"Look who's precious little redheaded princess just came in? Welcome home, sweetheart!" my mom greeted as my nine-year-old self walked through the door.

My mom was a stay-at-home mom while my dad was away most of the time. Working in the army took up most of his time for us. I eventually got used to it just being my mom and I, but my dad was missed. I'd write letters to him and wait for his letters or phone calls. My recent one was so cool because I got my friend Max to draw a picture of him in class.

"Hey, Mom!" I said excitingly as I gave her a hug. My heart and body were so happy to be home. My friends and I played a little too rough at recess, so I was pretty tired. Something happened today that I didn't even think would happen.

"How was your day, hun?" Mom asked as she took my lunch box. This was our usual routine.

-Get off the bus.

-Say hi to Mom and hug her.

-Give her my lunch box so she can pack it for the next day.

-Eat an afternoon snack and talk to Mom about my day.

-Do homework.

-Watch cartoons.

-Eat dinner.

-Take a bath.

-Get ready for bed with Mom.

-Go to sleep.

"It was great! I met a new friend named Carmon. She was so cool. She has a few other friend, but I haven't met them yet. She wants me to meet them. She invited me to a birthday party!" I said excitingly as I bit into my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Like I didn't just eat one earlier.

"That's amazing, sweetie. Well, I'm sure your dad will be happy to hear about that when he comes home," Mom sighed as she prepared my lunch on the granite countertop.

"Has Dad called yet, Mom?" I asked as I looked up from my sandwich. Mom hated when I asked that question. She'd always look up at me with a blank face sigh at me, saying "Jana, he's going to call soon. I'm sure of it."

I tilted my head. She's said that for the past several of weeks. I wonder if she knew something that I didn't. She tried to play it off as if everything was fine, but she was a bad actress. My heart sensed some bad energy flowing around here.

"You've said that plenty of times before, Mom. Is he really okay?" I asked with worry in my heart.

"He's fine, honey. Why don't you start on that homework? I heard you have a surprise coming up if you finish it all by tomorrow," she said trying to change the subject. As a kid, when I sensed something was wrong, that followed me until I figured out what was really wrong.

Her red hair laid over her shoulder and her left green eye as she spread the peanut butter on the bread. She wasn't okay when that happened. I could feel it. She stared the sandwich down as if she was about to kill it.

"That's true. I get my prize tomorrow! Well, let me know if Dad calls," I said as I threw my crust away. Every time I get a sandwich, I had to make sure there was no crust on it. To this day.

So my homework wasn't that long. It took me about 30-40 minutes to finish. I had to read my favorite book for 25 minutes, do my math homework, and study my spelling words. It made me feel better knowing my spelling words, so I studied them backward and forward. That's why it took a little longer than expected.

Once I finished it, I thought my mom would like to check over my math homework or help me with my spelling words. Walking towards the stairs, I overheard my mom arguing with someone else over the phone. I walked a few steps down and sat on the middle step.

Looking through the stair railing, I saw my mom pacing the living room floor with the phone connected to her ear. "Are you kidding me? What do you want me to tell her? I've been telling her that you will call soon, but you want nothing to do with us! No, don't blame this on your little love for another man. Josh, plenty of men care for their children still. No matter what their sexual orientation is. I feel you just don't want the responsibility of helping with Jana anymore. It's been five months since you've talked to her. It's almost Christmas and she's expecting you to be here," she cried.

My mom was the sweetest and strongest person I knew, but how could she sound so ugly to my father on the phone?

That's when I found out what was really going on between them. My mom was married to a gay man. I didn't know how to feel. My dad was supposed to come home and he wasn't. All because he was in love with another man?

It made no sense to me. He always taught me that there was no way a man could love another man unless they were family. Same with women. My dad was actually in love with another guy. I still loved my dad no matter who he was in love with. He just needed to know that.

"You don't have to be with me, Josh. I'm not begging for you back. I just need you here for Jana's sake. She's only nine years old and we need to tell her about all of this soon. Yes, both of us. What do I look like telling our only child that her father is gay and he wont come back home because he feels embarrassed? You can tell her all of that later. Right now, we just need to tell her that we aren't together anymore," Mom confirmed.

My heart broke. How do you process the fact that your mom and dad are not together anymore? How do you get over that? They weren't in love with each other anymore.

"I'm not going to keep pretending that we're together, Josh. It's been five months. She's starting to figure out stuff. Well, you need to be here before Christmas because we need to tell her about this together. She'll feel better if we both told her. Well, I hope you're happy with him," she finished.

'I hope you're happy with him' didn't feel right to me at all. My heart was just broken and filled with hurt. My mom had been lying to me this entire time. She told me that he was going to call back and how we were going to be a family again. This felt terrible. My dad was my hero and he still is, but...

Do all heroes lie?

