“Sydney, do try to look awake when I speak.”
“That essay reads like a greeting card.”
“Oh, you’re upset? How exhausting for the rest of us.”
***
At first, I told myself I was imagining it.
Then Lila leaned over in English one day and whispered, “Why does she always come for you?”
I kept writing. “Maybe my face annoys her.”
Lila frowned. “Your face is literally just sitting there.”
I told myself I was imagining it.
I laughed because that was easier than admitting the truth. My best trick in high school was acting like things didn’t matter.
It worked on almost everybody except my dad.
***
One night, he found me at the kitchen table, rewriting an English paper for the third time.
“I thought you’d already finished that one,” he said, setting down his coffee.
“She said the first draft was lazy.”
I laughed because that was easier.
He pulled out the chair across from me. “Was it lazy?”
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