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I screamed again.

“Can we maybe all just talk this out calmly?” my mom said.

“Mom, make Dad stop ruining my life. Please.”

“I...” She opened her mouth and closed it again. And then she just sighed.

“This is ridiculous. Are you doing a background check on Liam’s old Russian girlfriend?”

“Natalivanka is a princess,” my dad said.

What the F? “Well, great for Liam.”

“And she’s not my girlfriend,” Liam said.

I forced myself not to scream again. “Well, great. My own mother wants me to put up with Axel because love hurts. And my dad wants me to keep hanging out with Jacob because he’s a great boy even though he broke my heart. You’re both traitors.”

“Sweetie,” my mom said.

“I can’t wait until I go to college,” I said.

“Me too,” my dad said. “It’ll be fun being a professor again.” He gave me a hard stare.

“Stop threatening to follow me to college! Liam can do whatever he wants and you treat me like a prisoner!”

My mom sighed again. “Sweetie, we both just want what’s best for you.”

“Then let me go to the dance with Leo. Please.”

“It’s a hard no, Scarlett,” my dad said.

Well, that’s what he thought. I was going to that dance with Leo. And he couldn’t stop me. He wasn’t even chaperoning this one.

“Fine,” I said. “You win. I’ll go by myself and be miserable.”

“Great,” my dad said and started eating.

“Great,” I lied. I forced a smile onto my face and sat back down at the table. I was used to smiling through family dinners when my dad was being an ass. That was just my life. I was going to the dance with Leo and my dad could screw himself. I mean...a background check? On a date to one dance? My dad was a total psycho. And I was done letting him mess with my life.

Chapter 21 – Toilet Explosion

Friday

“Your dad is such a control freak,” Sophie said as we walked toward Mr. Halifax’s class. We stopped outside his door and she leaned in to wave at him.

He dropped the chalk in his hand instead of returning her greeting.

She sighed and leaned against the lockers outside his room. “My dad would never forbid me from going to a dance with anyone. Sometimes it’s hard to believe our dads are brothers.”

“Tell me about it.” Although, I thought that Uncle Rob might forbid Sophie from pursuing Mr. Halifax if he knew it was more than a little crush. “But I’m still going with Leo. I’ll just have to meet him at the dance instead of him picking me up.”

“I love when you act rebellious. And speaking of rebellion...”

“You’re going to ask Mr. Halifax to the dance?”

“No. I’ll ask Eli or something. But about the venue...”

“Soph, I can’t.”