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With that in mind, Mikey slowly exhaled before she forced herself to face her mother again and said, “I would appreciate it if you didn’t force me to go through with this.”
“And Sebastian?” Reese said with a pointed look at her best friend.
“Is a bad influence,” Mikey said with a sad shake of her head and a long-suffering sigh as she glanced over her shoulder and noted the glare aimed at her. Mouthing, “I’m sorry,” she pushed forward, knowing that Sebastian would forgive her one day.
“Which really explains why you keep sneaking over to his house every night,” her mother said dryly, making her wince.
“Shouldn’t we be discussing how much you’re going to miss me?” Mikey asked with a hopeful smile, hoping to change the subject as she watched Uncle Trevor and Jonathan walk inside.
“You look adorable,” Uncle Trevor said with a warm smile that had her eyes narrowing on him.
“I always look adorable,” Mikey reminded him, making him chuckle as she watched Jonathan help himself to a muffin, only to frown when he gestured absently towards her. “There’s something different about you.”
“I will kill you,” Mikey bit out, knowing that she would have no choice but to take that muffin and shove it down his-
“That’s not it,” Jonathan said, shrugging it off as he took a bite of his muffin while he considered her.
“Are you ready?” Uncle Trevor asked as he grabbed her bag off the floor where she’d tossed it when she was forced to barricade herself in the pantry.
“No,” Mikey said, shaking her head as she moved to step back only to have Jonathan shove the rest of the muffin in his mouth, grab hold of her hand and drag her towards the door.
“Have a good day at school,” her mother called after her, which, normally, would have earned a glare, but at the moment, she was panicking too much to properly express her outrage.
“Please don’t do this to me,” Mikey mumbled weakly as she tried to pull her hand away, but the big jerk simply tightened his hold around her hand and kept moving.
“It’s for your own good,” Jonathan said, grabbing her bag and tossed it to Sebastian as Mikey noted the way that his gaze dropped to their hands before she was yanked outside and halfway down the driveway.
“You’ll thank me later,” Jonathan said with a satisfied sigh as he released her hand and headed across the street to where his mother was waiting by the minivan to drive him to school.
“You look very pretty!” Aunt Zoe said with a warm smile as she climbed into the minivan.
“Thank you,” Mikey murmured awkwardly as she reached down to adjust her skirt.
“You sold me out last night,” Sebastian said as he moved past her and opened the passenger side door of his father’s truck.
“And this morning,” Mikey felt obligated to point out as she reached for her bag only to have him pull it out of her reach and toss it over his shoulder as he held the door open for her.
“You really are a pain in my ass,” Sebastian said with a teasing smile as he held his hand out to her. With a grumble, Mikey took his hand and did her best to ignore just how good it felt to hold it as she climbed into the truck.
“You knew this,” Mikey said as she settled in the middle seat as Uncle Trevor and Sebastian joined her.
“This is true,” Sebastian murmured as he dropped their bags on the floor and reached for the seatbelt as Mikey sat there, debating her options. She could shove Sebastian out of the way and make a run for it or…
“So, I was thinking,” Mikey said as she focused on Uncle Trevor.
“About…” Uncle Trevor drawled as he started the truck.
“He’s not going to get you out of this,” Sebastian felt the need to point out for some reason.
“Shhh, not while I’m plotting,” Mikey whispered as she reached over and absently slapped her hand over Sebastian’s mouth. That was followed by clearing her throat, slapping a smile on her face and-
“Coach Dilmore,” Uncle Trevor said, but then again, that’s all he really needed to say to get her to shut her mouth, grumble, and pout as she stared out the window while she resigned herself to the inevitable.
Her first day of high school.
* * *
“Why areyou doing this to me?” Chloe asked hollowly as she watched the little girl who was slowly destroying her will to live finally come out of the bathroom.
