I followed her outside, looking down the whole time, not wanting to know how everyone around me was staring at us. It wasn't until we were a good distance from the house that she started talking to me. "So that's what you do when you tell me you're staying at Juline's?" she reproached me, glaring at me sternly, which almost brought the anger inside me to the boil. After everything she had done to me and my father, how could she react to me like that? Actually, she should apologize, be ashamed, but she wasn't like that. "I expect an answer, Mia!", she stopped and stood in front of me to glare at me angrily. "I don't want to talk to you, Gabrielle!" I called her by her name and she immediately turned away from me and walked ahead of me down the street. She really didn't have a guilty conscience at all, which struck me as incredibly bad. After all, she and my dad have been together since high school. How could she do this to him? "I've already called your father. He's on his way home and tomorrow morning we'll talk in private, as a family," she explained without turning to me. I looked at the dark houses around me and ignored her the rest of the way. When I got home I was just glad to be able to go to my room because I wasn't going to be able to take her another second. Frustrated, pissed off and tired, I collapsed onto my bed and then took my phone out of my pocket to check out Juline's profile on Instagram. She had uploaded a photo from that evening of her with Micah, both holding mugs and grinning for the camera. I would have loved to have been there. I took a deep breath and commented "H'all love you J." then put the phone on my bedside table to take off my jeans and murmur under my covers. A thousand thoughts flew through my head before I fell asleep. There was the picture of my mother with the man again. Cody getting pushed. Micah, who somehow seemed so far away and also the cold, brown eyes came to my mind again, with which I finally fell asleep in my head. When I woke up, I immediately heard my parents arguing loudly, which gave me an immediate stomach ache. I got up, changed into pajama bottoms and socks, and then left my darkened room, holding my breath in shock. At the end of the hall, in front of my parents' bedroom, there were several packed bags and I slowly put one foot in front of the other to walk past the bags into the open kitchen. "It was just this once!" my mom yelled at my dad, and when he saw me, he ran his hands through his blond hair and came toward me, tears in his eyes. "Dad," I whispered, burying my face in his chest. At that moment I was only afraid and panicking because without him I wouldn't want to live here. He was the one who was always there for me. Who got me through my first crush. Who was there when I had a fight with Juline or Micah and who always listened to me no matter how tired or stressed he was from work. How was I supposed to do all this without him? "Mia, I'm so sorry," he began and I pulled away from him to look deep into his eyes. "I'll look for an apartment and as soon as I've settled everything, you'll come and see me." It hit me like a knife. Why was everything so unfair? She was dating someone else and my dad had to move out? "But I want to live with you," I began to cry, clutching his chest even tighter. "I can't do that, little one. I'm out too often," he whispered, stroking my hair. "I'm 17. I can stay at home alone sometimes," I gave as an argument and immediately my mother's hysterical voice sounded behind him. "That was just missing! That you then go to more secret parties? So that you get completely out of control?" she screamed and I looked at my father, who smiled at me. "As soon as the apartment is furnished, I'll pick you up," he whispered so quietly that only I could hear it and then broke away from me to leave the house with the bags without a word. What was left was my mother, who was trembling with anger, and I. "I hope you're happy!" she hissed at me from the side and grabbed her purse to leave the house as well. "James!" she yelled after my father and then slammed the front door. I satisfied? Was she mad that she got caught? How unpredictable could a person be? I didn't think twice about what to do and ran back to my room to change and then to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Then I, too, left this madhouse and made my way to Juline under the sun. She would have some advice. She could cheer me up and that's exactly what I needed at the moment. When I got to Juline's and rang the bell, no one answered the door for me, which was really strange. She was usually up earlier than me, but a glance at my phone showed me her last status, which was only two hours ago, and in the photo she was lying on Micah's couch. I hated all this posting of pictures, never did it myself, but today it came in handy because at least I knew where she was. So, under the sun, which felt warm on my skin, I continued down the street and then rang Micah's bell, but neither he nor Juline answered the door, but a girl I didn't know. "Hi," she said politely, pulling the door open a little more so I could enter. "Oh my god," I breathed, looking around. It looked like a bomb had exploded here. Not only empty bottles and cups were lying around, but also clothes, which made me gasp in shock. Did they have an orgy? "Mia!" I suddenly heard a voice next to me and immediately recognized Cody coming towards me from the kitchen with a mug. "What you want to drink?" I looked at him in surprise and immediately took the mug from him to pull him into the kitchen after me. "I'll make us coffee and then you'll help me to tidy up here," I instructed him and he put his hand across his head and just said "Ai ai Captain", which unintentionally made me smile again. The quicker this mess was cleaned up, the quicker I'd have my best friend back, I thought, then placed a cup under the coffee maker to give Cody some caffeine. I wouldn't be able to do it alone.