Chapter 411
Mirabella cast sympathetic glance toward Zach, and she couldn’t help but feel bad for the guy. The poor guy. Not only was he girlfriend–less, but he was also on the receiving end of his parents‘ disapproval.
Zach caught his sister’s eye and Instantly, his expression darkened even more. “What’s with that look, sis? You think this is funny?” he grumbled.
Caught in the crossfire, Mirabella silently withdrew her gaze and said obediently, “Mom and Dad are right. If you don’t date, you’ll never find someone, Zach.”
That was the third time Zach felt like he’d been attacked.
“See, even your sister agrees with us. So it’s settled–you’re going on that blind date on Saturday. If you don’t show, don’t bother coming home,” Delilah declared with finality.
Zach just stood there, now absolutely convinced that his parents and sister simply wanted to live as a trio, concocting this blind date excuse to kick him to the curb.
They were a trio of devils.
Mirabella polished off her last bite of a breakfast sandwich, wiped her fingers clean with a napkin, then stood up and patted Zach on the shoulder. “Hang in there, Zach. Find yourself a girl, will ya?”
Enough was enough!
In high spirits, Mirabella grabbed her backpack and soon followed Shawn out the door.
Halfway to school, it dawned on her that she’d left her phone on the charger. There was no time to go back, so she gave Shawn a heads up, just in case he tried calling her later and couldn’t get through.
Halfway through French class that morning, the vice principal Anthony came in and called Mirabella to the office.
“Mirabella, you had an incident yesterday and hit into an old man. Could you go over the details with me one more time?” the vice principal asked in a gentle tone.
When Anthony had summoned her, Mirabella had guessed it was about that con artist from yesterday. She patiently explained, yet again, that she was the victim of a scam, not the perpetrator of a hit–and–run.
Anthony’s face creased with worry after hearing her out. “Mirabella, it’s not that I don’t believe you, but the old man has called the school again. He’s threatening to make a fuss with the school board if he doesn’t get his way.”
Mirabella had recently brought some glory to the school. This sort of scandal could
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tarnish her reputation. A scam like this was tricky–it wasn’t serious enough to cause a stir, but neither was it light enough to ignore. Public opinion was divided, and moral grandstanding could do untold harm.
“We’ve got no surveillance footage of that spot, so this is a bit of a pickle,” Anthony said, scratching his thinning hairline.
Taking a deep breath to calm her rising frustration, Mirabella asked, “Did he say anything else?”
“He’s been complaining about not being able to reach you, asking whether you plan on shirking responsibility,” Anthony summarized the old man’s words for her.
Mirabella listened, her expression unreadable, and simply stated, “I forgot my phone at home today.
So that explained why her phone had died overnight–it must have been bombarded by calls.
Rubbing her temples, Mirabella felt a headache coming on. Just as she had
suspected–aside from her grandmother Catherine, other elderly people seemed to bring nothing but trouble.
Anthony, looking at Mirabella, then suggested, “How about this? I’ll go with you to the hospital right now, and we can try to clear things up.”
