Ding! Ding! Ding!

My stupid alarm went off. I groan and hit the stop button. I was never one to snooze because I enjoy my sleep.

Someone knocks on my door, and I ignore it, hoping they'll eventually go away. But instead, Harry pokes his head through my door.

"Your dad says to wake you up because he knows you'll hit the snooze button, " he says in a monotone voice and closes the door back.

I mentally scold myself for asking my dad to wake me up, but I get out of bed. I was going to NYU with Fawn today.

I walk into my bathroom, rubbing my sleepy eye with the back of my hand. I never understand the movies where girls wake up all bright and happy with glowy faces.

I always look like a Chihuahua that drowned after being run over by a train. After I brush my teeth, I decide to work out in my room because I am too lazy to walk to the gym.

I do some sit-up, crunches, planks, and a few other cardio workouts except burpees. I hate burpees.

After my workout, I have my bath while pretending to be a famous YouTuber telling the world about my morning skincare routine.

I stand in my closet, scanning over the hoard of clothes in it. New York is a fashion city, and that meant you could wear anything and call it style without being crucified as long as you are skinny or famous.

I decide to wear a white crop top with red pants and sneakers. I pair it with a red bucket hat and cute pin earrings I got online last week, hoping the students at NYU don't crucify my sense of style.

I let my hair down, running my left hand through my curls while applying pink lip gloss on my lips.

I grab my phone to text Fawn but see another weird message from an unknown. The person hadn't texted me all week, and I'm beginning to think he/she only has network service on weekends.

I roll my eyes at the message, and for the first time, I reply with a simple message.

After sending a message to Fawn, I went downstairs for breakfast. Walking down the stairs, I almost bump into Gray.

He looks up from his phone and gives me a pointed look, his eyes running over my body. "Going somewhere?"

"NYU, Fawn's sister decided to show us around, " I reply.

He nods and chuckles at the writing on my shirt. "Is that written in Chinese?"

"It's clearly written in English, " I roll my eyes.

He frowns and squints his eyes hard. "What does it say?"

"Daddy."

"Yes, " He smirks, raising his eyes to look at me.

He fucking knew it was in English. Annoying ass jerk.

I stare at him with glazed eyes and walk past him. He stops me by grabbing my arms and leaning to whisper in my ear. "I'll prefer it if you call me that in private though."

He lets go and walks away without giving me much time to reply to him. I bite my lips and lower my head, hoping that I didn't look as flushed as I felt.

I get downstairs and sit at the dining table. Dad places perfectly cooked pancakes and waffles on my plate. I raised a surprised brow at him. "Did you make this?"

"No, I did, " Shelia smiles and pours orange juice in my glass.

That makes more sense.

"Well, I helped."

"You burnt the toast."

"How was I supposed to know how the timer works?" Dad rubs the back of his neck, sheepishly.

"How won't you know?" She laughs softly.

"I think the most important thing is that he tried to help you, mum, " Harry says, tilting his head from his laptop screen to look at Shelia.

Sheila purses her lips at Harry's words and wraps her hand around my dad's waist. "He's right. Thank you, babe, " She places a kiss on my dad's cheek.

Something about hearing older people say babe was just weird.

Although my dad hardly looks his age. He's forty-three years old but could pass for someone in their mid-thirties.

I eat one pancake and a quarter of my orange juice because I didn't want my stomach bulging out my crop top.

I go out and wait for Fawn when she texts that she's almost at my house. She arrives a few minutes later, and I get into her car.

"I've got some news, " She says as soon as I get into her car, handing me a cup of coffee.

I groan and rest my head. "How bad?"

"I didn't say I have bad news, " She laughs at me.

"Is it good news?" I raise a brow.

"Let's just say it's indifferent, " She shrugs.

"Okay. Bad news, it is, " I concluded.

"Try to be optimistic for once, Dove, " She laughs.

I kneaded my face, trying to ease my worry. "Hit me."

"Okay, my sister wouldn't be available today. Something came up at the last minute, " She says, giving me a lopsided grimace.

