Chapter Nine: Coward

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Rowan's POV

We all sat around the dinner table, each with a plate of Finn's famous spaghetti and meatballs in front of us. I wasn't in the right headspace to be sociable this evening, but here I am, surrounded by my family, Victoria and Eva.

One weight had been lifted off of my shoulders since Victoria apologised and I'd come to the understanding of why she told the school of Melissa bullying me. It's something I have to accept now, I can't go back in time and change things; but the ache of anxiety from the whole day was unfortunately still taking its toll on me.

Dad had informed me of the parent meeting that I had to attend with him tomorrow morning at the school, with Melissa and her father being there too and I don't think I'm ready to face her so soon; I couldn't think of anything worse.

I looked over towards Dad, who was sat at the head of the table, he was spinning some spaghetti onto his fork; He seemed tense. Hell, the whole atmosphere around the dinner table has been tense ever since Hunter was shouted at by him to 'get his ass downstairs'. Eva, Vic and I couldn't hear what was being said downstairs after that and I was in no mood to eavesdrop; I have worries of my own. But now we're all having to suffer the awkwardness it's caused.

"This is really good spaghetti, by the way Finn." Victoria broke the silence.

"It really is." Eva agreed with her.

"Thanks girls." Finn smiled back at them before turning his sights onto me. "How about you, Ro? Enjoying it?"

"Mhm." I barely nodded and avoided eye contact by looking down at the plate of spaghetti and twirling some of it around my fork.

"You haven't even taken one bite of it." Finn pointed out.

"I'm not that hungry." I shrugged.

"You've not eaten all day, Ro." Aaron spoke up from beside dad.

I shrugged again and leaned back in my seat.

"Lost my appetite." I continued to stare down at the plate of food that looked delicious, but I couldn't bring myself to eat, and the third awkward silence of the evening settled upon us all again.

"A'ight imma head out." Asher slammed both palms down on the table and pushed himself up from his chair.

"Sit back down, Ash." Dad said a little too forcefully, he sure wasn't taking shit from anybody today.

"I'm done though." Asher gestured to his empty plate.

"Well you're not leaving until everyone's done."

"Rowan hasn't even attempted to start eating!" He slumped back down in his chair. "we'll be here forever. I've got things to do."

Dad loudly dropped his fork on his plate, making us all wince. "Why've you always got to ruin dinner for us with your annoying and snarky attitude?"

"This dinner was ruined before it even started, thanks to Hunter." Asher raised his voice in defence. He wasn't wrong.

"Me?" Hunter feigned surprised. "You mean thanks to Maddox for snitching on me to dad."

"No comment." Maddox said before stuffing a whole meatball into his mouth.

"What you did was fucking stupid." Asher continued to rile Hunter.

What did he even do?

"Well it seems I'm the only one here willing to actually stick up for my family." Hunter shot back with a defensive tone in his voice.

"Don't give us that shit, Hunter!" Dad's anger towards Hunter from earlier hadn't diminished, even if he tried his best at the start of dinner to hold it back. "We all stick up for family, here. But unlike you, we don't have this uncontrollable need to make threats where they're not needed, especially towards fourteen year old girls."

No he didn't..

It wouldn't even take an idiot that long to figure out what my dad was on about. Hunter had confronted Melissa?

"Why would you do that?!" My voice came out louder than I was expecting as I harshly backhanded Hunter's shoulder.

"Is everyone missing the point here?" Hunter frowned at us all around the table, ignoring my question and seeming un-phased by the hit to his shoulder. "Firstly it was hardly a threat, but to be honest, you should be happy I set that girl straight, she wont be messing with Rowan anymore."

"Orrr you've just angered the beast inside of her and now she's going to bite back just as hard." Asher shot back at him. Oh my god, he's right. This is one of the things I was fearing ever since Victoria told the school nurse about everything. Melissa won't take to this lightly.

"Rowan.." Aaron caught my attention from across the table. "That's not going to happen, don't listen to him." He could probably see the worried look in my eyes. How can he be so sure though?

"Why the fuck would you say that Ash?" Hunter snapped at him. "You're worrying Rowan even more."

"Well I'm not going to sugar coat it, am I?" Ash hit back.

"Right, Ash just leave." Dad piped up again. "You're pissing me off."

