Find Her Novel – Today is a big day. I’m finally going to graduate from high school and I’ll be leaving for college soon. But no one in my family cares. I cook and clean for them everyday and they don’t even bother to show up at my graduation. It’s time to make my speech now. I decided to change what I prepared to say. “Instead of thanking friends, family that couldn’t be bothered with me, I thank me and I promise myself this. I will find the real me and where I belong. Thank you”. At the ceremony, my friend William was the only one there with me. With his help, I’m on my way to my college the next day. I left home before my family got back from having fun all night. I’m grateful to William but won’t be in touch. It’s about time that I found myself.
Prologue Today is the day Parker is finally going to graduate from high school. Her parents should be flying back from Fiji today and will head straight to the school to watch her get her certificate. What they don’t know, is that Parker is the Valedictorian for her year. She wanted that to be a surprise for all her family. Parker was a proud Aboriginal woman, even though the rest of the family pretended to be white. They didn’t want to know about culture, Parker had always been involved. Parker had light caramel coloured skin, browns eyes, brown hair which she had got hi-lights through and as people joked, skinny ankles. Her mother was of Aboriginal descent but her father was an arrogant white man. Parker had darker skin then her brothers who took after their father more then their mother. Parker had clipped the five tickets on the fridge for her brothers to take and meet there parents at the school hall.
They all had promised her to be there. Her brothers would come home from work early and then meet Parker at the school. Parker was going to be heading to the school early to help set up the hall for the ceremony. You see Parker was that type of girl, she always put everyone before herself. Parker helped anyway she could, she liked to help people and that’s why she had applied to study a bachelor of nursing and midwifery. She had been accepted into the uni of her dreams with a scholarship but hadn’t told her family yet. She didn’t want to accept either because she would have to move across the country. Parker shook her head clearing her thoughts of having to leave her family. That was a problem for another time, right now she had to get herself to the school to start the set up.
She didn’t have a car though like her brothers. Her birthday was a week ago but no one had been around to celebrate with her. Her parents were travelling and her brothers were probably out for work drinks or something. Usually for your 18th birthday in this family, you were gifted a car. Maybe that would happen tonight when her family were all together celebrating her graduating. Parker couldn’t complain about her birthday really, William had turned up to drop off some files for Leon and had seen the cake. He had sung her happy birthday and then given her $500 to buy herself something. Parker raced out of the house towards the bus stop, excited that she was ending one chapter of her life and be starting another.
She was also excited that her parents were back in town. They had been on a cruise apparently on her actual birthday and her mum had rung two days after her birthday apologising to Parker for not calling her on her birthday saying that it was a surprise cruise her father had set up. She did promise that they would all be there tonight. The afternoon went quickly for Parker as the graduation team set up the hall. Soon families started to arrive and were helping kids put on the graduation gowns and hats and finding seats in the hall. Parker had saved five seats for her family and was just going over her speech. She had memorised it but wanted to be sure she didn’t forget something. This would be the first time that her family would be hearing of her achievements and what she had done during her schooling life. Usually they didn’t have time to come to things, Parker understood because she was the baby and was unplanned. As it got closer to the stat time the principle came over to speak to Parker. “Sweety, let me help you with your gown. I’m guessing your family is out looking for parking.
It’s horrible out there” the principle Mrs Andre stated. Parker looked at the time and was surprised but nodded none the less and allowed her Principle to help her dress. “Parker I am so proud of you and I’m sure your family are too” Mrs Andre stated seeing Parker scan the hall for her family. William walked in yet another graduation hall, he was here on behalf of his father to present awards. He didn’t mind it as one day he would take over for his father. William immediately spotted little Parker Jones, his best mates sister. Leon hadn’t mentioned anything about the graduation so he had no idea Parker was going to be here. “Parker, I didn’t know you were graduating” William stated when he saw Parker line up with the offical party. Parker looked up and smiled at William. “Hey Will, yeh I’m finally graduating. Did Leon come with you?” Parker asked causing William to frown.