My heart drops at her words because I was looking forward to today.

"But her friend decided to help her and show us around today, instead, " She adds.

I facepalm myself. Fawn is terrible at delivering news. I wouldn't have had the mini ten seconds heart attack I just experienced if she had said, Jessie's friend would show us around because Jessie wouldn't be available today.

I nod my head and take a sip of my coffee, enjoying the ride as much as I could.

After almost two hours of dealing with New York's traffic and Fawn's constant screams at other drivers, we finally get to NYU.

Fawn parks her car and brings out her phone. "She says we'll see her standing next to a Red Ferrari F430," She reads from her phone.

I get down from the car, and soon enough, I spotted her car. It's not that hard to spot a red Ferrari in a parking lot.

There is a gorgeous girl in a basic hoodie and mom jeans standing next to it. Her hair was midnight-black, and it flowed over her shoulders. She had glossy skin and hazel colored eyes.

Next to her was a gorgeous man, and my mouth almost drops open at the sight of him. His dark brown ruffled hair fell over his emerald green eyes perfectly. He had a devil-may-care outlook and a stellar smile.

"I'm convinced New York has the prettiest people in the world, " I whispered to Fawn as we walked towards them.

"They're from California, " Fawn deadpans.

"Both of them?" I raise my brow, and she nods.

"The city doesn't make the people, Fawn, " I scoff, contradicting myself.

Fawn chuckles, and I draw my attention back to the two. The guy kept pulling her hoodie over her head, and she placed it back down.

He leans in and places a kiss on her lips, pulling her hoodie over her head in the process.

"Hey, I'm Fawn, " Fawn greets when we reach them.

The girl pushes the guy away from her playfully and stretches her hand out to Fawn. "Hey, I'm Bells."

She shifts her attention to me after giving Fawn a handshake. "I'm Dove."

"Nice to meet you, " She smiles.

"And I'm Belion's boyfriend, " The guy grins and wraps his arms around her shoulders.

I can't help but imagine the shock on the doctor's face when he asks the guy's parent for their child's name, and the mother goes 'Belion's boyfriend.

She chuckles. "I swear people in this school don't know my name. It's always Alec's girlfriend, " she raises her head to look at him.

"I'm sorry. I hope you don't mind waiting for a few minutes. I'm waiting for a friend to drop my lunch, " she apologizes to us.

"No, we don't, " Fawn replies.

"He should be here by-"

She stops when a black Maybach pulls up next to us with two equally good looking guys in it. One had tan skin and long brown hair, while the other had paler skin and bright blue hair.

The tan guy jumps out of the car and gives Fawn a big hug. Fawn hugs him back. "Hey, Luke."

"This is Luke, my sister's boyfriend, " She introduces the guy to me.

He nods to me like an acknowledgment, and I smile. The blue-haired guy comes out of the car, a mischievous smile on his face as he stares at me.

"Hey, I'm Jeff, " he gives me a lopsided grin and holds his hand out for me to shake.

"Dove."

"Dove? Like the bird?"

"No, like the soap, " Alec rolls his eyes.

Jeff turns to glare at him, earning him a chuckle from Alec. Jeff shakes his head like he's getting rid of bad energy before returning his attention to me.

"Nice to meet you, Dove. I'm Jeff."

"You said that before, Einstein, " Alec comments again.

Jeff ignores him this time. "Jeff. Is that with one F or two?" I flirt back.

He leans in and whispers in my ear. "We can leave it with one. So, I'll have a F to give you later." He says, pronouncing it as the F sound.

My dirty mind registers, he meant a fuck.

"What did you say to her now. She's turning pink, " Luke points at my ears.

No, I wasn't. That's just my natural ear color.

"She looks red from this angle, " Alec comments, tilting his head.

Bells grabs her lunch from Luke and pulls my hand. "Thank you. We'll be leaving now, " She says, saving me from further embarrassment.

"I'm sorry about them, " She says when we are out of the guys' earshots.

"It's alright," I smile at her.

