I gulped.
"I'm not sure," I finally answered, feeling my throat closing in.
"It doesn't matter. I told her you couldn't go to the concert anyway." He spoke as my eyes stung. "The ball's date was changed to the night of the concert. By the way, you're grounded until I say you're not."
I looked up.
"What am I getting punished for?" I squeaked.
Dr. Vodola's eyes narrowed.
"Are you questioning me?" Dr. Vodola moved forward, getting closer to me.
I took a step back, stopping when my back hit the closet door. I was trapped. My insides shook.
"No! No, Sir, I'm not questioning you!"
My bottom lip quivered.
"I don't feel like I need a reason to punish you. You and Sawyer live under my roof, under my rules, and I don't feel like I need to explain myself to either of you. You might be spending too much time with Sawyer."
Dr. Vodola was standing right in front of me, his eyes red with fury. I wished with all my might Sawyer or anyone would come into the house at the moment to save me, but I knew it wouldn't happen.
His fingers wrapped around my neck, not enough power to strangle me, but just enough of a squeeze to let me know that his hand could snap my neck easily.
"Not telling me things is just as bad as lying, R187. A little lying tease, aren't you? I've seen you and Sawyer. You two will never end up together, so don't even think about it. I've seen you two, the both of you sneaking into each other's beds. I'm not blind!"
The sound of the slap echoed through the house as my face stung, and then tears started to blur my vision. I bit my bottom lip holding back cries and screams. When I thought he would hit me again, he threw me onto the mattress as he stormed out of the room. I saw him slam shut my door from the bed and heard a faint click of the lock.
5
Sawyer
I woke up with a smile that couldn’t be wiped off my face. I waltzed down the stairs, starting to hum some random tune. I peeled away the sliver wrapper of my breakfast treat to put the pastries into the toaster, feeling the excellent mood just radiating off me. Jumping onto the counter, I sat waiting for them.
“You’re annoyingly perky this morning,” my dad’s voice came from the table, reading something on his tablet.
“Yeah, the date went great.”
“This was your what, third date with her?” he didn’t even look up from the screen with a monotone voice, but he couldn’t possibly ruin my day.
“Fifth, but yeah, she’s great.”
My dad just nodded his head as I wondered if the pastries would be enough for breakfast. Looking at the silver toaster, one second the food wasn’t anywhere to being ready then BAM it was brunt to a crisp, and at the moment it wasn’t ready at all. I quickly grabbed a couple of bacon pieces to put in the microwave on a paper towel. That was when I jumped over to the toaster to get before the pastries burned. Grinning, I sat on the counter to start that part of breakfast while I waited for the rest.
“Should I go get Madeline?” I asked after taking a big bite and burning my tongue on the strawberry interior.
“Nah, I’d leave her alone. She was pretty upset when I came home last night,” His voice was still flat, while his eyes stayed on the screen.
“Why, what’s wrong?” I probed further.
I took the pieces to the table.
“How should I know? Girls get upset over every little thing.”
My jaw tightened.
“What did you do?” I pressed on.
“I told her that she couldn’t do the concert because the date of the party changed. That’s all.”
“Gees, poor Madeline,” I sighed, then looked at him. “Did you ask to move it to that day?”
My dad rolled his eyes.
“Much to your dismay Sawyer, I don’t sit around plotting on ways to make your lives miserable.”
I raised an eyebrow. He could’ve fooled me.
“Well Ricky and I are going to go do something today after school.”
“Mmm.”
Just taking the last bite of my breakfast, I went upstairs to get ready. Glancing over, I noticed that Madeline’s door was still closed. Not a single noise came from inside. Dad must be letting her skip today. Or maybe she was sick. Sighing, I went past her room and went back downstairs.
It was a weird experience, being at school without Madeline. The car ride with Ricky felt different as I was in the front seat on the way there and back. Lunch was quieter as I broke the news that none of them will be hearing her sing. My father had already told Ms. Cage since she had stopped me in the hall. She was flaying about and talking a hundred miles a minute. She mentioned something about my dad couldn’t control her forever because she would make sure that Madeline had a solo before graduating.
When I got home, I carried in the bags that Ricky and I got from the food store on the way home as I checked on my schedule for the upcoming week at work. I grinned as I skipped every other step. Hopefully, the ice cream would cheer Madeline up. Maybe we could even talk about Lisa and our date. Madeline and Lisa seemed to have liked each other.
Finally, I reached her door, hoping she wasn’t under the weather like
