Daddy Dearest

Chapter Nine

Melody POV

I'm not sure what I'm still doing here. I'd promised Lottie I'd come over after school to help her with her social studies homework, but I didn't mean to stay for dinner. I told myself I had to leave before Mr. D got home. But then Mrs. Davenport went into Lottie's room where she and I were studying and asked if I wanted to stay for dinner. She wasn't even surprised that I was there. I told her I'd have to check with Nancy, but God must have been playing a prank on me because just then, I got a text from her saying she was out with friends and would I mind fending for myself tonight? It's rare that Nancy leaves the house to just be social with people, so I told her I was fine. I accepted Mrs. Davenport's invitation to dinner.

"Oh boy, you're in luck," says Lottie sarcastically. "Monday is Chicken Pesto Pasta Night."

"What happened to Pot Roast Monday? I love your mom's pot roast."

Lottie rolls her eyes. "Mum thinks we eat too much red meat, so she's taking the pot roast out of circulation for a while."

"Bummer."

Lottie is not in the mood to discuss Human Geography. Instead we've been talking about the massive bouquet of flowers I received at school today. How weird was that? I can't think of anyone who would send me something so ridiculous. For her birthday, Katy Petrie received one of those gigantic, human-sized teddy bears during fourth period pre-calculus and it was delivered while Sister Mary Clarence, one of the behavioral monitors, was sitting in. Even though it wasn't her fault, Katy was punished with two Saturday detentions for disrupting class. I'm just saying that I'm not the kind of girl that this sort of thing happened to.

"It was considerate for the person who sent you flowers to have them delivered to the front office instead of class," Lottie says, as though she read my mind. "I mean, can you imagine getting Saturday detention for such hideous flowers?"

I've never had a detention in my life. It comes with the territory of being known as the "good girl." Even when I do something remotely naughty, I get a pass because it's "out of character" for me and it gets treated as a one-off. I sure as hell don't need detention over some creepy flowers.

And they were very creepy flowers. When I first saw them at the office and Mrs. Thompson told me they were for me, I couldn't believe it. First of all, I'd never gotten flowers from a guy before. Secondly, there was just something really wrong about how the flowers were put together. The colors were mismatched and the mingling odors reminded me of an old lady's perfume, that flowery, musky kind that stays with you all day and clings to your clothes long after the old lady has gone away. When I read the card attached, I completely lost it. Who the hell would send me something like this?

"I wouldn't even know anyone in detention," I scoff, pushing the flowers from my mind. Just picturing them is giving me the creeps. "Now what can you tell me about the origins of the Incas?"

Lottie sticks her tongue out at me. "Something about the Boring Strait."

I swat her playfully. "Bering Strait, you bimbo."

"Whatever, I get the gist of it," she says huffily, pushing her blond hair out of her face. "What did you do with the creepy flowers? Honestly, they looked like they were meant for a funeral in a bordello."

I laugh in surprise. She's totally right. That was my visceral reaction to them. I'm not nuts. "I gave them to your dad."

Her eyes light up with wicked delight. "Oh you did not, you outrageous trollop!" She gives my shoulder a shake. "You are such a liar, Lolita!"

I get up from the floor and flop across her bed on my stomach, hugging her stuffed penguin Sam. "I'm not lying. I gave them to your dad, for real. Ask him."