William knew that Leon and his brothers were out tonight getting laid as Leon put it. Before William could answer the music started meaning it was time for the offical party and all the students graduating tonight, to walk into the hall. Parker was so excited, she managed to save the seats right near where she would be walking so her family would be surprised with her walking right by them. She couldn’t wait to see how surprised they were and started to walk down the aisle following the people in front of her. As Parker passed the now empty seats, her heart sank. Her family were not there and she had no idea where they were. Had something happened? She hoped they were ok. Parker was no longer smiling as she took her seat on stage.
William immediately noticed and if it wasn’t for the fact he was right in the front of the stage, he would of sent his mate a nasty text telling him to get his arse here pronto. Parker discretely checked her phone but none of her family had messaged her at all. She had no idea where they were or why they weren’t here at all. Parker swallowed so she didn’t cry and placed a fake smile on her face. She didn’t want to be here anymore. She wanted to be at home in her bed. That way she could pretend that her family knew she existed, that way she could pretend that her family actually cared about her. She wasn’t naive at all, she knew her family took her for granted, she never asked for anything usually except for tonight, she had asked them all to be here and they promised they would be. She had believed them and that hurt the most, she had actually thought they would finally do something for her. Chapter 1 Parker stood when her name was announced and headed to the microphone.
Even her peers could see that something had changed in Parker. Her smile wasn’t her true smile and no one knew why. Parker read her speech and did what she was suppose to do while starring at the empty seats her family should of occupied. At the part in her speech where she was suppose to thank her family she stopped. Parker looked up from her paper and stopped reading. “You know what. I want to say to everyone, we did this ourselves, we got here on our own. Others have supported us but they couldn’t do it for us. We did it, we should be thanking ourselves for all we have achieved because as they saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but can not force them to drink. So instead of thanking friends, family that couldn’t be bothered with me, I thank me and I promise myself this. I will find me, I will find the real Parker Jones and where I belong because it’s not here. Thank you” Parker said before going to sit back down. William was shocked, he turned to Parker to see she now held herself differently.
She wasn’t looking at the empty seats at all, she was watching her classmates cheering at what she had said while the teachers tried to quieten them down. He shook his head slightly amused at what Parker had just done and how she finally called her family out, even if they weren’t here to see it. The rest of the ceremony went on and as Parker’s name was called to be presented with an award, Mrs Andre beamed at her achievements which were read along with announcing how Parker had got a full scholarship to uni to study and wishing her well. William was presenting the award and couldn’t be prouder of the girl. William had seen Parker grow up and treated her like a little sister. William was an only child so loved spending time with the Jones’. “I’m so happy for you Parker” he whispered when he pulled her into a hug. Parker smiled for the mandatory photo but again the smile didn’t reach her eyes at all. She was hurt and angry and felt let down. “Parker you deserve this. Celebrate your victory” William whispered and tickled her side until finally a genuine smile was on her face.
The cameras flashed just at the right moment and William also had a huge smile on his face. He was glad he got to share this moment with Parker and that she wasn’t alone even though her family had let her down. As the ceremony drew to a close Parker threw her hat up with her classmates and wished she was far away from her family. Parker moved around thanking her teachers and taking pictures with some friends. All she wanted to do was go and hide in her room and pretend today never happened. William tried to get to Parker but was continually stopped by different people wanting to talk. William was going to make tonight special for Parker if he could just get to her. Most of the girls in the class had flowers or a teddy but not Parker, that didn’t sit well with William at all. He didn’t have romantic feelings for the girl, he genuinely saw her as a little sister.
When William managed to get away he couldn’t find Parker at all. He was upset with himself that he couldn’t make tonight all about celebrating her so decided to head out. When he got to his car he saw Parker sitting at the bus stop and he knew what he had to do. William called a local restaurant and booked a table while asking the manager who he knew, to grab a bunch of flowers explaining his little sister has just graduated. The woman, Nancy, promised to organise it all. William pulled up in front of the bus stop and rolled the window down. “Little Jones, hop in. I am taking you out to dinner to celebrate” William called out. Parker just shook her head no, she just wanted to curl up in a ball at home. She didn’t know if her family were hurt or not. “Come on Parker, you know you want to” William coaxed. Parked again shook her head no, she honestly just wanted to go home. After a few more minutes of William trying to coax Parker, she finally agreed getting in the car. She wouldn’t admit it was because the bus was cancelled and she didn’t want to be out in public though. “Ok Parks, I’m taking you to dinner to celebrate and you are going to tell me about this uni offer” William said before driving to the restaurant.
