Chapter Nine
360 Words
Mark Duffie proposed to Debbie Hogg on Easter Sunday 2009, in the Spring of Perrie Edwards’ junior year of high school.
Perrie had helped Mark pick out the ring. Mark would never be her father, no one could ever replace Alexander, but Perrie had been quick to like Mark. Her mother’s boyfriend had insisted that they spend time with not just his girlfriend, but her daughter as well. They had gone skiing with his family in Aspen for Christmas and Mark and Debbie had taken Jesy and Perrie to Florida for spring break.
After Mark proposed to Debbie and they began to discuss the wedding, Debbie asked Perrie what she thought about having the wedding the following summer, after Perrie graduated high school. Debbie would move to D.C. that fall when Perrie would go off to college.
Junior year had been difficult for Perrie. She had struggled to get her grades back up and had found herself falling back into bad behaviors easily, despite her desire to change. She knew she needed to change her life drastically.
She needed to leave the house where memories of her father were around every corner, from the chess table in the living room where he taught her and Harry to play, to the tree house he’d built in the backyard. So instead of getting married in the summer of 2010, Debbie Edwards became Debbie Duffie the week after her daughter turned seventeen in a small ceremony with only family and close friends.
The Styles had been in attendance, but Harry hadn’t bothered Perrie once.
Packing up the house in Connecticut had been a lot harder than Perrie had expected. She had volunteered to start boxing everything up while her mom and step-dad were on their honeymoon. Perrie had roped Jesy and Niall into helping her.
Jesy had originally been angry at Perrie for leaving her alone for their senior years, but had quickly reconciled with her best friend, knowing it was best for the blonde.
Perrie was sorting through her desk when she found the last letter she’d ever received from her pen pal.
- Writer
