Chapter Forty : The Worst That Could Happen

"Who are you going to the dance with hun?" My mom asked as she looked up from her paper. I sat at the table with bowl of cereal in one hand and a fluffy slipper in the other before speaking. Why was I holding a slipper?

"Uh.." I opened, hesitating for a moment before finally spitting the words out.

"Dakota." I mumbled, avoiding her eyes.

"What?" She looked at me, dumbfounded.

"I'm going with Dakota."

"Don't be silly, hun." She chuckled.

"Dakota and I.. we're dating." I said with a quiver in my voice.

"Excuse me?"

"We're.. boyfriends mom." I said as I finally gathered the courage to meet her gaze. Her brows were scrunched into a frown and her face was fuming red. It was the worst possible reaction imaginable and I felt like rewinding the situation, wishing I had kept my mouth shut and made up a lie instead.

"No." She said in disbelief.

"No son of mine is going to be.. that." She said with a tone of disgust in her voice.

"Mom." I pleaded as I felt my heart drop to the bottom of my stomach after hearing her say those words.

"Get out of my house!" She said as she pointed to the front door with a long slender finger.

"Mom, no." I said with a stinging in my eyes. Was this really happening?

"Get out!" She yelled, her voice was malicious and her eyes were dark as she slammed her fists on the table.

I sat in my chair, immobile as I sobbed into my hands uncontrollably. My tears ran down my cheeks freely and my heart felt like it had broken into a million pieces. Her voice pierced me like shards of cold ice as she yelled into my ear.

"Luka!" I could hear a voice in the distance but I couldn't see the person. It was then that I realized my body was shaking and completely out of my control. It was my mom's voice- and as I stared at my surroundings, they began to disappear. What was happening?

"Luka, wake up."

I opened my eyes as streaks of hot tears ran down my face and I struggled to catch my breath. A dream, it was only a dream.

"Luka, what's wrong?" My mom asked, her expression as worried as ever as she scrunched her brows together in confusion. For a moment I stared at her in silence, taking comfort in the fact that it was a dream. I'd never seen her so worried before and it made me feel.. different.

"Bad dream." I managed to spit out as I groaned, grogginess lingered as I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Oh, hun." She said before pulling me into a tight embrace.

"You were crying so hard, I was worried." She said as she ran a hand through my hair.

"Uh.." I muttered, unable to say anything else. I didn't know how to react. Our relationship was- less that normal is one way of putting it. But you all know that.

"What was the dream about?" She asked as her hold around me loosened.

"I don't remember." I lied through my teeth as a ache started in my chest. But I did remember and the very thought of my mom seeing me as something disgusting, hurt me more than I thought it would. I wondered, would she be the same in reality if I made the decision to tell her the truth about Dakota and I.

"I wanted to talk to you today."

"About what?" I asked as I looked up to meet her gaze.

"The dance." She said with a solemn look in her eyes that made me nervous. Was I psychic? Would my dream become a reality?

"I wanted to know if you were going to take that lovely girl, Gemma."

"Of course." I said, answering a little too quickly. Part of me was relieved that she thought I was taking Gemma, the other part of me wanted to tell her the truth but the recall of my dream reminded me of what could happen if I did.

"Great! Bring her around, I'd love to meet her." She said with a gummy smile before patting my hand and standing up to walk away.

Now what am supposed to do?

"Wait, you told her you were taking Gemma?" Dakota asked as we sat on bleachers during lunch.

"I panicked." I said before taking a sip of my water. Dakota stared me in the eyes before he cracked a grin and began laughing hysterically, nearly doubling over.

"Ha. Ha. Get up." I said as I rolled my eyes.

"That's great." He said as he wiped away the tears from his eyes.

"Not great. Gemma is going with Micheal."

"Just ask Gemma to cover for you, she'd do anything for you."

"What?"

"Oh, don't pretend you don't notice." Dakota said with a chuckle.

"I gotta admit, I'm a little jealous that you're going to be taking her." He said as he swung his arm over my shoulder, meeting my gaze before his eyes wandered to my lips.

"Sorry to break up the cuddle fest." Jane said as she sat down beside me. "I'm all for it, trust me, but I need help."

"Sure, what is it?" It was seldom that Jane asked for my help, so I was happy to provide my services.

"We need volunteers for homecoming." She said with a twinkle in her eye and I couldn't resist to saying yes, no matter how much I wanted to say no.

"We'll be there."

"Perfect." She said as she stood up. "You can continue." She winked before turning around and walking off towards the school.

I sighed with a smile as I turned to Dakota. He shook his head and grinned before ruffling my hair.

As much as I tried to focus in class, I couldn't. My mind wandered back to my dream, making it hard to concentrate on anything. I wondered if now was the time to tell my parents about Dakota and I. But part of me was afraid of what the consequences would be if I did so. How would my parents react? I would only know once I told them.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't hear the bell go, ending class and I was sat in the classroom alone.