As Parker and William pulled into the restaurant she was smiling again. William was a goof ball and couldn’t help but crack jokes all the way there. He saw the hurt in Parker’s eyes and he didn’t like it. William still hadn’t had a chance to message Leon about ditching his sister for a piece of arse. “Hey William, please don’t say anything to my brother” Parker stated as she stepped out of the car. William lead Parker into the restaurant wanting to find out why she didn’t want her family to know. “You don’t want your family knowing you graduated?” William asked. Maybe Parker hadn’t of wanted them there. “I don’t want them knowing about uni. I haven’t decided if I’m going” Parker corrected before adding, “they all know about me graduating, I’m just not important enough for them to attend”. William was stunned but didn’t say a thing to Parker.
He wanted tonight to be about her achievements. As they got into the restaurant Nancy was waiting with a bunch of bright yellow and orange Gerber’s and a little graduation bear. “Hey William this must by miss Parker the graduate. Well done” Nancy beamed handing the teddy and flowers to Parker. Parker couldn’t stop the tears, this is exactly what she wanted from her family and here a stranger and her brothers friend, were giving her what her family hadn’t bothered to do. “Thank you” Parker mumbled out wiping her eyes hoping no one noticed. William did and he was glad he could do something special but also annoyed that he had to step up because her family couldn’t. William reminded himself that tonight was about Parker and making it special for her. Chapter 2 William and Parker had ordered food and were casually chatting. “So little Jones off to uni to become a midwife Huh? When do you start?” William asked. “I don’t think I’ll accept it. It’s in another state” Parker mumbled. She wished she was stronger and could put herself first but she didn’t want to appear selfish.
“Wow back up Parks. You can’t not accept it. It’s a full scholarship, you get a free ride to uni. When are you suppose to check in?” William asked. “Two weeks. But I can’t get there anyway so it doesn’t matter. I will just have to apply at a local uni and do something else” Parker stated. She really wanted to be a nurse but she had to think logically. Clearly her family weren’t going to be helping her and she couldn’t afford to relocate. “This is your future. You need to put yourself first. You worked hard and deserve this Parks. Your family are fools for not seeing how important you are. Don’t let them dictate your future ok?” William stated firmly. Parker was shocked, no one had given her permission to be selfish as she was always told is was a bad quality, especially in a female. Yes at the ceremony she had said she had to find herself, but she didn’t mean by abandoning her family. Parker was so lost in her head going around and around about accepting the offer or not.
Yes she actually had accepted but that was when she thought her family would support her. She knew now she was on her own, but could she be on her own in another state? “Parker Jones, it would be my honour to pay for you to fly there. Let’s check the flights Yeh? Where is the uni located?” William asked. “Melbourne” Parker rushed out. She was actually accepted with a full scholarship in Sydney but for some reason she didn’t want to tell William that. For some reason she knew William would blurt to her family about where she was if they worked out she wasn’t around. She didn’t want them to bring her back. If she was going to go, she wanted to be gone for good or until she was ready to come back. William got his phone out as was searching flights, being close to Christmas he knew it could be a struggle to get last minute flights.
He at least wanted to try for Parker’s sake. “Heck, the only flight I can get is tomorrow morning. Parker would you be willing to fly out tomorrow?” William asked. Parker was shocked, could she be ready to leave tomorrow? Could she really just walk away from her family? Well technically they pushed her out, but was she ready to be on her own? “I could pay for accommodation until you can get into the dorms” William added. Parker nodded her head yes. She would leave tomorrow, no point staying where she wasn’t wanted anyway. “Well little Jones you better head home and get yourself packed. Do you want me to pre book the accommodation?” William asked. Parker shook her head no, she wasn’t going to be staying in Melbourne. She would take a bus or a train from Melbourne to Sydney and find a place to stay until the dorms opened.
