Page 111 of Apparently, I’m Trouble

“What’s going on here?” Principal Rutton’s frame appeared just as her voice boomed down the hall. Kira whipped around, and I watched her spine straighten as Lilly and Mia followed.

The moment I saw her, I had to fight the urge to take Mia away from this. We both knew what this would mean for her, for my daughter, and here it was, happening anyway.

A dazed and upset Miss Fares walked by her side, gripping her stomach, while Mia wore fire in her gaze. I felt it as her stare connected with mine.

As Principal Rutton approached Kira and me, Mia and Miss Fares walked straight into the amphitheater.

I heard her yell, “All right, stop, all of you. This is ridiculous,” as the principal asked both Kira and me to see her in the counselor’s office.

I hesitated, glancing at the door Mia just disappeared behind.

“Oh, Mr Hudson, please,” Rutton grumbled. “You think Miss Walker doesn’t know how to handle a group of teens? She’ll be fine.”

And with that, she led me away from the perfect storm of shitfuckery that was Miss Gem’s drama class.

Chiropractic Care

Two cancelled appointments and one upset daughter later, I sat in my office with my head in my hands.

Kira had a panic attack only the night before, and now she was dealing with a school-wide scandal. There were only eight weeks left until Christmas break, but every one of those days would feel like a lifetime for her now. My little girl was about to spend her days dodging rumors, and it was my fucking fault.

I scrubbed my hands down my face a final time before picking up my phone.

A single reply from Mia flashed on my screen.

M: I’m dealing with it. How’s Kira?

I didn’t know how to answer that, and as much as I wanted to call her, I still had to speak to Rochelle.

It rang twice before my sister picked up.

“Theo, if you’re calling to ask about–”

“He told me, Rochelle.”

She went quiet on the other end. Then, “What did he say?”

I knew my sister didn’t want to talk about this. Neither did Tristan. So I gambled. “That he had to take out a restraining order to get you to stop harassing him.”

She scoffed. “I wasn’t ‘harassing’ him.”

“Then what was it?”

“Blackmail. He took out a restraining order because I threatened to ruin his art career. And then I did it anyway because he started acting like a dick.”

“Rochelle,” I snapped, running my hand through my hair. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Hey, I’m the one who had her whole career blow up in her face, not you. I don’t need a lecture.”

“But you wouldn’t do that. You wouldn’t blackmail someone.”

“Oh, there was more than one. I had a whole group of artists under my thumb.”

A whole fucking group?

None of this made sense. I couldn’t match what she was saying with what I knew about my sister.

Even still, it started to fit together. This was why she stopped working. Her reputation was ruined. She wouldn’t have been allowed to set foot in any art gallery.