67Keiko
Hypothetically, Of Course
Chapter 5: The Truth About Forever…? Part I
12:53 A.M.
"Why did you hang up on him?!" Rachel yelled, shock and excitement of unrelated drama unfolding before her eyes.
Isla pitched her sturdy cell phone across the room, only for it to land in the plush carpeting that was installed on Rachel's floor. Isla groaned, fighting tears that were burning the corners of her eyes.
"What am I supposed to say to him?" Isla said, big doe eyes staring up at Rachel hopelessly. "What if that wasn't even him? What if that was just someone playing games, prank calling me?"
Rachel shook her head now, "Isla, that call was too descriptive for it to have been a prank. It's for real, it's him."
There was a pause; Isla stared at a blank wall, lost in the impending silence. "What do I do now?"
Rachel resisted the urge to hug her best friend, nerves haywire because for the first time, even ditzy little Rachel could feel the impact of the situation at hand.
12:54 A.M.
Lance
Lance's left leg twitched as he bit the corner of his lip in anticipation of a returned phone call. But she wouldn't call back; not that night, anyway.
Maybe he'd taken the wrong approach? Was calling the right thing to do? Did he startle her?
Fuck it, she needed to be startled. Not only did she need to be startled, she needed her ass whooped. After reading the information in Leayarie's file, the rest of his day had been shit. He'd left school before his fifth period class, practically sick to his stomach, his eyes bloodshot red and dry from the sodium of his tears.
The image of the blank space that was left next to the phrase "Father:" in Leyarie's file played over and over in Lance's head. He'd missed seventeen years of a life that he hadn't even known existed. How would he make that up? How could he? He couldn't just pop into Lea's life and say "Hey, I'm your long last dad! Want to go ride the merry-go-round at the Carnival?"
Lea was seventeen, and sophisticated and intelligent and just down-right beautiful. For god's sake, she'd already been raised. The job had been done, there was nothing more for him to do – he would just be a pointless addition to a problem that had been solved the moment Isla walked out of his life.
He'd never felt so weak, so helpless in his life. Lance always had a knack for taking ultimate control over any situation, but this situation—this situation had already gone out of control.
Lance rubbed his cold hands over his irritated face, suddenly aware of the day-old growth of hair.
He had questions and whether Isla was ready to give them or not—he was going to get every single answer.
Lance grabbed at his hair, and groaned as he grabbed for his phone once again. Better late than never, right?
Wrong.
1:08 A.M.
Isla stared into the mirror that sent her the reflection of her distraught face. Her skin seemed so pale; what a waste of MAC. The phone in her hand vibrated, shocking her out of the disturbing staring contest she shared with her reflection. Sighing and looking down at the one communication instrument that was giving her the most stress, she recognized the number and her blood rushed warm with frustration.
He wasn't supposed to call back!
Lea pressed the little green button, suddenly extremely angry, a sudden rush of frustration coursing through her body.
"I told you to forget that I exist." Lea's strong, even pitched voice coursed across the airwaves, echoing throughout the mainly porcelain bathroom.
Lance's deep, mellow voice tittered on the other line. "You also told me to pretend that you were a ghost, but, you seem to forget that ghosts don't have numbers where you can contact them, or cellular phones. And you know, now that I think of it, nor do they enroll their children in high profile Private schools; unless it was done before their death, of course."
Lea felt her face heat significantly, "What do you want, Lakeland?"
"I want to know how the hell you could keep her away from me." Lance's voice growled through the phone, the sudden bass in his voice startling Lea.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Lea said, meekly, the calm in her voice sending cold chills throughout her spine.
Lance exhaled heavily, and Isla could hear him slam something hollow down on the other side of the phone. "Ten—fifteen—ninety two. Ring a bell?"
On the other end of the phone, Isla sat down slowly and silently on the covered edge of the toilet. "You weren't ready." She said, barely audible.
"I wasn't ready? How—you never even told me! How could you have known whether I had been ready or not? You pushed me away, remember?"
