Chapter 46

We stood in the office with our schedules in hand as my dad, Kristin, and Nick told us goodbye.

Nick made sure that both Angel and Aaron had money for their lunch. Then he hugged them both, wishing them luck on their first day.

Afterwards, he came over to me and hugged me.

"Have a good day Lily," he said.

"I'll try," I said.

He smiled. "Don't worry you all ready have Angel and Aaron."

"I know," I said.

"Plus, I know for a fact that my little bro will definitely be watching out for you," he whispered.

Then he let go and my dad and Kris came over to me.

"Have a good day Lily," Kristin said.

"Yeah, and we'll be back here at 2:30 to pick you up," my dad said. "Okay?"

"Okay," I said.

Then my dad gave me a big hug. "I love you sweetheart."

"Love you too Daddy," I said.

Then he finally let go. Kristin took his hand and they walked out, along with Nick.

"Well let's go," Aaron said.

"Okay," Angel said as all three of us walked out of the office.

"So what's your first hour?" Aaron asked.

"Art," replied Angel.

"Chemistry," I answered.

"Oh cool, I have Chemistry too. With Mr. Stewart?" he asked.

"Yep," I said.

"Well how about we meet up here when we have lunch?" suggested Angel.

"Yeah, that sounds good," I said.

"See you then," Aaron said.

Then Angel walked off, heading to her Art class.

"Well are you ready?" Aaron asked as we began to talk towards our classroom.

"If I must be," I said.

He smiled at me and then held the door open for me. I walked into the classroom with Aaron right behind me.

The teacher noticed and smiled. "Well hello."

"Hi," I said quietly.

"Hey," Aaron said happily.

"Both of you are new?" Mr. Stewart asked.

"Yes," we replied.

"Okay, well go ahead and take those two seats in the back, but first let me see your schedules," he said.

Aaron and I walked up to the front and handed him our schedules. He signed them and then handed them back to us.

"Class these are our two new students, Aaron and Lily," Mr. Stewart said.

I stood there looking at everyone as they stared at me and whispered. I just wanted to run out of the classroom. I hated it when they sized me up.

Aaron watched Lily. She looked almost terrified as everyone stared at her. Then he remembered what Nick had told him, that she had always been alone, never having any friends because they ignored her. He knew that's what she was thinking, that everyone would just judge her and then leave her by herself once again.

Aaron then took Lily's hand into his.

I turned my attention from the class to Aaron. I looked down as I noticed he held my hand, and then up at him.

He just smiled his bright smile. Then he led me down the aisle, to our seats in the back.

"Okay class take out your notebooks and get ready for some notes," Mr. Stewart said.

I took out my notebook and my purple pen. Mr. Stewart put the notes on the overhead and we began copying them down.

"Thanks," I whispered to Aaron.

He just turned to me and smiled.

Every time he smiled like that, I felt like hugging him. It was hard to explain exactly how I felt. But he just had one of those smiles that would brighten up your entire day, making you forget about any previous problems that you had. It was like magic.

I tried to pay attention to what the teacher was explaining, but I couldn't help but to look at Aaron out of the corner of my eye. I watched as he leaned back in his chair, with his arms crossed, and a look of concentration on his face as he listened to what Mr. Stewart was explaining.

Once 1st hour was over with, Aaron and I looked at our schedules again. Our classes were on opposite sides of the campus, so he gave me a quick hug and then gave me words of comfort.

Then he went the opposite way and I went on my way to class.

"Lily!" Aaron called.

I turned back and looked at him.

"See ya at lunch!" he yelled.

I smiled at him. "See you soon!"

He smiled again and then quickly went on his way.

The rest of the day I went to my classes. And with each class, I became less and less nervous. I tried not to care as much about what the students thought when I walked in. I just reminded myself that I had Angel and Aaron, who would always be my friends.

Once lunchtime came, we all met up like we said we would. Then we went to the cafeteria and got our food and found a place to eat. Then all three of us began talking as fast as we could about our classes that we had gone to and what had happened.

After lunch, Angel and I went to our 5th hour, which was Government. While we were there, Aaron was in PE.

A couple hours later, we met up again and stood in front of the school waiting for my dad to pick us up.

Soon we sat my dad and we all headed over to his truck. The three of us climbed in and we continued talking.

"Hey sweetheart," my dad said as I buckled in.

"Hi Dad," I said as I hugged him.

"So it sounds like you three had a good day?" my dad questioned.

"Oh yeah, it was great," I said excitedly.

"Uncle Kev, you should have seen the gym, it was the coolest," Aaron said.

