Page 16

I was starting to feel sweaty in my flannel pajamas.

Chapter 4 – A Bashful Nipple Is Very Tasteful

Monday

I was grounded for the rest of the weekend. I had no idea why. Probably because I kept calling my little brother a slut.

And being grounded involved my dad taking my phone away for some reason. I was actually grateful that I still had the facial recognition on it now. I was pretty sure he’d only confiscated it to try to hack it again.

But without my phone, I had no idea what was going on. I couldn’t even text my kiss thief to tell him I was finished with him. More importantly, I couldn’t text RJ to demand he tell me who my kiss thief was.

And I was a little annoyed that Sophie hadn’t come to visit me during my lockdown. There was literally a secret lair under my feet and she hadn’t thought to use it? I’d sent her an email and everything. But she rarely checked her email. I was dying for information and I couldn’t wait to get to school.

I slid into a stool at the kitchen counter. “Can I have my phone back now?”

“I’ll give it to you when we get to school,” my dad said.

“You don’t need to drive us anymore,” I said.

“Why wouldn’t I drive you?”

I stared at him. Because he’d been fired. Obviously. He’d started a fist fight at homecoming and he wasn’t even a drunk student. “Because it’s out of your way.”

“Why would it be out of my way?”

Liam laughed as he sat down and grabbed a piece of toast. “You didn’t hear?”

“Hear what?” I asked.

“Dad didn’t get fired.”

How was that possible? He’d assaulted a fellow teacher. The one good thing about all of this was that I was certain my dad would stop stalking me at school. “So you’re...suspended?” I asked.

“Nope,” my dad said cheerfully. Too cheerfully for my liking.

“But you beat up Mr. Halifax. Shouldn’t you be in jail?”

My dad laughed. “West and I came to a mutual understanding with the dean.”

“It’s not a dean. It’s a principal, Dad. Can you please just go back to teaching college?”

“Eh. I might next year.” He smiled at me.

“What do you mean by that?”

He shrugged.

“Dad, you can’t follow me to college. I’m going out of state.”

“We’ll see what happens.”

I knew I was gaping at him. But I couldn’t help it. He could not. Under any circumstance. Follow me to college too. I took a deep breath. He wouldn’t. It wasn’t possible. He had to stay in New York to raise the little slut sitting next to me.

“A guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do,” Liam said.

And that’s why I refused to stop calling him a slut. Seriously, if Liam was left to his own devices in the city he’d whore it up and probably fail out of Empire High. If that was even possible.

“You three should get going,” my mom said. “The last thing you want is to be late. I’m not sure the school needs another hefty donation.” She gave my dad a look.