Summer holiday finally ended and it was a beginning of a new school session.
It was a tradition for Levi to drop them on the first day of school and pick them up on the last. He didn't know why he did that and after a while it turned to a tradition worth keeping.
Due to his busy schedule, he couldn't drop them off at school everyday.
Clover stared outside the car window as Levi was driving them to school.
The soothing voice of Celine Dion's classic played in the background, while her mind wandered far off.
The memories of her past constantly replayed in her head and she couldn't help but think about it.
.
.
"Clover!" She could hear her father's voice ring in her head.
"Yes?" Her attention left the window and she turned to look at her dad.
They were on their way to Clover's school but her dad stopped and parked the car a few blocks from the school.
"You know you're my sweet girl." He placed his hand on her thigh. She sat next to him on the passenger seat.
"Yes." She answered obediently, burying the disgust she felt when she looked at him.
"Just be careful when you're there. Those boys might try to pick on you but don't you forget..." He moved his hands from her thigh and placed it on the back of her neck drawing her closer. "You are daddy's little girl." He kissed her on her lips.
Subconsciously, in reality she used her hand to wipe her lips.
That's when her life in her previous school became hellish.
The school where she thought to be her escape because of the friends she had there; the facade that she used to cover her dirty secrets became the worse place imaginable.
Apparently, one of her classmates had seen the interaction between her and her father.
The gossip spread like wildfire, adding more fuel to the burning flames of her despair.
.
.
"Clover!" Levi's voice jolted her back to the real world. "Are you alright? Is it first day jitters?" She shook her head. Her only prayer was that she didn't meet someone that was in her former school.
"We are here. Rock Ridge High. Although the twins are still in middle school. I hope you'll be fine all on your own."
"I'll be fine." She hugged him. "Thank you." After saying that she opened the door and started walking to the direction of the school.
First was the assembly, then the orientation for new students and finally, she settled down in her classroom.
She was in 10th grade, Sophomore year.
Her first day wasn't much and she didn't feel weird 'cause she wasn't the only new student. She didn't really have any deep convos with anyone and when the bell rang she packed her things and got up to leave.
"I knew you looked familiar." A voice came from behind her. "Daddy's little girl." The moment the person said that, her heart sank.
She turned around and she could recognize who it was. It was someone from her former school.
"Kelly!" Her heart raced. The fear of going through all that again.
"Clover! I see you left your other life behind and moved to a new place entirely." Kelly walked closer to her but the closer Kelly came the farther Clover stepped back until her back touched the desk.
"I'm happy to see you're alright." Kelly embraced her surprisingly.
"I thought you were dead." A tear came down her face. "No one deserved that. I'm sorry we were jerks to you." The whole turn of events left Clover in disbelief.
"You know... After you disappeared all of a sudden, the principal came looking for your dad but he was gone. A neighbor said he moved out, but when they asked about you, the person said you had gone. You weren't with him." Kelly and Clover hadn't been particularly close in her former school. They talked to each other at times but weren't close friends.
Kelly was the one that saw when her father kissed her, she was the one that told someone, who told another person and then the gossip went round but she wasn't one of the people that bullied her.
"If I had known I would have kept my mouth shut. You wouldn't have gone through all that." Kelly was really in tears. Luckily school was over and they were the only ones in the classroom.
"Why are you here?" Clover finally managed to say.
"I couldn't help but blame myself for what happened to you. I was really worried... I thought you committed suicide or your dad killed you or something."
"Even when we called the cops on him, they couldn't arrest him because of lack of evidence. He said you packed up your things and left on your own and there was an eyewitness..."
"Kelly!" Clover stopped her from talking. "I don't want to know what happened to him or what happened after he sent me away." Kelly looked at her shocked.
"Why did he send you away?" The tears she had been holding back welled up in her eyes.
Seeing Kelly's sincerity, she couldn't hide the truth.
"Because..." Her voice had turned feeble and she found her lips shaking on their own.
"I got pregnant for him." Kelly was almost too shocked to speak.
"We need to talk somewhere more private." She bent down and wiped Clover's tears.
"I have to pick my siblings from school."
"You have siblings?" Kelly didn't know she did. Technically, she didn't know anything about her at all.
"Not really but I see them as family." She blew her nose with some tissues and then threw it in the trash on her way out of the class with Kelly.
"Which school?" Kelly asked.
"The middle school."
"It's in the other building. I can walk you there."
"Thanks."
"You don't have to worry about me. My parents bought me a car."
"Are you up to 16?" Clover asked.
"I'm 18. I got delayed a bit because I had cancer when I was little. It was hard but somehow I managed to overcome it. Although, I got better but my hair takes forever to grow." That explains her very short hair. Clover just thought she liked it short as fashion. It didn't look bad on her.