chapter thirteen: party of disappointment.

Rue's Narration

Melanie never looked back the day she left her parents to live with Fez and Ashtray. She didn't regret leaving her parents either, if anything she was happy to leave them.

The night Melanie fell asleep in her new room was the night she knew that she found her new family. Usually it was hard for a ten year old to get the concept of a family, but Melanie understood that not all families shared the same blood. If anything, she knew she had already found her true family.

"I can always go back with my mom and dad if im taking up space." Melanie spoke softly as she laid in the bed while the twelve year old boy stood in the door frame, shaking his head. "This is your home now too, you don't have to worry about it." He said, she smiled softly. The only source of light she had at the moment was the light from the hallway since the room light had been turned off. "Thank you, Fezco. This means the world to me." She spoke as she pulled the covers closer to her, she had missed the feeling of actual warmth. "Don't worry about it, goodnight, Melanie." He spoke and she nodded. "Goodnight." She spoke, watching as he closed the door behind him. She stared at nothing since it was now completely dark and quiet.

Melanie felt like she could cry, she was grateful to have Fez in her life right now.

At that moment, she knew she had a place to stay and didn't have to worry about a thing. Fez took her to buy new clothes, made sure she could return to school, and made sure that she was safe just like a normal guardian would do. Yeah, he was also a kid, but he was mature, thanks to his grandma teaching him everything he needed to know. Fez took care of three people, Marie, Ashtray, and Melanie at the age of twelve and swore to do that for the rest of his life.

Narrator's POV

Melanie sat on the couch at a random party with her head pounding, she didn't know if it was because how tight she made her ponytail or because of how loud the music was, but she assumed it was both.

"Are you okay?" Melanie looked over at the blonde haired girl next to her. "Yeah-how did you find out about this party?" Melanie questioned. "Umm, I kinda met a few people after we all kinda stopped talking to each other, and she invited me here but I can't find her." Jules said as she still looked around, all Melanie did was nod. "You don't seem happy to be here, is it my fault?" Jules asked and Melanie quickly shook her head. "No, I just still don't like parties, trust me, nothings changed. I only went to the New Years party because Maddy begged me." Melanie laughed and Jules smiled at the girl. "When will you ever be a party girl?" Jules teased. "Never, I like being comfortable." Melanie said and Jules laughed.

It still felt weird to Melanie, not only was she at a party with people she didn't know, but she was also here with Jules, she had never hung out with Jules by herself. It had always been her, Jules, and Rue or her, Rue, Elliot, and Jules.

"We can go if you want. Wanna get some ice cream?" Jules asked and Melanie's eyes widened. "I could kill for some ice cream right now." Melanie smiled and Jules smiled along while nodding, and before Jules could get up, Melanie looked down at her lap as her phone vibrated more than once within seconds apart, before she knew it, it started ringing. "Hold that thought, I gotta take this." Melanie's hands began to sweat as she stood from the couch, rushing past the crowd.

Fez had never blew up her phone the way he just did, and that scared her. So the girl rushed out the front door, breathing heavily as she answered the phone.

"H-hello?" She asked, her voice shaking. She knew something was wrong, she was prepared to hear something bad. "Mel, you need to get home now. Your parents are here with the cops saying that Fez kidnapped you and that they've been looking for you for all these years." It was Ash, you could hear the distress in his voice. "W-what?" Melanie's heart dropped. "Hurry up, they got him cuffs saying they need you here before they take him away." Ash spoke and Melanie nodded even though he couldn't see her. "Is everything okay?" The brown girl turned around to Jules who had exited the house right on time.

"Im coming, Ash. Make them wait, please." She spoke as she hung up the phone. "Jules, I need you to quickly get me back home please, there's an emergency." Melanie spoke, her eyes watering. Jules nodded as she grabbed the girls hand, rushing over to her bike. Jules picked up her bike, quickly telling Melanie to get on which she quickly did and Jules took off.

Melanie could feel the tears run down her face, not out of sadness or because she was scared, it was because she was angry. The accusation her parents made was infuriating her, they never cared for her and suddenly they did?

Jules' worried expression turned more worried once they got to the house seeing two cops cars, Fez with handcuffs on, Ash and Faye standing in front of the door, four cops, and a man and woman standing next to the cops with a worried expression.

Melanie quickly got off the bike running over to the scene, Jules quickly trailed behind her. "Fez!" She called, he grew relieved knowing that she was safe and had gotten back safely.

"Excuse me, are you Melanie Porter?" A cop spoke, his name tag said 'Oliver' which Melanie took notice of. "Yes, I am." She spoke softly as she looked over to Ash worriedly, even at a time like this Ash kept that same glare on his face. "Are these your folks?" He pointed behind him revealing her parents. They held a small smile on their faces, the girl quickly looked away. "Y-yes." She looked down at the ground, there was no point of lying, they most likely did a background search. "Well, they've been looking for you after all these years, have you known?" He asked and Melanie furrowed her eyebrows.

