Secrets of the Deep [Wattpad Featured Story]

Chapter Twenty-Five

I could feel Dad's steely gaze on me as he pulled away from the curb. "Are you mad at me?" I asked hesitantly after a rather uncomfortable silence.

"No," he sighed. "No, I just have a lot to think about. And don't pretend you're off the hook about the fight at school."

"It wasn't my fault," I said automatically.

"I never said it was."

We turned the corner, and Luke's little blue house vanished from sight. "Madeleine had it in for me," I declared. "There were rumors going around school that she was going to beat me up."

"But that's not what happened, is it?"

I paused. I'd been prepared for another argument, but Dad didn't look angry in the slightest. "What's wrong?" I asked as his face grew redder and redder. He was clearly trying to hold in his laughter. "Dad?"

He suddenly laughed so hard that the car swerved just a bit into the other lane. "The school counselor called me a few days ago," he explained as soon as he caught his breath. "She said you had beat up Madeleine Hansen. The first words that came to my mind were, 'What? My daughter beat up another girl?' Then your swim Coach called me a short time later and said you had attacked her. Attacked her."

I was now thoroughly confused. "But that's a lie. I was only acting in self-defense."

He laughed again.

"Dad, how is this funny?" I cried, frustrated.

"I just think the whole thing is ironic! I mean, the bully who picked a fight with you ended up losing," he chuckled. "Madeleine didn't know what she signed up for."

"So you're proud of me?" I asked hesitantly.

He gave me a warm smile. "How could I not be proud of a daughter who stood her ground at school and risked her life in the ocean? You're beautiful, you're strong, you're—" He reached over and tweaked my nose. "You're just like your mother."

I smiled. Just a few moments later, we pulled into the school parking lot.

"It's been a crazy few days," Dad sighed.

"Try a crazy few months. This all started when we moved back to Shady Cove, remember?"

He nodded thoughtfully. "Are you glad we made the move?"

"Not at all," I said immediately. Upon seeing Dad's surprised expression, I added, "In the beginning. But now..."

I looked out the window at the students walking to their classes. Somewhere, beyond the buildings of the school, lay the Shady Cove Café...the pier...the ocean.

"Now I can't imagine myself living anywhere else," I said honestly.

"Not even if we moved back to Newland?"

I immediately thought of Kimmie, but she seemed like someone whom I had known ages ago. My life was filled with new, more intimate, relationships.

"I guess it doesn't matter where we go," I said finally. "As long as our family sticks together, I don't care where we move."

Dad smiled gratefully. "Well, you don't have to worry about that. I don't think we'll be moving for a long while."