Maybe she could email the uni to see if she could get early access to the dorms. “Come on little Jones your flight leaves in 14 hours” William called to Parker who was lost in her head. Parker jumped up and took off after William. She was excited to be starting a new adventure. Yes she was anxious as she would be totally alone in an unknown place. But she was well and truly alone here anyway. “Eager much?” William chuckled out when he saw Parker racing to catch up to him. “Yep. William do me a favour though? Please don’t tell my family where I am, I don’t think they will ask but only tell them if you have to” Parker said looking William in the eyes. “Parker” William started. “Will please? If they ask yeh you can say I went off to uni, but if they don’t please don’t tell them” Parker stated while giving William her best puppy dog eyes. It use to work on him as a kid so she hoped it worked again now. “Ok Parks, only if they ask” William said nodding his head.
William assumed they would ask immediately when they saw she wasn’t around so didn’t really think he was doing anything wrong by keeping it a secret for a day. Parker flew into the empty house after William dropped her at home promising to be there at 7am to get Parker to the airport. Parker headed straight to her room and got to work packing her clothes. She also grabbed the money she had saved from her little safe box which was in the back of her cupboard. She had a bank account which she opened herself at 16 but prior to that she was paid in cash and had saved everything she could. It took Parker three hours to have everything packed. She had emailed the uni from her phone asking about early access to the dorms hoping she would get a reply. She also searched for cheap accommodation near Sydney uni just incase the uni didn’t allow her into the dorms. She even emailed Matt Smith who was the contact for the Gadigal program at Sydney uni, which is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander centre at Sydney uni.
That’s how Parker had gotten a full scholarship. Parker was a proud Aboriginal woman born and raised in the Northern Territory of Australia. Her mother was Aboriginal but didn’t identify as Aboriginal because her husband didn’t like it. He was a white man. Parker had spent a lot of time with her Ninny, her mothers mother, on country growing up. Parker was taught by her Ninny and the aunties and uncles on country to be proud of her heritage and her identity. Parker was a proud Gurindji woman. She had asked an elder, prior to applying to the Gadigal program, if she could live on Eora country to study and Aunty Linda said it was her path. To Parker’s surprise Matt had emailed her an hour after she has emailed him. He was looking into getting her into the dorms but had secured her a week at the the YHA opposite central and it would cost $150 for the week. She had immediately accepted the offer. Parker was getting excited, she was finally going to be putting herself first.
Chapter 3 Parker hadn’t slept the night before. Yes she was excited but she was also listening to see if any of her family would come home. No one had and no one had bothered to text or call. At 5.30am Parker got herself out of bed and headed to the shower. She wasn’t going to think of anything but her future now. She had made the decision to leave her family in the past and just move forward. That was what her ninny would of wanted for her. Parked took her two suitcases downstairs and left them by the front door. She made herself some coffee and waited for William. She mentally ticked off everything she would need for the new adventure. She knew she wouldn’t be coming back here at all, so took everything she refused to let go of, including photo albums of when she was younger and things were different. As Parker remembered one thing she knew she couldn’t live without, someone knocked on the front door. Parker opened the door seeing William standing there. “Can you take my bags to the car? I forgot one thing” Parker rushed out and headed to her mother’s room.
She had to get her ninny’s necklace. There was no way she was leaving without it. Parker was suppose to receive that for her 18th birthday but that hadn’t been celebrated in this family. Once Parker had the necklace she checked her room one last time. There on her bed sat a simple note to whoever found it. All that she had written was ‘goodbye to the family who never really cared anyway. I am starting a new adventure. I am going to Find me, the real me. Not the Parker you all take advantage of and forget’. When Parker was satisfied that she had everything she locked the house and shoved the keys through the letter box. She didn’t need them anymore at all. “Goodbye” Parker whispered before stepping into William’s car and smiling a genuine smile. She was free to find herself and she was finally happy. Yes she felt bad lying to William about where she was going, but she couldn’t worry about that now. She was allowed to be selfish and kept reminding herself of that.
