Chapter Seven

The next morning, Tina woke up a bit later than usual because she had to stay up and finish homework.

“Why you were home so late?” Sam was absolutely not pleased as he asked his daughter. He squinted and saw some suspicious red cloud so he leant in a sniffed, getting some strange perfume and alcohol from the girl’s shirt. And suddenly, his frown spread up into a grin. “You were with Porter, weren’t you? I knew it! I knew you’d be such a good girl.”

Tina hated it that her father now knew. It was supposed to be her secret, her secret adoration in Bette, her secret falling for Bette. “Dad! We were out with some friends.” She lied.

“Never-the-less, Tina, you’re making progress, my girl. Now I’m another step to get back with that old biatch. But you keep it steady, when time’s right, I’ll tell you what to do next.” Sam stroked his imaginary beard with a wicked smile.

The blonde girl frowned uncomfortably. She was worried. Bette had been such a sweet, sweet girl, who probably seemed to be tough and arrogant, but was sure very kind. There was no way she should let her father do any harm to her. “You’re not… Bette’s not gonna get caught in your plan right? Is she gonna get hurt because of what we are doing?”

Sam regarded his daughter with inspection for a while. “Why you’re asking this? Tina, you’re not really having feelings for her, are you?”

Tina felt a hand gripping her heart as her father asked. The more time she got to spend with Bette, the less she wanted to follow their “script”, and when she figured that she was trapping, it was already too late.

Yet Sam contemplated the situation that lay before him. His daughter was clearly growing fund of the Porter kid. On the bright side, it would fool everybody when the feelings were real, wouldn’t it? After all, what kind of love could two kids have between them? So the wicked grin again appeared on the old face. “No, no, absolutely not! What does she know anyway? You just look on how I’m gonna handle the old Porter. Now let’s go to school.” He gestured her to pack her bag. And before they set their feet out the old rusty apartment door, Sam hugged Tina’s thin little shoulders. “I wish I had known you earlier, kid. Dad’s so very proud of you. I promise to make it up to the time after all of this is settled.”