They Rejected My Daughter novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: The Kitchen Table

It was past eleven when all four of us sat down at the kitchen table.

Chloe's father had taken the chair by the window, and he kept turning his phone over in his hands.

Chloe had not let go of hers since the parking lot.

"Tell me what October means," he said.

Chloe looked at Ruby.

"You don't have to," Ruby said.

"I do." Chloe pressed her palms flat on the table. "Dad, in October I was failing. I cried about it, and Ruby said she'd help me."

"That's good of her."

"She helped me for a day. Then I said I couldn't do any of it, and she did my problem sets for me. For a month. All of them."

Her father was quiet.

"I took pictures of every sheet and uploaded them to the math teacher's online grade book," Chloe said. "The tablet saves everything to the family cloud. Mom has the password."

"So she has the pictures," I said.

"She has thirty days of Ruby's math in a folder with my name on it."

Ruby had her chin up and her hands tucked under her knees.

She looked small and very determined.

"I'll say it first," she said. "Before she can."

"Ruby," I said.

"If I stand up and say it, she can't pull it out like a secret. It's only a thing I did."

"It's a thing I asked you to do," Chloe said.

"I said yes."

"I begged."

"You were scared."

"You're both thirteen," Chloe's father said, rubbing his face. "Lord. Grown women have done worse on purpose this week."

He looked at me.

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