ready.â
âI donât know,â Cindy says. âWhat if heâs on a business call?â
âThen he just wonât answer,â I say.
I push the call button and listen as the phone rings. But then I catch sight of my dad walking into the store.
He doesnât look happy. Probably heâs dealing with some kind of work emergency. Good. Maybe he wonât be in the mood to ask a ton of questions and heâll just let me get the TV I already picked out.
Robbie switches through the channels on another TV before settling on a boxing match. He has morphed from pretending to do his job to pretty much not doing it. And if he gets testy with my dad, weâre never going to get out of here.
âOh, thereâs your father,â Cindy says, deciding to state the obvious. She fluffs up her hair, like my dad didnât just see her a few minutes ago. Her hair looks exactly the same. In fact, her hair always looks exactly the same. She insists on wearing it in this totally crazy beehive, with poufy bangs.
Maybe I should offer to take her to the salon for a haircut. But obviously not the one Micahâs mom owns. Actually, I donât even think they do haircuts there. Iâm not sure what they do besides manicures.
âHey,â I say once my dadâs within earshot. âIâm goingto get this one, okay? Itâs supposed to be a very good deal.â I point to the little card thatâs perched near the television, which shows that the TV has a user rating of four and a half out of five stars on the Best Buy website.
He narrows his eyes at me, and I know what heâs going to say. Heâs going to say that reviews on websites are usually bought and paid for by the companies that own the product, and that you have to look at a third-party source, like Consumer Reports . But really, who has time for that?
I sigh and resign myself to being in this store for a long time.
âYou should just let your dad pick out the one he wants you to have, and then you can approve it,â Lily offers. âThatâs what I always do whenever my parents are going to buy me something.â
Wow. Thatâs actually a really good idea. Turns out Lily is nicer and smarter than her sister. Although Madisonâs not really dumb. Which is why itâs totally ridiculous that she pretends to need help on her homework just so she can talk to Brandon. Itâs so transparent. Plus think about what itâs doing for feminism. Pretending to be stupid so that a boy can help you? She should be a cautionary tale.
âSo,â I say. âWe can get this one, or you can just pick outââ
âKendall,â my dad says, his voice stern. âWhere were you this weekend?â
âThis weekend?â I frown. It takes me a second to realize what heâs talking about, and when I do, my stomach twists into a knot. âI told you,â I say, getting really busy looking at another TV. âI was at Ellieâs house on Friday night.â
Itâs a lie, of course. I wasnât at Ellieâs house. I was at Micahâs house. And then at the bowling alley. But obviously I couldnât tell my dad that. My dad was already freaked out that I have (had) a boyfriend. There was no way he was going to be cool with me hanging out with some other guy heâd never even met. So I told him I was at Ellieâs.
âMaybe I should get a Blu-ray player too,â I say in an effort to distract. Everyone knows Blu-ray players are a waste, since everythingâs online now anyway. Who wants to have to buy a bunch of discs? âI donât care how much they cost. I really want one!â I stamp my foot, like maybe Iâm about to start having a tantrum. A fake one, of course.
âKendall,â my dad says. âYou were not at Ellieâs house this weekend.â
âYes, I was,â I say. The knot in my stomach tightens. Who was that on the phone?