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“If Sophie is trying to hook up with her teacher, my brother needs to know.” He pulled out his phone and called Uncle Rob.

“Put it on speaker,” my mom said.

My dad nodded and hit a button.

“She’s going to be in so much trouble,” I whispered.

“But...is she?” Jacob asked. “Uncle Rob never gets upset with Soph.”

That was true. And Soph technically had mentioned this to her dad before. I was pretty sure he’d thought she was joking though.

“Yo,” Uncle Rob said when he answered the phone. “I heard you beat up a teacher. Sounds like a fun night.”

“It was not a fun night,” my dad said.

“Really? It sounded a lot like our homecoming my sophomore year. The best one, in my book.”

“Rob, did Sophie tell you why I got in a fist fight with a teacher?”

“She sure did. Scarlett was doing Sophie a solid by dancing with the guy. And Sophie said you believed some silly lie about Jacob and Scarlett breaking up.” He laughed. “Did you really think Jacob would call Scarlett a slut?” He laughed again.

“Told you,” Uncle Matt said.

Porter seemed to visibly relax. He was probably happy he didn’t have to escort Jacob and Uncle Matt out anymore. Because that was a two against one I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of.

“Yo, Matt!” Uncle Rob said. “What’s up? Why are you over there so early?”

Uncle Matt stood up to get closer to the phone. “Because James called me last night saying Jacob wasn’t allowed to see Scarlett anymore.”

Uncle Rob laughed. “Epic. Seriously, so much like our homecoming. You guys fighting. Am I on speaker phone? Who else is there?”

My dad ignored everything Uncle Rob just said. “Rob, did Sophie tell you exactly why Scarlett was dancing with Mr. Halifax?”

“Who?”

“West Halifax. The teacher I got in a fight with.”

“Oh. Right. Like I said, Scar was doing her a solid. You know how Soph is. Always joking around. But honestly, I think she might have a little unrequited crush on the guy. Don’t tell her I told you that.”

I was glad Sophie had such a good relationship with her dad. But the fact that Uncle Rob just thought it was some little crush wasn’t exactly accurate. Sophie was obsessed with Mr. Halifax.

“Just harmless teenage fun,” Uncle Rob said.

Yeah, he definitely didn’t have the exact right picture of what was happening right now. And I’d hardly call it harmless. I stared at my dad’s swollen face.

Uncle Matt cleared his throat. “Now will you apologize to Jacob?”

My dad looked over at Jacob. “Why are you still wearing your tux? Where were you last night?”

“An after party,” Jacob said.

“All night?”

Jacob nodded.

My dad didn’t look pleased about that either. “You were at a party without my daughter? All night long? Were you with some other girl?”

“I swear to God,” Uncle Matt said.