William pulled up at the airport with a very excited Parker. “Wow and to think yesterday I was trying to convince you to go. Look at you now” William laughed. “I know. I owe you one. Thanks so much Will” Parker rushed out before jumping out of the car. “Hey, I’ll help drop your bags off then you head through security and are on your own kid” William stated grabbing Parker’s bags. Parker just nodded her head, she had been alone for a long time now so it was nothing new to her. Parker practically ran to the check in area. She had never done this before, yes her parents had been travelling but she had never been on a plane before and didn’t know what to do. “Here Parker. This is your code enter that into the computer and confirm it’s you with your ID. Then check two check in bags. The computer will print out two luggage tags and a boarding pass” William explained. Parker quickly went through the steps and soon had her boarding pass in her hand. She had an hour and a half to until the plane took off. William carried her luggage to the drop off area checking it in. “Little Jones, this is the end of the line for me. You go and smash your goals yeh? I’m really proud of you and I know your family is in a weird way.
Go and show the world who Parked Jones is kid” William said before pulling Parker into a bone crushing hug. William felt like a parent at the moment. He was so happy for Parker but at the same time he was upset she was leaving. He was trying to fill the role of parent and brother for Parker, but he did feel like her big brother sometimes. He had known her since she was born. Parker hugged William just as much. She wished he was her brother instead of the ones she was stuck with. William had always seen Parker. even when her own brothers stopped seeing her as a sister and only as someone to do chores. Parker was defiantly going to miss William, but she had to do this for her. “Thanks for everything William” Parker said. She wasn’t going to say she would keep in touch, because frankly she wasn’t going to. This was a clean slate for her and she wanted nothing connected to her past or her biological family. This time was about her and finding out who she was.
Parker headed through security with a smile on her face. She dumped her old SIM card determined to get a new one when she landed in Melbourne. She didn’t want her family being able to call or text her, she knew she would cave and go back if they asked. Parker headed to the gate to wait for her flight to be called. She couldn’t help but feel anxious about what lay ahead. She knew what she was doing but she was worried she would be found and have to go back. Parker knew once she landed in Melbourne, she would collect her bags and then head to the shuttle which would take her into Melbourne. After that she would head to the train station and wait for her train which would take her to Sydney. She had booked the ticket the night before and knew she had several hours to kill. She hoped there was a few shops around the station for her to get some food and a sim for her phone. When the flight was called Parker jumped up and joined the line to board. This would be her first time on a flight and she was excited. Nothing else mattered now but putting one foot in front of the other.
Parker was going to attend uni and then become a midwife. She would be selfish and put her wants and needs before her family, it was about time that Parker found herself. Chapter 4 Leon, Jude and Tanner stumbled into the house around 9am. They had been out with a few girls last night and ended up crashing at the chicks house. None of them could remember the names, but they did have a great night. All three were hung over and couldn’t wait for the breakfast Parker would have waiting for them. “Oh boy, that was one good night” Jude said as he threw his jacket on the couch. “Yeh man, those girls were freaky as heck” Tanner replied. Leon couldn’t help but think that something was wrong. Parker’s keys were on the ground and he couldn’t smell breakfast at all. “Let’s get breakfast, I’m starving” Jude stated heading into the kitchen. Leon and Tanner followed and all three brothers were shocked that there was no breakfast set on the table like there usually was. “What the heck?” Jude asked. “Where is our breakfast?” Tanner asked just as shocked. “Parker probably slept in” Jude sneered.
