"I'll be there soon," I say with my phone squeezed between my ear and shoulder. "I just need to get a fresh set of clothes." I spent last night at Caleb's, his parents away for the weekend.

"Hurry up!" Olive's voice reaches my ear. "I'm bored alone."

"Yeah, yeah," I smile as I step out of the bus and frown. "That's weird."

"What is?"

"Dad's car is parked on the driveway. He's not supposed to be home for another two days."

"Well, maybe he just got off early and wanted to surprise you all" Olive reasons.

"I guess," I say, but I don't believe it. Dad's never come home earlier than he's said. In fact, he hasn't been home much for the past two years. "Listen, I have to go. But I'll be there soon. Bye!" I hang up without listening to her reply, and open the door.

I'm immediately bombarded with loud yelling from upstairs. Mom and dad. They're always fighting nowadays. Not that I'm much better with dad, really. 

I sigh and climb up the stairs, wanting to know what it is this time. As I step onto the landing, I frown. Why is there three suitcases by the door? Dad always just takes one to his trips.

"Are you serious right now?" mom is yelling. "How dare you!"

"I'm tired of this, Deyjah. All this fighting. I'm done."

"You're done?" mom screams. I can't help but flinch at the familiarity of the words. The wound is still too fresh. "What the hell, Greg? What about our family?"

"I have a new family," my dad says, his voice hard.

What? My heart flips. I cross the landing to see to their open bedroom. Mom is standing a few feet from dad crying while dad just looks down at her, annoyed.

"You can't just leave us!"

"What?" I stop in my tracks. They both turn around, eyes wide. They hadn't expected me to come home. "What do you mean, leave us?" I look from one to the other.

Dad swallows, looking guilty but it's mom who speaks."I... Nora, what are you doing at home? You are supposed to be at a a friend's." Oh, right, I lied about that.

"What I'm—?" I stare from one to the other, shocked. "What the hell does it matter why I'm home? You're leaving?" I direct my stare to dad. "Why? What happened?"

My father drags a hand across his face, like he's tired. "Your mother and I are getting a divorce."

"What?" I knew they weren't doing well, but I just assumed they'd try to work it out.

"I'm moving out," he continues, as if I hadn't spoken. Mom bursts into more tears behind him, and I can't do anything but look from her to him.

"I—" I swallow and start over. "Where are you going?"

"Phoenix," he answers.

"You're... you're gonna come visit, right?" This has to be a bad dream. This can't be happening right now. Dad and I might not have the warmest father-daughter relationship, but he's still my dad. He can't just move away.

"Nora..." my mom pleads in the background.

"Right?" I ask him again, but he won't look at me. "Right, dad?"

He meets my eyes then. "No. I have a new family. A woman I love. A daughter I love. And we're happy."

My brain can't process it. A new family? A daughter? I'm starting to reach my boiling point. "What am I then? A stranger? What about Mads?"

"I just can't do this anymore. All this fighting and... We haven't been a family for a long time."

"And whose fault is that?" I advance on him, my cheeks flaring up. "How long have you had this "new" family, huh? How long have you been cheating on mom?"

He flinches, but then gathers himself. A cold look sets about his eyes. Eyes that look so much like mine. "I met Heather two years ago. She has a daughter a year older than you, fourteen."

I look at him like I've never seen him before. "I'm fourteen. My birthday was just a week ago, not that you were there..." my heart takes a hit. "And...two years? What..." I have to take a deep breathe to not jump at his throat and strangle him. "What the hell, dad? How could you do that to mom? To us?"

"I didn't do anything!" he snaps. "Your mother and I have not been in love for years. We hardly even see each other!"

"Because you're both always traveling! Especially you!" I scream at him. "But those weren't all business trips, were they?" I understand now. "You were with her. With them."

"I..." he sighs again, as if I'm an inconvenience. "Yes."

"You're..." I look for the right words, "disgusting!" I spit out, my fingers curling into tight fists by my side.

SLAP!

I stare at him bewildered, my hand going to my stinging cheek. He just hit me. My eyes water from the slap as I stare up at him shocked. It's been a while since he last slapped me.

"Greg!" mom yells, terrified. "What did you do?"

My dad opens his mouth, looking a little shaken up. But then his mouth draws into a firm line again. "What I needed to," he says. "You've never disciplined her like she's needed. She's out of control, she's never learned respect!"

At this point, I'm fuming. How dare he? "I know respect. I just don't give it to anyone who hasn't earned it. And you... you are no longer deserving of my respect."

He turns his eyes on me again and I stand still even though I want to cover my face just in case. But he doesn't hit me again. He just shakes his head and laughs humorlessly. "Enjoy each other's company," he pushes past me to the door, making me stumble. "I'm done."

Mom cries but I just stand there looking at him as he picks up the suitcases and carries them downstairs. I hear the front door opening and closing, and a short while later a car pulling off the driveway.

