Delicate ✔

Chapter Eleven

  "You are going to go to school tomorrow, right?," my mom asks Justin in her parental voice.

He nonchalantly examines the baked potato on his plate. "Do you personally care if I go to school, are you using me as a built-in babysitter for Lily?", he motions to my little sister sitting across from him.

My mom noisily drops her fork. "I don't prefer her to walk alone, but no, I want you to go to school. I think Katherine would have wanted you to do something with your life," she narrows her blue eyes, flipping her blonde hair behind her shoulder.

I hesitantly look over at Justin, who is sitting next to me. He sets his angry gaze on her.

"First of all," he begins in a cold tone. "Don't talk about my mother. Second of all, I realize that I'm not one of your kids, so don't treat me like one. You sure as hell aren't my mother."

My dad cuts in. "Neither of us may be your parents, but until you're eighteen and out of this house, you do as we say."

Lily is choking back laughter, as she tries to concentrate on her food. The tension in the room is nearly palpable. I quickly cut off a piece of steak on my plate. I place it in my mouth and begin to chew.

"How good is this steak?," I say loudly, before Justin can say anything.

Everyone turns to look at me. I smile at my mom, who catches on to me. She knows I'm trying to stop the argument. My dad doesn't look amused either. Lily smirks at me. Justin ignores me all together.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," my mom states.

My mother sighs after a moment. "I know it must be hard to deal with your mother's death, and then just being thrown into some stranger's house. I'm sorry."

Justin frowns at her. "I'll go tomorrow."

My dad relaxes his posture now. "Good. And you'd better not ditch either. We know more than you think we do."

Justin snorts. "Okay."

Lily clears her throat. "I'm done."

"Don't stay up too late," my dad says.

Lily quietly puts her pate in the sink, and then leaves the kitchen without another word. I've eaten most of my food, and I just want out of this awkward situation. I look up to see Justin eyeing me with an unreadable expression. He smirks when he notices me noticing him.

"Er... I'm done as well," I say, pushing away from the table.

Before I can leave the kitchen, my mom's speculative eyes bore into mine.

"I'll be up in a few minutes," she says. "I need to talk to you about something."

My eyes widen as I nod at her. Did Lily say something? Did she see us leave the other night? This doesn't sound too good. I hear Justin say that he is finished too. He sounded a little anxious. He must be thinking what I'm thinking. We might have been caught.

Someone catches my arm before I can open my door. I whirl around, taking a step back as Justin releases my upper arm.

"Does she know?," he whispers.

I shrug. "I'm not sure what she wants to talk about. I'm not lying to my mom though."

His face hardens." Aubrey--"

"Who says she knows? I won't tell her about it, unless she asks."

"I hope this has nothing to do with us sneaking out," he says in a low voice. "Because if you snitch, I can promise you that I'll--"

"You'll what?," I snap, clenching my jaw.

He looks caught off guard by my confidence. "I-I'll do something that you won't like."