Belonging

I walk to the centre of the stage and stand in front of the microphone, trying not to look out at the sea of people sat around me. I begin talking, trying not to let my words come out too quickly or too slowly. When I don't mess up for the first mental paragraph of what I've planned to say, I glance up to look at my father.

My eyes are drawn to the back of the room instead when the door opens. A familiar figure slips through and my eyes widen. I stumble over a word and then quickly catch myself, although I can barely hear what I'm saying over the loud, distracting sound of my own heart beating wildly in my chest because Petro has just walked in.

He sits in the back row and smiles at me, and I snap my head away, my eyes widening a little bit. Why is he here? I told him not to come!

I finish what I'm saying and the girl on one of the other teams begins to talk again. I exhale a shaky breath, stepping away from the microphone as a feeling of worry washes over me.

     It's my turn to talk again after a few minutes, and once I'm done I rush back to my seat, feeling like I'm about to cry.

     "Anastasiya?" Abigail whispers. "You did so good!"

     "Thank you." I respond quietly.

     "Are you okay?" She asks.

     I nod a little bit, turning around to look at my father, then at Petro. Maybe if I can just keep them away from each other then everything will be fine.

Abigail goes up to present an argument, and then there's a half hour break. I stand up quickly and look to Abigail, hoping she'll want to go back into the room with me so I can avoid both Petro and my father, but she tells me she's going to go speak to her mum and older sister, who both came to watch her.

I decide to go back to the room myself, and I'm about to do just that until I see my father begin to walk toward me. My eyes widen a little bit and I search the room for Petro, hoping he's far away.

My father stops in front of me and smiles. "You did very good, Anastasiya. Well done."

I smile nervously. "Thanks."

"Are you okay?" He asks.

I nod. "Uh.. yeah. It's just.. Petro is here."

"Oh." He responds. "I can go, if you'd like."

I frown. "No, you don't have to go." I say. "I just.. I don't want him to get angry."

"Anastasiya."

I hear Petro's bold voice before I see him. I expect my father to turn away, but he looks toward Petro at the same time as me. My eyes widen again as the soft smile he's directing at me morphs into an angry, thunderous scowl. I look up at my father, who narrows his eyes right back at Petro.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Petro asks. He grabs my shoulder and pulls me over to him, moving me so that I'm behind him.

"I was invited." My father responds easily, and panic sets in me. Why did he say that? Now Petro will know I had contacted him!

"I told you what would happen if you came anywhere near her." Petro tells him.

"You'll have to remind me." My father says.

Petro steps forward and I grab onto his arm without thinking, making him turn around to look down at me. The furious expression on his face relaxes a little bit.

"I invited him." I say apprehensively.

All it takes is those three words before the angered look is back on his face. "Why the fuck would you do that? Did you decide to not listen to any of us when we told you that it's not a good idea for you to be in contact with him?"