“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“It’s okay. I didn’t expect you to be home, and I’m happy you weren’t here for all the awkwardness. I just—”
“Wish I was there with you. I get it.”
“At least they haven’t acted like everything is okay since you arrived.” I hear the springs in my bed creek as she rolls over to face me, and I turn to look up at her.
“Maybe they knew I’d see right through it.”
“Anyone can see right through it. They act like it’s not the case, but it is.”
She’s right. They never perfected their act. You could tell from a mile away that our family was far from okay. They were falling apart. Their love. Their marriage. Their dream of this perfect family. Everything was falling apart, and we were going down with them.
But in their eyes, the public saw what they wanted them to. My dad is too important of a man to not maintain his stellar reputation. And that includes the devoted wife who stands by his side and supports his every move.
“What happens if they do split up?” Her voice is barely a whisper, and I don’t know if she’s asking herself or me.
“What do you mean?”
“I know we aren’t a perfect family, but at least we’re together.”
“We’ll still be together.”
“No, we won’t. We’ll have to divide holidays and—”
“Brin,” I cut her off, “if it comes to that, we’ll figure it out, okay?”
I don’t think it will. Even if my mom wasn’t happy, she’d never leave my dad. He provides for us. All of us. She hasn’t worked since I was born because she didn’t need to. She raised us, and he supported us. Financially, that is.
“How are we gonna figure it out when you’re playing hockey and constantly on the road?”
“You’re not gonna lose me, Brin. No matter where I am, I’ll always be a phone call away.”
“You promise you won’t forget about me when you’re in the big leagues?”
“I could never,” I reply. “You’d make it too hard.”
She laughs, and the tension evaporates from my room. It’s us against the world, and it always has been.
Islept through all six of my alarms.
Which meant I was already fifteen minutes behind schedule and still had to bring Brinley’s last few things to her dorms before class. Not to mention the two-hour drive to get to campus, which put us even more behind schedule because traffic was ridiculous. So, behind schedule, I’m not even close to making it to my first class on time.
It doesn’t help that according to everyone on campus, my first class is the most challenging, with the most demanding professor.
Apparently, he’s a dick.It’s just my luck that I’m getting stuck with him this semester instead of Miss Ross. I heard her section is a piece of cake. But the world felt like screwing me over in more ways than one this semester.
When I reach the classroom, it’s about ten minutes past the scheduled start time. I push on the door gently, but the small force makes it fly open. Every head turns to take me in. I see some girls whispering and some guys giving me head nods, equivalating to awhat’s up, which isn’t what you want when you’re late to class.
Attention.
I feel Mr. Randsen’s eyes as I head to the nearest empty seat.
“Ah, Mr. Sanderson,” he tosses me a packet, “thank you for gracing us with your presence. And you couldn’t have arrived at a better time. I was just telling the class about the lack ofspecialtreatment I give to my students. I don’t care if your practice runs late. Hell, I don’t care if you were saving a goddamn kitten from a tree. My class starts at nine-thirty, so I expect you to be seated at nine-thirty.”
“Got it.” I glance at him before my eyes fall to the paper in front of me. Maybe if I avoid eye contact, it’ll get him to move on.
“At nine-thirty, that door will be locked from this point forward. If you’re not in this classroom, you’re absent. There’ll be no making up assignments unless you have contacted me personally, and I feel your reason is valid.” He walks around the room, making eye contact with everyone. “And please know, I’m not stupid. Remember that when coming up with your excuses for not being in class.”
