When I asked how school was going, she always said it was fine.
I answered right away. I assumed she had a fever or forgot her gym shoes.
“This is Mrs. Carter, Emily’s homeroom teacher. I wanted to check in because Emily has been absent all week.”
I almost laughed; it was just so out of character for my Emily.
“That can’t be right.” I pushed back from my desk. “She leaves the house every morning. I watch her walk out the door.”
There was a long, heavy beat of silence.
“She leaves the house every morning. I watch her walk out the door.”
“No,” Mrs. Carter said. “She hasn’t been in any of her classes since Monday.”
“Monday… okay. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll talk to her.”
I hung up the phone and sat there. My daughter had been pretending to go to school all week… where had she really been going?
When Emily came home that evening, I was waiting for her.
“How was school, Em?” I asked.
When Emily came home that evening, I was waiting for her.
“The usual,” she replied. “I got a whole ton of math homework, and History is so boring.”
“And what about your friends?”
She stiffened.
“Em?”
Emily rolled her eyes and let out a heavy sigh. “What is this? The Spanish Inquisition?”
She stomped off to her room, and I watched her go. She’d been lying for four days, so I figured a direct confrontation would just make her dig a deeper hole.
I needed a different approach.
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