“Yes, it is,” I answer, already sounding much less upbeat than I did five seconds before.
“This is Mrs. Spears, the principal at Waverly High School. We have an issue here with your sister, Lorraine. You’ll need to come in to discuss the issue as soon as possible,” the dour woman says. I can picture her squinted eyes and pursed lips right now. She and Gertrude would get along very well.
“Is Lo okay?” I ask.
“Lorraine is fine, but I can’t say the same for the young man she punched. Please arrive within the next thirty minutes if at all possible.” Every muscle in my body and thought in my head comes to a sudden halt when my brain registers what Mrs. Spears has just said. Surely she has the wrong girl. My sweet Lo would never punch anyone…right?
That one boy, Daniel what’s-his-face, has been giving her problems since the first day she started school here, but I didn’t think it was so bad that she’d punch him. It has to be him, though. I can’t think of anyone else it would be. I hope she made it count and really clobbered the guy. Wait, no, I shouldn’t be condoning this, should I? I’m the guardian here. I can no longer just be the sister. What position do I take in all of this? Do I scold her? I’m still not very good at disciplining.
On the one hand, the guy deserved a good punch in the face. But on the other hand, Lo’s probably getting suspended from school, and now the guy’s going to hate her even more.
I run back into the diner and grab my purse. I make my apologies to Hannah for having to run out on our lunch. My troubles with Jameson are completely forgotten in the wake of Lo’s drama. I speed over to the high school, praying that Jameson and I don’t get reacquainted before I can get there.
Lo and I are seated next to each other across from a woman twice my age. She’s beautiful. She looks like she could be the First Lady of the U.S. Actually no, she looks like she could be the President herself. She’s positively regal. And judging by the look on her face, she positively does not approve of me.
I know it looks bad. We’ve been in Waverly for only one month, and Lo has punched someone at school. These people know nothing about us, so all they have to go on is what we show them. We have not put our best foot forward, so to speak.
All this woman sees is a teen girl with no parents, being raised by an unqualified sister. And she’d be right in some regard. But she doesn’t know how hard we’ve worked to get where we are or how loving our home was while our father was alive…how loving it still is with just the two of us.
The woman, Mrs. Spears, clears her throat before beginning. “Mrs. Parker...”
“Oh, it’s just Miss,” I interrupt to tell her. I hold up my left hand to show her my empty ring finger. Lo grabs my hand and forces it back down with an exasperated look. “So sorry. Continue.”
“Miss Parker, I’ve already told you over the phone that Lorraine has punched someone. I’m sure you understand why this is a problem. We do not tolerate violence of any kind at this school. Lorraine will be suspended from school for the rest of the week, and I trust that you will take the time to address this issue at home as well,” she says. I nod my head as I listen.
“Um, beg your pardon, can I ask why Lo punched him in the face?”
The woman’s eyes grow wide before saying, “The why is not the issue here. The issue is that we make sure it is addressed properly and that it does not happen again.”
“I agree that we should address this properly, and to do that, we need to know why it happened. I know my sister, and I know that this is very out of character for her. I’m assuming the boy she punched is that Daniel Ashby kid?”
“I have known Daniel his entire life. He’s a straight-A student and the quarterback of the football team…”
“Yeah, yeah. I don’t care about his grades or his athletic prowess. I do care, however, that he has been bullying my sister since the day she stepped foot into this school. What are your policies on bullying?” I ask, my voice raised and starting to shake with anger.
“I was not aware that any bullying was going on. If Lorraine had come to me—”
“Did you even bother to ask what happened?” I’m practically yelling now. Calm down, calm down, calm down. Yelling is not going to help the situation. I take a deep breath to even out my heart rate.
“I asked Daniel what happened, and he told me that he was talking to her and she punched him for no reason.” The smirk on her face tells me that she believes his story whole-heartedly. Nothing we say to this woman is going to change her mind.
