Page 128 of How To Not Need You
Easy.
Leo starts laughing. I tell him to stop because somebody will hear us. That makes me laugh too. Then a shadow falls over my shoes.
Uh-oh. Mrs Chen.
“What are you two up to?”
“Nothing,” I say.
“We’re fixing her dad,” Leo says.
I kick his shoe.
“Ow!”
Mrs Chen looks at me. Then Leo. Then me again.
“What exactly is wrong with your dad?”
“He has grown-up problems.”
Her eyebrows go up. “Grown-up problems?”
“Yes.”
“Is your dad okay, Tilly?”
“He's fine. He's just stupid.”
“Tilly.”
“Sorry.”
Leo snorts. I kick his shoe again.
“Stop kicking Leo.”
“Sorry.”
The bell rings. Yes. Everybody starts running towards the classroom.
Mrs Chen points at us. “Inside, you two.”
We jump off the swings. Leo leans closer while we walk.
“Operation Verandah Step.”
I grin. “Operation Verandah Step.”
Mrs Chen looks back at us. We stop grinning.
Nothing to see here.
I have a dad to fix.
Dad has no idea about Operation Verandah Step.
Good. That means it’s working. The problem is his phone. He keeps taking it everywhere. When we get home, he puts it on the kitchen bench. I wait. He picks it up again.
