CHAPTER SIXTEEN: GOING HOME

It feels very strange that Tyler seems very worried about me. He never left my side until we reached the dean's office.

"Uhhm, thanks, Tyler... I appreciate the way you stayed with me..." I said, pointing out the dean’s office, behind me.

He nods and shoots me a smile. "See you next week, Lara." he said, gently patting my shoulder with his palms. I fake a smile and slowly remove his hands from my body.

"Yeah...but, we're not going-"

"Lara"

Suddenly, we hear professor Kristoff's voice behind us. We both turn to look at him and are amazed to see my dad walking beside him.

"Dad!" I shout in excitement, and I quickly run towards him while he looks at me with teary eyes. I hug him very tightly.

"I miss you, my princess..." he said, his voice full of emotion. A strange mixture of sadness and happiness.

"I miss you too, dad, and our family," I replied while hugging him, tightly. He plants kisses on my cheeks before releasing his warm hug.

"Let's go! Doris is waiting for you and she’s been missing you so much," he said. I nod and turn to look across at my friends.

"Hey, dad, they're my friends...Zhena, Oli, and...Tyler,"

"Nice to meet you, guys. And it's nice to see my Lara enjoying her stay here; thanks for being kind to her”, says my dad with a broad grin.

"And you must be mayor Adam's daughter”, he said to Zhena who slowly nods towards him.

"Sending my deepest condolences to you and your family, dear." he said, emotionally. Zhena tried her best to hold back her tears, but we can clearly see that he is in deep pain right now.

"Hello, sir!" shouts Oli, suddenly.

I smile cos I know that Oli is doing that to divert attention to him.

"Hello," dad replied.

"I'm Oli, once known as Oliver... But yeah, you can call me Oli or Olivia." he introduced, we all laughed at Oli who is smiling broadly to my dad.

"You're one of those er...???"

"Er, well… yes and no. I'm a transwoman. In fact, I now have no penis, sir. So no worries, there!". Dad couldn’t help laughing.

Oli then winked at us. I just gave him a thumbs up and winked. That was like saying he’d done a great job.

Then dad turned to look at Tyler, who then introduces himself. "Hello, sir. I am Tyler Smith” My dad nods and looks slightly suspiciously at Tyler.

"Are you courting my daughter?" he blurts. We are all were stunned by that frank question.

"Dad! He's not!" I gush in disbelief.

"I'm not asking you young lady, I'm asking him" he says sternly to me, a serious expression on his face.

I slap my own forehead in disbelief. Dad turns to look at Tyler, who shows no emotion at all on his face.

"No, sir. I treat her as my best friend. A girl best friend; not a best girlfriend" he said, coolly. I was stunned by this.

‘He treats me as his best friend? When has that happened?’, I think to myself.

"Oh, that's good. Lara doesn't need a man on her life, she has plenty already, among her siblings and cousins" Dad said, shaking his head, and gazing at me once again.

"We have to go, darling," dad said, grabbing my luggage.

I turned to my friends and ran forward, to hug them.

"See you soonest, I will miss you," I said, my voice started to crack with emotion. I feel the warmth of Oli’s and Zhena's hands, gently rubbing my back,

"We’ll miss you too, Lara”.

“I will miss you both" Zhena added.

I felt Oli's head nodding as he released his hug, looking at us with a sweet smile on his face.

"I will bring you a souvenir when I come back from vacation," Oli said to us.

Both Zhena and I nod as we hug each other once again.

It's like I don't wanna let go of this hug again, I will miss both of my friends.

I release the hug and turn to look at Tyler. Then, I nod to him and tap his shoulder.

"I'll see you again soon, best friend", I said emphasizing the last couple of words. I wave my hands to them while walking backwards,

FInally, I was able to turn away from them, and walked beside my dad who is smiling dearly at me. I return his smile, and we both walked our way out of the building.

When we reached the parking lot, Dad put my things on the back seat. My brother and sisters are surely very excited to see me, and I am excited to see them too.

"By the way, where's mom? I expected her to pick me up," I ask, as I fix my seatbelt,

"Why? Are you not happy that I am the one who picks you up from school?" he asks. I give Dad a quizzical look.

"Dad, that is not what I meant..." I explain.

Dad pouts, which makes me laugh.

" Aww, c’mon, cry baby. I was just curious to see you pick me up. It's very rare... now" I explained. Dad smiles and holds my hand.

"I was just kidding...I just want to see you laugh. I miss that laugh of yours." he said, smiling at me, sweetly.

"Dad..." I called feeling very pissed off. “I was petrified that you are serious of your 'mad-dad' act. I was scared!"

As I whine, he laughs

Dad starts the engine and looks at me briefly before driving away. I turn on the radio and grab the newspaper from the compartment.

My eyebrows furrow as I start reading it. There’s an article about Stockholm Syndrome.

I comment to Dad about it, and he says he’s seen it too.

"Yeah...this is terrible." I commented.

"The term was first coined in Stockholm, Sweden. There was a bank that was robbed by some criminals...and the employees were like...doing whatever the criminal tells them to do...in order to get out to that bank alive. They follow whatever they commanded, like a dog, a loyal dog. It's nice right?" dad said while smiling,

"Nice? Not really, Dad! It's kinda interesting...but it's creeping me out" I said as I turn to the next page.

My heart skipped a beat the moment I saw the next page. It was about alias Joe…about the guy who trespassed into our school and dorm... news about the very guy who had kissed me.

Subconsciously, I touched my lips and there, I felt the softness of his lips. The lips of a mysterious criminal.

"Lara?"

My thoughts cut off when I heard dad calling me. I turn to look at him and I’m surprised to see his confused expression.

"I'm sorry. What was that again?" I ask; his forehead furrows as he looks at me.

"What happened? were you day dreaming? you were touching your lips...as if someone had kissed you and you can't forget it,"

"No!" I suddenly shouted, dad was stunned.

"I mean...no, I wasn't d-day dreaming...I was just so shocked at the news..." I said as I look at the news paper again, pretending that I’m just ‘reading the paper’,

"Why would you be surprised at that news when you already know it?" dad said,

My eyes widen as I see the headline. The news was about alias Joe...killing Zhena's dad...

"Y-yeah...I mean...I am shocked 'cause...I've never seen it in a newspaper before; I never thought they would write it here.", I lied.

I see dad nod his head and so I give him a smile and put the newspaper back at the compartment.

I blew out a loud sigh and rest my back in the passenger's seat. I drifted my gaze toward the window and pause when I see the big tarpaulin sign of our school.

That made me think. If I were to tell my parents or family about what had happened, they wouldn't let me go back to school. I am scared that this might happen, I don't wanna leave Zhena and Oli... or Tyler.

Even though I'm worried that alias Joe might come and attack us again, it scares me more to think of Zhena and Oli being attacked by alias Joe.

But I'm more scared to think I'm leaving them. I don't wanna leave a good friends of mine behind. They're precious to me now, and I don't want to lose them. Even just thinking of it hurts me.

-to be continued...