She gives me a gentle smile and tucks her hand behind her back. "So where would you guys like to go first? The classrooms, cafeteria, library, hostels?" She asks, looking from Fawn to me.

"Anywhere and everywhere."

~~~~~~~~~~

After nearly three hours of walking around and meeting all of Bells' friends, we settle for lunch. I had so much fun going around that I didn't notice how long we've been walking.

NYU is definitely at the top of my list after this- It's close to home, I've made a friend, and I have a sixty percent chance of getting in with my grades.

Bells had shared the lunch she got from her friends with us earlier, so we decided to go to a restaurant outside school.

She takes us to her favorite restaurant, and we let her order food for us since she knew here best.

After getting our order of spicy fried chicken, we next to the window, enjoying the view.

Opposite us was another chicken restaurant. I was about to ask Bells why we didn't go there when my eyes caught a car, my dad's car.

What is he doing here?

"I'll be back, " I tell Bells and Fawn and walk out of the restaurant. It was a good thing dad was here. I could talk to him about going to NYU.

I open the restaurant door and search for my dad. I frown when I see him in the far corner with the same woman I saw last Saturday.

They look like they are arguing about something. Dad lets his head fall, his hands on his hair. The woman places a hand on my dad's and rubs his hand gently.

That's it. I've had enough.

I storm towards them and plop next to my dad, staring directly at the unfamiliar woman.

My dad's head snaps up, and his eyes almost bulge out of his eyes when he sees me.

"D-d-dove, What are you doing here?" he asks, nervously.

"Funny enough, I was about to ask you the same question, " I cross my arms and fake a smile.

"Who is she?" I tilt my head to the woman.

Her eyes widen at my question, and she glares at my dad. "Dave, you haven't told her yet? Garry needs her help!" She fumes, dilating her nostrils.

Garry? Who's Garry?

"I just haven't found the time to tell her yet, " Dad shoots back, his vein popping angrily.

I look between the two of them, and an uneasy feeling starts to settle in my pit. "Tell me what?"

"Dave, " the woman glares at my dad, calling his name slowly.

Dad opens his mouth to say something but closes it again. He presses his lips firmly together and runs his hand roughly through his hair.

When she notices my dad wasn't going to say anything, she reaches out to hold my hand. "Look, sweetheart. Your mother made a mistake years back when you were born. She cheated on your dad with a married man and- " She begins, but I cut her off.

I flinch and pull away from her, refusing to listen to whatever she wanted to say. If I was going to listen to anything, I needed to hear it from my dad.

"Dad?"

He refuses to look at me, his eyes trained on the table. My heart starts beating faster when I begin to put two and two together.

The tears swell up in my eyes at my dad's deafening silence. Why wasn't he saying anything?

"Dad, please say something, " I whisper in a softer tone.

"God, Dave. I can't believe you haven't told her yet. I told you this seven months ago." She rages, her anger directed at my dad.

"Don't talk to my dad that way, " I scowl at her, wrinkling my nose in disgust.

"God! He's not your dad, " She cries.

We get a few stares from people in the restaurant, but at this point, I didn't care. I just wanted my dad to say something. I needed him to refute her claims, but instead, he sits without moving.

"Oh my God, " I gasp softly and stand from the chair. My eyesight is blurry now, and I couldn't seem to think or feel due to the cloud of emotions baring my thoughts.

I squeeze my eyes shut, letting my tears spill and pray this is all a dream. By the time I open my eyes, I am still standing in the same place. I swallow and bit my lower lips, trying to stop myself from crying.

"Dad?" I beg, giving him one last chance. I just needed him to say she's lying, and I'd be fine.

"Dove, please listen to me, " the woman begs, placing her hand on my back arm.

My skin burns at her touch, and I almost push her away. "And why the fuck should I, " I gnash my teeth.

She looks pained by my words and attitude, but I couldn't care to respect anyone at the moment.

"Because I'm the woman who made that mistake. I'm your mother."

••••••••••

*sips tea* 👁👄👁

QOTD- What's your favorite song at the moment?

>> I have Born to die by Lana del ray on repeat ❤️