5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

Kelsey

I spent the entire day checking my email, reading the results over and over. Every time I read them, they seemed even more foreign. The panic I felt upon learning that Caleb was, in fact, my biological father got duller with each passing glance at the results. I'd grown up my whole life believing the man in my baby album was my dad. I believed that he abandoned us when I turned two.

What other lies had she told me? What else about my reality was actually fantasy?

I used a fake birth certificate for fifteen years.

She let me believe that the man I hated for abandoning me was my father, and she knew. The entire time, she was playing this elaborate joke on me. She raised me on a bed of lies that now pierced me like a thousand silver blades to my weary body.

She knew when she hugged me the last night before she left that she had relinquished custody. That this was the last time she would see me—that I would see her. I was stupid enough to believe that she went on vacation.

I even found that fucking note and was still stupid enough to hold onto hope for two more weeks… until the food ran out. She was never coming back. I knew Miss Juliette thought I didn't know about the Instagram, but I did. I found it. I was so glad mom was safe and getting a tan.

She deserved to be in jail.

I suffered through five periods, ten bells, and the feeling that my stomach was eating me from the inside out. I faked my smile and pretended like everything was peachy keen and shit .

That was the easy part. Everybody knew my mom was a deadbeat. ‘ Don't let the designer bags fool you ,' I always said. But this… how the fuck was I supposed to spin this and still have a reputation for being nonchalant?

I stopped dead in my tracks when I got a text from Miss Juliette telling me she was here to pick me up with Him. My biological father. Ana stopped with me and cocked her head to the side.

She squinted into the distance. "Kelsey, is that Miss Juliette?"

"Yeah, I'm running to the studio to help her with something," I lied.

Just like my mother.

Miss Juliette waved me down, pushing off the gaudy sports car and walking towards me.

"She doesn't have a sports car," Ana whispered, leaning in.

Panicked, I lied some more. "It must be her boyfriend's."

"Miss Juliette has a boyfriend? Is it FedEx man? When did she tell you this?"

"Uh, the other day. Bye! See you at the studio!" I rushed to Miss Juliette. "Why are you here? I was going to take the bus."

"Caleb and I wanted to talk to you." She fell into step with me as I bolted to the car. I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone had their phone out to snap a picture or record.

"Okay, just get in the car before anyone else sees," I begged, throwing myself into the backseat.