Page 74 of A Vicious Rumor

"Mom," I said walking over to her. "You don't have to pretend that everything's okay just for me," I said to her. I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a big hug. "I'm not a little kid. You can talk to me."

"Oh, but sweetheart, you have so much on your plate already. And I know you're upset about something. I'm not going to bother you with silly little things like that phone call."

She grabbed the waffle off the iron and handed it to me. I grabbed the bottle of syrup and walked it to the table. "Sit with me?" I asked her. "I think there's some things I should have told you a while ago."

Over the course of the next hour, my mom sat with me over breakfast, and I told her everything. I told her about how I'd really fallen for Tyson over the summer, about what Ronny told me I should do, the conversation I'd had with Scissors, and the deal I’d made with him.

"I don't understand," my mother said. "So, this boy told you that he'd pay off all our debts if you help him steal a record from my office?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah." I felt so ashamed telling this to my mother. It was like a complete betrayal of her trust. "I'm really sorry mom. I know I shouldn't have agreed, but I was really worried."

My mom pulled me into a hug and patted the back of my head. "I wish you'd come to me sooner. I appreciate you trying to look out for me, but all of this is my mess to sort out. Not yours. And I don't need you living with boys that could be dangerous for you just because of me. I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you."

I hadn't told my mom about the other deal Scissors and I had made. The part where I'd agreed to the "benefits," but I couldn't bring myself to tell my mom that part. She'd take it entirely too personal and blame herself. Besides, I still was working on a plan for dealing with that.

"I just feel stupid," I admitted. "Because, if I'd gotten caught, you could have lost your job, and then we'd be in an even worse situation."

"Well," my mother said, sitting back in her chair. "I don't want you to worry about that, because the whole thing is actually rather silly."

I furrowed my brow at her. "What do you mean?" I asked her.

"What document is the boy looking for? Most of the things I deal with are matters of public record. It means anyone can come in and request a copy. It's not some big conspiracy or anything like that."

"He wants a copy of his birth certificate."

My mother barked out a laugh. "Is that all?"

"He said he's tried to request it, but he never gets a response."

"The boy is probably doing it wrong," my mother said. "We clerks can be pretty picky about records requests," she said with a wink. "How about this? Let's go grab some coffee, visit Ronny, and then head over to my office."

I smiled at the idea of seeing Ronny. I hadn't seen or spoken to him in the last month, and I was really missing my friend. My mother indulged me by making me another waffle, and within the hour, we were on our way to the Senior Center.

23

LILY

"I'm going to run to grab a prescription," my mom said. "That'll give you two some time to catch up."

Ronny pulled out a pack of cards and started to shuffle them. He didn't say a word, just sat there shuffling cards with a big smile on his face, before starting to deal them.

"So," he said to me, picking up his cards and fanning them out.

"So?" I said back, matching his tone and doing the same with my cards.

"How's it all going?"

"Do you have any five's?" I asked him.

"That good, huh?" he said with a chuckle before tossing me a card. I matched its pair and put it aside.

"I dunno, Ronny. I'm worried the whole thing isn't working and is just driving us apart," I admitted.

"What makes you say that, and do you have any queens?"

"Go fish," I said, and he scrunched his face in disapproval. "Well, like yesterday I actually thought it was working," I said. "Do you have any three's?"

He rolled his eyes and tossed me another card. "Yeah, and?"

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