The Girl You Thought I Was by Rebecca Phillips

Author:Rebecca Phillips
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-05-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

“HAVE YOU STARTED YOUR THEFT EDUCATION class yet?”

I pick a piece of onion off my pizza and meet my dad’s eyes across the living room. “Not yet.”

“Morgan.” He sighs and lowers the volume on the TV, which is showing the evening news. “The court gave you a deadline of August twelfth, remember? And it’s already the end of July.”

“It’s a four-hour online course, Dad. I think I can get it done in the next two weeks.”

“Well, don’t put it off too long,” he says, scooping up another slice from the open box on the coffee table. Sausage and mushroom from Nazario’s, as usual. “It’s part of your diversion requirement, and the court needs to see proof that you completed it.”

“I know.” I guess I have been putting off doing it, mostly because I assume the entire course will just be a four-hour lecture on how shoplifting is wrong and hurts society, which I already know. I’m not sure how watching videos and doing quizzes is supposed to deter me from stealing, but since the alternative is court and possible prosecution, theft education class it is.

Dad finishes his pizza and reaches for the remote. “Ready to watch?”

I swallow the food in my mouth and frown. “Sorry, but I have plans to hang out with Alyssa tonight.”

He frowns back at me for a moment, his finger poised on the remote, before breaking into a too-wide smile. “Oh. Well, that’s nice.”

I nod, trying to ignore a stab of guilt. My friends haven’t been around all week—Dawson and Alyssa had work, Sophie’s on vacation with her family, Zach’s been doing whatever it is he does when Sophie’s not around, and Eli left on Sunday for a spontaneous five-day camping trip with his father—so I’ve spent the past few nights marathoning Breaking Bad with Dad. Not that I mind spending time with him, but I’m excited about getting out tonight with my best friend, who I feel like I haven’t seen in weeks. Her mother’s been keeping her pretty busy at the store lately.

“Maybe tomorrow, okay?” I say without thinking. Tomorrow’s Friday, the day Eli comes back. Or so he said before he left. He hasn’t been able to text me all week, seeing as he’s out in the wilderness. I can’t imagine camping with my dad, unless it was in a well-equipped cabin with a Pizza Hut nearby.

“Oh, don’t worry about me,” Dad says, firing up Netflix. “There are plenty of other shows I’ve been meaning to binge-watch.”

I leave him to it and take the leftover pizza out to the kitchen. Fergus is sitting by his dish, staring into it like he’s trying to make Fancy Feast magically appear. I open a can for him before heading to hang out with Alyssa.

When I pick her up at Karalis Custom Jewelry, Alyssa collapses into the passenger seat and sighs wearily, like my father does after a bad day at work.

“My mother,” she says, eyes shut tight. “Is driving me. Crazy.”

I pat her shoulder and pull away from the curb, merging with the late-evening traffic.

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