“I don’t know.” I shake my head. “Aisling … the girl who accused me of cheating. She’s the one who cheated off of me, and now she’s lying because she obviously has something against me.”
Ammu and Abbu share a brief glance.
“I know things have been weird because of your sister,” Ammu says slowly. I guess she’s playing good cop. “But no university is going to accept you if they think you’ve been cheating. Forget about Head Girl.”
“I haven’t been cheating, Ammu,” I insist. “I wouldn’t do that. Have I ever given you reason to believe I would? I’ve been going to that school for years! I’ve never come home with less than an A because I work my ass off. You’ve seen me study hard day and night. Why would you believe the word of someone you don’t even know over me?”
Ammu shakes her head. “Okay … so you say you didn’t cheat …”
I have to stop myself from groaning.
“Then … we have to find a way to prove that.”
“If we can do it quickly, you could still become Head Girl,” Abbu says. “And we’ll have to keep this whole thing under wraps. No word of it to anyone until we can clear everything up.”
I heave a sigh and stare out the window, at the buildings passing by. “Ammu, Abbu … did Nik invite you to her engagement party?”
They share another glance between them. “She did. She called us a while ago,” Ammu says. “The wedding, too. It’s over the summer. July.”
“That’s so soon.” I turn to them. “Where is it? In London?”
“Yes, I think so,” Ammu says.
“We’re going, right?” Ammu and Abbu don’t say anything. Abbu keeps driving, staring at the road ahead, and Ammu clenches her fingers on her lap, staring out the window.
“I want to go,” I try again. Louder. “She’s my only sister. She’s your oldest daughter.”
“We’re not going.” Abbu’s voice suggests that it’s already a done deal. That we’re not discussing this any further.
“Are you really going to cut her off because she’s dropping out of university?” I ask. “Because she’s not doing what you want her to do?”
“We’re not cutting her off,” Ammu says. “We just don’t support what she’s doing and we have to show her that, so that she can go back to the right path.”
“So … if I told you that I actually have been cheating all this time, you would cut me off too?” I ask. “Because I’m not going down the right path?”
“No, of course not,” Ammu says immediately. She turns to me with pleading eyes. “Can we just … talk about this later? We have to figure out a solution to your problem here.”
I cross my arms and sit back in my seat, because I know the answer. If we can’t find a solution to my problem, maybe I won’t be a part of this family either.
chapter thirty-four
hani
Can I come over?
The text from Ishu has been sitting on my phone for a couple of hours now, but I only see it when I take my phone out of my locker at the end of the day.
Now? I type back, and the three dots indicating that she’s typing show up immediately. Like she’s been waiting for me to text her back.
Yes, comes her reply.
I had made plans with Dee and Aisling but considering Ishu left school after her interview, without a word, I assume that this is important. And I’m not going to leave her hanging.
I’ll be home in twenty, I quickly text Ishu, before stuffing the necessary books into my bag and turning to Aisling and Dee.
“Hey … something came up. I have to go home.”
“Everything okay?” Dee asks, as Aisling folds her arms over her chest.
“Is this about your girlfriend?” she surprises me by asking.
“What?”
“Look …” Aisling takes a deep breath and nervously tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “I didn’t want to be like … weird about it or whatever, but … I kind of reported her to Principal Gallagher. Ishita.”
“You reported her? For what?” I suddenly feel like I’ve entered into a parallel universe. This whole conversation feels surreal. The way Aisling is acting—closed off and nervous—feels like she’s a whole different person altogether.
“Well. She kind of cheated off me in our biology class, so … I don’t know.” Aisling shrugs. “I had to say something, didn’t I? It’s not exactly fair. Who knows who else she’s cheating off of? It’s probably how she’s top of the class. I mean, it wouldn’t exactly be difficult for her. She can probably get most answers off of her sister—”