"No, I haven't. Ash called me saying that they accused Fez of kidnapping me." She spoke angrily. "We're not accusing him, we know he did." Her mother spoke up, making her scoff. "You guys got evicted and we were living in a fucking alleyway," Melanie snapped, looking back over to the police officers. "Can you uncuff him?" She asked officer Oliver. "Im afraid we cant do that right now." He spoke. "Why not? You want my life story? I can for surely tell you that he didn't kidnap me-and fuck them! They haven't been looking for me." Melanie said as she pointed over to her parents.

"Calm down ma'am!" The other officer spoke. "What the fuck are you gonna do about it? I'm not calming the fuck down if you're not listening to me. I. Wasn't. Kidnapped." She spoke.

"But that's not what your parents said." The officer behind Oliver spoke. "Parents? That's cute." Melanie scoffed as she eyed Fez.

"Please, Melanie-" She cut her dad off. "No. Uncuff him, and I'll tell you everything." She spoke and everyone grew quiet. The cops all eyed each other before one walked over to Fez, uncuffing the handcuffs. Fez hands went to his wrists, softly rubbing the skin that was being squeezed by the handcuffs.

"Now, explain ma'am. We just want you safely at home with your parents." The woman officer now spoke up.

"No, that's not what I want. I'm staying here wether they like it or not. Fez took me in because we were living in a tent in an alleyway while they did fucking heroine. Its been seven-almost eight years since I left. I'm almost eighteen years old and I should be able to make my own decision and my decision it to stay with Fez. I wasn't kidnapped, he's basically my brother-and if I was kidnapped I wouldn't be roaming around town and attending school, now would I?" Melanie rambled. They all watched her as tears fell down her face.

She was so angry, she had wished that she could get everything she wanted to say out, she had more to say but didn't know where to start. "Fez has taken care of me more than you two did combined. I'm good where I'm at, so I would like for you to leave this property." Melanie wiped her tears as she spoke. Oliver looked back at the officers, nodding his head.

"You can't do that." Her mother spat. "I think she can, ma'am. What Melanie said was true, I don't usually do this...but she's right. She's almost eighteen therefore she can make her own decision and doesn't have to be under your roof. Your records say that you two have been arrested for possession's of drugs, and there hasn't been any missing case on her up until now and she seems to be doing fine. She's attending school, getting good grades, we took a look at the rooms in the apartment and hers seem pretty occupied. I don't believe that she's been held captive." Oliver spoke.

Melanie could feel her body release its tenseness.

"John, I don't think that's appropriate." The cop stepped forward, his tag said 'Marshin' Melanie rolled her eyes. "How come?" Melanie cocked her head. "Yeah, why is that?" Jules questioned as she stepped up behind Melanie, placing her hand on the girls shoulder. This made Marshin shift uncomfortably, now that he was being questioned. "I don't think he even has an answer." Melanie scoffed while shaking her head in disbelief. "Marshin, I think you should take a step back." Oliver spoke. "I fully believe that Melanie is safe here. Her story does add up, after the eviction they were nowhere to be found until they were arrested two months after the eviction. Even though Melanie was gone from the picture they had no missing case on Melanie, and her school attendance was great during that time too. And she's still safely attending school. Fez has done pretty good if you ask me." Oliver spoke. Of course the cops did a background check on everything, they only agreed to go to Fez's to see if she was really in danger as her parents said, but she seemed perfectly fine.

Usually Fez, Ash, and Melanie stood with the saying 'fuck the police.' But right now, they were so glad that they had Oliver there. Fez held back his smile as he watched Melanie's parent face change. "You're letting my daughter stay with a stranger?" Her mother spoke up. "If anything y'all are the strangers. Leave the property. Is this over with?" Melanie asked Oliver. "Yes, ma'am. Im sorry for all of this, I know this probably scared you-" Oliver was cut off by Melanie's mom. "No! You can't do that! I want my baby!" Melanie wrapped her arms around herself uncomfortably. She didn't like the words that were coming out of the woman's mouth. Jules clearly could tell that she was uncomfortable so she wrapped her arms around Melanie's neck, hugging her tightly. Melanie hugged Jules back.

"You're so strong, Mel." Jules spoke watching as the cops escorted Melanie's parents off the property.

After Jules pulled away from the hug, Melanie ran over to Fez hugging him tightly. "Holy shit-come here Ash and Faye." Melanie said as she held her arm out. Ash and Faye quickly walked into her arms as they all hugged each other. Jules watched the family from afar, smiling at them. "How did they not find the drugs if they searched the place?" Melanie asked. "Faye and I stuffed them under grandma's bed." Ash spoke and they all laughed.

That night was rough, it may have been a party of disappointment in the end, but at least she got her happy ending..right?

edited: yessss😭🫶🏽