She placed the cellphone back on the desk in the living room and felt the sad energy that came from her. She was also angry and frustrated. My heart was hurting for her.

And myself.

No one likes to be lied to.

As tears fell from my face and onto my homework, Mom walked to the stairs and saw me sitting on the steps. My eyes raised to her as she froze in her steps. I sniffled and wiped my nose as I said "So Dad isn't coming home? You guys aren't in love anymore?"

She sighed and closed her eyes. She knew that I would find out. I didn't think I'd find out in this moment. There were so many emotions flowing through my heart. Most of them were not good emotions. I was scared, sad, frustrated, mad, angry, embarrassed, and more. My head was hurting just thinking about all of the feelings jumbled up in my heart.

"I won't lie. He probably won't. We may be spending Christmas together. Just the two of us, but that's okay. Many families spend time with just their moms. We may not be in love anymore, but that doesn't mean we don't love you. We just wanted you to be happy. I'm sorry," she said as she sat by me and rubbed my back.

"Well how do you think I feel now?" I asked as I looked up at her.

"Not happy. I know that much, but everything is going to get better. This won't last long. If he does show up, show him the same respect you did when we were in love. Him and his..."

"Boyfriend," I said as I wiped my tears.

"Yeah, that. We're still going to welcome them with open arms and enjoy ourselves. Remember that it's okay to love people who are just like you. I'm sure he'll be happy to know that you still love him no matter what," she said as she smiled at me.

I fell into her arms and cried. I missed my dad and couldn't understand why he fell out of love with my mom. There was nothing wrong with her to me. Why did he not want anything to do with me? I wasn't going to shame him for being with another man. I was a kid. I didn't care. I may not like the guy because he's not my mom, but I still loved my dad.

Jessica

"TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE, JESSICA! NOW!" my second grade teacher, Ms. Mackey, shouted with her outstretched arm and finger.

Wow. Now I see why she wasn't married. No man could deal with all of that screaming. And I thought her voice was annoying.

Okay, so I may or may not have accidently spilled a little gorilla glue in her desk seat before lunch and not tell her about it. She may or may not have sat in the seat and thought it was a prank.

I couldn't control where the gorilla glue was going to fall. Plus, what teacher just leaves gorilla glue just sitting around for the kids to touch? If it's anyone's fault, it's hers.

These are always things I just can't control. Something always happens to where little seven-year-old me has to go to the principal's office.

Sadly, Mom's boyfriend won't be happy about this.

As I walked to the office with my head hanging low, a little boy with light brown eyes and white teeth said "That was so amateur of you. I thought you were going to do something crazy. See me when you come back."

This kid couldn't even steal Ms. Mackey's favorite pen without crying. Like I wanted advice from a so-called thief who cries every time they do something bad. I just rolled my eyes and continued walking out.

Here we are again. Walking down this long hallway to the office. Same routine like all other days:

Me: 'Sup, Mr. Robinson?

Mr. Robinson: You again? What did you do this time?

Me: Mr. Robinson, I am so appalled that you would blame me for something that was clearly not my problem."

Mr. Robinson: Oh, save it. I don't want to hear it.

Then he just attempts to call my mom and gets her voicemail. She doesn't answer because she has no phone anymore. She lost it. Now how could she just lose her phone like that?

Does he know that? Nope!

Anyway, as soon as I turned the corner, I bumped into this girl with her lunch in her hand. We both fell to the floor and I hit my head against the floor.

"Dude, are you serious?! Really?!" she said as she rolled over with her hand on her head. She looked a little older than me and she had red hair. Her food was all over her clothes.

A whole peanut butter and jelly sandwich was smeared on her shirt, yogurt was on her pants, and her drink exploded on the flood with her chips.

Why in the world was she carrying her lunch throughout the hallways though? Wasn't she supposed to be at lunch? Who eats in the hallways?

"My bad. Need some-"

"NO! Now I have to call my mom! Thanks a lot," she said sarcastically. Um, you're welcome? At least you smell amazing. Who wouldn't like to smell like a good sandwich?

Her green eyes could've turned red at that point. She was pretty mad. As she tried to dust herself off, I tried to talk to her to kill time. I didn't want Principal Blames-A-Lot to think I did this too....

Even though a bump from me may have made her smell like an uncrustable from Walmart.

"You mind telling me why you're carrying your lunch around the hallways?" I asked with a little attitude in my voice.

That was a bad idea. She looked up like the Wrath of Khan was about to come out of her. "Well, I had a chance to eat lunch with my teacher and watch a cool move. Now I can't because of you. Why in the world are you wondering the halls anyhow. Aren't you supposed to be in your classroom?" she asked as she stormed off down the hallways.

Now, who's going to clean up this mess? Don't make Mr. Ron do this! Plus, that was rude of her to just not let me answer her question.