"Yeah, and all of us have lunch together," Angel said.

"Really? That's good," my dad said. "Any homework?"

"Yeah," all of us groaned.

My dad laughed. "The down side, right?"

"Yep," we agreed.

Soon we arrived at Nick's house, dropping off Angel and Aaron.

"I'll call you later," Angel said.

"Yeah, then we can help each other on our government homework," I said.

"Yeah," she agreed. Then she waved goodbye.

"Bye Lily!" Aaron yelled as we backed out of the driveway.

I just smiled and waved to him.

Once we arrived at home, I said hi to Kris and then went up to my room.

"So how do you think it went?" Kristin asked.

"Pretty good, I think," Kevin said. "She seems really happy, especially since that she has Angel and Aaron."

"That's good," Kristin said. "She seemed to be in a good mood."

"Yeah," agreed Kevin.

"But what?" Kristin asked, noticing Kevin's tone of voice.

"I don't know. I'm just going to talk to her, make sure that everything is really okay," Kevin said.

"Why? Do you know something?" Kristin asked.

"No, not really. It's just about something that Nick told me," Kevin said.

"Oh, okay," Kristin said.

Then Kevin headed upstairs to Lily's room, where he could her Creed CD playing. He knocked on the door before he entered.

I turned to see my dad walk in.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

"Sure," I said.

My dad then sat down on my bed as I sat on my chair, facing him.

"So how was your day?" he asked.

"It was good," I said. "I have 1st hour with Aaron and 5th hour with Angel. Plus, I see them on the way to other classes and at lunch."

"Oh, that's good," my dad said. "But what about your other classes?"

"They're okay," I said. "Oh, but in English I sit next to this one guy who continuously talks."

"So you didn't have any problems?" my dad asked.

"No, not at all," I said.

"You would tell me if you did have a problem though, right?" my dad asked.

I looked at my dad suspiciously.

"Yeah…why?" I questioned.

"It's just that…well, I mean I know that…" my dad tried to explain, but then stopped.

"What do you know?" I asked.

"Well, your Uncle Nicky told me some…stuff," my dad said, uncomfortably. "About you going to school."

"He told you that I had thought about committing suicide before, didn't he?" I questioned.

My dad just shook his head.

"I asked him not to tell you," I said.

"Why?" my dad asked.

"I don't know. I just didn't want you to know. I wasn't sure what you would think at the time," I said.

"Lily, sweetheart, you can always come to me with anything. In fact, I want you to. I want to know that you're okay, and if you're not I want to help you," my dad said.

"Okay," I agreed.

"So…have you thought about it lately?" my dad asked.

I watched as he barely choked the question out. I knew that he couldn't stand to think that, let alone say those words.

"No, I haven't," I said.

My dad let out his breath that he had been holding in.

"The thought hasn't even crossed my mind," I said. "I don't have to worry about being alone anymore, now that I have you Daddy."

My dad smiled and then gave me a hug. "I'll always be here."

"And now I have a whole family, that I've never had before. I have Kris, Uncle Nicky, Uncle Brian, Uncle Howie, and Uncle Alex. And two really cool friends, Angel and Aaron," I said. "I don't ever want to leave you guys."

"Oh, good," my dad said. "Cause when Nick told me that, all I could think about was how you were doing at school. And if maybe, I should have not made you go to school. I was just worried that maybe I would cause you to think that way again."

"No," I said. "I only thought that at the time because I didn't really have anyone. There was Joanne and Alan, but they were hardly home."

"Well if you need to talk to me, you just let me know. Or if not me, there's always your Uncles and Kris, just as long as you that we're all here for you. And we all love you," my dad said.

"Thanks Dad," I said. "But I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

My dad took my face into his hands and kissed my forehead. "Good. Cause I don't know what I'd ever do if I lost you again."

"I love you Daddy," I said.

"I love you too my daughter," he said, smiling.

Then he hugged me tightly. He held me until my phone rang, interrupting our father and daughter moment.

I pulled away and reached over to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hey Lily," Angel said.

"Oh hi Angel," I said. "Ready to start homework?"

Angel laughed. "No, not really. I was thinking that we could do that later. But I really wanted to know what you thought of that guy in Government? Wasn't he hot?"

I laughed. "Yeah, if you say so."

My dad smiled at me and then walked out, closing the door behind him.

Kevin walked downstairs; content that Lily seemed to be happy at school and now had two good friends she could rely on. He also knew that now that her and Angel were becoming better friends, his phone bill would be going up. He could see that the two of them were going to stay on the phone forever, talking about guys probably, and occasionally schoolwork.