Page 44 of Obsession

I rubbed my forehead, sat down on the chair, and tried to think of a credible explanation to avoid the promised punishment.

How was I supposed to explain the biker who had brought me home?

“What’s going on in your head, Katherine?” He immediately scolded me, giving me an accusing look.

I bit my lip, not knowing how to answer.

“Dad, I didn’t skip on purpose. Please understand, I felt sick and…”

“Stop lying,” he interrupted me, shouting and banging his fist on the armrest, “who brought you home?”

“I’m not lying,” my answer was calm to avoid the second question, “Why do you never believe me?”

“I want to believe you, Kath, but right now you don’t have an alibi. When you get sick, you go to the nurse, not skip school with your friend group, who, by the way, came by half an hour ago and were worried and looking for you. When I called you said you were with them, so who’s lying again? Tell me who the kid that brought you home was; and on a bike I could hear before you even entered the neighborhood because you were going so fast, for God’s sake!”

Well, fuck.

I wondered what he would have said if he had seen his car.

“I said I was out with some friends, that boy is a friend. I wasn’t talking about the ones I met yesterday. He was just giving me a ride home.”

Yeah… that’s it. My skin prickled as I remembered what had happened in that dark hallway.

“Well, and… how did this other friend help you when you were feeling sick?”

I could have explained everything to him, but I didn’t want to tell him how my addiction came back, and I was basically dragged out of there like a sack of potatoes so he could drug me. I remembered the red dot on my forearm and tried to cover it up as inconspicuously as possible. I had to get out of this talk before I got into any more trouble.

“You know what, Dad? Believe what you want. Just give me my punishment so we can get this over with.”

“No going out for two weeks, no dates or anything like that. After school, you come straight home and concentrate on your homework.”

His voice sounded more authoritative than a judge’s.

“Oh, and… you stay on the cheerleading team.”

My anger grew at the same moment his slightly evil grin appeared.

“No freaking way,” I stood my ground and gave him a dirty look.

“This is your punishment. You asked for it.”

“It’s something else entirely, Dad, and you fucking know it.”

My expression calmed him down a little because he knew why I had given up dancing.

“You’re so good at it, Kath. You have worked so many years to get to where you are now, yet you give it up so easily?You don’t have to give up your dreams for anyone, not even your mother.”

My lips pressed into a tight line as I struggled to hold back my tears. I was so tired of crying every time something reminded me of her.

“I did it all for her.”

“But it was all your doing. You’re the best dancer I’ve ever seen, and I’m not just saying that because you’re my daughter. Just because you refused to bring your trophies here doesn’t mean they don’t exist. You can hate me now, but I am not going to let you give up dancing, even if it’s just a cheer team.”

“Exactly, I am not a cheerleader. I have no connection to what they do.”

His smile let me know I wasn’t fooling him.

“I doubt any of them can do the splits as well as you,” I rolled my eyes, “the negotiations are over now. It’s settled.”

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