Stuck On You

Chapter 2: Resentment

At home, Lela was the first to pounce on me. "You're late," she said. I rolled my eyes and headed to the

kitchen.

"We ran into traffic," I lied. Lela didn't believe me. Lela was my 11 year old sister. She had short, dark,

curly hair and brown eyes. She looked more like our mom than I did. In fact, I didn't look like my mom

or my dad. My mom was mixed with black and white while my dad was white and Spanish. I had

slightly wavy light brown hair, fairish skin, and crystal blue eyes. No one in my family had blue eyes. My

mom's were green and my dad's were brown.

"Why didn't Caleb come in to say hi," she whined. Lela was a brat, but Caleb just so happened to be

her favorite person.

"Do you know when mom and dad are getting back?" I asked.

"They called earlier. They said that they were 30 minutes out," she answered. I jogged up the stairs to

my room and plopped down on my bed just as my phone started ringing. I smiled after I saw the caller

idea.

"Hey Viola," I smiled. Viola was my best friend. She was a perky blonde who I'd been friends with since

kindergarten as well.

"Are you going to Caleb's party this weekend?" she asked. I sighed and rolled over on to my back as a

frown plastered itself on my face.

"I'm going to try, but you know my parents," I said, rolling my eyes. We talked on the phone a few more

minutes before I heard the main door open. "Text me," I said before hanging up the phone. I sat up and

walked downstairs.

"Hayden, when did you get home?" my dad, Luca, asked when I made it all the way downstairs. I rolled

my eyes and crossed my arms. Here we go again. We had this routine almost every weekend. If I didn't

know any better, I would think that my dad hates me. It was almost like he resented me.

"Why are you asking like you don't already know the answer? I was with Caleb," I snapped back.

"Hayden, not this again, please," my mom asked in a tired voice as she plopped down on the couch.

"What is wrong with you?" I yelled. "I'm 17! I'm supposed to be graduating in a year and you won't even

let me spend the night at Caleb's house. You know Caleb; the one we've all known since I was in

diapers! Why are you guys so strict when it comes to me. Anything Lela wants, Lela gets, but you won't

even let me get a driver's license. I'm 17 years old, it's like a rite of passage, yet you guys barely let me

even ride in a car. Why is that?" I ranted loudly. My parents shared the look that they always shared

when I asked about it.

"Dad, you don't even like me. You resent me," I said quietly as tears stung my eyes. I was sick and

tired of them. I'd never said that out loud before, but I'd had a lifetime of pushing on their part. Mom

looked at him in a way I'd never seen before. It was almost like she knew I was right. She averted her

eyes as her eyes watered as well. I felt a pit in my stomach. I didn't mean to make my mom cry, I was

just angry. She swiped under her eye before she got up and went to her room. Dad pursed his lips

angrily at me before he sighed and followed Mom.

"Jo," he said, before their room door closed. I sighed and covered my face with my hands. I didn't

mean to upset them, it's just... they were frustrating sometimes.

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"What did you do?" Lela squealed. I glared at her before I went to my parents room. I started to knock,

but stopped when I heard them yelling at each other.

"You do resent her!" my mom yelled.

"I love you, Jo, and our daughter!" my dad yelled.

"You have one... I have two," my mom said softly. "I know that you love me, Luca. I really do, but I can't

help the way Hayden was born. You know that I... I wish that none of it happened, but it did," my mom

said once she was calmer. My eyes widened. What I was hearing couldn't be true. It just couldn't.

My dad wasn't my biological dad. That couldn't be true.

"You still love him," my not-dad stated.

"I never stopped," my mom snapped. I let out a breath and rested my head against the wall next to the

door. It was hard seeing my mom love someone else beside my dad. They always looked happy

together and I never questioned it. I strained my ears to hear their argument.

"That accident happened 17, almost 18, years ago. Hayden wasn't even born yet," my dad said.

"That accident took everything from me!" my mom yelled, her voice shaking as if she were crying.

"You still have me... you still have Hayden and you still have Lela," he said.

"Hayden... I have Hayden... and she hates me," my mom practically whispered. I turned away from the

door to find that my eyes were stinging with tears. I didn't hate her, I just wish she wasn't so strict for no

reason. I did the only think I could think of: I ran up to my room and called Caleb.