I cross my arms over my chest.
“Why?”
“Charlotte, I've explained this numerous times.” He stands up from the table, getting ready to run away again. Yep, he's most definitely lying. My father doesn't like to back down from fights, especially ones he already knows he's won. “Now, I'm going in there to book your flight, so if you have a preference, I need to know.”
He starts walking, and I trail after, pulling the stone from my pocket.
“Do you know what this is?” I ask, and he takes it briefly, studying it for a moment before handing it back to me.
“No, I don't. And frankly, I don't see what this has to do with anything.” I frown, but pocket the stone again anyway.
“I'm dating Spencer,” I say, just for the shock value. Dad doesn't react at all, continuing into his office and sitting down at his desk.
“Even more reason for you to leave,” he murmurs under his breath, pulling up the airline and typing in the date for my one-way flight. “We both know how much of your time and attention these relationships take up.”
“That's such a cop-out response, and you know it,” I say, wondering if I should throw in the twin thing, too, really give him a run for his money. “I have better grades here than I ever did back home.”
“And yet you ran off to New York City the other night while feeding me a lie about the lantern ceremony.” My mouth drops open, and I gape at him as he starts to put in LAX as my destination city.
“San Jose,” I murmur, feeling my heart drop, and all the energy drain out of me. “I'm going to be heartbroken and lonely either way, better to be somewhere I'm familiar with. And why you'd think Los Angeles of all places is any better or safer than here is laughable.”
He ignores me, selecting a flight and continuing onto the next page as I slump into the chair on the opposite side of his desk.
“Actually, I'm in a four-way polyamorous sort of thing with the McCarthy twins, too,” I add, just to see if that'll draw some energy out of the old man. His nostrils flare, but he gets his credit card out and types in the information anyway.
“Instead of embarrassing yourself further, why don't you start packing? Whatever you can't fit in your suitcases, we'll ship.”
“You're hiding something from me,” I say, but still, he refuses to look at me. “The more you ignore me, the more obvious it becomes.”
“Go start packing,” he tells me, and I force myself to my feet with a huff, giving him a dark look.
“Sending me away is going to be the biggest mistake you've ever made,” I say before heading out the door and upstairs to my room.
I don't stay there for long.
Why should I?
Archie’s already inflicting me with the worst punishment he’s got up his sleeve: banishment.“I sent you Jenica's whole journal,” Ranger tells me as we sit inside the girls' dorm, and he stares up at the spot on the wall where her picture used to hang. There's a slight discoloration where it should be; I wonder if we'll ever figure out who took it? “And her suicide note. Pictures of it all, anyway.”
“Thank you,” I tell him, because I know it's hard for him to reveal his sister's secrets like this. When I was younger, I used to be glad I didn't have any siblings because it meant I didn't have to share anything. Now, I'm sort of glad because it just means I don't have to worry. And yet, there's a little green streak of envy in you that wishes you had someone you could confide in, someone to care about as much as Tobias and Micah care about each other.
“We should go cook something,” he says finally, as everyone else sits in silence around the room. I'm on the couch between Spencer and Tobias, trying not to squirm, but so unsure as to what, exactly, we've got going on here that I'm afraid to bring it up.
“One last hurrah for the Culinary Club, huh?” Micah says, frowning. “This fucking blows. Are you seriously leaving in the morning?”
“Seriously,” I say, feeling sick to my stomach as I slump back into the cushions. “At seven o'clock sharp.” I swing my fist and imitate the gruffness of my father's voice. “And just after I won the right to date the entire Student Council. Can you only imagine?”
“Not the entire Student Council,” Spencer grumbles, looking across at Tobias. The two of them stare at each other for a long moment as Ranger snorts.
“I don't date,” he says, and that's that. Church doesn't say anything, and Micah grins.
“Just because you're leaving doesn't mean we can't date.”
“Come on,” I tell him, reaching out to grab one of the cold sodas from the cooler on the table, “I've tried the long-distance high school relationship thing before. It didn't exactly work out.”
