They Rejected My Daughter novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: October

On Monday morning the Cedar Hill gate was blocked by a television van and about forty parents.

I parked down the block and walked Ruby in.

She wore her good sweater and her math club pins, and she did not hold my hand.

A reporter in a red coat met us on the sidewalk with a microphone and a cameraman a step behind.

"Ruby? Is it true you did another student's homework?"

"Yes," Ruby said.

The reporter blinked.

"I'd like to say it myself, if that's okay," Ruby said. "Can you point the camera at me and not at my mom?"

The cameraman looked at the reporter, and the reporter nodded.

Ruby stood on the sidewalk with her backpack on both shoulders.

She spoke to the lens in the voice she used to read aloud in class.

"In October a girl in my grade was failing math and crying about it. I said I'd help. Then I did her problem sets for a month, in different handwriting, and let her turn them in."

Forty parents were listening, and no one made a sound.

"It was cheating. I knew it when I did it, and I told myself it was only homework. I stopped before Thanksgiving. That's not an excuse, it's just when I stopped."

"Did your mother know?" the reporter asked.

"Not at the time."

"I knew by December," I said, from behind her shoulder. "I told her it wasn't fine, and it wasn't. She knew that already."

Ruby glanced back at me, and then turned to the camera again.

← Chapter 18 · All chapters · Chapter 20 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend