Chapter 26
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I pushed the door open slowly, dreading the fate that’ll follow.
Principal Elias sat behind his desk. But he wasn’t alone.
I swallowed hard as I saw Mom and Dad were both there. Sitting in chairs facing the principal.
As I walked closer I could see Mom’s face twisted with fury. Her eyes locked onto me the second I walked in.
Dad sat perfectly still. His jaw was clenched tight.
Principal Elias looked more concerned than angry unlike my parents. Just extremely concerned.
But somehow that made everything even worse, my mind was preparing me for the worst possibility.
“Avery dear, Come in. Close the door.” Principal Elias commanded.
I did. But not even his warm tone could stop my hands were shaking so badly I almost missed the handle.
“Come stand here.” He pointed to the spot beside his desk.
I walked over slowly. My legs felt weak. Like they might give out any second.
I stood where he told me to and kept my eyes fixed on the floor.
The office was completely silent except for the clock ticking on the wall. Each second felt like an hour.
Principal Elias leaned back in his chair, studying my face.
“Do you remember the last time you were in this office, Avery?”
My stomach twisted into knots.
“Yes.” I said with difficulty, my voice coming out barely above a whisper.
“Can you remind me what we discussed?”
And there it was. I knew right then they’d figured everything out.
I tried to glance at Mom. Maybe her face would tell me exactly how bad this was going to be.
“Don’t look at your mother!” Dad’s voice cut through the air like a whip. “Answer Principal Elias’s question when he asks you something.”
I flinched and kept my eyes back down.
“He asked me if I wrote something. A story.”
“What story?” Principal Elias prompted gently.
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Chapter 26
“Invisible”
“And what did you tell me when I asked if you wrote it?”
I could barely get the words out.
“I said I didn’t.”
“But you did write it. Didn’t you?”
I nodded.
“I need to hear you say it, Avery.”
“Yes. I wrote it.”
“Why did you lie to me?”
What was I supposed to say to that? That telling the truth would have made everything worse? That my parents would have punished me either way?
I stayed silent.
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“Don’t bother denying anything else,” Dad said coldly. “We opened your laptop. We went through everything.”
My heart stopped.
“We saw the drafts,” Mom added. Her voice was sharp. Cutting. “All those stories you were writing. All that nonsense about our family.”
“If Ava hadn’t reminded us about the laptop this morning, we wouldn’t have even remembered to look at it,” Dad said.
Then I remembered this morning. When Ava went back inside. When she’d claimed she had forgotten something.
She hadn’t forgotten anything. She’d reminded them on purpose.
My sister had sold me out. Again.
“Your poor sister wanted us to give it back to you and we were going to,” Mom continued. “We hoped you had learned your lesson and just decided to check what you’d been doing on it first.”
“And what we found was extremely disappointing,” Dad said.
Principal Elias leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk.
“Avery, I need you to help me understand something. Why did you write these things? What made you feel like you needed to?”
I couldn’t tell him the truth. That my parents favored Ava. That they treated me differently. That everything
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Chapter 26
in that house was unfair.
Because even if I did tell him, what would change? Nothing.
He’d call my parents in. They’d deny everything. Say I was being dramatic. Being difficult.
And then I’d go home and things would be ten times worse.
So I said the only thing I could say.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” Principal Elias asked.
“For lying. For writing those things. I’m sorry.”
“But why did you write them in the first place?”
“I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
“Avery, I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”
But he couldn’t help me anyway. Nobody could.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated.
Dad made a frustrated sound. Shifted in his chair.
“This is exactly what we’ve been dealing with,” he said to Principal Elias. “Our daughter has always been well- behaved. Obedient. She follows rules. Does her homework without being asked. Listening to her mother and me. Does her chores.”
“I see,” Principal Elias said.
“But from the moment she came home talking about a teacher asking her to write something, everything changed.”
“Changed how?”
“She became secretive. Started hiding things. Her sister mentioned she’d been spending time with different people. And now we find out she’s been writing these elaborate stories about our family. Making us look bad.”
“The stories weren’t even finished,” Mom cut in. “Just drafts. Pages and pages of drafts about how terrible we supposedly are.”
Principal Elias turned his attention back to me.
“Avery, who are these people your father mentioned? The friends you’ve been spending time with?”
I didn’t answer. I just kept my head down.
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Chapter 26
“Avery, I’m asking you a question.”
F:–
I remained silent, still. I couldn’t put the only friends I had in trouble.
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“This is what I mean,” Dad said. “She won’t even answer simple questions anymore. She just stands there.”
“Mr. Flynn, please.” Principal Elias held up his hand. “Let’s not point accusing fingers. We need to understand what’s happening here before we jump to conclusions.”
He looked at me again. His expression was patient but serious.
“Avery, nobody here is trying to get you in trouble. We just want to understand. Who are these friends? Who have you been talking to? Did someone encourage you to write these stories?”
Every question was a trap. Every answer would make things worse. And so I chose the easiest option,I stayed quiet.
“She’s being disrespectful,” Mom said. Her voice was ice cold. “Principal Elias asks her direct questions and she acts like she can’t hear him.”
“Mrs. Flynn, I understand this is frustrating-”
Three sharp knocks on the door interrupted the principal’s speech.
“Come in,” Principal Elias called.
The door opened.
Ms. Rachna walked in.
My English teacher. The one who’d asked me to write in the first place. The one who’d encourage me to begin everything.
“You wanted to see me, Principal Elias?”
Mom stood up so fast her chair scraped loudly against the floor.
She crossed the room in three quick steps and got right in Ms. Rachna’s face.
“Are
you the one forcing my daughter to write nonsense about her family?”
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Chapter 27
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
