If there was one thing my parents hated that I did, it was leaving my book bag on the floor next to the front door. Today I didn’t care. I came home that day and slammed the front door shut and dropped my bag right near it.
When I walked in, Jennifer was feeding my twin sisters at the dining room table, and my little brother was on the sofa watching TV. Jennifer immediately turned around to see what was the cause of the door being slammed shut.
“Milo?” Jennifer questioned. I didn’t want to say anything to her, but the only thing that came out was just my anger.
“Where’s my dad?” I yelled out loud. Jennifer now has her entire body facing me, and she doesn’t look happy that I yelled.
“There’s no reason for you to yell,” she sternly said. She nodded her head towards the book bag that was on the floor. “Plus, you know better than to leave your book bag on the ground.”
You know better; just what my dad told me in class after he sent me to the Principal’s office.
“I don’t give a fuck!” I yelled in response. Jennifer got out of her seat and walked toward me. She was pissed off.
“Language!” Jennifer said loudly.
“Fuck that shit!” I continued to cuss in front of Jennifer and my siblings. It wasn’t until shortly after, I heard my dad walk down the hall and into the living room where we all were. He looked just as pissed.
“What is going on here?” my dad asked as he removed the glasses off of his face. Once I saw him, I immediately turned my body to face him.
“How could you do that in front of the class?!” I asked. “Seriously you couldn’t have just told me to be quiet or something?! You had to send me to the principal’s office?!”
“You sent him to the principal’s office?” Jennifer asked my dad.
“Milo, you spoke back to me in class,” my dad explained. “Plus, you were being disruptive. I told you I wasn’t giving you any special treatment.”
“I got a warning because of you!” I yelled out. “If I get sent back to the office, I get my dual major status taken away!”
“Well you shouldn’t have been disruptive in class while another student was presenting,” my dad said without a care in the world. It bothered me a lot; his carelessness for what he caused today. He was the one that fought so hard for me to dual major at Waverly, like he did when he was a teenager. He wanted me to go for both majors and now that I got them, he’s the reason I got a warning that it could be taken away from me? I should just allow the principal to take it away; maybe then I don’t ever have to see my dad’s face for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week in school.
“Well you shouldn’t have been on this power trip and show off to your class!” I spat back. He turns back around; clearly I hit some sort of nerve.
“Let me clarify for you, son,” he began. “Your behavior would be the reason you lose your dual major status, not me. You know how to act, and today you didn’t. You wouldn’t talk back to any of your other teachers, and I should not be an exemption just because I am your father.” He turns back around to go back towards his office, but stops before he does so. It’s like he wasn’t done trying to prove his point.
“Your grandmother called earlier,” he randomly said. I tried to act as clueless as i could, but I had a feeling where this conversation was going. “She said your friend was waiting for you there for a while.” Jennifer looks at both my dad and I, confused at what’s going on. My dad looked at Jennifer before looking back at me.
“I forgot to tell my friend that I couldn’t hang out today,” I responded carefully. My dad nodded his head saying nothing else.
“Today was your warning, next time I will not be so lenient,” my dad said before finally turning back around towards his office. I took a deep breath, grabbing my book bag from the floor and dragging it towards my room.
…
Jennifer was away for a dance competition with her dance academy when I first got caught having Sophie in the house without any parents home. I was bored; Mollie was on that dance trip with Jennifer, and my younger siblings were staying with Jennifer’s family for the day. I told Sophie that it was fine if we hanged out in the first floor where Jennifer’s home studio was; technically it wasn’t “the house”.
I brought down some snacks and drinks from the kitchen into the studio. Sophie looked nervous; I was too, but I didn’t want her to know that I was also nervous about hanging out. I didn’t know when my dad was coming home, but he came home and saw the studio door cracked open to let some air come in. It was the first time my dad caught me doing something bad, like being home alone with a girl in the house. He promised he would never mention it to Jennifer, just because Jennifer would’ve made things completely worse. She is Mollie’s oldest sister, and although Jennifer is really cool and chill, she handles situations just as bad as Mollie does; angry and explosive.
A couple of hours later, there’s a knock on my bedroom door. The door slowly opens and it’s my dad. I really didn’t want to see him or speak to him after what happened today, so I didn’t bother facing him when he entered my room.
“Bud,” my dad sat down at the edge of my bed and said. It wasn’t angry or strict like it was earlier; it was soft. It was like he wanted to have a conversation with me, which also scared me since it means it must be something serious. In this moment, I would rather him just yell at me and call it a day. “I don’t like how you put Grandma Mona in the middle of this situation with you and Sophie.”
“Sophie and I always hanged out at the treehouse,” I emphasized. My family doesn’t realize that Sophie and I been friends for over a year. They think whatever this thing between Sophie and I was new. It wasn’t, so why is everyone making this a big deal?”
“Yeah, when you were partners for your middle school project,” my dad answered. “Grandma says you two hang out at the treehouse for hours on end every Tuesday–“
“So what? Friends hang out,” I finally looked at my dad, trying to prove my point.
“Bud, I don’t think Sophie–” I cut my dad off before he continued. I already knew where this coversation was going.
“We are friends, dad,” I try to emplant that into my dad’s head.
“Then why are we hiding this Tuesday hang-out session from Jennifer if it’s harmless? Why are you afraid of telling her where you really are on Tuesdays?” he asked. He was right, I told him to please keep this a secret from Jennifer, because if she found out, she would make this a bigger deal than it really is and then word will go back to Mollie and I do not want to deal with Mollie if she thinks Sophie and I are more than just friends. We aren’t though.
“Dad,” I sighed.
“Milo, Grandma had a daughter almost the same age as you, ” my dad started.
“Yeah, I know; it was mom. She met you and got pregnant with me at 15; blah blah blah,” I stated back at my dad. I don’t know when it began to bother me whenever my dad would bring up my biological mom, but it did. It bothered me that for someone who died 14 years ago still had this huge hold on my dad that it literally dictated how he treated me.
My dad scrunched his eyebrows together, clearly upset at what I said. “Yeah, 15 years old; just a year and school grade older than you are.”
“My god, dad, Sophie and I aren’t dating, so there’s no reason to think that we would do something as stupid as what you and my mom did,” I said with honesty. I never understand why my dad and biological mom did what they did at such a young age. Maybe he regrets doing it. Maybe she wouldn’t have died if she wasn’t pregnant with me.
“Good, keep thinking that it’s stupid,” my dad responded. “But that doesn’t excuse the fact that your grandmother is worried that you and that girl are doing stupid things in that treehouse.”
“Are you kidding me?!” I spat back. This time I was loud and I didn’t care if anyone outside of my room heard me. “Grandma told you me and Sophie do things up there?!”
“She doesn’t know what you both do!” my dad said back, trying to keep the conversation inside the bedroom. “My point being is… I don’t think you should bring Sophie over there anymore.” I was so angry at my dad. He knows that Sophie and I are nothing like how he and my mom were. For starters, Sophie and I aren’t in love. We aren’t professing our love to each other in ways that we shouldn’t. We are friends that enjoy each other’s company.
I am trying to be just friends with a girl that I enjoy company with because I don’t want to ruin the friendship.
“You know what dad? Fine,” I said as I got up from my desk and walked over to my dresser. I grabbed some pajamas and walked toward the bedroom door. “Tell Grandma that I won’t visit her anymore. As a matter of fact, you can even tell her to take the fucking treehouse down! I don’t want it and I don’t want to remember mom!” I walked out and slammed my bedroom door in anger.
Letters From Liz. 