station. She looked up when she heard a voice calling her name.
A thin brunette with an umbrella was walking towards her quickly; it was her father's girlfriend, Audrey. She smiled, "hey Paige, good to see you!"
Paige stood and hugged her uncomfortably, "so…where's my dad?" she asked
"Oh he had meetings, so he called me to come get you, sorry I'm late"
"Typical" Paige thought, but she smiled, "oh it's no problem"
As they walked to the car Audrey told her, "I have to take you straight home because I've got to get back to work, I'm on my break"
"Yeah, no problem" Paige nodded as she climbed in the front seat.
All the way to her dad's Audrey kept trying to make conversation. Paige was trying her best to just be polite an answer her. It was all she could do but to scream at her, she hadn't seen this woman for more than like a total of 12 hours in her whole life. And the last time she spoke to her she was in grade 7.
They pulled up in front of the house and Audrey let Paige in. she showed her where the phone numbers were and told her to "make herself at home" then she scurried off to work.
"Home," Paige thought, "this place isn't even close"
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A few hours later, Paige was sitting on the couch watching TV when she heard the front door open. Her dad walked in and just headed straight for his bedroom. Paige turned around and caught his attention, "hey dad" she said meekly.
"Oh, Paige" he sounded surprised, "hi honey, how are you?" he walked over and kissed her head. "Wow, you're all grown up" he smiled. Then he went back to what he was doing.
Paige thought she was going to be sick, she hadn't seen her father in more than three years. And that was all he had to say. She got up and followed him, "so dad, you know I was wondering if maybe we could all go out to dinner tonight?" although she detested her father, and dreaded being here, she wanted to make the best of it.
"Oh, sorry I can't. I have a dinner meeting, I just came home to grab these," he said holding up some papers, "but Audrey will be home soon, you should order a pizza or something. Have a good night!" and he just walked back out the door.
Paige just rolled her eyes and went to the guest room where she was staying. She threw herself on the bed and put a pillow over her face and screamed, as loud as she could. To try and get out all the frustration just being in his house caused. She put the pillow down and stared blankly at the ceiling.
"Paige?" a tiny voice said. She sat up and saw her baby brother standing in the doorway. With his blonde hair and chubby cheeks, smiling widely. "You wanna pway wif me?" he asked sweetly
"No Nicky, not right now ok?"
"Pwease Paige?" he begged, "I wanna ride my bike"
"Later" she said harshly
"Paige! I wanna play now!!" he screamed at her
"Go away Nick! I don't want to play now!" she picked up her pillow and threw it at him, he scampered away
She laid back down on the bed and tried her best to sleep
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Monday at lunch Jimmy and Craig were sitting at a table outside. Ashley and Hazel walked up to join them. Ash could finally stand Craig long enough to sit at the same table with him, but that didn't mean she would talk to him.
A few minutes later, Spinner walked up and sat down, "ok does anyone know where Paige is? I called her like so many times last night, and this morning. Is she sick or something?"
Jimmy laughed, "wow, aren't you a great boyfriend"
He made a face at Jimmy and turned back to everyone else, "seriously you guys"
Hazel took a sip of her soda, "she went to her dad's, and she'll be back tomorrow"
"Are you serious?" Ashley asked sounding shocked, "why?"
Hazel shrugged, "I don't know, I didn't talk to her long, it was something about her mom going out of town, so she's staying with her dad"
"Was it her choice? Or did her mom send her?" Ashley asked," I doubt Paige volunteered for time with her dad" she answered herself
"Well I think it might be good," Hazel said, "It isn't fair that she never sees her brother"
"She sees Dylan all the time" Spinner said, "…wait, Dylan went to his dads?!" everyone looked shocked at this thought.
"No not Dylan" Hazel said picking at her salad, "her little brother, Nick"
When Hazel said that Spinner almost started choking, and Ashley's eyes were bugging out of her head. Hazel looked at them confused; and Spinner, Ashley, and Jimmy exchanged looks.
After an uncomfortable silence Ashley cleared her throat, "um Hazel," she swallowed hard, "Paige's little brother, he um, he-he died, when he was six"
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