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“A random kid? You ran off for an entire night, lied to us, for a random kid?” my dad questions, and suddenly I feel like I’m on the stand in his courtroom.

“It was stupid. We won’t do it again,” I huff. “It’s just… exams are coming up and we were both stressed and wanted to have fun.”

“Mabilia, you’re stressed about school?” My uncle turns to my cousin.

“A little,” she replies, going along with my lie.

“Homeschool can be arranged,” he reminds her.

“It’s not that bad, Papa. We just wanted to have fun,” Mabilia says.

“You know what else is fun? Being able to go to bed knowing where your children are,” Zio Izzy hisses.

“Okay, I think we all need to take a breath. The main thing is that the girls are safe. They’re home and nothing happened,” my mom, ever the voice of reason, tells everyone.

“Nothing happened, right?” Zio Mikhail asks, looking at me and then over to Mabilia.

“I might have stabbed a guy in the balls.” I lift a shoulder.

My dad’s lips tip up before he forces them to drop again. “What do you mean you may have stabbed a guy in the balls?”

“He said something crude to me, so I stabbed his balls,” I explain. “He’s not dead. He’ll be fine.”

“Who is he?” Papa asks.

“I don’t know. I didn’t stick around to ask his name.”

“Okay, Mabilia, we’re leaving. We will talk about this at home,” Zia Izzy says.

Once Mabilia and her parents are out the front door, my dad turns to me. “Really, Aurora, the balls?” He shakes his head.

“You didn’t hear what he said he wanted to do to me, Papa.”

“If I did, he’d be dead,” my dad grunts. “I swear to God I’ve aged fifty years over night.”

“And somehow you don’t look a day over thirty.” I give him my most innocent smile.

“Cute, but it’s not going to work this time. I’m taking your credit cards and car.”

“How will I get to school?” I ask him. “And what if I’m hungry or thirsty? How will I buy food?”

“Fucking hell.” My dad turns to my mom. “Savvy?”

“I think our daughter knows what she did was wrong and she’s not going to do it again,” she tells him.

“I won’t,” I agree, even though I probably will.

“No, you won’t, because I’m going to lock you away and throw away the fucking key!” my dad yells.

“Okay, Matteo, calm down. Aurora, go upstairs,” Mom intervenes. I give her a grateful look. My dad is overreacting. It was a party and I didn’t even kill anyone.

After showering and changing into a pair of tights and an oversized shirt, I plop down on my bed and pick up my phone. There’s a missed message from Connor.

Charming:

You still alive?

Me: