Page 102 of Bending Under Pressure

Dad may not be in my life, but it’s not like he is the only person I have. There’s Mom, Walter, Keelan, Jess, and even Keelan’s Mom. Maybe one day Dad will come around, but I’m not going to put myself in the position of letting him repeatedly hurt me. I have too much going on to deal with that too. There’s Keelan, the job I have to get, school, and soon, I’ll have to start thinking about colleges and my senior year.

I have people I can count on to help me. More importantly, I have people who treat me well. I’m surrounded by people who care about me and make an effort to be in my life.

That’s more than enough right now.

Keira: So...am I losing my brother? Natalie said you don’t want anything to do with us anymore.

I stare at my phone. It’s been one week since Haley’s accident and two weeks since I saw Natalie. She must’ve figured I’m not changing my mind and decided to tell Keira. What am I supposed to say to her?

“What is it, Keelan?”

I look up from my seat at the table at the sound of Mom’s voice. She’s cooking dinner. I’m supposed to be helping, but she told me to park it because I wasn’t being helpful.

“Kiera texted me,” I say before reading the text to her. “What am I supposed to tell her?”

“Is she losing her brother?”

“Not really. I never said I didn’t want anything to do with Keira. Just Natalie.”

“Then tell her what you want. If you want to still hang out with her and get to know her, then say so. Tell her you don’t get along with Natalie and just want to put some distance between you and Natalie, not between you and her.”

I nod even though she’s not looking at me. My thumbs fly over the keyboard as I type my reply.

Me: Not going anywhere. You and me? We’re good. Me and Natalie? Not so much.

Kiera: Okay, good. :) I can accept that. She’s not the easiest person to get along with, I know.

“Hey, Mom. Would there be a way for Kiera to live with her aunt again? Like even if Natalie didn’t want her to?” It sucks that she doesn’t like living with Natalie, but has to.

“Maybe. Once you’re thirteen, usually you can choose which parent to live with if they’re divorced. I don’t know what exactly she would need to do though. Why?”

“She’s told me she rather live with her again,” I answer as I type my text to Kiera.

Me: Maybe you should talk to Aunt Frances about living with her again. You can do that. Mom says you should have some sort of power over it.

Kiera: Really? I don’t know. I don’t want to upset Mom.

Me: Just something to think about.

We text until dinner is ready. I’m feeling a little suspicious about this dinner. Eating together isn’t a big deal around here. We usually do enjoy our meal as a family, but tonight, my parents were adamant about both Cameron and I being here for dinner. There’s something going on and I’m not sure what. I can’t think of anything, but I feel like I’m missing the obvious. They either have something big to tell us or we’re in trouble. No telling which it is.

Cameron must be thinking the same thing because a few minutes into dinner he asks, “Are we in trouble or something?”

Our parents laugh. “No. This is a celebratory dinner. Well, it might be,” Dad says.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“We haven’t brought it up because things have been busy around here between Keelan being grounded and then what’s happened with Haley,” Mom begins. “You two came to us about a month ago and asked us something.”

My eyes widen and I glance at Cam to see his eyes have too. “We get to become a Sanderson?” There’s a mixture of awe, hope, and excitement in his voice.

“That’s up to you. Do y’all still want to? We told you it would be a big decision. Have y’all been thinking about it?”

I haven’t been thinking about it much because I know it’s what I want.

“Yeah,” Cam answers. “Coach is going to have a fit because he can’t call us by our last names anymore. I still want to change it.”

Their eyes turn to me. “Me too.”

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