Page 18 of Broken by my Bully
“And, uh, what if he’s gone longer than that?” I sandwich the thick folder, my notepad, and my notebook against my chest. I really need to get a backpack.
Nora frowns. “Well, when is he coming back, sweetie?”
Never everever.
I swallow. “I’m not sure.”
“No problem. If you give me his email address, I’ll just?—“
“You know what? Why don’t you give me the form? I’ll make sure he signs it.”
Her brow furrows. “It’ll be faster if I email.”
“He doesn’t have wifi.”
Nora titters. “Where is he, the North Pole?”
Iwave away her question, stalling so I can think. “Pshhh. Some, I dunno, spiritual retreat or something.”
“Ohhh.” Nora’s eyebrows jump up, and she leans in a little to whisper, “One of those.”
“Yeah, but I’ll just, you know, fax it to him or something.”
She looks like she wants to keep arguing, but my orange soda is wearing off.
I slap a hand on the counter. “Let me do you this favor, Nora. You’ve beensokind to me on my first—“ I shrug “—well, second day. I’m going to save you the hassle of all that back and forth.” I scrunch up my face. “You don’t want to spend half an hour trying to convince a psychic guru that my dad has to emerge from his sweat tent to sign something for his daughter’s college.”
Nora grimaces. “No sirree Bob.” She holds up her hands in surrender. “All yours, sweetie.” She wheels her chair over to a filing cabinet and pulls out a stapled form from a drawer.
I take it with a smile, and vamoose before she can change her mind, heading for the library. I need to find a place to dump all this stuff so I can go through my enrollment packet and look at my class schedule.
As I go, I’m muttering to myself like a crazy person.
“Spiritual retreat? Guru?”
The smell of old books and lemon-scented furniture polish hits my nose.
“Fuckingsweattent, Haven? Really?”
God, I’ve got to get better at lying. Maybe there’s something in the self-help section I can read.
Lying for Dummies.
The Subtle Art of Not Telling the Truth.
Maybe even How to Win Friends and Lie to Them.
Haven
Times New Roman has never looked this terrifying.
FINANCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
AGREEMENT
The smaller the print gets, the more horrified I become.
