car.”
“When?”
“While Daddy was jogging alongside the West Side Highway.”
“Get outta here!” Lex shouted.
“Her car flew off Pier 92.” In horror, Tabitha held up the paper showing Lex the photo of Irma’s Rolls-Royce being pulled out of the Hudson River. “They’re going to kill each other.” She threw the paper in the trashcan next to her desk. “This started when my daddy ordered that test.”
“What test?” Lex asked as she switched her attention to Marie Claire . Lex’s own family life equated to heavy metal groupie Hell, but she escaped into the glossy fashion magazine pictures. Her favorite designer, Donna Karan, lived in their building.
“The parent test.”
“Don’t you mean the paternity test?” Lex popped another candy and continued with a mouthful, “Explains my mom’s call with yours a few days ago. She blabbed on and on about some test results.”
“Right.” Tabitha wished Lex would ease up on the candy. The boys in class already tormented her over her weight. It seemed the more they teased, the more Lex ate. “You better quit with the sugar. Birdie will lock the fridge again.” Lex’s mother believed starvation preserved one’s figure.
“Tabitha Adelaide.” Knocking and a voice came from her bedroom door’s other side.
“One sec.” She extinguished the cigarette in Lex’s grape soda can.
Lex scrambled and threw everything under the bed. In her jersey knit sweats with honey-blonde hair pulled back by a headband, Lex knew the drill. She ran for the window and climbed out onto the fire escape. Sticking her head back in, she whispered, “Call me after dinner. Mom passes out by eight. She mentioned some gibberish about having a serious talk about school tonight.”
“Where’s Eddie singing this week?”
“What’s today’s date?” Lex asked.
“August eleventh.”
“Dad is in Finland. Tomorrow, his band goes off to Norway.” Eddie Easton’s Headbanger Glam Metal Show toured as the longest-running concert to come from one studio album in music history. On his fifth year, he’d come home to see Lex and Birdie—twice. Lex slammed the window shut and, in her bare feet, climbed the fire escape to her own apartment.
“Coming.” Tabitha sprayed air freshener, hit the ceiling fan and lit a vanilla scented candle. After unlocking the door, she jumped on the bed and shouted, “Come in.” She turned to see Mr. Constance, her family’s butler, who’d lived with them for as long as she could remember.
“Your parents request your presence in the study.” He wiped his eyes when he stepped into her room and picked her jeans off the floor.
“Are you crying?” she asked and set her Seventeen magazine down. Mr. Constance was never seen upset, at least not in front of her. “You okay?” Tabitha reached out to give him a hug.
He shook his head to reassure her. “Go see your folks, right this instant.”
“Yes, sir.” Lately, she’d grown to hate any interaction with her family. That month, they’d officially gone cuckoo, similar to Lex’s mother, Birdie, and they didn’t make much sense. Her mother had hit the gin, and in return, her father had hit his wife.
At her parents’ request, she came off the landing on the second floor and walked into the study. Her mother sat on the sofa, unable to make eye contact with her. Weirdo .
“Tabitha Adelaide take a seat.” Her father greeted her with an unrecognizable, icy expression from the room’s far side.
She stepped closer and tried to forget the article she’d read upstairs. “Hey, Daddy. Hi, Mommy.” Tabitha sat opposite her mother on the sofa in a comfy chair. The blue fabric warmed her bare legs. She used to sit in the same place as a little girl when her father rehearsed his lectures. “You wanted to see me?”
“Honey, your father has decided—”
“ We!!! We decided,” he corrected her mother.
“Your father and I think it would be best if you…attend boarding school this fall
“When?”
“While Daddy was jogging alongside the West Side Highway.”
“Get outta here!” Lex shouted.
“Her car flew off Pier 92.” In horror, Tabitha held up the paper showing Lex the photo of Irma’s Rolls-Royce being pulled out of the Hudson River. “They’re going to kill each other.” She threw the paper in the trashcan next to her desk. “This started when my daddy ordered that test.”
“What test?” Lex asked as she switched her attention to Marie Claire . Lex’s own family life equated to heavy metal groupie Hell, but she escaped into the glossy fashion magazine pictures. Her favorite designer, Donna Karan, lived in their building.
“The parent test.”
“Don’t you mean the paternity test?” Lex popped another candy and continued with a mouthful, “Explains my mom’s call with yours a few days ago. She blabbed on and on about some test results.”
“Right.” Tabitha wished Lex would ease up on the candy. The boys in class already tormented her over her weight. It seemed the more they teased, the more Lex ate. “You better quit with the sugar. Birdie will lock the fridge again.” Lex’s mother believed starvation preserved one’s figure.
“Tabitha Adelaide.” Knocking and a voice came from her bedroom door’s other side.
“One sec.” She extinguished the cigarette in Lex’s grape soda can.
Lex scrambled and threw everything under the bed. In her jersey knit sweats with honey-blonde hair pulled back by a headband, Lex knew the drill. She ran for the window and climbed out onto the fire escape. Sticking her head back in, she whispered, “Call me after dinner. Mom passes out by eight. She mentioned some gibberish about having a serious talk about school tonight.”
“Where’s Eddie singing this week?”
“What’s today’s date?” Lex asked.
“August eleventh.”
“Dad is in Finland. Tomorrow, his band goes off to Norway.” Eddie Easton’s Headbanger Glam Metal Show toured as the longest-running concert to come from one studio album in music history. On his fifth year, he’d come home to see Lex and Birdie—twice. Lex slammed the window shut and, in her bare feet, climbed the fire escape to her own apartment.
“Coming.” Tabitha sprayed air freshener, hit the ceiling fan and lit a vanilla scented candle. After unlocking the door, she jumped on the bed and shouted, “Come in.” She turned to see Mr. Constance, her family’s butler, who’d lived with them for as long as she could remember.
“Your parents request your presence in the study.” He wiped his eyes when he stepped into her room and picked her jeans off the floor.
“Are you crying?” she asked and set her Seventeen magazine down. Mr. Constance was never seen upset, at least not in front of her. “You okay?” Tabitha reached out to give him a hug.
He shook his head to reassure her. “Go see your folks, right this instant.”
“Yes, sir.” Lately, she’d grown to hate any interaction with her family. That month, they’d officially gone cuckoo, similar to Lex’s mother, Birdie, and they didn’t make much sense. Her mother had hit the gin, and in return, her father had hit his wife.
At her parents’ request, she came off the landing on the second floor and walked into the study. Her mother sat on the sofa, unable to make eye contact with her. Weirdo .
“Tabitha Adelaide take a seat.” Her father greeted her with an unrecognizable, icy expression from the room’s far side.
She stepped closer and tried to forget the article she’d read upstairs. “Hey, Daddy. Hi, Mommy.” Tabitha sat opposite her mother on the sofa in a comfy chair. The blue fabric warmed her bare legs. She used to sit in the same place as a little girl when her father rehearsed his lectures. “You wanted to see me?”
“Honey, your father has decided—”
“ We!!! We decided,” he corrected her mother.
“Your father and I think it would be best if you…attend boarding school this fall
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