A Lie for a Lie

Sixteen

Collette, smart girl that she is, can sense that something has changed in the air. She doesn’t comment on the fact that Waylen and I pick her up together, in his car. She doesn’t even comment that we’re late, because I made Waylen stash away the Honda in a parking lot until it can be returned.

I’m the first one to speak when I glance at her in the mirror and ask where she got the glittery purple lip gloss she’s wearing.

“Finnegan,” she says matter-of-factly. “We wanted to do makeovers at lunch, but her ColourPop palette got taken by the cafeteria monitor. It was so dumb. But she had lip gloss in her other purse.”