"Thank God." Asher couldn't leave quick enough; one blink and he was gone.

"Hunter, You too." Dad pointed his thumb behind him, towards the door.

"I'm not finished eating though." Hunter gestured to the plate in front of him; that still had some spaghetti and one meatball on it.

"Take it elsewhere." Dad picked his fork back up to finish eating. "We'll have a chat later."

The screech of Hunter's chair scraping against the floor made us all cringe. "Fine."

He picked up his plate and the next thing I heard was the smashing sound of ceramic breaking to pieces against the wall on the other side of the room and shattering to the floor; He had frisbee'd it across the kitchen before exiting in a huff. The remaining food on his plate had caused a splattered tomato spaghetti sauce stain on the wall and was now a mess on the floor along with the rubble of ceramic.

A loud silence fell over us. I looked to Victoria and Eva who were sat there wide-eyed in disbelief. Dad hadn't even flinched or turned to look at the mess, just continued to finish his food, as did Maddox. And Aaron was staring at the door that Hunter had slammed shut behind him.

"Was that an over-reaction or what?" Finn broke the short but dreaded silence.

"Are you not going to do anything?" Aaron ignored Finn's comment and looked to dad.

"He needs to cool off." Dad placed his fork down on his now empty plate and took a hold of his beer bottle. "There's no point trying to say anything to him right now, you know what he's like."

This was all my fault. This whole day has turned into a complete disaster because of my pathetic, useless self. All because I don't know how to stand up for myself or fight back; if I wasn't so cowardly and scared of Melissa, I wouldn't have reacted the way I did today and been sent home from school. Hunter wouldn't have confronted Melissa which would result in no argument with Dad and no awkward Dinner.

"Are you going to eat at all Ro?" Finn broke me from my thoughts.

I looked across the table, realising that everyone else had finished their dinner and my plate was still filled with food.

I shook my head and leant back in my chair once more.

"Alright, let's get cleared up and then I'll drop the girls off home." Finn stood up along with Aaron and they both grabbed a couple of the empty, dirty plates for the dishwasher.

Guilt washed over me. I felt bad that he made my favourite meal and I couldn't even take one bite of it. I felt too anxious in my stomach to eat.

"Are you around to help out with some work tonight Finn?" Dad asked him.

"I'm out with the guys tonight, but I'm free tomorrow night."

"That's fine, tomorrow night will be great though. Aaron and I have some last minute things to get ready before I leave on Friday."

Oh God, why did he remind me that he's leaving us for Christmas? I'm dreading it so much.

"Thankyou girls for coming over tonight to see Rowan." Dad stood up from his seat with his empty plate in hand and looked to my two friends. "I'm sorry it turned out the way it did with Asher and Hunter."

"Its fine, the dinner was nice." Eva replied respectfully.

"And what's a dinner without some entertainment?" Victoria added, causing my dad to smile at her words as he walked away from the table and towards the kitchen sink area.

"You just love the drama." I said to her.

"Hell yeah I do." She laughed.

"Right, I need to head off for work now." Maddox announced as he stood up from his seat.

"Work?" I questioned him.

"I'm on a night shift tonight."

"Have fun." I monotonously said back to him.

"I will baby sis. Thankyou." He wrapped his arms tightly around my shoulders from behind and kissed the top of my head.

"Get off me." I tried shoving his arms away.

"She loves it really." I could hear the smirk in his voice as he spoke to my two friends from across the table.

"Clearly." Eva joked, referring to me trying to push my brother away.

"Right I'm off." Maddox released me from his tight hold. "See you all tomorrow." He got a few goodbye responses from Finn, Aaron and Dad before he exited through the kitchen door.

"Are we going to clean this mess up or what?" Aaron referred to the broken plate and the rest of Hunters dinner that was all over the floor.

"No leave it." Dad said to him. "Hunter needs to clear that up himself."

"That spaghetti sauce has stained the wall, we can't leave it there much longer, it'll get harder to remove." Aaron argued.

"He'll have to use a toothbrush and scrub it then, won't he." Finn said whilst drying his hands on the tea towel before chucking it atop the kitchen counter. "Right, are you girls okay for me to take you home now?" He approached us at the table.

