Fate's Exchange (Twisted Fate, Book 1)

Chapter Thirty

"Alyssa, Honey, we're in the kitchen," my mother called when I entered the house after school.

I had dawdled, I knew, but not by much. Just long enough to say goodbye to David, which took forever, and look for Tina one more time. Not that it mattered. I couldn't find her. The annoyance I'd felt towards her after finding her in Mr. Tinsley's classroom was at the point where not talking was the best thing for us. At least for now.

Issues don't trump common decency or, oh, I don't know, friendship. How hard was it to send a text? It took maybe fifteen seconds. Thirty if you were trying to be sincere.

"What's up?"

I dropped my bag in the doorway of the kitchen and walked over to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. Both of my parents were seated at the kitchen table, and based on their expressions, they had been discussing something I wasn't sure I wanted to be let in on.

"Why don't you have a seat, Honey?" My mother patted the chair beside her. I leaned back against the fridge and swigged half the water in my bottle. Even my dad was trying to smile in an uncharacteristic attempt to coax me into compliance.

"Why?" I narrowed my eyes on them both, filled with suspicion.

I had great parents, but we weren't the sharing type. We never had family nights or took annual vacations together, and I figured most of the time they were just happy to know that I was doing well in school, had friends, and wasn't bullied. Unless the school called about me skipping class, that was. Then they stepped in, but to be fair, it was only the one time.

"Alyssa, we need to talk," my dad said, "about Tina."

I lowered the bottle but didn't move. She'd told? Who had she talked to? Why did my parents know this before me? "What about Tina?" I held my breath.

"You should come and sit down, Honey."

"What do you know about Mr. Tinsley, Alyssa?" My father always got right to the point. As an independent adjuster, he worked pretty flexible hours, but this must have been deemed important for him to be home. Like lawyers, adjusters billed by the hour, which also meant that he would skip out on dinner tonight and work to make up for lost time.

"What do you mean?" I looked away, distracting myself with the garden I could see from out the kitchen window. The sky was dark, threatening rain, and the flowers that had just begun to bloom were swaying with the wind.

"We know that Mr. Tinsley was escorted off of school property, Alyssa," he said. "Tina told her mom."

"So why are you asking me about it then? You already seem to know." I shrugged, refusing to make eye contact.

The first rule of conversing with your parents as a teenager: never admit to something unless you have to. There should be like, a guidebook or something. You don't need to lie. Just keep your answers short and only answer direct questions. Stick to 'yes' or 'no' as much as possible. Always think of how your answer will be received—or misconstrued—before saying anything at all. You never knew what would come back to bite you in the ass.

"Why didn't you tell us?" My mom looked hurt, like she thought I felt I couldn't trust them. "Why did you want to be grounded?"

"Right, I wanted to be grounded." I rolled my eyes. "That was your guys' fault, not mine." Technically, I'd grounded myself this time, but they had been leading up to it. "How was I supposed to know that you'd stick with it for once? Besides, getting grounded was better than being a rat. If I had told you about Mr. Tinsley, you would have kept me home and called the school, and so would Mrs. Amorfati. Our lives would've been hell served to us cold by the rest of the students."