My head pounded, my eyes blurry as I slowly woke up, cold window pane pressed against my cheek as my parents’ car sped down the interstate. “Where are we?”
My dad glanced at me in the rearview mirror, pleased smile on his face. “Oh, the princess is awake.”
“Dad, what are we doing? What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” he crooned, liquid brown eyes locked on mine. “What isn’t wrong? You disappear all night, sleeping around with some loser kid, and think as a parent I’m not gonna have something to say about that?”
“That’s not what we are—” I defended lamely, eyes searching my father’s in the cold mirror, my mother’s now turned and addressing me.
“Oh, honey, we just want what’s best for you, and I think what we’ve got planned will be the best thing. We’ve been thinking a lot about it. Your dad and I have really done our research on this, and believe me when I say—”
“Believe you?” I erupted, haze suddenly clearing a little more from my head. “You drug me to get me into the car, and then tell me I should trust you?”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Augusta Belle, but if we didn’t do everything in our power as your parents to put you on the path to a bright and successful future, well, we just couldn’t live with ourselves.” My mother’s saccharine voice made me cringe.
“That’s the problem here, isn’t it? You can’t live with each other, so you’re kicking me out thinking that will solve all your problems?” I assessed the locks in the car, the speed at which my dad was traveling, and debating if I could do some sort of roll that could keep me alive if I launched myself out the door right now. We couldn’t be that far from the Choctaw County line, could we?
But I wasn’t sure.
It was so fucking dark.
We had to have been in the car for at least three or four hours, which really fucking begged the question about what they’d given me to knock me out for so damn long. And then I remembered my mother’s array of prescriptions in her medicine cabinet. If only Fallon were here to see what kind of shit they were pulling now…
Fallon.
My heart was cleaved in half by a ragged edge, tears finally tracking down my face as I thought about how many hours apart we were for the first time in two years. If I’d only known last night was going to be ourlastnight.
I swiped angrily at my cheeks, thinking crying would get me no closer to figuring a way out of this car, before my mother turned around again, thrusting a bag of fast food into my lap. “We stopped a few hours ago. It’s probably cold, but you were sleeping so peacefully we just didn’t want to wake you.”
I glared, cold and hard at her. “Why is it that you’re being the kindest to me you’ve ever been in my lifetime when you’re driving me god knows where to leave me all by myself?”
For the first time, the mask of kindness fell and her eyes hardened. “This school costs a lot of money. There’s no way in or out, and every fucking minute of your day will be structured and logged. Your dad and I can log in and watch you over the cameras.”
“Cameras?” I choked, throwing the cold burger and fries to the floor at my feet. “What the fuck is this place? And how long do I have to stay?”
My mother smiled again. She must’ve taken a truckload of tranquilizers to manage that smile on her face. “Well, the entire senior year of high school, of course.”
“All of it?” I was shrieking again; I couldn’t help it. “Can I come home for holidays? Christmas? What about Dad’s birthday? We always go out on the lake and—”
“Oh, we have to sell the boat, honey. Your dad is thinking of retiring early. Work has just been so stressful. You know there was some fire at a crack house this morning, and he could hardly get away to drive us down here now. We’re so lucky to have him.”
I winced, watching as she praised my dad, his eyes glazing over in the mirror as her superficial sweetness seemed to suck him in.
“This is fucking crazy, and I’m not doing it. I’ll just run away. I can work.”
“We thought about that.” My mom turned in the front seat and dug through her purse. “I know that’s what most parents would probably do, but that just didn’t feel like enough. Our Lady of Sacred Heart sounded like such a nicer option, and look how old it is. I know you like old architecture and things, so when I came across this brochure, I fell in love with it. We had to pay a little extra for the last-minute registration, but they’re used to dealing with cases like this. We’re lucky they leave a few beds open for sudden problems.”
“A bed?” I sobbed, throwing the brochure back into the front seat. “Why are you doing this? It’s just one more year of school. I’ll move out, you and Dad can have all the time in the world you want alone again. I’ll swim harder than ever this season and make sure I get a scholarship and get into a good school. I promise, Mom, please.”
Dad was shaking his head, Mama leaning away from my pleading touch. “No, honey. Not after what your father witnessed…”
“Witnessed? Why does it feel like there’s more you’re not tellin’ me?”
“Well, I guess it just came to our attention recently that you’ve been dating a boy who’s five years older than you.”
My eyebrows shot up, surprised that this might have more to do with Fallon than I thought.
“Fallon’s good for me. I swear he’s been the only thing making me feel sane and stable lately.” I couldn’t shake the irony tensing all my muscles. I didn’t make a practice of hating people, not even those bimbo mean girls at school who were always smoking cigarettes and cussing like that made them cool, but I hated my mother and father in that moment.
