Page 110 of I Wish You All the Best

“Guys, I’m begging you. Listen—”

“Ah-ah.” Dad lets out a low chuckle and eyes Mom, but she isn’t laughing. “Now who’s misgendering someone?”

Un-fucking-believable.

And he’s just going to keep laughing in my face.

“That was one of the things we found, when you use the wrong words for someone,” Mom explains.

“Well, then maybe you understand how it isn’t a fucking joke?” I say just loud enough so they can still hear me.

Neither of them acknowledges it though. In fact, they start looking around at all the other students like they’re purposely ignoring me.

“You know, this really is a nice school,” Mom says. “Very modern.”

“Yeah, it’s perfect.” God, why won’t they just leave? “Now, please—”

“Oh, great,” Dad whispers under his breath.

Oh no.

Fuck me.

Hannah’s coming right for us, Thomas on her heels, and Nathan’s behind Thomas. A fucking conga line of disaster.

“Ben, I’m sorry, I—” Nathan tries to say, but he’s blocked out by Hannah.

“What are you two doing here?” Hannah doesn’t waste any time, getting right in Mom’s face.

“Hannah, listen—” I try to beg her to calm down. “Please don’t do this here.”

“Stay out of this, Ben,” she pushes back.

“Hannah, honey, come on.” Thomas takes Hannah by the shoulders and tries to lead her away, but it’s no use. “Let’s just go outside.”

“I’m going to ask you again.” She points a finger right at Dad’s face. “What are you two doing here?”

“We came to see Ben,” Mom says calmly.

“We wanted to support him,” Dad says.

This can’t be real, this can’t be happening. Not here, please God, not in the middle of the freaking school lobby.

“Oh, so now you can support them? After you kicked Ben out of the goddamn house?”

Not here, not here, not here.

I feel Nathan step closer, his arm wrapping around my shoulder. All I want to do is pull away, run out the door away from the place. But I can’t. I’m frozen where I stand, my stomach churning as that nauseated feeling takes over.

“Hannah Marie De Backer,” Dad tries to say, but Hannah isn’t having any of it.

“Do you understand what you’ve put Ben through, the panic attacks, the anxiety? You kicked out your own child, for god sakes.”

“This is none of your business,” Dad huffs. “We’ve realized our mistake, and we’re working to fix it. Ben’s even agreed to come back home after he graduates.”

Oh no.

Hannah turns on me. “What?”