One Lie at a Time

PROBLEM SOLVED

"Uh, I need to know if Mother would be willing to take Luna. Not to pupsit for but to just keep her."

There was a long pause. Anthony asked, "Did he hurt her?"

"No, no, Dad didn't hurt her. It's just...I don't think it's safe in the house for her anymore. She's small and could easily get hurt accidentally. I just don't want to risk it, that's all."

"Did he hurt you?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but no sound came. After a few tense seconds, I whispered, "Yeah. Yeah, Dad hurt me."

I could hear Anthony sigh. "Why won't you just come stay with us? I don't want you there with Dad."

"He may be a monster, but he's still my dad. I can't just leave him alone."

"Yes. Yes, you can, Lillian! He's an alcoholic and it isn't safe for you there. I don't care what you say, you can't stay there."

Just hearing him like this made my headache grow. I groaned softly and Anthony asked, "Lily, what's wrong? You don't sound right."

"Nothing, I just hit my head this morning."

"Lie again! Dad hit you this morning didn't he?!"

"Yes, he did, but it's nothing serious, just-"

I felt something warm above my lip. I moved my hand away from my head and gingerly touched the skin under my nose. When I pulled my hand back, I had blood on my index and middle finger.

"Crap," I muttered. Did Dad hit me that hard?  Why was it just now starting to take effect?  So many questions.

"What is it?!"

"Nothing. Can Mom take Luna or not?"

Anthony sighed again and said, "Yes, we can take her."

I looked up to see Tyler walking down the hallway with one of his friends, a goofy smile plastered on his face.  When he saw me, his grin faltered.  I knew the kid with him.  That was Tyler's best friend since birth, Cody.  They were both equally as popular, equally as nice, equally as athletic, equally as hot.  They were basically twins.  

"Look, Anthony, I have to get back to class.  I'll talk to you later."

"Lily, wait, you can't hang up on me, we need to talk about Dad-"

I interrupted again, "Anthony, drop it.  I already told you a million times, he's my dad."

"He's mine, too, but I still managed to get away from him!"  Anthony yelled into the speaker.

For a moment I forgot where I was because I shouted into my speaker, "He hit you once.  One time, Anthony.  That was enough for you to go crawling to Mom and that home wrecker.  I suffered through his craziness because I had the common sense not to leave my father who is only the way he is because Mother cheated on him.  I'm sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, Anthony, but even though our dad is a sick monster, he's a human being who's just lost."

Raising my voice made my headache start throbbing even more.  I lifted my head up to try to do something to stop the bleeding.

"I'll talk to you later,"  I muttered and hung up the phone.

I turned around to see seven out of the eight people in the classroom standing in the doorway, staring at me with wide eyes.  

"Y'all listened to me, didn't you?  I could sue you for that."

"Lily," Coach C called to me, shooing all of my classmates back into the classroom angrily, "I know you think you're doing the right thing by staying there, but it's a toxic environment.  You could get hurt."