I grab Lo’s hand and pull her up to stand with me. Turning to the principal one more time, I say, “I can see that you’ve made up your mind to be against us, so I’ll be taking my sister now. If his behavior continues and you do nothing to help Lo, I’ll be reporting you to the superintendent. I would say that I hope you have a good rest of your day, but I try not to lie when I can help it.” I give her a snarky smile, and Lo snorts.
I pull her out of the office and into the hallway before she busts out laughing. I notice a woman standing next to a tall boy with a fresh black eye, and my mouth falls open. I look to Lo with wide eyes, and she nods her head in confirmation that he is, indeed, her tormentor.
He’s not at all how I pictured him. I thought he’d be an ogre. You know, like the bullies you see on TV. Not this almost picture of perfection standing in front of me. He’s the classic, most-popular-boy-in-school jock, which is so annoying. That smirk on his face has my hand twitching to make his right eye match the left one. I would not do well in prison, so I resist the urge and take a few calming breaths.
Lo and I walk toward the doors, past the mother-son duo, but I can’t not confront them. I turn back around and march right up to them. Lo groans behind me. The mother looks worried—as she should.
“What did you say to her?” I ask the boy. He’s a good foot taller than I am, but I stare him down like a mama bear ready to attack. Nobody messes with Lo and gets away with it.
“Excuse me? She punched him. Don’t you think you should worry about your own kid?” the woman pipes up.
“She’s my sister, and little ol’ Daniel here has been harassing her for the last month. So, no. Her behavior is not my biggest concern.”
“My son would never—” the woman starts, but she stops when her son places his hand over his face in frustration. She watches him, but he doesn’t say anything.
Lo speaks up and says, “He said I should take myself back to Harris so that he wouldn’t have to stare at my tragically ugly face all day, every day.”
“Why would you have to stare at her all day? If you don’t like her face, then look somewhere else,” I say.
“Great question. I asked the same thing. Would you like to tell them your response, Daniel? Or shall I?” Lo asks. The sharpness in her voice has all three of us wincing. Daniel shakes his head.
“He said, ‘You’re like a train wreck. You just can’t look away.’ I know it doesn’t sound all that bad, but he says stuff like this to me every time I see him. After a month of it, I just snapped.”
To her credit, his mother looks appalled. It’s good to know she’s not one of those parents who just couldn’t fathom that her child would ever do anything wrong. And he at least has the decency to look ashamed of himself. I’m not convinced that he’s not just upset that he got caught, but now he knows he won’t get away with it.
“Daniel, how could you be so cruel? This is not how I taught you to treat others,” his mom says, and he turns his face away from her. I immediately think that this is a woman I could be friends with if this weren’t such an uncomfortable situation. “I’m very sorry,” she looks to Lo and adds.
“I am sorry that I punched him,” she says.
“No you’re not,” the woman says with a smile. “And you shouldn’t be. He deserved it.” We all burst out laughing in the middle of the hallway. The scene is hilarious: three women, ranging in age from seventeen to somewhere in her mid-forties, laughing hysterically, and one scowling teenage boy
with a black eye.
I pull up in front of our house and see Jameson doing a cardio workout in his driveway. Lo grabs her backpack from the backseat and runs inside. I’ve already called the library to let Gertrude know that I’m taking the rest of the day off. She grunted her agreement and warned me not to make this a regular occurrence. Like I’d really choose to make my sister getting into brawls at school an everyday thing.
I look over at Jameson and watch as he does a round of burpees. What a showoff—and I am glad to let him show me. No wonder he looks so good. I’ve just counted fifteen burpees. I tried to do a burpee once, and I almost died. I’ll stick to running and Pilates classes, thank you very much.
I see my opportunity to corner him into talking to me while he’s pacing around his driveway in between sets. He stops moving and watches me when he notices me coming over to talk to him. His hands are on his waist, and he’s breathing hard.
