#4 Truth and Nothing But (2 page)

While I was waiting, I overheard Mr. Schultz saying, “Yeah, he's got something to hide. This story has got legs. Look over there.”

And when his head nodded toward the left—stage right—I saw my dad with a lady wearing a tight, red dress, fixing his blue tie. She was smiling. What didn't I know?

The girl standing with my father couldn't be older than thirty. She had on the latest styles. Her hair was flawless, and her stilettos were kicking. I had to figure out who this chick was fixing my dad's tie and smiling all in his face. She was way too close for comfort, and the rumors were already circulating.

Had my mom, sisters, and I been that naive? Did my dad have a whole other life going on? Maybe this lady was his baby momma. Oh, I had to quit dreaming up the drama, but I certainly needed to put a stop to all the coziness I was witnessing before my speculations came true. Just before I got over to them, they gave each other a hug, and she was gone.

I couldn't ask who she was because my mom came from a different direction. My dad kissed her on the lips and grasped her hand like all was good with the world. I just didn't appreciate him playing with my mom like that. She deserved way more. She deserved for me to tell her what I read, heard, and saw with my own eyes. But I wasn't an idiot. Some people were hating on my father. He was days away from possibly running this big, powerful city. What if he couldn't even see that this lady he was all chummy with was setting him up for failure? Would this be the beginning of his demise? I needed more details before I formed a final opinion.

I just kept tossing and turning in my bed. I couldn't sleep. My sisters invited me to watch a scary movie with them, but I didn't like movies that made the hair on my back stand straight up. My parents had retired for the evening. The thought of my dad's hands all over my mom after they had been on another woman irritated me to no end. I thought that if I got a little something to eat and listened to some cool music, then maybe that would change my mood.

When I came down the stairs, the first room I passed was my father's office. I stopped because I heard his cell phone going off. Without hesitation, I grabbed it, and it said Miss X.

There were four missed calls and then a text that read, “Where are you? Important!”

It was after ten o'clock. Where my dad was is not her business. Besides, what did she need to talk to him about that was so important? I wanted to scream, shout, and snatch my dad out of my parent's room to get to the bottom of this. But I just didn't want to hurt my mom, so I had to figure out another plan.

I paced back and forth in my dad's office. I wanted to text her back and say, “Don't ever call me again.”

I didn't do it. I realized my dad would be able to see the text, and that would cause a bigger problem. Nothing could be done on cell phones these days that couldn't be traced. He didn't have a lock on his phone, but he would be able to see the time the text was sent and know that he didn't send it. I didn't want to piss him off. I wanted to protect him. I wanted to protect what he was building for us. While my sisters thought it was a big burden to be the first daughters of the city, I was enamored with the idea. As I thought of them, I realized maybe my sisters were the ticket. Maybe they could help me figure out the best way to undo what my father had done.

Without rethinking what I was about to do, I jetted down to the basement. The lights were off, and the TV was blaring. I went over to the tube and turned off the TV.

“We thought you were coming to watch the movie with us! Just 'cause you don't wanna see nothin' scary don't mean you need to be turning it off for the rest of us!” Shelby yelled, using all types of bad grammar.

“Yeah, if you need to turn it down, then turn it down,” Ansli said, as she gave me a mean stare. “Don't turn it off.”

“Did Mom and Daddy tell you to?” Yuri asked.

I shook my head. I prided myself in always telling the truth. Slade was asleep on the lounger, slobbering to the left side. I kicked her.

“Huh, huh! What part I miss? What part I miss?” Slade said, as Shelby motioned for her to wipe her face.

“You didn't miss anything,” Ansli said.

Shelby grunted, “Yeah, dum-dum, she turned the movie off.”

As Slade frowned, I frowned back and said, “I need to talk to you guys. This is important. We've got a real problem.”

“You woke me up, so it better be a problem,” Slade said.

“Y'all, seriously… I'm really, really worried.”

“About what?” Shelby asked, irritated.

“Yeah, just spit it out, Sis. We were in the middle of a really good part,” Ansli said in a sweeter tone, but she was still pushy.

“It's Dad.”

“What's wrong with Dad?” Yuri questioned. I exhaled, happy that someone else was finally concerned.

I uttered, “I've got good reason to believe he's having an affair.”

“Girl, you've got jokes,” Slade said, as she took the pillow from behind her and flung it to my head.

I had good reflexes, so I caught the thing. “Watch it.”

“Well, somebody's got to knock some sense into you,” Shelby replied, cosigning on Slade's action.

“That does sound crazy,” Yuri admitted, surprising me. She had always been on my side.

“Yeah, everybody knows Dad is smitten for Mom,” Ansli added.

