Love, Your Secret Admirer

Chapter 12

“Janeen!” I hear my dad yell from his office.  When he isn’t reading or playing handheld games, he’s working in his office.  When I walk in he’s sitting at his desk, his chair turned toward me so he’s staring at me head on.  “Can you come here please.”  It wasn’t a question.  I walk in so I’m only a few feet away from my dad.  He has a frown on his face and his eyebrows are furrowed.  “Why didn’t you go to your first period, at school, today?” he asks, calm.  I just stare at the floor, trying to come up with some excuse for why I didn’t go.  I can’t tell him what happened.  He won’t understand Zach’s compassion.  He wouldn’t get that Zach was just worried.  He thought that I got in an accident or something.  I’m trying to come up with a story when he yells, “Well!  Where were you?”

            “There was a swim team meeting and I forgot to tell my teacher about it,” I lie, almost too easily.

            “Really?” my dad asks, skeptical.

            “Yes, Sir,” I say still facing the floor.

            “That was very irresponsible of you to not tell your teacher.”  I just nod in response.  So he continues, “You’re grounded.  For a week.  No Zach and you can only use your car to drive to and from school.  You have to be home by four every day.  You’re dismissed,” he says turning back to his computer.

            I nod, accepting my punishment and walk upstairs to my room.  I look at my phone and see that I have one missed call from Zach.  I’m about to call him back when I hear footsteps walking up the stairs.  When I look up I see my dad standing in my doorway, smiling.

            “I almost forgot,” he says.  “No phone either.”

            He walks over with his hand outstretched.  I hand him the phone without an argument.  When he leaves I just lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling.  I graze my fingers along the hidden bruise on my face.  Even the light contact stings.  I suck in my breath and put my hand down.  Before I know it, I’m sleeping.

            I wake up to the sound of the phone ringing.  I walk downstairs to get it, but someone else already does.

            “Hello?” I hear Jefferson say to the person on the other end.  I stay behind the wall so I can still hear what he is saying.  “Sorry, Zach, she can’t come to the phone right now, she’s grounded...Well apparently she didn’t go to her first period because of the swim meeting you guys had today and she didn’t tell her teacher, so to teach her a lesson in responsibility she’s grounded...Oh really?...Okay, bye.”  I hear him walking towards me so I run into the bathroom, pretending I just came out.

            “Who was that?” I ask casually.

            “That was Zach,” he says, giving me a suspicious look.

“Oh.  What did he say?”

“Well, he wanted to talk to you, but I explained to him that you couldn’t because you’re grounded for being irresponsible.  But something strange happened,” he says as he crosses his arms.  “Zach said that there was no swim team meeting.”

“Well it was for freshmen through juniors, so he didn’t have to go,” I lie again.

“Why are you lying?” he asks, point blank.

“I’m not,” I say as I start to walk up the stairs.

“Is he hurting you?” he asks after me.  I stop on the stairs, surprised at his question and how accurate it is.  I don’t answer and continue to my room.