"He's gone," my mom cries into my shoulder. "He's really gone."

I stare wordlessly out the window at the cloudless skies, massaging her back gently.

"Dad."

It's impossible he could hear me this far away, but his head turns around and he looks me right in the eye. His brown eyes, not unlike mine, widen and his lips part. He looks like he's seen a ghost.

"Nora?" Tyler's face blocks him from me, and I push him aside. He frowns. "What's wrong? Nora?"

"I—" I can't get the words out. Dad is still staring at me thirty feet away.

Tyler's gaze follows mine and his brows shoot up. "Isn't that your dad? You didn't know he was coming?"

Right, he doesn't know I haven't talked to the man in almost four years. He doesn't know the bastard walked out on his own family. That he replaced us.

My dad blinks and takes a step forward. I'm frozen in place, staring at the man who broke my heart four years ago, while Tyler's fingers dig into my shoulders.

He's ten feet away when a pretty girl with long blonde hair appears from somewhere and hugs him. I stare, my mouth open, as my dad smiles at the girl, immediately forgetting about me. It's the girl I raced against today. The one I only barely beat.

I can sense Tyler's confusion as he takes in the scene, and that's when I'm shaken out of my paralyzed state of mind.

"I need to get out of here," I mumble, turning around. I feel like I'm going to throw up.

Tyler seems to read my face as he quickly leads me behind the bus to a trash can. I bend over it and throw up everything I've eaten today, and then just dry heave for a long time. My eyes are stinging and I can feel something wet falling down my cheek.

Tyler holds my hair out of the way, not saying a word. When I finally straighten up, he hands me a tissue paper, which I gratefully take. I wipe my mouth on it and then wipe my eyes on my sleeves. I can't look at him. He saw. He's not stupid. He can figure it out. I can't talk about it. Please don't make me talk about it, I silently plead.

"Come on," he wraps his fingers gently around my arm, "let's get you to a restroom so you can clean up."

He walks me to the closest restroom and waits outside while I rinse my mouth and then wash my face. I stare at myself in the mirror. My eyes are red and puffy, my face pale as if I've seen a ghost. I kind of have.

I lean my hands against the sink, gritting my teeth. What the hell is he doing here? That had to be his new daughter. She's the same age as me. But they're supposed to be in Arizona, not here in California. What the hell is he doing here? I have to warn mom, I suddenly realize. And Mads. Oh god, what if he shows up at our door and she's home? No. Why would he? He left us. He made the decision. He didn't want us anymore. He has no reason to come back.

"Nora?" Tyler's voice comes from the other side of the door. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, coming right out!" I take a deep breath and face myself in the mirror, trying to collect myself. I'm Nora freaking Sanders. I'm capable. I'm confident. I'm a freaking star athlete. I won't cover in a bathroom crying over someone who didn't love me enough.

I straighten my shoulders and step out of the bathroom, my head held high. Tyler looks at me worriedly, a look I haven't seen in a long time. I give him a reassuring smile, which he doesn't buy, and start walking back toward the bus where the rest of the team seems to already be waiting. Tyler follows me, his eyes flickering to me every two seconds.

"I'm fine," I tell him . He looks doubtful. "I'm serious. I'm fine. I guess I was just so nervous today and the nerves finally released themselves."

"Uh-huh," he gives me a look, but doesn't say anything else. We climb into the bus and coach Herrera crossed our names over on a roster.

"All here!" he tells the driver, and we're off. I go sit down at the very back, behind my friends. It's already evening and it's been a long and exhausting day and they all seem to be already either asleep or listening to music with their eyes closed, so they don't notice my swollen face as I walk past.

Tyler shoots me one last worried look before sitting down next to a snoring Evan. I snatch my phone and put on my earbuds, turning the music up so loud it drowns out my thoughts. I close my eyes and lean my head against the window.

When the bus pulls to a stop in front of the school, I turn off the music and yawn and stretch along with everyone else, pretending I've actually slept when in reality I spent the whole drive thinking back to that horrible day.

We load off the bus and I say a goodbye to everyone before hurrying toward my car. Olive and Michelle's parents have come to pick them up, so I can drive straight home.

"Nora!" Tyler calls after me, jogging to catch up with me.

"What?" I throw my bag in the backseat of my car without turning to look at him. I can't.

"I—" he sighs and messes up his hair, seemingly at a loss for words. "Just talk—"

"There's nothing to talk about," I interrupt him, crossing my arms.

He looks down at me. "I wasn't... okay, I was going to say just talk to someone, okay? I know I'm the last person you want to talk to, so just talk to Olive, or Michelle. Or someone."

"I'm fine," I open the driver's side door and step in.

"Nora..." He prevents me from shutting the door.

"Tyler." I answer, looking him dead in the eye.

"Okay, fine," he raises up his hands. "I giv—" I don't hear the rest as I pull the door shut on his face.

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