5Karla
“This is humiliating,” I whispered, hunched over, trying my hardest to make myself appear small as Ellie walked me into school the next morning.
I was almost certain Dad would fire Ellie, but for some reason he kept her as our nanny. Not only that, but he made her walk me into the school building and instructed her to take me directly to my classroom, which felt like the ultimate punishment. I was mortified as preppy, beautiful Ellie walked me through the hallways to my first chamber of hell.
“You should’ve thought about this before planning a make-believe trip,” Ellie replied with a smile. What a stupid smile it was.
“Yeah, whatever. Can you go now? This is so uncool, Eleanor.”
She kept smiling, even though I’d used her government name. “No. First we are going to stop by the front office to clear up a few things.”
“Everything has been cleared up,” a voice said in front of us. I looked up to see a face I didn’t expect to witness walking out of the main office.
“Dad,” I said breathlessly. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m doing my job as a parent,” he replied.
“That’s a first,” I sarcastically replied. Guilt hit me instantly as the words slipped out.Why are you such a jerk, Karla?
He didn’t seem moved by my words. It appeared the vulnerable version of him from last night hadn’t remained. He was back to his strong, tough persona. I kind of missed his softness. I wondered if he missed mine.
Dad cleared his throat. “Everything’s in order. Plus, I signed you up for some extra credit in every class.”
“Extra credit?!” I exclaimed. “But I did the homework!”
“Yes, you did—after lying for weeks to do God knows what on your own time. You made a choice the moment you forged that paperwork, Karla. Now I’m making a choice to keep you from thinking about ever doing something like that again. Unless...”
“Unless what?” I asked.
“Unless you tell me where you’ve been going every day.”
I felt my eyes get teary, and I shook my head, trying to send the tears away. “This is bullshit!”
“Language,” Ellie and Dad said in unison. They glanced at each other for a split second. Ellie smiled. Dad didn’t. Figures.
I grumbled. “Don’t you have a meeting or some crap to get to? Can’t you just leave me alone?”
Dad glanced at his watch. “As a matter of fact, I do.” He turned to Ellie. “Thank you for bringing her to school today, Eleanor. If you could please take her to room 102 for her science class, that would be great.”
“Of course, Mr.East,” Ellie replied, her voice dripping with sweetness. What a suck-up.
After Dad headed to work, I was left once again with conflicting emotions, unable to get a grip on what I should’ve been feeling. I murmured to myself as Ellie walked me to class. “I hate when he does that.”
“Does what?”
“Tries to act like my father.”
“Heisyour father.”
“You’ve been with us for almost two months now. So tell me how much parenting you’ve actually seen.”
Ellie hesitated and didn’t answer. Right as she was about to drop me off at my class, a wave of shock hit me as I heard my name being called. “Hey, Karla.” I looked up to see Brian standing in front of me with a big smile on his face. My heart instantly went into overdrive.
Brian and I were amazing friends for the longest time. He was one of my favorite people and the person I’d missed the most since life got dark for me.
“A few people thought you switched schools,” he said.
I shifted on my heels and couldn’t make eye contact with him as I rubbed my left hand up and down my right arm. “Yeah.”