Well, it was a good thing she just walked off. I wouldn't have known what to say.

Anyway, I finally got to the office and hoped to find Ms. Sandi on the computer watching men taking off their shirts again. She claims that's not what she's looking at, but the reflection in her glasses tell otherwise.

Instead, I wasn't happy with what I saw. My aunt was standing by the office desk talking to the principal. She was probably here because Rena got perfect attendance or principal's list again. Rena was always a good kid. Congrats to her. My cousin Rena was always a nice kid. Even though I got in trouble a lot, she was never embarrassed to talk to me or hang out with me. I loved my cousin.

"Ms. Benson, thank you for coming by to talk about this situation," Mr. Robinson said as he saw me coming into the office and finding a seat to sit in. Why was he touching my aunt's hand and watching me? That's weird.

Usually, he's smiling when talking to my aunt. I secretly thought that he liked my aunt. Now, his beady little eyes were watching my every move. Was he that scared of me or something? Why wouldn't he trust me?

"No problem. Hopefully, this helps her," Aunt Chanel said to the principal. 'Helps her'? Helps who? Rena? What was wrong with Rena? What did she do? She's a goody two shoes. She never gets in trouble.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," the principal said with his good suit on and his bald head shining in the light.

As he folded his arms, I blurted with a smile on my face "Mr. Rob, it's nice to see you again. Nice hair. I think you should visit the skate center on throwback skate nights. They may need ya."

His eyes widened in anger and my aunt's eyes widened in shock. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have said that. I was just trying to lighten the mood.

Anything to make the situation better, right?

I smiled lightly as my aunt looked at me and asked, "What did you do now?"

I can't stand my aunt. Her and my grandmother are the only two people I really fear. They give out whoopings to those that don't listen. My aunt constantly nags at me and occasionally whoops me when Mom isn't around. I don't even do anything!

Every time she thinks I got in trouble and she has to watch me, I get a butt whooping for it. That's how she keeps Rena on the straight and narrow.

"Aunt Chanel, I didn't do anything that shouldn't have. It was all an-"

"Accident? Here we go again. Like the one time when the cake for Ms. Holloway's retirement party 'accidently' fell from the ceiling and right onto her head?" Mr. Robinson interrupted.

First of all, that was very rude to interrupt me. Second, at least it was her favorite cake. She loved carrot cake. We had to make sure the cake was safe and someone told me that if the cake stuck to the ceiling, it was safe to eat. Although it didn't stay stuck for long, it was still stuck to the ceiling. Where Ms. Holloway stood was out of my control. If anything, I'm the hero here.

Aunt Chanel widened her eyes again as Mr. Robinson continued with "And like the time when the lights mysteriously went out? All the cafeteria ladies were 'accidently' shocked when the lights came on and they sat down?"

Hey, it was raining outside. That could have been the bad thunderstorm that knocked the lights out. Plus, they all sit at a little table where there's a loose wire by it. I couldn't control where the wire swing. There's metal on the tables. That's his fault for getting those kind of tables.

"And what about when Mr. Ron's potty pictures were 'accidently' posted around the school?!" Mr. Robinson finished with anger.

Now, Mr. Ron was definitely on the 'potty' in that picture. Those were pictures of his balls and another woman's privates that were printed from the copier. Somehow, those pictures' force and the walls' force came together and the pictures got stuck to the walls. When kids looked at those pictures, they cried.

Honestly, I shed a tear or two as well. That was technically his fault though!

"Wow, Rena wasn't lying about how much you get in trouble here," Aunt Chanel said as she threw her hands over her face. They slid down her face as she looked away from me. Well, it was a good thing I wasn't going home with her.

Or so I thought. Thanks for telling your mom, Rena.

"Well, this is why we are so thankful that you're here. Jessica, you will be living with your cousin and aunt now," Mr. Robinson announced with a devilish smile on his face.

"You're joking right?" I said with a smirk on my face. Mr. Robinson shook his head and kept that smile on his face.

My face dropped in the matter of a millisecond. Did he not realize that I was going home to a butt whopping today?! This meant that I'd be living with my perfect cousin, my nagging aunt, and my loud-snoring grandmother! This was worse than staying with my own mother!

Wait...why was I moving in with my cousin? What was wrong with staying at my mom's house?

"Wait, where's my mom and why am I not staying with her?" I asked as I raised my eyebrow.

Aunt Chanel sat beside me and said "Well, she's not at the house anymore. The police came by our house and said that she wasn't home when they looked. Her house is being watched now. Your mom is in some serious trouble, Jessica."

For what?! She never tried set fire to the house! I accidently rubbed two rocks together and thought it would be cool to light a fire in the house! She didn't do anything! What in the world was wrong with my mom? I told her to stop going out at night, but I never knew exactly why she was always gone.