"Yeah that's fine, my mum will be expecting me home soon anyway." Eva said.

"Yeah same with my dad." Victoria chimed in.

"Cool, get all your things together then, I'll be waiting in the car. You coming for the ride, Ro?"

I nodded at him and pushed myself up from my seat.

»«»«»«

I only came along for the drive because I needed to get out of the house for a bit, try and clear my head, prepare myself for the meeting with Melissa tomorrow. I felt sick just thinking about it, but I don't want to be caught off guard again and spiral into another anxiety attack around her. I tried coming up with some possible scenarios of what could go wrong. Maybe her dad is as mean as her? What if she flips out on me, not caring about my dad being there?

"How about some music?" Finn's voice broke me from my thoughts and I watched as he pressed the 'on' button on the radio.

Christmas music filled the car and I immediately turned the radio off.

"Hey." Finn shot a frown at me before focusing back on the road. "Why'd you do that?" He turned it on again but I was quick to click it off.

"Rowan." Finn annoyingly turned it back on and I ruined his fun once more.

"Can you two stop that? It's annoying." Vic spoke up from behind us.

"I don't want any music. I can't hear myself think." I muttered whilst looking out my side window; the sky was dark and cloudy with a dusting of snow falling to the ground and settling on the already snow piled sidewalks.

"You've done enough thinking for one day, Ro." Finn laughed. "You'll worry yourself sick. You need a good distraction."

I remained silent but Finn didn't attempt to turn the radio on again, leaving us to listen to the rumble of the car engine.

"Here we are Vic." Finn pulled up outside Victoria's house. We decided to drop her home first seeing as she lives the closest. Eva lives a little further outside of town.

"Thankyou." Victoria unbuckled her seatbelt. "Will you be at school tomorrow Rowan?"

I shook my head. "I've got a meeting with my dad and the principal late morning but I won't be in classes."

"That's fine, hopefully see you in a couple days then, I'll message you."

"Okay." I shot a quick smile at her before she got out of the car, shutting the door behind her.

As soon as her dad opened the front door, he gave a quick wave to Finn to let him know that she was safe before we set off to take Eva home.

"So, Eva, what classes do you share with Rowan?"

I rolled my eyes at Finn's poor attempt to make conversation with my friend.

"Uh, we have science together and Art." Eva replied.

"Ah science, the one you both got detention for right? Didn't do your homework." Finn smirked.

"So? It's done now." I hate when he teases about this stuff.

"Yeah didn't you cheat in the detention too?" Finn side-eyed me with a playful look.

"Stop, it wasn't like that. I didn't cheat, Dallas just gave me his paper to help me out."

"Ah yes, Dallas."

I shook my head, not wanting him to think he was easily winding me up.

"Are you friends with this Dallas dude too Eva?"

"Finn!" I backhanded his shoulder.

"I guess so?" I could tell Eva was unsure on whether to answer. "We all sit together at Lunch."

"You don't have to answer Finn's annoying questions by the way Eva." I turned to look at her behind my seat but she just shrugged.

"Okay okay, I'm only messing." Finn surrendered. "It's cute you've got a crush."

"I don't have a crush." I shot back defensively.

"Mhm, why're you blushing then?" With one hand on the wheel, he tried grabbing my face with the other.

"I'm not." I shoved his hand away. "You should be watching the road!"

Finn's laugh trailed off. "You're so easy to windup."

"Yeah well it's not fun for me." I crossed my arms and focused on the road in front of us.

"Is it this street here, Eva?" Finn asked as he slowed the car down. pointing to the road on the right.

"Yeah. And then if you drive up to the dead end, my house is on the left." Eva explained for him.

Finn did exactly as Eva had said, turning the car around first so we were facing the right direction to leave.

"Go walk Eva up to her house, Ro." Finn said once we were parked up.

I didn't want to leave the warm car, but I did as I was told.

"Thankyou for dinner and for the lift home." Eva thanked my brother before stepping out of the car.

"You're welcome anytime Eva." Finn waved her off before we both walked up to her front door.

"Sorry I wasn't the best company tonight." I apologised to her. "I've had a shit day."

"It's understandable Rowan, hopefully school will be better from next week and Melissa will lay off. I've got your back." She smiled back at me before knocking on the front door.