“Why are you avoiding me?” I demand. His head jerks back in surprise at my forwardness.
“I haven’t been avoiding you. I’ve just been busy,” he says as he rubs the back of his neck, giving me a nice glimpse of his flexed muscles. Lies! He knows it, I know it, and he knows that I know it! I stare him down with my most intimidating look. I’ve practiced this look in the mirror over the years. When you’re only five feet tall, you have to perfect the mean-and-cold-hearted look. I don’t pull it out often, because I don’t want to be known as an ice queen, but sometimes a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.
Chapter Twelve
Jameson
I honestly didn’t think that Millie would notice that I was avoiding her so quickly. It has only been a few days. Four to be exact. I know because I’ve missed talking to her, texting her, and watching her go about her days.
It has been difficult to avoid her while living next door. Yesterday evening, I happened to glance out the window while she was pulling her trash can to the curb. She was wearing my favorite t-shirt she owns, the one she was wearing the night Tess had her baby: a T. rex trying to read a book. Who comes up with these things? She had her thick-framed glasses on, and her hair was a riotous mess piled on the top of her head. She looked adorable.
Then, this morning while I was sitting in my truck, she came out to leave for work. Lo had left in her own car a few minutes before, and it appeared that Millie was running late. She ran out with her purse hanging on her shoulder, coffee in hand, and a bag full of what appeared to be craft supplies falling from her other shoulder. She placed her mug on top of her car, but it slid off onto the ground and half of its contents spilled on her shoes. She looked like she wanted to cry.
And now, here she stands in front of me, looking as angry as a bull. If she weren't so small, that look on her face would be terrifying. Instead, she just looks cute. I force myself to suppress the smile threatening to break free. We’ve already had one spat over me smiling at her when I was in trouble.
“Don’t insult my intelligence by lying to me. Is it because I cuddled with you? Did I make you uncomfortable?” she asks in a mock whisper. Her face and neck turn bright red, and I force back the laughter that’s threatening to break free. I didn’t think that she would have assumed that I was avoiding her because of something she’d done.
She has everything wrong. I loved every second I got to spend cuddling with her. I wish we could spend every night for the rest of our lives cuddled together like we were that morning. But she doesn’t see me like that. According to Millie, I’m just a friend.
Still, she deserves the truth. I can’t put her in the path of a crazy stalker, especially when I don’t know who the stalker is. Whoever it is could be watching me talk to her right now. They could be following me around town. I don’t want to risk this person seeing me with her. I don’t want them to know that she’s someone important to me, even if I’m not important to her.
“Look, it’s not because of you. I’ve been keeping my distance because of the person leaving me threats. I should have told you.” I watch her face as she digests the information. Her hands drop from her hips. Her facial expression goes from confused to relieved and finally lands on worried.
I don’t want her to be scared, and I hate that she feels vulnerable because of me. Smaller towns like this are supposed to feel safe. I watch as she looks around the street. Her face is strained in thought.
“What’s going through your head?” I ask.
“I just feel like this month here in Waverly has been the strangest of my life. My neighbor is being stalked, a baby was born in my living room, and my little sister punched someone at school today.”
“Lo punched someone?!” Realizing I yelled that way too loudly, I cover my mouth with my fist for a second. “I’m going to need you to tell me all about that.”
“It was that boy, Daniel Ashby. He’s been a jerk to her since we got here, and she cracked today. She gave him a black eye,” she says. Most people would look disappointed while talking about their charge attacking someone, but there’s a hint of pride in Millie’s eyes and voice.
Millie is a mystery to me. She’s quiet and reserved when you meet her, but once you know her, she’s spunky and quirky and colorful. Like right now, she’s standing in front of me in a yellow flowy skirt and heels with her hair flowing all around her, excited that her sister gave a boy a black eye. But she’ll never allow herself to admit out loud that she’s proud and excited. It’s something you would have to observe.