"And you never even came looking for me." Isla said, the tone of her voice rising inadvertently, sending her emotions into a tizzy. "I don't want to have this conversation right now." Isla whispered, tears threatening to caress the crevices of her pretty face.
"Is it always about you, Isla? Must the shit always be about you? You have no idea what it's been like for me, these past few weeks; Staring my own kid in the face every single morning—and I didn't even know who she was." Lance's voice broke, and Isla could almost feel the heat reverberating from his anger.
"Please don't tell her," Isla moaned into the phone, different scenarios racing through her mind.
"How could I?" He said, quietly, the heavy sound of the pain in his heart crying in Isla's ears. "She probably hates me; she probably thinks that I never wanted her."
"I have to go," Isla said, trying to avoid having a meltdown until she was safely off of the phone. "I can't have this conversation with you."
"Isla I swear to every god who has power in this universe;" Lance growled through the phone, "If you hang up this phone I will make your life more of a hell than you're making mine."
"What do you want me to say?" Isla shouted, the force of Lance's own words flying back at him. "You're right, it has been sixteen years, but nothing will change that. She's done fine without you, and she'll continue doing so!"
"But I will not be fine, Isla."
"Then you'll just have to deal with that." Isla said, quietly, unable to find any other words.
"Have you really become this heartless?" Lance said, and Isla could audibly hear the moan in his voice. "I know that what happened between us when we were at school sucked, but this, Isle? This is how you punish me?"
"I was not punishing you; I was protecting myself and my daughter from a heartache that neither of us would've been able to heal from."
There was a deep silence as Lance grieved silently on one end and Isla on the other. Emotions ran amuck, and there was no way to escape something that had just exploded so abruptly. Things never happened as fast or as painfully as this had, not even in the movies.
"I just need to know that she hasn't sworn the possibility of having a father off. Just tell me that I have a chance to make it up to her." Lance whispered.
Isla shook her head, and finally succumbed to the vastness of her emotions and broke down.
11:34 A.M.
Isla
The light that flooded in from Isla's oversized bedroom window irritated her eyes as she woke that satin from her short mini-dress clung to her skin as she sat up groggily, suddenly aware that she'd slept in her clothing. Realizing that the repetitive knock on her door is what had woken her, she rose unsteadily and wobbled over to investigate the noise.
Cracking it slightly, she peeked out at the frustratingly familiar eyes that she still hadn't gotten used to. "What time is it?" She asked her fully dressed daughter.
Lea pushed at the door gently, urging her mother to move to the side. "It's almost midday. Did you like, sleep in your dress or something?"
Isla walked back towards her bureau, running a hand through her messy hair. "Unfortunately."
"Long night?" Lea asked monotonously, slowly analyzing her mothers form, staring her down, then up.
If only you knew.
1:48 P.M.
Lea
Lea gripped the cardboard on her Starbucks cup, gently swishing the liquid around, staring into the caramel like pool of coffee she'd purchased.
"Are you sure you're not over-analyzing this? Some teacher you've never seen in your life? You really think he could be your dad?" Lea's soft spoken friend, Shellz, sat across from her, taking tentative sips of her drink, as if she were trying to find the right words to say.
Lea looked up at her ridiculously naïve best friend. You see, Shellz has had it easier than anyone Lea has ever known. Aside from being the most sheltered person in the world, she is also the biggest virgin, and wouldn't know a dick if it smacked her in the face. How could Lea possibly expect her to understand something this complex?
Lea sighed "God, Shelly. I just connected all of the dots for you, why is it so hard for you to see the links?"
"No, I see the evidence, Lea, I'm just scared that maybe you're over analyzing something that you should stay out of." Shellz tugged on a soft curl, staring at Lea with innocent eyes.
"Talking to you about anything deeper than a tide pool is absolutely pointless." Lea dropped the chocolate scone she'd been eating back into the plate, frustrated.
Shellz sighed, annoyed. "That's not true, and you know it. Whenever you don't like my answer to something, you write it off as dumb. And it's never dumb, you just don't like it! Just think about what I'm saying. What if you're absolutely wrong?"
