Skater Boy by Mari Mancusi

Author:Mari Mancusi [Mancusi, Mari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: NLA Digital Liaison Platform LLC
Published: 2011-12-15T21:05:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

I open the front door to my house, desperately trying to mask how upset I am. I so don’t want The Evil Ones to see me crying. They’ll ask why and then I’ll have to make up some stupid excuse.

“Dawn? Is that you?” asks my mother, lounging on her couch in our icy parlor. If she were Sean’s mom, she’d probably get up from her seat to greet me. Wrap me in a warm hug and ask how my day was. But no; to my mother, I’m not even worthy of the calories it would take to stand up.

“Yeah, it’s me,” I mumble as I start upstairs. I don’t want to have to face them. Not with my blotchy, tear-stained face.

“What are you doing home? I thought you were at the library.”

I stop dead in my tracks. Shoot. I was so upset I forgot I was supposed to have Sean drop me off at the library, not home, to make my lie believable.

“I, um, took a cab home,” I fib. One good thing about having Sean break up with me is I can stop the web of lies. It’s exhausting to keep track of them all.

“You took a cab?” Dad roars from his armchair. “Dawn, get in here. Now.”

Oh, freaking great. I back down the stairs and drag my feet into the parlor.

“What?” I ask defensively, even though I know exactly why he’s pissed. I should have said one of the Ashleys dropped me home, as usual.

“You know very well what,” Dad rages. “We don’t want you taking public transportation. It’s dangerous. And anyway, you don’t need to. We could have picked you up. All you had to do was call us.”

“What, you want to send a limo after me or something?” I yell back, unable to control myself. I’m already at my breaking point, and I’m so not ready to deal with his stupid public-transportation crap.

“What limo? What are you talking about?”

“Or, I know. Send poor Magda. You make her do everything else around here!”

My mother stares at me, disbelief written across her face. “She works here, Dawn. It’s her job.”

“Yeah, well, did you ever consider her feelings? That maybe she doesn’t want to slave away in the kitchen for ungrateful rich people and then have to go play chauffeur?”

“She’s not a slave, Dawn. She chooses to work for us. And we pay her very well for her services,” Dad says.

“What is all this about?” my mother asks. “Has Magda said something to you?”

“I’m going to have a word with her,” Dad adds. “If she’s unhappy here …”

“No. Wait. Magda didn’t say anything,” I cry. Oh, great. On top of everything else, now I’m endangering Magda’s job. I love Magda, no matter what Sean’s family thinks, and I can’t be the one who gets her fired. I think quickly. “I’m just … in history we’re studying class differences in Regency England and I’m a little sensitive to the rights of the servant class right now.”

Wow, I pulled that one from my butt, huh? And just in the nick of time, too.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.