“I’m just making sure that you are doing it so if the school contacts me, I can inform them that I watched you complete it.”
“But the more you stare, the longer it makes me want to take. Like in my head, I’m going… if I worked on this same sheet for two hours… would she ever look away?”
“Just complete the homework,” Lisa says.
“But would you?”
“I am here to make sure you succeed.”
“It’s like back when I was doing a shitty job everyone was like yep, that’s to be expected, but now that I’m actually trying, all of you are doubting me.”
“I don’tdoubtyou. I just want to be able to reassure the school that you were the only one who touched your homework.”
I glance down at her ring and notice that one of the gems is cracked. “What about you? Are you reassuring yourself that Dale isn’t cheating on you and you didn’t fling your ring across the room in a fit of rage?”
Lisa freezes before her eyes snap up to mine. “Work on your homework. If you say another word, you’re grounded.”
“My parents died and you’re making me feel unloved,” I say dryly.
She really doesn’t feed into the pity route at all. Such a difficult nut to crack. Even the principal started taking my side the moment I started crying about my parents. Suddenly, everything the teacher who hated me said became obsolete. I could have flipped him off and told him to burn in hell and the principal would have given me a hug.
Lisa is weirdly not impressed by my acting. She seems to see right through it.
The door opens and Dale walks in completely alone. Does this man retain nothing?
“Where’s Abby?” Lisa asks.
Dale seems uncertain. He still has his hand on the doorknob, like he’s wondering if maybe he should make a run for it. “I… I assumed she was here.”
“You were supposed to pick up Abby from the football game over an hour ago.”
He winces. “Ah shit. I forgot.”
“Then where were you?” Lisa asks.
“I had to work over.”
“Figure out where she is.”
I quickly finish the rest of the homework. Lisa doesn’t seem overly impressed I spent thirty minutes on the first half and finished the second half in the thirty seconds she was yelling at Dale, but I’m getting a bit bored of sitting here.
She just sets to work on dishing up dinner as Dale heads out the door to drive to the school. The two of us sit down to eat, and Lisa stares at her plate like her husband will magically grow a brainanda conscience if she stares long enough.
I eat as I realize that my mom wouldn’t be overly proud of the way I’ve been acting. It’s just hard to give a shit now that my parents are gone. They really were the only people I cared about and did things for. But I know I should be a good child, even if I have to fake it.
“This is really good,” I say.
She looks up and gives me a forced smile. “Thank you.”
Dale returns not long after. “She wasn’t at the school. I’m sorry. I messed up. I’m sure she’ll come back here.”
Lisa rubs her head. I can tell she wants to yell at him, but she’s doing everything in her power to keep from doing so. “Liam, would you know where she went?”
“I don’t know. I’m sure someplace with Christa.”
“I’ll go to Christa’s; Dale, you go to that pizza place near the school. They’ve gone there after the game more than once, and the two girls can walk there. If she’s not there, check Christa’s boyfriend’s place. I have the address somewhere. Liam, please just finish your homework.”
“Will do,” I say as I watch them leave, not having the heart to tell her that Christa’s boyfriend broke up with her after she caught me kissing him. The moment they’re gone, I head upstairs and into Abby’s room. It doesn’t take me two minutes to figure out her password and open up the chatroom she and Christa use. I scroll up a bit before I find where Christa asks Abby to go to a party. Abby tells her she’ll try to sneak out but Lisa is on her ass and prepared to throw her out the next time she fucks up.