"Then I'll move on with my life, and deal accordingly. But the accurate question, since I know that I am NOT wrong, is how do I deal with being right?"
There was just something about the way Mr. Lakeland never called on her in class, even if she raised her hand. There was something significant about the way he always seemed to know that she didn't do the homework, but absentmindedly always gave her credit for it anyway.
One time, they'd accidentally brushed hands as he checked an equation on her electronic tablet. Lea had looked up at him, and asked him why he never spoke to her. He'd shrugged, trying to be nonchalant, and told her that he didn't know what he was supposed to say.
However, his eyes relayed a different message.
Lea shook her head solemnly, "Look, I'm not crazy Shelly. The truth is going to come out, very soon. I'm usually prepared for everything, but I don't even know where to start, now."
Shellz hand extended over the wood table to grasp Lea's. "You just have to trust in the theory that everything happens for a reason."
Monday Morning, 7:34 A.M.
Isla
Isla swallowed her coffee hastily as she struggled with the last few notes she needed to scribble down in her planner.
Lea walked into the kitchen, mouth half full with her first pop tart of the morning. "You do remember that tonight is the last night of parent/teacher conferences, right?"
Isla looked up in brief confusion, and then slapped her palm against her forehead. How could she have forgotten?
Lea's parent/teacher conferences were mandatory; Brent Academy enforced that rule due to low attendance rates on parent/teacher conference nights. It had completely slipped her mind with all the confusion, especially over the weekend. Rachel's party, Lance…
Lance. Lance was Lea's history teacher. She wasn't going to any parent/teacher conference, forget about it.
There was no way she could risk that humiliation, no way. Maybe she could visit every other teacher, possibly, maybe. Would that work?
Of course it wouldn't. God, how could she have forgotten?
"It starts at 5, mom, ends at 8, and I have debate practice till like 7:30. I'll just wait for you. See, I just completely organized it for you. Stop tripping." Lea sat at the end of the island, staring at her mother with steady eyes.
"I'm not trippin'." Isla said, quietly.
"Sure." Lea said, in an accusatory tone. "I'm about to leave, you don't have to drive me."
Isla looked up. "Why not?"
Lea chuckled. "I'm sure you have other things to worry about, I can walk."
Isla stared after her daughter, startled. "Aye; don't forget who the parent here is. No matter what happens, I still hold ultimate jurisdiction, got it?"
Lea turned back, and winked, sardonically. "Got it."
Such a premise.
Lance
The latte on his desk had gotten cold; it wouldn't taste the same even if he had decided to drink it.
He'd just finished prepping his classroom and his files for Parent/teacher conferences, a task that he should've accomplished much earlier.
The lack of sleep and the constant brain overload had his nerves on edge, any little sound made him flinch and he was fidgety. Keeping still had become a delicate task, and he was getting more annoyed with himself as every second ticked by.
The class bell rang with a steady fervor that he envied, he couldn't be that focused if he tried.
As the students piled in, one happy teen after the other, Lance's nerves flipped back and forth as each face that smiled and greeted him had not been the one he'd been expecting. As nervous as her arrival made him, especially after the events of the weekend, the image of her face reverberated in his mind and he couldn't help but anticipate being shocked over and over again.
The final bell rang, and the last few students settled down. Peeking out into the rapidly emptying hallway, Lance closed the door behind him, subtly wondering where Lea could be.
Scenarios assaulted his imagination; had Isla ran uprooted herself and his child? Running away from a situation that she couldn't handle? Had she Lea taken it upon herself to leave, afraid of what she couldn't avoid?
Each second had been like mental chaos, trying to evaluate the circumstances, hoping that he was over-exaggerating, but trying not to underestimate the power of the situation.
If Isla had done anything irrational…He would sleep in every corner of the earth to find her again. To find his daughter.
GUYS! This is only Part 1 of chapter 5 – I realized that I might span out wayyy too long, and I don't want you guys to get bored reading. Thanks for reading though, I know this took forever, I'm sorry. Between poetry workshops and SLAM performances my time is limited but I'm dedicated to this story and I will continue.