The Dollhouse Romance by Emily Asad

Author:Emily Asad [Asad, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781533130921
Published: 2016-05-22T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:

DESPERATION

The end of the month arrives – payday. I can barely wait for English class to finish so I can go pick up my check.

Mrs. Halverson passes back my test, taking special delight to toss it on my desk. Angry red letters scream “F.”

I stare at it in disbelief. I know better than to ask about it during the review, so I follow along while she reads the questions and explains the correct answers. There must be a mistake. I only missed one question – that’s a 98%, not an F. I raise my hand at the end of the review, but she ignores me.

Fine. I keep it there until my shoulder starts to ache and my fingertips start to tingle from lack of blood. Finally, Mrs. Halverson deigns to acknowledge me.

“The machine must have calculated wrong,” I say, holding up my test. “I got these all right.”

“That score reflects your unexcused absences,” she says, her voice icy.

“You took points off because I was gone?”

“For unexcused absences, yes. Do you have a note from home?”

“No, but…”

“So you’re lucky I haven’t assigned you detention or reported you to the police for skipping school. We’ll talk about this later.”

I hate her. If she wanted to be fair, she’d take points off the assignments from my missing days. But to flunk! Other students are staring at me in sympathy. Helpless, I steel my jaw and stare at the scratched wood on my desk.

“…take out a piece of paper,” she’s saying. “Date, period, name. The title of today’s assignment is…”

As I’m scratching the header on my paper, I pause. Something about the date sticks in my brain.

September 30th?

It’s been a month since I started living at the mansion. But more than that… Today’s Mamá’s birthday! I’ve been so busy trying to juggle school and work, I’ve completely forgotten.

My stomach clenches. Breakfast threatens to make another appearance.

I raise my hand.

“Not now, Zenia.”

“Please can I go to the bathroom?”

“Not now, Zenia.”

The pressure on my stomach grows stronger. I would ask again except I’m afraid to open my mouth. I turn around and throw a desperate glance to Diana.

“What’s wrong?” she whispers.

With one hand clamped over my mouth, I lurch from my desk and stumble out the door. I make it to the bathroom just in time, heaving and heaving until my stomach’s empty. When it’s over, I rinse out my mouth at the sink. But I can’t bring myself to go back to class. Not yet, anyway. So I stand there, leaning on the sink and panting.

“Are we done yet?” It’s Principal Lathrop, standing with her arms crossed.

“I didn’t mean to disrupt class.”

She unfolds her arms. She probably expected a rebellious response. Or drugs. “Are you okay?” she asks in a gentler voice.

I just shake my head. Tears spill onto my cheeks. Embarrassed, I wipe them away with my palms. I know she wants a reply, so I choke out the words. “My mother’s birthday. Today.”

“Oh,” says Principal Lathrop. And then again with understanding, “Oh.” She grabs a paper towel from its dispenser and hands it to me.

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