I picked up immediately. I assumed she had a fever or forgot her gym clothes.
“This is Mrs. Carter, Emily’s homeroom teacher. I wanted to check in because Emily has been absent all week.”
I almost laughed — it was so unlike my Emily.
“That can’t be right.” I pushed my chair back. “She leaves the house every morning. I watch her walk out the door.”
There was a heavy pause.
“No,” Mrs. Carter said. “She hasn’t been in any of her classes since Monday.”
“Monday… okay. Thank you for telling me. I’ll talk to her.”
I ended the call and just sat there. My daughter had been pretending to go to school all week… so where had she actually been?
When Emily came home that afternoon, I was waiting.
“How was school, Em?” I asked casually.
“The usual,” she said. “I got a whole ton of math homework, and History is so boring.”
“And what about your friends?”
She stiffened.
“Em?”
Emily rolled her eyes and groaned. “What is this? The Spanish Inquisition?”
She stomped to her bedroom, and I watched her disappear down the hallway. She’d lied for four days straight, so confronting her head-on would probably just push her deeper.
I needed another tactic.
