Page 114 of The Longshot

“Gary!” I race over, pulling on his free hand as an insurmountable sense of worry pools down my face. “Please, Gary,” I cry. “Stop. Just stop. Please.”

“Baby.” Gary peers up and into my eyes, immediately releasing Simon as he pulls me in close, wrapping me in his body.

“It’s me. It’s me,” I soothe him. “I’m here.”

“I’m so sorry, baby girl,” he whispers into my hair. “God, I should’ve been here.” He reaches for my hands and brings them to his lips. “Don’t believe anything he says, Chelsie. You know I'd never do anything to hurt you, baby girl. You know me.”

There’s no time to respond to his remark given that my parents have re-inserted themselves back into the conversation—lost and flustered beyond merit when they say, “Can someone please explain to us what the hell is going on here?”

“Explain?” Simon cockily turns in their direction, and I’m shocked he’s even able to stand up.“I’d be happy to! Everyone…” He looks towards the on-lookers, standing by without a care. “Little Miss. Chelsie Windsor over here, you know, daughter of today’s bride and groom? Well, she’s been lying to everyone for months.”

“Lying?” Mum butts in. “Chelsie? Lying about what?”

“I—”

“She’s been lying about being in school,” Simon answers for me as I cling to Gary. “The truth is, she’s not in school at all. She dropped out and has been living with Ruby in Crawley. How do you think she and Wilks met, huh?”

I watch Mum and Dad swallow, seemingly piecing together everything Simon says. “So, riddle me with this? Are you all really going to believe her when she says I hurt her? Believe what either of them have been saying?” He scoffs. “As if.”

“Chelsie…” Mum stares over at me with a betrayed look in her eyes. “Is this true? Have you been lying to us about being in school?”

“You know how important your education is to us, Chelsie. You know how hard both your Mum and I have worked so that you can get you where you want to go. Have you seriously done this?”

I’m left drowning without so much as a lifejacket—each of my parent's blows feels like a wave dragging me under. I want to leave. I want to swim away—escape. Christ, I’ve become such an expert at it by now that it feels like second nature, but I know I can’t—I won’t.

There’s nowhere left to hide. This room may be full of people, but I can only see the truth—the truth I refuse to hold back on a second longer.

“Simon’s right.” I hate the way I just started my statement off with that. “I have been living with Ruby… in Crawley.”

Mum’s face falls into her hands as Dad furrows his brows in disappointment. “Chelsie, how could?—”

“But I didn’t drop out of school,” I cut my dad short. “I didn’t. I wouldn’t have. I’m on a break. I had to take a break, Mum and Dad, and if you need a reason why, well, you’re standing right in front of it.”

I peel away from Gary and point towards Simon.

“The truth is, Simon had been hurting me, not just emotionally, but physically. I spent months suffering from his abuse, his force, his manipulation, so much so that I couldn’t take it anymore. I…” My voice starts to crack. “I didn’t know what else to do…”

“You have to believe her.” Ruby jumps in as she takes my hand and squeezes it into her own. “You might not have seen what happened, Mum and Dad, but I did. I saw. That night at Dad’s retirement party, I caught her running out of the greenhouse because of what Simon had done to her. Her face… she was swollen, flush, her skin was already starting to bruise…” She can hardly speak herself. “And seeing her like that…” She looks back at me with tears in her eyes. “It killed me. Broke me. So, I helped her. I helped her lie. I encouraged her to take some time off school so that she could get away from him. It was me. It was all my fault. So, if you two want to get mad at anyone, get mad at me. Not her.”

“I just…” Mum shakes her head in disbelief, looking up at my dad for reassurance, but there’s no use, he’s turned white as a ghost. “How had all of this been happening and we didn’t know?”

“Because I hid it,” I admit.

“But why?” Dad asks. “Why not tell us?

“Because I was afraid that?—”

“She had no proof.” It’s Simon’s parents who finish my sentence for me, although in no way, shape or form, was that how it was going to end.

Both his mum and dad rush to his aid, protecting him, just like I knew they would.

“You do realize that this is quite an accusation, don’t you, Chelsie?”

“Accusation?” I sputter. “Are you kidding me?”

“Yes, without proof,” his dad debates. “An accusation is all it is.”

“You want proof?” Ruby charges her way forward, pulling her phone out of her pocket and flashing it in his direction. “Then what do you all call this?”

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