He was hung over and hungry. “Wait her keys were on the floor when we walked in” Leon stated holding up the keys he found. “Idiot probably locked herself out” Tanner chuckled. Leon just looked at Tanner, he had an uneasy feeling in his gut. Parker had never been one to miss anything, nor lock herself out. She was always organised and on the ball. Something wasn’t right at all. As Leon went to share his thoughts, the front door was thrown open and all three boys heard there mother shouting at who they assumed was there father. As the door was thrown open Mrs Jones started to frantically call “Parker, Parker. Hunny where are you?”. All three boys had never heard there mother so frantic and knew instantly something was definitely wrong. “Mum what’s wrong?” Leon called out. Mrs Jones rushed into the kitchen hoping Parker was in here only to see her three boys. “Where is your sister?” Mrs Jones asked. “We just got home” Jude replied, he had realised something was a miss now as he had never seen his mother like this at all. “Oh no, please tell me one of you recorded Parker’s graduation. Your father stuff up the flights” Mrs Jones. “What? When was she graduating?” Leon asked.
Parker was his kid sister she wasn’t old enough to graduate he thought until he turned to the fridge to grab so water seeing the graduation tickets clipped on the notice board. Mrs Jones was shocked, she had just heard her son ask when his sister was graduating. Did that mean that Parker had no one there as she finished high school? “Mum, it was last night? Dad sent us out with some people to help business” Leon stated. “My daughter was alone because none of you went to see her graduate? Oh god” Mrs Jones whispered and sat on the kitchen chair. She felt sick to her stomach, she had promised her daughter she would be there for her graduation. It was bad enough that she had missed her 18th birthday after her husband had taken her on a surprise cruise and now this. Mr Jones stood there smiling, he never liked Parker at all and he was glad she had had to graduate alone. Maybe then she would realise she wasn’t welcome in the family.
“Where is she?” Mrs Jones chocked out. Jude took off upstairs to check her room but it was empty. He headed back downstairs “she isn’t in her room” he told his mother. Dread filled the brothers stomachs. “Maybe she went for a ride?” Tanner spoke up. “With who?” Her mother asked hoping he was right. “Umm isn’t she 18 now?” Tanner mumbled. “She turned 18 a few weeks ago, didn’t you celebrate with her? Your father rang to explain he had mixed up the dates of our cruise so we wouldn’t be back for Parker’s 18th. He told me you all had it sorted” Mrs Jones stated. Leon looked towards his father and saw the smirk on his face. Jude and Tanner looked at each other and knew they had screwed up and then they turned to there mother. “We didn’t celebrate” Tanner whispered. He felt so bad at this moment. His baby sister had graduated alone and now he realise he hadn’t even wished her happy birthday nor had any of the others. “Good” Mr Jones boomed, this is exactly what he had wanted to happen. “What?” Mrs Jones screamed while standing up from the chair. “That little witch will know she isn’t welcome in this family” Mr Jones boomed out. “What have you done to my daughter?” Mrs Jones screamed.
“Don’t talk about your daughter like that” Leon screamed. Leon felt sick and not because he was hung over. He felt sick that his own father had spoken about his child like that. He felt sick that he had screwed up and had probably hurt his sister. “That thing isn’t my daughter” Mr Jones boomed. “You promised” Mrs Jones screamed back before throwing the toaster at her husband. Leon, Jude and Tanner were shocked, they had no idea what was happening. William had heard the screaming along with his father and both stood outside the door listening to what was happening. “You cheated on dad?” Jude finally asked. “No your father left after his mistress said she was pregnant again. For two years he was with that woman until her money ran out and he found out the baby wasn’t his. You lowlife, I took your son in and raised him like my own.
You promised you would do the same with my daughter. Get out, get the heck out of my house” Mrs Jones screamed. “You pick his daughter over me? That thing is nothing but a black witch” Mr Jones screamed before Leon swung at his father sending him to the ground. William and his father heard the hit and ran into the house. Mrs Jones was staring over her husband who was laying on the ground. All three boys were shocked to hear there father speak about Parker like that. Mr Jones looked up and saw Richard and William and he began to laugh. “If you’re here for your daughter, looks like you are to late. She isn’t here and knows she isn’t wanted” Mr Jones chuckled. Richard was shocked as was William. No one knew that in the two years Mr Jones was away, Richard and Mrs Jones were seeing each other and she broke it off telling Richard to never contact her again.