Page 108 of Personal Foul

It worked. But not in the way my parents intended.

At the time, I didn’t think it mattered. I could be this girl—a normal girl with a normal, middle-class family. My sister unwittingly helped support my story, both with her actual lifestyle as well as giving me the opportunity to babysit my niece so often. It seems like a normal thing for a college student to do to earn extra cash. They just didn’t know I didn’t start earning extra cash until this semester. Up until now, I’ve done all of my babysitting for free.

A minute later, there’s a tentative knock on the door. “Charity?” Isabelle calls. “Are you okay?”

I wipe my face and pick myself up off the floor. Opening the door, I gesture for her to come inside, shaking my head.

“What happened?” she asks. Then, more angrily, “What did Dylan do to you?”

With a watery laugh, I shake my head. “Nothing. He didn’t do anything to me.”

“Then why are you crying?”

I sniff and reach for a tissue, blowing my nose loudly before continuing. “Because we broke up.” I can barely get the words out, but I have to say them. As much for me as for Isabelle. Saying them out loud makes it real.

“But why?”

Shaking my head, I wrap my arms around myself. “Isabelle, there’s something I need to tell you.”

She sits on my bed, giving me her full attention.

God, this is the worst. I thought ending things with Dylan was the hardest thing I’ve had to do to myself. But this is so much worse. “Do you remember how we met freshman year?”

She grins, nodding. “Yeah, at that weird party some girl’s parents threw for our dorm. We never did figure out who that was.”

“It was me.” Three little words, and I have to force them out through the lump in my throat threatening to close my airway.

“What was you?” Her face is the picture of confusion.

Eyes closed, I continue my confession. “My parents were the ones who threw the party. I was the one whose parents were trying to buy her friends.”

“I don’t understand.” Opening my eyes, I see her brows furrowed still.

I tell her everything. How my dad started playing around developing app games when I was a toddler, started his own company that eventually allowed him to quit his job as an insurance salesman, then how taking it public launched our family into a different tax bracket. How that changed everything for me—for the worse.

“I desperately wanted my college experience to be different. My older sister loved college, and I wanted to be able to love it too. I didn’t know my parents were going to throw that party that day. They knew how desperately I wanted to start over, to make new friends. They were just trying to help.” I offer a weak laugh. “If you think about it, they kind of did. Just not really in the way they intended.”

Isabelle, still looking confused, holds up a hand. “Wait, wait, wait. But you made fun of her with us. I remember you telling jokes and bouncing off the things we were saying.”

I nod. “Yeah. I ended up sitting right next to you guys. And I was mortified when I heard what you were saying. The only thing I could think to do was play along. I thought if you knew it was me, that you’d never want to be my friend, and you’d tell everyone else what a pathetic loser I am too, and it would be high school all over again.” My tears start falling again, and I sniff, wiping them away almost angrily. I’m so tired of crying already. “I’m sorry that I lied to you. I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”

Isabelle’s eyebrows climb her forehead slowly. “You didn’t think lying to me for three years was a big deal?”

“That’s not what I said. At the time, freshman year, I didn’t think playing along would end up being a big deal. I didn’t expect it to spiral into…” I lift a hand and gesture around us, trying to encompass all of the time that has passed between then and now. Our friendship. Our whole lives.

She looks away, a range of expressions crossing her face. “So what else have you lied about?”

Isn’t that the million dollar question?

When I don’t respond right away, she scoffs. “So … Basically everything?”

“Not everything. A lot of things were true. Our friendship is true.”

“How can you say that? Our entire friendship is built on a lie.”

Nodding, I wrap my arms around myself. This is the reaction I expected. It’s the reaction I deserve. “So, um, I found out a few weeks ago that my dad is under investigation by the SEC. All of our family’s accounts are frozen, including mine, and my parents are separated and are likely going to get divorced soon.” My voice breaks, but I force myself to keep going. “From what I understand, he’s going to be charged soon. There’s a good chance he’ll end up in jail. I don’t know if I’m going to be here next year. Either way, you’ll probably have to find a new roommate at the end of the semester.”

She takes that in, shaking her head in disbelief, so I’m not sure which part she’s having trouble believing. Probably all of it. If it weren’t my life, I’d think it sounded like some made-up clickbait on Reddit.

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