He chuckled again. It was deep noise filled with something that felt a lot like a promise or maybe even a threat.

"I will see you soon." Stone offered me the five words with a small nod of his head, his expression still unreadable.

"I hope not." I replied with a fake sweet smile.

Lana led the way to the door of the ice cream parlour. I followed behind but I could not resist a final look back.

My eyes met the pair of dark ones for a split second before I turned back to face the other way.

Before I opened the door to the exit of the ice cream parlour, I rose my middle finger up in the air and flipped him off over my shoulder before I left.

The walk back was filled with Lana's romantic gushing. She narrated every single detail of her encounter with Brennan. Now that she had found out he would be attending Leavendale, she would not stop going on about how good it would be to have him there.

I knew that on Monday morning, she would be the talk of the school. She was already popular for her kindness and musical talents, but a good-looking guy would only make her more talked about.

We parted ways at my street with her continuing to walk ahead up the hill towards the nice identical rows of houses. She lived a matter of blocks away, but it was a completely different world from where I stayed.

I walked into my apartment building and climbed the stairs. It was like something out of a horror movie with the flickering light, the dark hallway and the unlocked door of the place I was supposed to feel at home.

A horror movie would be more favourable than what lay behind the door of my apartment. I would take a chase from Freddy Kruger over a conversation with my dad any day of the week.

"Dad?" I called into the dark as I closed the door behind me and switched on the light.

My father was sitting at the square glass table in the kitchen. If it was not for the glass table reflecting his face, I would have guessed he was sleeping. His head was bobbing up and down like he was trying to remain conscious.

Without thinking much about it, I crept forward to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. I gave him a gentle nudge but he did not respond.

I whispered softly with a voice that came out more childlike than I intended "Dad?"

His body jolted when he felt my touch. He stood up abruptly at the contact causing me to cautiously step away.

His eyes were now wide open. They quickly filled with disgust once seeing me.

"Are you okay?" I voiced, reaching my hands out to help him find balance.

The resentment in his eyes strengthened and it stopped me in my tracks.

I let my arms fall to their side before I brought them back up and crossed them over my chest.