Chapter 37

Although there was no way Kat could have missed what was going on, what with living in the same house as me and the multiple private conversations I kept having with Mrs. Phillips, she hadn’t asked me about it yet. At first, I just wanted adult opinions and then I almost didn’t want to face what I’d done, so I kept pretending everything was fine. After Mom left, I realized I couldn’t keep doing that.

Things would get a lot more serious very soon, and I needed to face up to that. Part of facing up to it was telling my best friends what was going on.

I knew that Hanna had mostly morning classes on Tuesday and Thursday, so when Kat got home, I told her I wanted us to get on a call with Hanna. While there are a lot of problems living with someone like Kat, what with her condition and all, especially when I was the one she was fixated on, it did make things like this easier. She didn’t ask questions or say she was busy. She just set aside what she was doing and waited for me to call Hanna.

“Hey, how’s the rock star? I just got out of class.”

It felt so odd to hear her being chipper and happy. I guess when your life is falling apart, you want to believe it’s happening to the rest of the world too. Someone else being happy almost made it feel like my life wasn’t all that important. I knew that wasn’t fair to Hanna, but it was hard not to have that feeling.

“Do you have a second to talk? I have Kat with me, and I wanted to talk to both of you at the same time.”

“This sounds serious,” she said, the playful tone gone.

“It is.”

“Hold on,” she said, and I heard rustling and the noise in the background started to fade away as I waited. “Okay. What’s up?”

“You both know I’ve been having problems with my dad. I spent a lot of time this week talking to Chef and your mother, and I’ve decided to file for emancipation. I talked to Mr. Eaves and after going over everything that could happen, I asked him to file the petition. He filed this morning, and I told my mom earlier tonight.”

“What does that mean, exactly?” Hanna asked, sounding very serious. “I know what emancipation is, but what is it going to mean for you.”

“If I’m granted it, my parents lose guardianship over me, and for all legal matters I’ll be treated as an adult. I will be able to sign contracts in my name, open bank accounts, and so on.”

“Have you talked to Kent?”

“Not yet, but he’s already started making comments about Dad interfering with my schedule. He said they don’t normally sign minors for this very reason, so if they are able to start dealing with me directly, instead of through my parents, and especially my Dad, I think they’ll be happy.”

“How did your mom take it?” Kat asked, looking at me with sad eyes.

It wasn’t surprising that Hanna’s first thought was about what this would to do my career and Kat’s was about my family. Hanna was always the more serious of the two, focused on practical matters, while Kat had always been more sensitive. Considering the parallels with her own family problems, including having to face her father in court, it made sense she’d go there first.

“Not well. She was mostly angry at me for not finding another way to work things out and thinks I should find a way to live with things the way they are.”

“She said that?” Hanna asked, incredulously.

“Not directly. She said she didn’t think this was necessary. When I pointed out all the ways it was necessary and how the only other solution was for her to kick Dad out for good, she said that wasn’t possible. She left here angry.”

“I’m so sorry, Charlie,” Kat said, putting an arm around me.

“Thanks, although right now I’m more angry about it than sad. I was sad all this week, but I gave Mom one last chance to see my side, and she still won’t. I can’t force her to be responsible.”

“No, you can’t. What did Chef and Mr. Eaves think?” Hanna asked.

“Chef is the one who brought up the idea, but didn’t want me to rush into it. He’s more concerned with how I will handle the fallout. I believe Mr. Eaves thinks we have a good case, but you know how he is. He won’t commit to anything specific, just in case it’s taken as a promise or something. He also warned me that things were going to get worse. Dad should get the official summons tomorrow or Monday, but he probably already knows by now.”

“How long will this take?” Hanna asked.

“About six weeks.”

“That’s a very long time. He can cause a lot of damage between now and then.”

“I know. I asked Mr. Eaves if there was anything we could do about it, but he said there was a limit to how much we could do while they are still my guardians. I’m basically screwed. The best I can do is try to keep everything patched together and going until I get the emancipation.”

“Have you thought about what happens if they say no?” Hanna, ever practical, asked.

“Yes ... No ... I don’t know. If the courts say no, things will get very bad for me for the next year and a half. I almost certainly will lose my record contract. Maybe I end up in CPS, since one of the things the court might do is have them look into the abuse allegations, or I guess attempted abuse allegations, I’ve made. If that happens, hopefully they’ll decide to place me with Mrs. Phillips, since Kat was already placed here.”

“Or they might not. That could all be very bad,” Hanna said.

“I know, but if I do nothing, that’s what’s going to happen anyway, or I’ll take it a step too far and actually kill him, and end up in prison.”

“You wouldn’t do that,” Kat said.

“You don’t know how close I came last weekend. I was very, very close. If I hadn’t pulled back at that last second, I’d be in jail right now.”

“You need to stay away from him,” Hanna said.

“I know. I knew it then. I just lost my head.”

“Next time something happens, call me first. Or get Kat. We’ll keep you from doing something stupid.”

“I’ll try. It’s just getting harder to keep myself under control.”

“Have you talked to Chef about that?” Hanna asked.

“Yes. He’s started me on a whole meditation thing. At this moment I’m not sure it will work, but we’ll see.”

“You know we love you, right?”

“Yeah,” I said, as Kat squeezed me with her arm around me, letting me know she agreed with Hanna.

“I know this is going to be really hard, but we’re here for you. If you need me to come home, just say the word. If you want me to ask for some kind of pause on my enrollment or whatever, so I can come home and be there full-time, I’ll do it.”

“The hell you will. I feel guilty enough over my family falling apart and you messing up your plans would kill me. Besides, I have your mom here. She’s been a big help.”

“Charlie, I’m serious. You are more important than college or anything else. I’m not talking about your music career. I’m talking about your life. Your father is a violent man and this is the kind of thing that could push him off the wagon. If he starts drinking again, it will get very bad, very fast. I don’t want you hurt or in jail, and considering how this is going to make him feel threatened, either could happen.”

“I know, but I think it will be okay. I’ll keep my distance from him as best I can. I asked Mom to come over and talk to me today, but your mother would call the cops if he showed up at our door. If I see him, I’ll go the other way.”

“Do it. I’m serious Charlie. You need to keep your head on straight, and stay away from him.”

“I’ll try.”

We stayed on the phone for another hour, just chatting. Thankfully, the topic moved away from my family crisis, after a while, and on to Hanna’s life at college. Things were going great for her at UNC. She liked her classes, most of her professors, and even her roommate. She’d also met a guy in the cafeteria the other day, and they’d been talking on and off. With all the drama here, it was nice to hear about someone’s life going well for a change.

The next news came from an unlikely source, however. Monday came and went, and I hadn’t heard from either Mom or Dad. Mr. Eaves texted me, while I was in school and my phone was off, to confirm that they’d been served with the summons, so the clock had started. I half expected Dad to show up at school ready to fight or demanding I take it back, but it was radio silence.