Fate's Exchange (Twisted Fate, Book 1)

Chapter Twelve

Scruffy shoved his wet nose in my face the next morning to nudge me awake ten minutes before my alarm went off. I tried to push him off without opening my eyes. "Go away, Scruffy. Tell Mom to let you outside."

He barked and nudged me again. I threw off the comforter and sat up. Scruffy licked my hand and crawled under the heap of blankets to snuggle in, curling up by my feet. "You little pooper." I laughed and lay down again, reaching over to switch the alarm off. Once I was awake, I was up for the day. "You didn't even need to go out, did you?"

A soft knock sounded, and my dad poked his head into the room, holding the door with one hand and a fresh cup of coffee in the other. He was already dressed for the office and seemed... pleasant. Pleasant? Obviously, we hadn't shared the same supper last night.

"Aly-bear, you awake?"

"I'm up." I pointed to Scruffy's mound and grinned. "Canine alarm clock."

"Okay. Well, you can go back to sleep if you want, Honey. You and Tina won't be going to school today." He spoke as though he was telling me it was going to rain and I should bring an umbrella for protection—totally factual and without emotion. He turned to leave, and the door began to close.

"What?"

I struggled to sit back up. The blankets stuck beneath Scruffy and became restrictive, holding my legs prisoner. A tiny Maltese who needs stairs to get on the bed shouldn't have enough weight to trap me, but I couldn't move.

"You promised to tell me if you were going to do something."

"I nodded, actually, which isn't speaking." He cocked his head to the left, looking chagrined, but then shrugged. "I am telling you now, Aly. Your mother and I spoke with Tina's parents, and we all decided to get in touch with the school." He took a sip of his coffee and smacked his lips. "Everyone will be coming here to talk."

"Who's everyone, Dad?" I groaned and shoved my tangled hair out of my face. Tina is going to kill me. "You should have told me."

"Tina and her mom will be here any minute, and some of the school officials will arrive at ten," he said over the rim of his mug.

It wasn't surprising that Tina's dad wasn't coming—did he know?

"It's nothing official, Aly, but some more facts are needed about what happened."

"Or didn't happen," I said, narrowing my gaze. Had something occurred or had I tarnished a good, though slightly misguided, man's name? No. It felt right, and he was wrong. At the very least, Mr. Tinsley shouldn't have shown his students porn.

My father nodded again and left the entrance to my bedroom to answer the front door when the bells chimed throughout the house. I could hear my mother banging around in the kitchen and felt just as cheesed at her for failing to keep their promise. They weren't supposed to do anything until they told me first.

Dammit. Getting Tina to say what did or did not happen would be difficult. Hell, she didn't tell me, and I was her best friend. I lay back down under the covers and stared at the ceiling, sorry that I had opened my mouth. Would Tina forgive me? Could she? Or was I about to lose a best friend for the second time in the same year?

So far my plan to avoid everything and just get through the week had backfired, and I was pretty sure that what I had assumed was crap week before was about to get a whole new definition.

My bedroom door flew open and Tina stomped inside. She was still dressed in pink pajamas with white teddy bears. Her eyes were red from crying, highlighted compared to the white frames of her glasses. The door slammed shut behind her, and I pulled my covers higher, trying without success to cover my face. Scruffy is such a blanket hog.