Chapter 2
I never wanted to tell anyone this, but I am a survivor of the 9/11 tragedy. It was a difficult time for me and my dad too, so I'm not gonna go into full detail into this, but give you the basics. I had lost my real parents there since that's where my dad worked. I barely made it out alive when the plane hit the tower. All I remember is being carried out of the tower and headed towards the hospital and waking up in a hospital bed and seeing Gerard next to me who is my father now. We had moved to an unknown state so no one have heard of a miracle child who survived the 9/11 tragedy. It was a safe place to be at the time because I was afraid staying in New York. It was time for a change in both of our lives. We lived in this town called Portsmouth for eight years. I'm a junior in high school and dad thought it would be a good thing if we had some rules in the house. These are dad's rules:
Dad's Parent Rules:
Rule 1: Curfew is at 10:00 every school day. Weekends are at 11:00.
Rule 2: Finish all homework before doing anything else, like hanging out with friends, going on the computer etc.
Rule 3: Finish all chores that are given that day.
Rule 4: No sneaking any friends after curfew including guys!
Rule 5: No guys in your bedroom! (He made that rule very clear).
Rule 6: If you ever have a boyfriend and ready to have sex, talk to dad about it first.
Rule 7: No smoking, drinking, drugs etc.
Rule 8: Never change who you are for anyone. You're beautiful the way you are and you don't need to change who you are in order to fit in everyone else. Be who you are and always love yourself.
Rule number eight stuck to me like glue and he's right. I don't need to change to fit in and love myself. That rule stuck to me ever since he establishes those rules. I never broke rules because I knew they were pointless and even if I did break those rules, he would never change his view about me. He treated me like every other parent would treat their children. Happiness and love. Dad loves me with all his life and he's a wonderful father and he respects me too. Just seeing those memories and playing them back in my mind like a home movie makes me shed one tear. Once it would hit my cheek it would dry up like nothing had ever happened. I know I'm not an ordinary person and dad knows it too, but I'll discuss that later. Apparently the bell for class has already rang and the cafeteria was deserted. I turned off my iTouch and slide my headphones off my head and slid them to my neck so they can hang. Slid my iTouch in my pocket and I stood their leaning against the wall for a little bit longer. I started to smirk. I started to think about my life if dad hadn't adopted me. My life would've been fucked, I started to realize that. I know my life isn't perfect and I know I'm not normal either, so why do I have this feeling inside of me? Whatever it is, I'll have to find the answer later, classes were about to begin, well more like advisory full of preppy kids and one kid who is somewhat like me, but not really. I smirked one more time and said to myself, "such a fucked up world."
So I always go up for advisory class late as usual and the teacher always gets mad at me, but not everyone else. She's loud so everybody in the library from different grades can hear the lecture "why being late is bad for everyone" and she always single me out every fucking day. Although, I always have a plain face expression on every time she talks, she eventually stops talking or I start walking away toward the back. Every time I walk to the back, I get laughs from everyone else that includes the preps. Whispering in each other ears and chuckling at me expect for one prep girl and prep guy. They never seem to do anything to me or talk shit about me. It seems odd for them and it sets the atmosphere weird around the area. I would look at them out of the corner of my eye and just casual walk away; they would always look down when I walk past them, like they were sad for me. I could care less if they are sad for me; they know nothing about me and intend to keep it that way. No one knows that I'm a survivor of the collapsing twin towers of 9/11. Dad kept the adoption under wraps because he didn't want the media to record my life and corrupted it. I fully understand his decision. If word got out, chaos would be around this school like wildfire. Only the teachers know and the vice principals knows about it, that's it. However, if those two knew about it, then there's no telling what they could do with that information. You know what they say keep your friends close, "keep your enemies closer."
Lunch could not come any sooner. I was fucking starving, but the school's food suck! I didn't bring food because no one does that anymore. It was pointless so no one does it anymore. So I force myself to eat the fucked up school food. When I got my food, I try finding a table, but that's not going to happen. I look around and a sea of insanity teenagers has taken over the cafeteria. I just stood there and looked all over and see a bunch of stuck up teenagers with their peers talking and smacking their mouths and food flying everywhere. It's disgusting! I didn't want to waste my time, so I walked towards the door and sunlight shined on my hat. I look all over and I see no one out here, so I'm really an outsider. I sat on the ground and leaned against the brick wall and ate the rubber chicken nuggets. God these fucking sucks, but there better then the pizza. I was thinking about getting the pizza, but then I heard some kid got food poisoning from eating it. It tarred his stomach to shreds. I pulled my hand back thinking it was about to eat me or some shit like that. Chicken nuggets will satisfy me for a little bit longer, but then again I usually call dad to bring me food. We don't live far from the high school. There's like a neighborhood near the school and keep going down this steep hill. Dad wanted to live closer to the school, so I wouldn't have to take the bus and me to have a normal life as possible. He didn't want me to be involved with the media and being known as Gerard's adoptive daughter or miracle child survives 9/11 destruction on the Trade Center. I respected his decision. I didn't want to be known as a miracle child. It's so fucked up.
So you know where I live. Now only if I could dad to walk up here and give me real, good taste food. Even though it's against the rules to have a "friend" or "family member" to come up and bring you food, but no one gives a shit about the rules and both me and dad think it's stupid so, that's the only rule we break. Then again, these nuggets aren't that bad, so I won't call him, but I'll text him about the food. He doesn't want me to get food poisoning because he will call the school and complain about it. What I didn't know is that somebody was watching me. I didn't freak out or anything, but I did feel an unpleasant feeling in the atmosphere. It wasn't a prep kid or a Goth, but a misunderstood guy. I glanced over and he looked different. Is he new? Even though I'm a junior and I know every kid in this shit hole, I've never seen him. However, I know one thing about him, he's an outsider. I didn't know what to say so I didn't talk to him, instead I looked at my phone and a text message appeared. It was from dad. His text said, "As long it's not going to kill your stomach like that last kid, then its fine with me I'll be home until school ends. Love you!" Dad usually text me throughout the day, to make sure I stay out of trouble and the trouble I get, the punishment I get. I'll explain it later, I got company.