Heavenstone 01 - The Heavenstone Secrets

your own needs for now, and behave yourself in school,” she added, as though she were decades older than I was, not just two years. I started to say something to defend myself. I always behaved in school, and except for the one time I was reprimanded for talking too much to Darlene Gavin, I never was sent to the dean’s office or assigned detention.
    But the moment I opened my mouth, Cassie shot daggers from her eyes, and I snapped my mouth shut and went to squeeze my oranges. I watched how perfectly she continued to arrange Daddy’s breakfast, with the eggs placed at twelve o’clock, the juice at three, and the coffee at nine. The plate of cream cheese was at six. It looked good enough to be a picture in a food magazine. She smiled at me and then took it out to him. I hurried to join him with my juice and cereal.
    When he smiled and said, “Good morning,” to me, I looked hard for some subtle message, but I didn’t see anything like the suggestions of unhappiness with Mother that Cassie had described to me the night before.
    “Mother’s not feeling well?” I asked.
    “Oh, just some typical pregnant woman stuff,” he replied, not sounding at all concerned, and surely nowhere nearly as concerned as Cassie was. “I see here in the paper that your school’s basketball team is contending for first place.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “First time in nearly ten years. You and Cassie should go to the next game on Friday night, a homegame. It’s the big one, according to this article. It should be exciting. I was on my school’s basketball team, you know. We went to the finals when I was a senior.”
    “I want to go,” I said quickly.
    Kent had asked me if I was going. He wanted to sit with me. I was afraid that if Cassie did go with me, however, she wouldn’t let me sit with him.
    “I’m not interested in the game,” Cassie said, coming in quickly. “It’s noisy and crowded and a waste of time.”
    Daddy shrugged and smiled at me. “Well, I guess not everyone’s into sports.”
    “I’d like to go,” I said.
    “And how do you intend to go, Semantha? I’m not driving you,” Cassie said, “and Daddy’s certainly too busy to—”
    “No, that’s fine. I’ll take her and pick her up,” he offered.
    Her face reddened. “You don’t have to do that, Daddy,” she said. “If she’s so intent on going, I’ll take her.”
    He continued to eat his breakfast. “Whatever you girls decide,” he said. “What a beautiful breakfast! These eggs are perfect, Cassie. Just like your mother makes them.”
    Her hard, angry look softened into a smile.
    Later, before I went out to walk to the corner to meet the school bus, Cassie popped out at me from the living room, where she was dusting and polishing furniture. She grabbed my arm and tugged me closer to her. Daddy had already left for work.

    “How could you do that to Daddy at breakfast?” she asked.
    “Do what?”
    “Be so selfish. With all that’s happening with Mother, how could you think only of yourself?”
    “What did I do?”
    “What did you do? Trying to get Daddy to take you to that stupid basketball game? He has no time to do those things now. What if Mother isn’t any better by Friday?”
    “He didn’t think she was so sick, Cassie. I asked him, and—”
    “I told you,” she said, shaking my arm. “He would never tell you how worried he is. He’ll always try to protect you from bad or sad things.”
    “He’s the one who asked me about the game,” I said, rubbing my arm where she had grabbed it. I was sure I had a black-and-blue mark, but if I mentioned it, she would only tell me that was proof I was so fragile. “He was urging me to go, urging us both to go.”
    “He was just being … nice. Being Daddy,” she said. “And with all that’s going on here, it’s a wonder he can do that. He’s so strong. Now you can see why he’s so successful in business, and you can certainly see the differences between him and Uncle Perry, can’t you?”
    “Well, what should I do?” I asked.
    “Nothing. It’s too late to do anything. It doesn’t matter. I’ll take you, but I’m not staying there. If you can’t arrange for a ride home, I’ll have to go back to get you. Next time, think about others before you speak,” she said, and returned to the living room.

    “What about Mother? Did you bring her breakfast? Is she awake?” I called after her.
    “Just go to school, Semantha,” she replied from inside the living room. “If