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“Your coach called and said you weren’t feeling well and missed practice.”
Here come the questions. I knew my coach would call them. Now I have to deal with my parents, which isn’t going to go well when I’m in a bad mood from finding out Nova left town.
“I’m not sick,” I tell her. “I just didn’t feel like being there. I need to go study. I have a test tomorrow.”
She nods. “Okay, but your father and I want to talk to you after dinner.”
Great, can’t wait for that. What are they going to do now? Punish me for missing hockey practice?
When I’m in my room, I start up my laptop to search for Nova but don’t know where to look. Putting her name in the search box gets me nowhere. How the hell am I supposed to find her? I search her dad’s name, but it’s such a common name I get thousands of results. I’m not going to find her this way, and if she didn’t tell any of her friends where she went, it’s possible I may never find her.
She’s hiding out. That’s gotta be it. She didn’t want someone finding out she’s alone and putting her back in foster care. She only has two months before she can be on her own. She’s hiding out with her dad until those two months are over.
I’m surprised he’d let her stay with him. I’m sure he’s making her pay rent, and probably clean the place too, just like Ted did. But where is he? How do I find out?
At six, I go downstairs for family dinner. I wanted to skip it, but that would just cause more problems with my parents.
“Why isn’t anyone talking?” Jenna asks, cutting into her chicken parmesan.
“We’re just tired,” my mom says. “It’s been a long day.”
Jenna glances at me, then back at my parents. “My teacher said I can still do the family history assignment. I can just leave Easton out.”
“You are not leaving out Easton,” my mom says, her gaze going to me. “He’s part of our family.”
“Not really,” Jenna says. “He’s not even related to us.”
“Jennifer Francis!” my mom yells, slamming her fork down on her plate. “You apologize to your brother!”
If my mom uses our full name, it means she’s really pissed.
Jenna doesn’t care. She just continues eating her dinner, ignoring my mom’s outburst.
My mom stares at her across the table. “Did you hear me?”
“Honey, just let it go,” my dad says to my mom. “Let’s not do this at dinner.”
My mom shoots him an angry look. “She just insulted our son, her own brother, and you’re okay with that?”
“She didn’t insult him. She just hasn’t processed the fact that he’s adopted.” He glances at Jenna, who’s ignoring them both.
Jenna turns to me. “So who was that girl? The one who was here on Thanksgiving?” She gets that excited tone to her voice that happens whenever she thinks she’s about to get gossip to share. “Is she really your girlfriend?”
“I’m not talking about her,” I say.
“Why?” Jenna says. “Is she another secret I’m not supposed to know about? Is she my long-lost sister? Dad’s secret love child?” She laughs.
“Jenna, that isn’t funny,” my dad says. “Stop talking about this and eat your dinner.”
Jenna gasps. “Oh my God, what if she really was dad’s kid?” She points to me. “And you’re dating her! It’d be like you’re dating your sister! I mean, I know you’re adopted, but still, it’s gross.”
“She’s not my sister,” I say, my jaw tightening. “Just shut the hell up.”
“Mom, what do you know about her?”
“Jenna, that’s enough. Talk about something else.”
“There’s gotta be a reason none of you will talk about her,” Jenna says, not giving this up. “So what is it? What’s the big secret?”
