Page 109 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

“Dad!” I follow him out of the kitchen, irritated and unnerved and freaked out all at once.

I can’t believe this. Does he honestly expect me to attend school in this hick town where I don’t know a single soul? What about my friends? What about my job? What aboutthem?

“Dad, you can’t just?—”

I cut off when I see Mom. One gloved hand on the railing, the other holding up her skirt, she looks up and beams at us when she sees us watching.

“Oh my God,” I whisper.

“Ruth, honey, you look…” Dad trails off, stepping past me and holding out his hand for my mother.

She’s dressed in a sleek black gown, her hair up to expose her swan-like neck. A necklace encrusted with emeralds and diamonds drops elegantly into her cleavage, but even those precious stones can’t compete with her big, glittering green eyes.

“If I hadn’t already married you, I’d do it all over again,” Dad says as he helps her down the last step.

Despite how confused I am, the painful cut on my thigh, and all the other shit I’ve just been through, the pride in Dad’s voice makes my heart swell.

True high school sweethearts.

They look so happy. They’ve been fighting a lot behind closed doors, heaven knows why. I think it has something to do with Dad’s job, but they clam up whenever I ask them. They need this. Theirmarriageneeds this.

But Idon’tneed Cinderhart, that’s for sure. I guess we’re having a long talk when we get back to the city.

“You look beautiful,” I tell my mom when she looks my way again.

She tugs at the hips of her sleek black dress, twisting a little. “Really?” But just like that, her expression turns serious again. “Are you okay, Nim?” She takes hold of my hand, cradling it in her gloved hands as she gives me a once-over. “You look?—”

“She’s fine,” Dad says hurriedly. He throws me one of his famous,we’ll talk about this laterlooks.

“Are you sure, honey?” My mom narrows her eyes at me, concern flooding them. “You’d tell us if something was wrong, wouldn’t you?”

My lungs clamp up. Gees, where do I even begin?

Screw it. Now theyneedto know. If I told them their precious Cinderhart was filled with murderers and monsters, they wouldn’t even think about shipping me here.

“Actually—”

“Hey you two lovebirds, we’re going to be late!”

I should have heard Vicky’s heels coming before she did—she’s wearing six-inch stilettos which, on an already tall woman turns her into a supermodel. Her glittering black gown must be Prada or something.

“Relax, we’re ready,” Dad says, threading his arm through Mom’s. “And you look terrific, Vicky.”

“It’s the Louis Vuitton in our closets that we’re known for, not the skeletons,” she says around a toothy smile.

My heart gives a hardbangat the word Vuitton, bringing with it a snapshot of pitch-black hair and a cruel, red slash of a mouth.

Vicky snaps closed a crystal-studded clutch and beams at my parents. “Shall we be on our way, you two rascals?”

“You’re leaving already?” I ask.

“It’s a two-hour drive to the Academy,” Mom says, her voice vibrating with excitement as she grabs hold of my dad’s tuxedo. “Oh, love, I’ve been dying to see the lake.”

“And I’ve been dying to see the pass,” Dad says, bending low to plant a kiss on the tip of my mom’s nose. She shakes her head at him, her golden curls swinging against her back.

They both come to kiss me goodbye while Vicky watches with a cocked, perfectly stenciled eyebrow.I give her a tentativewave, and she gives me a faintly bemused smile as she ushers my parents out of the house.

“Raid the fridge or order anything you want, sweetie,” Vicky says, pointing to the house phone on the kitchen wall. “We have tabs everywhere.”

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