I stood up, grabbing my bag and swinging it over my shoulder before walking out of class. I walked through the never ending line of students in the hall and to my locker, shoving my books in before closing it shut.

"Ready?" Dakota asked as he came up behind me. I turned around and nodded before starting off for the auditorium. Dakota slid his hand on mine, grasping it and smiling at me, filling me with a warm feeling. Momentarily pulling me from my own thoughts that wouldn't leave.

We walked into the auditorium, hand in hand. I was relieved not having to hide us anymore, at least at school. Students were scattered about and each of them were doing their own assigned job. Decorating was nearly finished but it looked amazing already.

"Luka, Dakota, great timing. Can you two help with the balloons?"

"You bet." Dakota said with a grin.

I nodded before we walked over to the balloon station, picking ip one of the many baby blue balloons spread across the table.

"This is fun." Dakota said with a high pitched voice and it took a moment for me to realize he had taken in a breath of the helium used to fill the balloons. I chuckled and shook my head at him before grabbing a balloon. It filled with a small squeaking noise ask pressed down on the nozzle.

"Hey you're Luka, right?" The smallest voice imaginable said from behind me. I turned around and came face to face with a brunette headed girl who's height matched her voice, tiny. Her eyes were a piercing blue that made it hard to imagine they were real, but they were. I could see the pupils of her eyes and the smallest hint of green in the centre.

"Yeah, hi." I said with a smile.

"I was wondering..." She trailed off, looking behind her at a group of girls across the auditorium. I could see Dakota staring at me, making it obvious he was doing so.

"I was wondering if you'd like to go to the dance with me." She asked averting her eyes away from me and to the floor.

"Sorry I'm-"

"He's taken." Dakota said, cutting me off as he swung an arm over my shoulder.

"I'm sorry." She said before scurrying off to her friends across the floor.

"Why do you always do that?" I asked with a chuckle.

"Do what?" He asked with a grin, pretending not to know what I was talking about. I shook my head at his obvious jealousy. But I should have been used to it by now, he'd always been a handful, hot-headed and uncensored.

But I wouldn't have him any other way.

It was nearly 4:30 when we had finished decorating, there were still a few things that need tweaking but never the less, we were practically done.

Just by the looks of it, Jane had put a lot of thought into this dance. From the streamers, to the balloons, to the tiny details.

"Have you picked out a suit yet?" Jane asked as the three of us exited the auditorium.

"No." Dakota and I said in unison.

"Well, Gemma and I are going tomorrow if you both would like to come." She said as we walked out the front doors of the school.

"We'll be there." Dakota said with a grin.

"See ya." She said before walking to the parking lot.

"Wonder who she's going with." Dakota said as we stared the journey home. I could tell fall was beginning as I stared at the changing leaves on the trees that we walked by.

"Jane is a mystery, so probably someone we'll never expect." I chuckled kicking at the rocks beneath my feet.

"We missed practice you know." I said as I glanced at him. He shrugged in response.

"Like we need the practice."

I scoffed at his arrogance before ruffling his hair.

"You, yes. Me, no way."

"Remember, you were scouted first." He said with a wink as we came to a stop in front of my house.

"Since there's a window right there, I won't kiss you." Dakota said with a grin motioning towards the living room window.

"You're torturing me." I said, half-jokingly.

"See you tomorrow."

"See ya." I said before waving and watching him walk across the street to his house. I walked to my front door and turned around, looking over to Dakota house only to find him staring back at me. I chuckled to myself as we waved once more before going inside.

"Hi hun. You're home late." My mom said from the kitchen.

"Yeah I was putting in extra practice." The lie came out so smoothly. It was beginning to scare me how often I had to lie to her. But I couldn't tell her I was helping with the committee, football came first.

"I'm making your favourite, shrimp pasta." She said with a gummy smile.

"Thanks." I said as I smiled back.

"It almost done."

"Okay." I said as I walked into the living room before sitting down.

I looked over at my mom and watched her toss the pasta and shrimp back and forth in the pan, and she smiled as she did so. Watching her made me wonder where this new mind set of hers came from. She was making more efforts to talk to me, properly. Unlike our other conversations and we all know how those went.

I wondered if now was the time to tell her about Dakota and I. But then I thought back to the dinner and the wine bottle. Would she forgive him if he apologized? She dotted on him for years, there's no doubt she wouldn't.

It was during dinner that I had made my decision.

"Mom." I said as I set down my fork.

"Yes?"

I opened my mouth to speak but no words would come out, only incoherent mumbles.

"What is it, hun?"

"This is great." I finally managed to spit out.

"Well, thank you." She said with a smile. I half-smiled, groaning internally from frustration.

I have to tell her sooner or later.