Red Herring ✔️

33. Carrier Pigeon, Carry Me Away

"How?" Felecia needed to state irrefutable evidence or Mazie would lie through her teeth about this for the sake of conserving the real issue.

"Because you came home with the neighbor boy, Christian. I saw you get out of his truck." From her clenched teeth to her tightened fists, Mazie guessed that Felecia was pretty angry. She didn't know why. Usually, Fe wasn't easily angered especially if Mazie was up to typical teenage girl things.

"So you're mad about this because...?" Mazie asked, leaving the end of the question open, expecting Fe to fill in the blanks to create a better level of understanding between the two of them.

Fe whacked her with the spatula and Chandler started screaming. Mazie startled, rubbing her hand soothingly up and down her arm. "Because you lied!"

"I did not lie!" Mazie whisper-yelled.

Whipping the spatula around, Fe advanced on Mazie as if she might wield it as a weapon again. "Lying by omission is the same thing as lying!"

"This is not a court of law!" Mazie defended, holding back her morning spunk which verged on the edge of total insanity due to sleep deprivation and the fact she couldn't keep food down because her stomach constantly tossed and turned with nervous energy because boys kissed her and didn't call her. Mostly, she was upset that she even cared that he didn't call or text her. She wasn't that type of girl.

"It might as well be! You live with a lawyer!"

"The pancakes are burning!"

Both of them huffing with fury and indignation, they took deep breaths to calm down before Fe pivoted to the stove and slapped the burnt pancakes on a plate. Sighing heavily from somewhere deep inside her chest where all her disappointment lie dormant, Fe tossed the spatula on the counter and plopped her hands on her hips. An inkling of remorse inched its way into Mazie's heart. She battled with safeguarding her secrets and wishing to please Fe with the truth.

She didn't want to lie. She didn't want to lie about anything. But people were missing - probably dying - while girls shot up drugs in the school bathroom because they were raped. The secrets piled so high that Mazie didn't even know how to sort through the truth. The sole reason she got roped into this was because her own family life was a mess - divorced parents, slutty dad, runaway mom. As if she somehow had something in common with Mary Ann McCormick and her jacked up situation. And a boy who sold drugs. Who kissed her at the Blue Bird Cafe.

Pouring small portions of pancake batter onto the skillet to finish off the task at hand, Fe visibly cooled down, shaking the tension out of her shoulders. "I'm...I'm not this person, Maze. I'm not your mom. We do have house rules and you are expected to abide by them as we would expect our own children to. But I'm not your parent. I'm not going to yell at you and punish you. I won't ground you." Lowering the temperature on the skillet, her aunt faced Mazie and pulled her in close while the kids screamed in the background. Fe lovingly placed her hand in the small of Mazie's back. "In exchange for this kind of set up, I only expect honesty from you. I might advise you not to do certain things but I can't stop you. You're almost eighteen. If you had intentions of doing a school prank - as long as it didn't break any laws other than the obvious - I would have preferred you told me. I wouldn't have said that you couldn't go."

Guilty ate her alive from the inside out. Why did Fe have to be such a good reasonable person? How could she argue with logic? Even Mazie understood and agreed with Fe's rationale. "I'm sorry," she apologized quietly. "In my defense, it wasn't planned. I literally got invited in the middle of the night."

Fe studied her humorlessly, a deadpan expression mimicking Mazie's own. "I forgive you. But that brings me to my next point. You are allowed to have boyfriends and go on dates and whatever the heck else you young people do these days. But I'd like a heads up please." She made pointed eye contact with her. "I care very much about your safety. If you're going to be running off with that boy, please tell me. Text me. Call me. Write a note. Send a carrier pigeon. I don't care. Just fill me in."