Chapter 7

"We're going to be out of here soon," Chanel smiled as she spun round one more time.

"You guys look beautiful," Mom said as she took a photo. The thirtieth one she'd taken since she came up the stairs.

"I can't believe my baby girl's going to be leaving home. Then you'll graduate. Have kids and get married," she stared to move her peroxide hair from her eyes as she cried. Mom had spent a bit too much on her looks ever since she started dating Henry. I wanted to tell her that she was perfect, just being a natural brunette like me. Now, she spent nearly all her time either with him or get-ting beautiful for him. She would say that she did it for herself, but I knew the truth. Mom was feeling lonely.

Up until now, it had been her and me. Now I was leaving home. She must have realized that she'd been working all this time for her daughter. The one that man-aged to get into an Ivy-League college based on her grades, with a scholarship. She didn't have to pay a pen-ny; that was the thing that made me confident about go-ing to college. Knowing that I wouldn't be a burden to her.

"Mom, you'll have Henry to keep you company," I said as I walked up to her. I nodded at Chanel; it was her cue to leave Mom and me alone to have a little chat. Something I should have done four weeks ago, when I started fooling around with Liam. I could almost say that we were in a relationship, but we were going to different colleges. I wasn't naive enough to think that he would be waiting for me when I got back home.

Long distance relationships never work and I was going to college to study and have a bit of fun, even though deep down inside I wished that we were going to the same college. Maybe it was a good thing that we were going to different ones.

We wouldn't get in each other's way.

"I know," said Mom, interrupting my daydream. "Henry will be a lot more than that."

"They're here!" Chanel shouted out from the bot-tom of the stairs. I had visions of her standing outside on the porch. Discretion and Chanel never went hand-in-hand, especially when it came to Dwayne.

She was worshipping him. I had told her to be care-ful, but she didn't seem to care as far as Dwayne was concerned.

‘I've been hanging round that damn barber shop for the last year to make him notice me. Do you really think that I'm going to be discrete now? Have you ever hung round a barber shop?'

I understood why she was crazy about Dwayne. She had chased him round high school for the last couple of years, hanging round the barber shop was the last straw and she had no intention of letting him go.

Who could blame her?

"What's up?"

"Sorry Mom, I was miles away. You were saying something about Henry."

She nodded, "Well we decided that seeing as you're leaving and Liam too..."

Don't remind me.

"...that maybe we would do the wedding before you leave."

She had her dark eyes half-open as if she was avoiding me, as if she knew exactly how I would react.

"What?"

"I know that it may seem sudden to you. But we've been dating for two years."

"Two months."

She shook her head, "No, two years. You were too busy being angry at Liam all the time and we didn't want the whole town knowing. You know that people could talk. So sometimes when you thought that I was working or visiting your aunt, well, I was with Henry."

"Really?"

She started to panic as she held my hand, "I never lied to you. I wouldn't normally, but it's been five years since your father died. I needed someone. Henry's been good to me. So good."

"Better than Dad?"

Now, I sounded like a selfish bitch!

"I know that you wanted to go to college. Get away from here. Get away from his memories, that's why you buried yourself in your studies and I never blamed you, but I'm lonely Adele. You must understand that."

She held on to me as I looked dolefully into the corner of my room. The one where I kept the picture of Dad and I. It made me feel as if he was still around. Ready to tuck me in at night. Ready to hold my hand if I needed a shoulder to cry on. But he was gone and Henry was moving in and coming to take his place.

"I know that you only get moody like this when you're on your period, and seeing as you missed it last week, I'm sure that you're late and it's in full force."

"What?"

I pushed back from her, because I'd just realized something. I'd been so caught up and confused about Liam that I didn't even notice the important part. The times that I said to Liam, don't worry if you haven't got a condom. Or the time that the condom ripped...

"We have our period at the same time, remember? And I always buy your tampons and put them in your bathroom. I noticed when I was cleaning that you never touched your packet."

I didn't say anything as I left her standing there. She was talking, like a mosquito in my ear. I couldn't lis-ten to anything she said, because not only was I late, I was also going to the prom with the man that was going to be my future stepbrother. Even worse, the father of my baby...