Even her name is a mystery. I observe her face and imagine calling her different names. None fit so well as Millie.
“Is it Emily?” I ask out of the blue.
She tilts her head to the side, and for a second, she looks confused. Understanding dawns on her, and she smiles devilishly. “So, Pops still hasn’t spilled the beans! I knew I liked that man. I’ll have to go visit him again.”
“So, is that a no, then?” I was so sure that it was going to be Emily. The name suits her well enough. She has such a sweet face, and Emily is just about the sweetest name there is, besides Millie.
“Keep trying,” she says in a sing-song voice. “Well, I’m going to go take off these heels. Enjoy the rest of your workout.” She backs up toward her yard and waves a hand good-bye.
“Hey, make sure you’re using your security system I installed for you, okay?” I call out to her. I doubt whoever’s stalking me is going to go after her, but it’s better to be safe. She nods her head. I watch her until she walks into her house, wishing that she would stay and talk to me longer.
It’s my day off, and I’ve committed myself to figuring out who has been sending me all of these threatening messages. I’ve gone through a ton of paperwork this morning, getting names of people who have gone to prison after I arrested them. There really aren’t that many. Being a state trooper is a lot different than working for a city police department. We don’t come into contact with hardened criminals as often.
There’s a man who killed someone after drinking and driving. He had two prior DWI’s, so he got time after that. There is also a drug dealer and a few people I stopped who had warrants that ended up with them serving time in prison.
The worst one I can remember is this man that I pulled over for speeding several years ago. He was going over 100 MPH down the highway in the middle of the night. Of course I pulled him over. The sight I saw when I got to the window was one of the most shocking things I had ever seen. There was a woman sitting in the passenger’s seat, wearing a scarf around her neck and massive sunglasses that covered half of her face. It was ninety degrees and completely dark outside. I could see tears pouring down her cheeks, and there was a dark bruise on her forehead.
I knew right away what I was dealing with. I asked them both to step out of the car and got them separated so I could question them. The man, of course, protested every step of the way. He wasn’t dumb enough to think I would overlook the obvious signs of his abuse. I questioned him first, asking why he was driving so fast, where he was going, what he w
as going to be doing there, and why his companion was crying. He answered each question as if they were ridiculous and unfounded.
When I asked her the same questions, her answers differed from his. She gave me the truth. The woman had two black eyes and marks around her neck from his abuse. She had tried to flee from him in the middle of the night to go to her mother, but he caught her. He was trying to take her away from her family so she would have nowhere to run.
He went to prison for assault and battery and abduction. I had never been happier to see someone locked up. I’ve silently checked in on the woman a few times since then. She’s living far away from here, and she seems happy.
I still can’t believe this guy is already out of prison. Sometimes it baffles me how messed up the justice system is. I hope this isn’t the guy harassing me. But my gut is telling me that it’s him. He’s the only one psychotic enough to do something like this.
Chapter Thirteen
Millie
Today is the one-year anniversary of my father’s death. I thought I would feel sadder than usual. I assumed that the weight of his death would come crashing down on me anew. That’s what always happens in the books that I read. But that’s not how I feel at all. Does that make me a horrible daughter?
The grief has not left me at all this entire year. It has simply become easier to bear. I’m not constantly reminded of it like I was in the beginning, and now when it does hit me, I can acknowledge it and carry on with my day. It’s no longer crippling.
I thought it would be crippling to say that my daddy has been gone from this earth for one full year, but it’s not. Instead, it feels like a weight has been lifted off my chest. I can breathe a little easier because I’m no longer waiting around for this milestone to pass.
It’s here, and I can now say that Lo and I have survived one year on our own. It was an incredibly hard year, navigating how to raise and support a teenager without Daddy, but we made it through to the other side. And now we know that we can make it through another and then another. I wish that Daddy could see us taking care of each other. He would be so proud of us. He would even be proud of Lo for socking Daniel in the face last week.
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