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lot to do. Goodbye.” She slams the phone down making me flinch.
    “Who was that?” I have a feeling I’m not going to like her answer.
    “Your father.” I was right. “He wants you to start spending every other weekend with him like the court papers order.
    “But I don’t want to. You can’t make me go.”
    My mom closes her eyes taking a deep breath in. “Hon, I know you don’t want to go, but you have to go. The judge granted him visitation. He’s your father, he wants to spend time with you.”
    “I don’t wanna go. He can’t make me go!” Why is he forcing me to spend time with him?
    “I’m afraid he can. He can take me to court if he thinks I’m trying to stop him from seeing you.”
    “But you’re not.”
    “Yeah, but it’s my word against his. It’s just every other weekend,” my mother pleads.
    “Why is Dad being such an ass?” I try to fight the tears that want to force their way out. He has a new family, why does he need me?
    “Don’t call your father an ass! He’s just trying to have a relationship with you.”
    “Why just me? Why not Carrie too? The last time I checked she’s his daughter too.”
    “Because she’s over eighteen and lives four hours away.”
    “So I’m being punished because I’m only sixteen?” My tears no longer can be held back. It’s not fair I have to be forced to do this.
    My mother walks over and wraps her arms around me. “Oh honey, having a relationship with your father is not a punishment. He’s your father and just because he’s having a new baby does not mean you’re not still his little girl. Take this as a chance to built the relationship you two once had.”
    I pull away from her still feeling hurt. “It’s never going to be like it was before.” It’s not fair! I hate my father for doing this to me. “I need to get out of here.” I walk right back outside.
    The mugginess in the air makes it hard for me to breathe. I swear if I could I would throw myself on the ground and throw a tantrum just like a two year old. Instead I sit on my front step and lower my head to let my tears travel down my face.
    This is not fair. I don’t want to spend the weekends with him and having to watch that thing grow in Trisha’s stomach.
    “What’s wrong?” A deep voice asks surprising me. I look up and see Austin kneeling in front of me. Oh God, what does he want now?
    “Nothing.” I quickly wipe my eyes.
    “It doesn’t look like nothing. Is it your parents again?”
    I nod. I know if I try to speak I’ll begin to cry again.
    He stands up and offers me his hand. “Come on.”
    I shake my head no.
    “Come on. I promise I won’t bite you. Come on lets go for a walk.”
    I give him my hand and allow him to help me up. A part of me wants to run inside and get far away from him, while a bigger part of me wants to go with him. I must be going crazy because I begin to walk along side him.
    “I can’t believe summer is over. I’m not ready to go back to school,” he says as we walk up our street away from both of our houses.
    “Me either.” I utter. “Can I ask you a question?”
    “What’s up?”
    “What are you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be at some party getting drunk or hooking up with some girl?”
    “Wow, you really think so little of me.” He laughs.
    “I don’t think anything of you.”
    He stops laughing and furrows his eyebrows shaking his head. “Well there were no parties or girls happening tonight.” He begins to laugh again. “Is there any way to get you to crack a smile.”
    “No.” He continues to give me a goofy look and I can no longer control the muscles of my mouth. The corners shoot up into a smile.
    “There it goes. I like seeing you smile a lot more than seeing you cry. If you wanna talk I make a good listener.”
    A part of me wants to trust him and tell him everything going on in my head. If this was ten-year-old Austin I was talking to right now I would tell him in a heartbeat, but seventeen-year-old