I turned around, surprised, and found him standing in front of the stove, covered in flour. This was an unusual sight because my dad never cooked. So to see him in a kitchen cooking was a surprise.

“Dad, what are you doing?” I asked astounded. I walked into the kitchen and my hand brushed the tops of the counter. On my hand was a film of white powder. Flour. I shook my head and laughed. Dad smiled sheepishly and said, “Why I’m cooking for you and your sister. You always cook for everyone. I thought you would want a break.”

I smiled and kissed his cheek. Then I grabbed a glass from the cupboard and poured myself a glass of milk. Dad made a face and I stuck my tongue out at him. He hated milk and so did Molly. They loved orange juice, which I liked a little, but I was like my mother. So whenever my dad saw me drinking milk, he made that playful face but there always was a hint of sadness in his eyes. In our eyes.

I went and sat down as he placed a plate full of steaming pancakes in front of me and put the all natural butter and syrup in front of me. I didn’t like artificial stuff as a child and forced my dad to buy the all natural stuff. But eventually he stared cheating by putting the artificial stuff in the all-natural bottle. I finally caught him and from then on I did the grocery shopping. Just as I was eating, Molly came out wearing the most ridiculous outfit for the rain. She had on a short, short skirt and a tank top beneath a light sweater. She even had on heels.

“Molly, you can’t be wearing that today. You’ll freeze.” I said. She rolled her eyes and sat down across from me. As shallow, as self-critical she was of herself, she always ate, and ate well too. My dad came out and placed the plate in front of her before he said, “My God, Molly, what are you wearing?”

I looked at her, smug, and she pouted literally.

“Daddy, I have a reputation to uphold and if I don’t dress up to it, than I’ll be nothing.”

I looked down at my food as my dad chastised her. “Molly Veronica Blake, I don’t care about your reputation. What I really care about is that you don’t die of a cold. Now go get dressed in something warm.”

Molly wanted to argue but she knew she would lose. So she reluctantly went back to the room, sending glares in my direction. I smiled down at my food as my dad shook his head.

“I love that girl to death but she’s missing some of her common sense. I think she lost it when your Aunt Bella dropped her.” he smiled, thinking back to happy times, and I couldn’t swallow. I pushed away my food, no longer hungry and stood up. The sound of my chair scraping against the tile woke my dad from his revere and he asked, “Are you done already? You barely ate anything.”

I nodded and kissed him on the cheek. “Bye dad.” I said as I picked up my backpack and pulled my hood up.

As I opened the door he said, “Charlie, I can take you to school if you want. Or I’m sure you can get a ride with Molly.”

I shook my head, “No thanks dad. I’ll take the bus.” and then I closed the door behind me. And somehow I felt that I had just changed something between my father and I.

The bus station was down the street from our house but it was raining so bad it felt like it was a mile long. But eventually I made it there and I found that I left at the perfect time. If I had waited longer I would have been forced to go with my dad or ride with Molly and her best friend Tina, who didn’t like me very much. Neither car ride seemed very pleasant. As I boarded the bus and paid my fee, I thought about the oncoming day. It would be the same as any other day at school and I wasn’t exactly thrilled about it.

At school I was often alone. No one was my friend and everyone thought I was weird. And that was all because of one night that happened during freshman year.

That year and the years before I had friends. Or so I thought. At the time Molly was getting more and more attention. She was the most popular freshman at the time. Everyone wanted to be like her and loved her. Everyone except for one girl, Adrian Brown. Adrian was popular too, but she always lived in my sister’s shadow. She hated Molly because she had everything Adrian wanted, so Adrian formed a plan. She knew I was shy so she took advantage of me. She pretended to be my friend and I was thrilled to be friends with her and sister to the most popular girl in our freshman class. I thought I was on my way up. But then I invited Adrian to a sleepover. I knew it was dangerous because if people knew I was different, I would become a social pariah. I didn’t believe Molly when she told me that. I thought they would understand. But I was wrong. That night I had a dream so bloody and utterly horrible that I woke up screaming and crying hysterically. The people who would die were Adrian’s family and they would perish in a fire. Molly woke up and immediately took control. She had me tell her what exactly would happen and I told her the truth. Adrian listened in utter disbelief and when I was done she had screamed that I was crazy and eventually how we were all crazy. Then she had tried to run out of the house but my dad wouldn’t let her go. I knew that if she went, she would die too. Molly called the fire department but they told her they were already there. We finally drove Adrian to her house and she knew I was telling the truth. Molly told her I saved her life but she didnt believe. The next day everyone knew how Adrian’s family was killed and she told them the story of the sleepover. She told them I put a curse on her and her family because Molly and I were jealous of her. They didn’t believe that Molly would do that but me they weren’t so sure. Adrian left the day after that to live with her aunt and no one ever really wanted to be friend after that.

The bus stopped and I got off. The school was only a block away from the bus stop so I had to walk the last bit. But the rain wasn’t as hard as before so I didn’t mind, I’d been alone so long I actually enjoyed it.