"Thankyou." I managed to say before the door in front of us swung open.

"Ah you're home." Eva's mum had answered the door with a smile. "And this is your friend whose house you were at?"

I nodded with a smile. "Hi."

"Yeah this is Rowan." Eva introduced me.

"Rowan." Eva's mum repeated my name. "I'm Liza." She smiled back at me. "Your name sounds familiar."

"Rowan and I share classes at school. I may have mentioned her before." Eva stepped inside to stand next to her mum. "We've just started hanging out a lot more recently."

I nodded along at Eva's words.

"Well Thankyou for keeping Eva fed for Dinner and bringing her home." Liza said to me.

"That's okay. That was more my brother Finn's doing I guess." I referred to Finn who was sat in the car waiting.

I noticed Liza's smile waver slightly once she caught site of my brother.

"W-well Rowan. Um please say Thankyou to your brother." A slight quiver in her voice caught me off guard and the frown on Eva's face told me the same.

I nodded and then looked to Eva who discreetly shrugged at me; Not knowing either why her mother had a sudden change of character.

"Bye Rowan, hopefully see you at school Friday or next week." Eva waved me off.

I waved back as I sped down the path and back to the warm car.

"All okay?" Finn asked as he turned the heat up.

"Yeah I guess."

"Alright well, I'm going to drop you home and then I'm off out with the guys. Aaron will be staying with you until dads home, he's working late tonight."

"Okay." I leaned my elbow up on the side of my door and lay my head in my hand.

»«»«»«

I stepped into the house, the warmth hit me immediately and the smell of freshly baked cookies wafted through the air.

"This is ridiculous Aaron!" Hunters voice caught my attention from the kitchen.

I quietly shut the front door behind me, not wanting to be heard.

"No, what's ridiculous was your over-reaction at dinner." Aaron said back to him, more calmly than Hunter was sounding. "You can't be acting like that in front of Rowan and her friends."

"Over reaction?" Hunter questioned him defensively. "What did you expect? I'm fucking angry Aaron. No one should be messing with Rowan. And while you were all sat around, I decided to do something about it. That girl needed to be told, but somehow I'm the bad guy here?"

"This isn't work, Hunter. We aren't dealing with businessmen where you can throw threats around and get away with it."  Work? What does he mean?

"These are fourteen year old girls, dealing with school drama and bullying. It needed to be left to the school to deal with, not us." Aaron added.

"I stand by what I said to her." I just managed to catch Hunter's mutter.

"Well you better hope it's not brought up in their meeting tomorrow. Dad's fuming that it's going to go against whatever punishment Melissa is given."

I'd heard enough and decided to make my presence known. "I'm home!" I called out.

I made my way into the kitchen to find Hunter trying to scrub the spaghetti sauce stain off the wall from earlier and Aaron sat at the kitchen island drinking a coffee. Comet suddenly jumped up at me, demanding to be fussed.

"Hi boy." I ruffled my hands through his fur to which he licked my cheek and then I allowed him to trot off to do his own thing.

I straightened my hoodie out before walking towards the kitchen island.

"Good luck trying to get that off the wall." I muttered to Hunter as I walked by him. I caught Aaron holding his laugh back at my comment.

"Do you want to have a go?" Hunter held the dirty cloth out towards me and I shook my head. "Didn't think so."

Aaron rolled his eyes at our brother before looking to me. "How was the drop off? They get home okay?"

"No, Finn and I left them out on the side of the road to freeze to death." I replied bluntly whilst flicking the switch on the kettle.

"Don't be like that." Aaron laughed. "Come and give me a hug."

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards him forcing me into one of his famous bear hugs.

"I can tell you're nervous for tomorrow Ro and you have every right to be. You've had a crappy day. But it's going to be fine." He tried to reassure me. "Dad will be with you the whole time."

I nodded my head against his chest, embracing the warmth and comfort that he was giving me. I didn't want it to end, because then that will mean the evening ending and then tomorrow will come and that means, facing Melissa.

»«»«»«

My heart thumped hard within my chest as my dad and I walked through the gates and towards the entrance of the school. I was not looking forward to this meeting, especially with Melissa in my presence; It'll be the first time to face her since yesterday, where she made me spiral into a

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