Page 40 of Mistaken Prejudice

Dad put down his glass and leaned back in his chair, one leg crossing the other. “And he’s coming here today?”

“Yes.” I tried to be as patient as possible, especially with Shay-Lee sitting right there, his eyes watching me like a hawk.

“So, isn’t it convenient that your father had to go on the yacht just today?” He raised a knowing eyebrow.

“Oh, really?” I didn’t even fool myself with how high my voice sounded. After telling Papa about Andrei, we came up with a plan. Since Saturdays were the day Dad spent at home, Papa suggested he’d keep him busy outside the house all day. I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.

“So I’ll take it that I’m unwanted here?”

“Only for one afternoon.” I flashed him a smile that I knew would do the trick.

“All right.” He chuckled, and I reached over and grabbed his hand.

“If it will make you feel any better, Andrei will help me with my math.” Dad looked surprised, but Shay-Lee’s chuckle interfered with the moment.

“What’s so funny?” Dad asked, his brows knitted together.

“Oh, it’s nothing, Daniel. I’m just surprised that kid even knows math. Let alone teaches it.”

I’ll kill him.

Dad’s body posture changed as he leaned closer toward Shay-Lee, ready to find out what more he had to say. Never being the modest type, Shay-Lee continued to elaborate on the subject. “I assume Miles didn’t mention that Andrei is one of Bay High’s special cases. You know, the charity cases the school had kindly taken upon itself this year?”

“He’s not a charity case.” I pointed out, my voice rougher than I’d planned.

“Oh, of course he isn’t. But he does come with a background, or should I say a record? Isn’t that what you guys call it?” He took a sip from his drink and pretended to be the good kid he wasn’t.

Dad quickly snapped his eyes to me, his mouth set in a hard line, and I silently cursed Shay-Lee before I gave Dad a fake smile. “I can explain.”

“You better.” His right hand started to play with his one-hundred-thousand-dollar watch, an act that told me my plans were screwed.

“What’s going on?” Papa came to stand behind Dad, his eyes bouncing between us as he tried to understand the change of atmosphere in the room.

“Miles here was just about to explain his interesting pick of a date.”

“Oh!” Papa clapped his hands. “Andrei! Wonderful Andrei!”

I watched as the smile slowly washed away from his face as soon as Dad spoke.

“Not so wonderful as it seems. Shay-Lee here just told me Andrei has a criminal record.”

“Oh?” Papa turned to look at Shay-Lee, who did his best to look worried.

“It’s true, Elliot. From what I heard, he’d been to juvenile detention after almost killing someone with a baseball bat.”

How the hell does he know that? But I had much bigger things to worry about considering how my parents looked at me.

“It’s nothing like that.” I glared at Shay-Lee before looking back at them. “It was self-defense. Okay?”

Their silence told me I needed to go on. “Not that it’s any of my right to tell his story, but he defended himself.” He never told me what exactly went on and who was the person who attacked him, or why he did it, but I trusted him.

“It doesn’t matter.” Dad’s voice was ice-cold and unnecessarily stubborn. “Such acts of violence in youth are alarming.”

“But it does!” I stood up. “It does matter,” I declared. “Your job is to make guilty people look not guilty, and you tell me that Andrei defending himself as a kid was not justified? That’s hypocrisy.”

“They’re trying to protect you, Miles.” Shay-Lee’s self-satisfaction from the situation did not escape me. He hated Andrei. He made it very clear. But his opinion, or my dad’s for that matter, weren’t relevant.

“Shut up, Shay-Lee.”