Page 82 of Ivy's Venom

A swift pang hits me in the chest, I wasn't around, I was hustling on the streets to make ends meet, and Mom was working two jobs. Child support was meager since Dad didn't have a great job at the time.

"Mom wouldn't have gone with that anyways," I tell him, it's the truth. There would've been a huge custody battle.

"There were some issues with her at school," he bows his head, "she was expelled that week before the... accident."

This is the first I’m hearing of her being expelled and if this was a few months ago, him saying the accident would've sent me into a rage. I always referred to Charlotte's death as a murder.

"Expelled? For what?"

"Selling drugs." He looks at me like I'm crazy. "Your mother said you knew."

"I didn't." I shake my head, why wouldn't Mom tell me? And why would she lie that I knew?

"She was caught with two bottles of Oxy in her locker and kids admitted that Charlotte was selling on school grounds. She was staying with me for two weeks because your mother had had enough."

This is all news to me. I was in my first year of University when Charlotte was starting her second year of high school and even though the workload was hefty, I was still at home. Well, except when I was working at the hotel and even then, I was only doing part time hours.

"This really makes no sense." I shake my head. "I actually came here to talk to you about Charlotte because Amelia has told me some terrible things."

"Yes," he nods. "She took her bullying to extremes with Amelia. I always thought it was jealousy but now I know it was due to her drug intake."

"Bullying Amelia about her sexuality wouldn't stem from drugs, Dad."

"No, but it would come from her anger towards her own situation. She wanted to live with us and go to school with Ivy, like Amelia. Sometimes, I felt like her interest in Ivy was borderline obsessive."

Borderline obsessive. Why though?

He sees the confused look on my face and his softens, "even through all of that, Charlotte was a good girl. She loved hard and she would've been better if the drugs weren't there. I don't think she was hateful."

No, I know she wasn’t hateful and I now know that Charlotte was having issues at home, I need to talk to Mom. I feel like I’m on a trail of breadcrumbs and chasing them down is tiring. I don’t know why Mom would hide this from me and it really doesn’t make sense.

“Then there’s you.” He pulls out another paper, “I pushed you too hard, I made you feel like you had to be the man of the house for your mother and sister when I went to prison, and I never told you enough how much I appreciated everything you did in my absence.”

Well, this is unexpected and right now I’m not in the mood to get emotional with him, as much as I’ve always wanted to hear these things.

“Thanks, Dad.” I pat his shoulder awkwardly. “I’m proud of you for all of this and when you’re out, I really want to hear all of it.”

“Really?” His eyes brighten.

“Yes.” I nod.

I need to get back to the house and call Mom before her next shift at the diner. I need to know everything about Charlotte and she’s going to tell me exactly why I was kept in the dark. The one thing that keeps nagging at me is the ‘obsessed with Ivy’ bit.

“Why would you say she was obsessed with Ivy?” I ask Dad.

“Because she always wanted to be with her.”

“They were best friends. Girls are like that.”

“This was more of a need to know where Ivy was, even when she wasn’t in Whitsborough, calling me to ask Vin where his daughter was, things like that. I also found a few letters in her room that looked like love letters to her. I chalked it up to being a joke, but I’m not so sure.” He scrubs his hand along his scalp.

“Maybe I’ll talk to Ivy.” I murmur.

“Ivy is a good girl,” my father states. “I never blamed her for Charlotte because I was never convinced of her story.”

“She admitted that Charlotte’s death was her fault.” I argue.

“I also knew at the time that Charlotte was troubled and under the influence,” he stares at me. “What do you think?”

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