21. With no energy left

“Did I forget my homework or something?” I said sarcastically to no one in particular, while leaning against the door, not wanting to go any closer to my new teacher.

“Alice, I need to talk to you. I kno-” Annabeth started, but I raised my hand to cut her off.

“Sorry, school hours are over,” I said, pretending that I was leaving.

I knew if my father was involved in her being inside our house, I wasn’t going to be left alone until she said what she wanted. I just had to show them how uninterested I was in this whole ‘mommy is back’ thing.

I didn’t hate her, or at least I did not hate her until she showed up like this at my class today. Many times I imagined how she would return and show up at our doorstep. We would talk on the porch, and she would tell me some giant reason why she was not able to visit me sooner. Other times, we would be walking on the beach next to our house, and she would tell me how she missed me and everything reminded her of me. I even thought she could tell me she