“Exactly.” I laugh a little. “See you tomorrow. I’m going to bed.”
He follows me inside, and as I’m heading to the stairs, my mind returns to that text from my mom.
“Got a text from Mom,” I say, turning back to my dad.
“And?” His head is down as he swipes through his phone. “What did she say?”
“She won’t be coming to graduation.”
He looks up. “Is that so?”
“You didn’t know?”
His eyes narrow, and he gets that crease in his forehead that shows up when he’s angry. “Did she say why?”
“No. She just said she wasn’t coming. Anyway, I just thought you should know.” I continue up the stairs, and when I get to the top, I hear my dad on the phone.
“Yes, Margo, it’s me, and I don’t give a fuck what time it is! Our son just informed me that you don’t plan to be here for his graduation. Is this some kind of joke?”
I’m surprised he’s getting so angry. I didn’t think he’d care if she didn’t show up. But it’ll look bad if she doesn’t, which I’m sure is the reason why he’s screaming at her right now. He hates being embarrassed, and having his wife not show up will definitely be an embarrassment and make our family look bad.
“You will be here if I have to go there myself and drag you back!” my dad yells. “You know how it’ll look to people if you’re not at your own son’s graduation?”
My dad’s stomping around the foyer, sounding like he’s about to explode. I go into my room and lock the door, just in case he decides to take his anger with my mom out on me.
My phone dings, and I see a text from Aubrey.Where are you? Why aren’t you answering my texts?
Below that are at least fifteen texts, all from Aubrey, all telling me she’s sick of me ignoring her and demanding I take her out. She shouldn’t be so fucking demanding. I’m the one incontrol of this relationship. I could drop her at any time, taking away her status as one of the popular elite.
Making demands will get her nowhere. She’s playing with fire. She should know better after I threatened to leave her. Maybe it’s time to stop making threats and just do it.
Chapter 24
Ella
Monday morning at school, Charlotte’s waiting for me at my locker.
“Did you hear the news?” she asks in a hushed tone.
“What news?” I open my locker and toss my hoodie in it. I put it on, thinking I’d be cold, but now I’m so hot I’m almost sweating. I think it’s because I’m nervous about seeing Briggs. All day yesterday, I kept thinking about what we did in his room, wondering if it actually happened or if I just imagined it. I know it happened, but telling myself it didn’t makes me feel better, because seriously, what the hell was I thinking? For one, he has a girlfriend, and two, it’s Briggs Chadwick! I let the guy I hate more than anyone put his hand in a place it never should’ve gone. And the worst part? I liked it!
“Parker broke up with Scarlett!” Charlotte whispers. “I don’t know the whole story, but people are saying she was with another guy.”
I close my locker. “I’m not surprised. They didn’t really seem like they got along. So how was your weekend?”
“That’s it? You don’t want to revel in the fact that one of the A’s got cheated on? You should be excited about this! Something bad finally happened to them!”
“I’m sure lots of bad things happen to them. They just hide it from people. Can we talk later? I need to get to class.” I swing my backpack over my shoulder and head down the hall.
“We still have five minutes,” Charlotte says, catching up to me. “What’s going on with you? Are you avoiding me?”
“No. Why would I be avoiding you?”
“Because you’re hiding something.” She comes in front of me and stops, staring at my face. “You did something.”
“Like what?” I ask, hoping she can’t tell that I did something with Briggs.
I’m being ridiculous. There’s no way she could tell.
