Breaking Cosmos - A Midnight Mafia Novel

SEVEN

   "How was your school day princess?" Dad asked smoothing my hair away from my forehead and giving it a kiss.

I lowered my pencil as I had been working on calculus homework and my fried brain was welcoming to his interruption. I looked up to him from my desk as he held onto the back of my chair. "Good, Daddy, how was work?"

"Oh, fine, fine. They didn't give you too much homework on your first day back did they?"

I shrugged. "Less than the psychopathic tutor you tortured me with all spring break."

He ruffled my hair. "Don't want that little brain of yours to wither sweetie. I can give her another call if you're not feeling challenged enough in class, or I could make a call to the school, have your teachers up your workload?"

"Dad." I said flatly, not at all impressed.

"Right, right." He wandered into the room and sat on my bed. I twisted almost completely and held onto the back of the chair to face him. "Please, don't let me distract you from your homework." He motioned me back to my desk and after several seconds of watching him I turned back around and picked my pencil back up.

I began working again, slowly at first as I waited for him to interrupt again, but more seriously when it didn't come.

"One of my guys, Ernie, do you remember Ernie?"

I paused. "Uhm, no, not really I don't think so."

"Hm." He hummed thoughtfully. "Well Ernie said the funniest thing today Charlie. He said, and I had to laugh, that your GPS, my daughter's GPS said she was at the police station. And I laughed because my daughter was in world studies and she knows better than to go to the police station." I set my pencil down. "Funny joke, at first almost had to take his tongue though when he said what my daughter was wearing when I sent him down to get a visual."

I turned back around. "Dad-"

"Charlotte."

"I can explain."

"I'd love to see you try."

"Well..." I began and then shrugged. "I just went to give my statement about the incident." What followed, was silence. Nervously, I had to continue to speak to myself. "I lied, of course, I thought that if I told them lies you know, total opposite of what the guys looked like I could throw their trail off. I thought I was being helpful."

More silence.

"So...." I tapped my finger tips on the back of the chair and looked anywhere but his eyes.

"This thing with the cop-" He started and I groaned as though I'd been sucker punched.

"There is no thing with anyone. How could there be? I'm like a prisoner in here, you know if you guys would give me more freedom-"

"What have you done to deserve freedom or trust Charlie? I look at you and I see a spoiled girl with very poor judgement making skills, not at all someone I should trust and loosen the reins on, quite the contrary."

"Oh God, I went to one party Dad. One. One night, compared to like ten-thousand days where I followed your every stinking rule, and let me tell you there are like a lot of them. But I follow them, I learn every language and instrument and weapon you thrust on me with no complaint, I never miss so much as a vitamin! But I go to one party, like thousands of other girls my age do by the way-"

"You aren't like the other thousands of girls Charlie, you know that."

"I am Dad! I am exactly like every other girl my age! You and Mom are the ones that are different!"