6
After dinner, the family settled in the living area to chat.
Mostly, it was Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell chatting with Lily.
Ryan had his laptop out, dealing with work. I, naturally, reclaimed my designated spot on the sofa with my phone.
Mrs. Blackwell shot disgruntled looks at both Ryan and me, clearly feeling we weren’t as filial as Lily. She and Mr. Blackwell had been traveling for days, and upon their return, we couldn’t even be bothered to ask about their trip
or
sit and chat with them.
Me: “…?”
Mr. Blackwell nodded along, in full agreement with his wife. He
Ven mentioned that Jessie used to be the same way–cold, a workaholic just like her brother, completely inconsiderate of her parents. That, he explained, was why they adopted Lily in the first place. Now their biological daught- er was back, and she wasn’t fawning over them either, more attached to her phone than to her own parents. Thank goodness they’d adopted one good one, or they’d never know the joy of a child’s affection.
Listening to this, I was at a complete loss for words.
I glanced at Ryan. His expression was placid. This was clearly a well–worn lecture he’d learned to tune out.
Somehow, the conversation shifted to my schooling. They asked me where I went. Lily, my age and a senior, attended the prestigious Northwood Preparatory Academy. The mere mention of the school brought a proud, irrepressible smile to her face, and Mrs. Blackwell looked equally pleas-
ed
My fingers didn’t stop moving on the screen. I answered casually.
“Oh, I’m a homebody.”
Mrs. Blackwell was still muttering, “Homebody? Is that a magnet school?” when Lily let out a small “pfft” of laughter. When everyone looked at her, she covered her mouth. “I’m sorry, sister, I didn’t mean to laugh. It’s just the way you said ‘homebody‘ instead of ‘homeschooled‘…”
She looked like she was about to laugh again. Mrs. Blackwell’s voice turned sharp. “You’re not in school?”
Nope,” I replied without looking up.
I couldn’t be bothered with school. I’d always taught myself. The one day my parents tried to send me to kindergarten, I managed to make the
teacher and the entire class cry. After that, the idea of traditional schooling was permanently off the table.
They worried endlessly about it. It was Leo who eventually said, “There’s a wall between gods and mortals Forcing a deity to mingle with comm- oners just makes everyone uncomfortable.”
He got a beating for that.
So, I’d never spent a day in a classroom. Though for the past two years, the old principal of Northwood Prep had been trying to persuade me to enroll, especially with the SATs coming up. He wanted me to take them as an official student of the school.
Right now, however, Mrs. Blackwell’s face was a thundercloud. She was already in a hushed, urgent conference with her husband about getting me into Lily’s school. The Blackwells couldn’t have a dropout for a daughter. It would be a laughingstock. Where would she hide her face?