Yuri nodded. She got up and came over and gave me a hug. Then the youngest of the Sharp sisters, who was trying to act like my bestie, patted me on the head. Insulted, I moved away. I didn't need them to dismiss this. I needed them to understand the seriousness of all this. Obviously, I needed more proof. So I huffed and puffed, climbed the stairs, and left their tails alone.

“We love you though!” Ansli yelled.

“Yeah, even though you ain't turned back on the TV,” Shelby shouted.

I loved them too, but sometimes they made me so mad. If they wanted proof, I was determined to find it. I didn't want this to be true. However, deep down I knew it was. I had a problem.

Going back to school on a Monday after a long weekend was actually refreshing for me. I was the studious one in the family. Though we all were smart, I loved academia.

I also loved the fall. Finally, it was getting chilly and I was able to bust out my new winter coat my mom had bought me at the end of last year when they were on sale. Though we had some dough, my parents were practical. The coat was cute. I wasn't into fashion like Shelby, but I did love to look adorable. Smart girls could rock it too. While I was walking in the hallway, I had to bump right into Reese Redman, the sophomore class Student Government Association president, who had been giving me grief all year.

“What's up, Sharp? Coming up in here all snazzy with your nose all up in the air?” Reese said as I kept walking. “What, you too cute to speak?”

“If I ain't say nothing, then there's your answer,” I said as I walked right past him.

Gosh he got under my skin. Everything with the dude was always a coarse, joking statement. I so wanted him to leave me alone.

“Look here, we're signing up people today for PTSA. You need to join. I know your daddy sent you to school with loot. Give us a ten-spot.”

The chump started grabbing at my purse. I had to snatch it away, and I wanted to smack his butt with it.

I said, “I don't want to join PTSA! I'm in my own clubs and activities.”

Throwing his hands in the air, he tried a different approach. “Oh wait, so your daddy is about to be mayor, and you're too good to serve in our organization? Even if your status can help us?”

I put my hands on my hips. “Oh, you're admitting that who I am can help your cause? So you're saying you want to use me?”

Winking he said, “Basically!”

“Basically?” I questioned, frustrated he was even standing there saying this to me.

I just rolled my eyes. He stood there. The guy looked so serious, it was eerie, but why would I help him?

Finally feeling my angst, Reese said, “So that's a no? Final answer?” I figured if I just kept walking, he would understand that was my final answer, but then he followed me and got in my face.

“You could at least give me the respect to answer me.”

“And when I give you the answer you don't want, that's not going to be enough for you.”

Gently touching me, he said, “So then give me the answer I want.”

“Urgh, the answer is NO,” I vented, really exasperated with the jerk.

“Then go on with your highfalutin self,” he said loudly to make me look bad. When other people in the hallway laughed, he knew he succeeded.

I wasn't used to people staring my way. Surely not for anything bad either. Reese called me out, and I didn't like that.

It was easy to forget the dum-dum because I was headed to my favorite class. Not even smart-aleck Reese Redmond—who was cute but for sure crazy—could stop me from being excited about journalism. Ms. Spears was a phenomenal teacher, and she loved my writing. Although I was a sophomore, she was positioning me to be the editor in chief of our new
Marks Magazine
. It was really a newspaper, but we wanted to call it something with an
M
to go with
Marks
to make it cooler. She was giving out assignments on who was going to write what for the second issue. I went over to her desk.

“I'm turning in the story on the debate. You are going to love it. The next issue, I want to be on the front page. Can you give me the top story?”

“Reserve the drama for the writing, Sloan. You know I wait to see all of the articles coming in. After I read them, I'll determine what should be on the front page…”

“Ms. Spears, come on now. You know who you want to write for the front page,” I practically pleaded as I nudged her.

“And besides, Sloan, it needs to be a senior.”

I leaned in closer. “Now you know none of the seniors can write like me. You said so yourself. Help me out. Give me the top story, and if you don't like what I write, then you don't have to keep me on the front.”

“Okay, okay. There's a new student organization that's growing quickly.” Ms. Spears handed me a paper.

I looked at the paper, and my eyes widened in shock at the subject matter. “What? Why do I need to write on a social club around here that has a lot of new members?”

“You want the cover story. The student part of the Parent Teacher Student Association is growing by leaps and bounds. We have more students signed up than parents or teachers. They have a meeting this afternoon. Go and see what you can find,” she encouraged as she nudged me away.

At that moment, I got nauseous and felt like I had made a grave mistake. No way did I want to eat my words. I told Reese I wasn't interested. But I couldn't give up the top story. Actually, I was intrigued to see what he was doing to make people sign up. If I thought back, there was a line of people around a table he walked away from before he started walking with me. While his pitch to me was pathetic, maybe there was more than meets the eye. So I accepted the challenge.