I took a deep breath and pushed out through the door of my dorm, it was the day I’d been dreading for weeks, at least since I’d had time to think about life after the initial GAT house incident. My parents were in town, actually they were waiting for me in the quad. I checked my phone, it was 10:15 in the morning, I had seventy-five missed messages from the GAT chat, and one missed message from Sakiya. She really liked checking up on me.

Emerging into the brisk morning air, I took a left and made my way toward the stairs, slightly jealous of the working elevator in the dorm building just a few hundred yards from mine. Still, I needed to be thankful for what I had, for what I DID have anyway. I had to be Todd today, for my parents. I couldn’t slip up. Of course the notion that I WOULD slip up was a bit stupid, after all, there was no reason for them to suspect anything, right? Right.

The trip the ground floor was shorter than I remembered; probably because I was dreading actually seeing them. It would be weird, seeing them face to face and pretending that everything was normal; they didn’t even know how close I’d come to stepping into traffic the other day. God this was going to hurt but I had to push on, they needed to see me, they needed to know I was okay, even if I was far from okay. As I walked down the sidewalk, crossing a parking lot toward the commons, I felt my phone buzz. A text from Aleah to the entire GAT house: Everyone get to the house ASAP – YOU TOO AUDREY. I really didn’t have time for that today. I could see them across the quad, sitting there at one of the stone picnic tables.

“Hey guys,” I said as I approached, they immediately rose from the table, my mom hugged me, my dad offered a firm handshake.

“We’ve missed you sweetie,” My mom said, with a look of concern painting her face. “You still don’t call!”

“Well,” I forced a laugh. “You could always call me, like I said.”

“It’s true,” My father confirmed. “We haven’t done our part there, but we also aren’t staying long.”

“You’re not?” I looked at them confused. “It’s kind of a parent’s week thing, you can stay if you want.”

“We know, sweetie,” My mother smiled. “But we also know you have a life here, you left home, you’re on your own, you’re doing things and we’re not going to get in the way.”

“Well I mean…” I stopped myself short. Who really wants to tell their parents that they don’t want them around? I looked around the quad, seeing all of the other students speaking with their own parents, it was kind of a big event but I was secretly grateful. I was in no condition to spend a long period of time with either of them, it would be a huge relief if they left, actually. “If that’s what you want to do…”

“We have plenty of sightseeing planned,” My mom said proudly. “Plus, we need to stop by the East Campus and see your sister. Speaking of which, she says you haven’t talked to her much either. What are you doing these days?”

“Well um, you know,” I sighed a little as I searched for the correct words, whatever they were. “I’ve been studying, and hanging out with Mason.”

“Oh yeah, Mason,” My father mused. “How is Mason these days?”

They never approved of Mason, even when we were in high school he was supposedly a bad influence. He’d managed to get his hands on more than one bottle, though now I was starting to understand why he drank, why he stayed up l ate, why he became lost in Dark Pantheon. He was looking for an escape from life, maybe the escape I would need to find for myself eventually, if things continued to go downhill. From the corner of my eye I noticed Mike, still married to the red letter jacket, but sitting on one of the concrete benches near the edge of the quad, waiting for someone perhaps. Absent from the quad were literally any of the GAT members, I guess they were at that house meeting, whatever it was about.

“Well he…games a lot,” I shrugged.

“That boy never changes,” My mom rolled her eyes. “Anyway, we’ve made a reservation over at Weir’s – we figured you needed to get away from the ramen, just for a little while.”

If I’d actually beet eating a lot of ramen then I might have been defensive but I hadn’t really been eating much of anything at all unless Tr Pi or GAT insisted.

“So…where are you guys parked?” I craned my neck, looking at the parking lot beyond the quad.

“Oh, right over here,” My dad, slapped me on the back as we began walking “I just want you to know son, I’m proud of you, Woodcrest is a great school, you’re pursing your dream and you’re getting a chance to be who you really are, that’s really something.”

Oh Jesus Harambe Christ.

“Yeah Dad,” I nodded. “I’ve been doing really well here, this is a great school.”

I sounded like a god damn poster ad for Woodcrest. We passed the rest of the ride in relative silence, mom pointing out landmarks every once in a while, my dad commenting on hotspots they wanted to visit tomorrow. They had an entire day planned without me. Thank god. Finally, my dad turned into Weir’s, which was arguably the most expensive steakhouse in town. That wasn’t saying much, Woodcrest wasn’t exactly upscale, it never had been.

As we pulled into the parking lot I gulped a bit seeing Tiffany’s blue Mercury Milan parked up front, was she here? Of course she was here, that was her car. Jesus, I hoped she didn’t talk to me or anything, how would I explain that to my parents? Why was I even worrying about explaining it to my parents? It wasn’t like they knew who Tiffany was, or anything about GAT.

We stepped inside the restaurant, my dad asked for a table for three and we were summarily led deeper into the restaurant. Stepping beneath dim, stained-glass covered lights, I spotted Tiffany sitting with her own parents off in the distance. I don’t think she noticed me but it was unsettling that she was here nonetheless. Even more unsettling was that she’d apparently ignored Aleah’s text, just like me. As we were led to our table by an over-enthusiastic server, I felt my phone buzz again in my front pocket. Aleah was really in a mood, wasn’t she?

“Wow, would look at all these options?” Dad stared at the menu, his eyes lit up like a ten year old child in a department store just before Christmas.

“Can I start you off with something to drink?” The waitress asked, still looking at us with that same enthusiastic expression even though the restaurant was packed.

“Oh, yeah,” I said. “I’ll um…I’ll have a water.”

“Oh nonsense,” My mother laughed. “We can afford soda you know.”

“Yeah but-“

“He’ll have a coke,” Dad shook his head. “We all know you love coke.”

Yeah, I know, they could afford coke. Not like I needed it.

“You need it,” Mom insisted. “You’re skinny as a beanpole, put some weight on!”

“I’ll take a coke as well,” My dad nodded to the waitress. “I think Jen will have the same?”

“Well son,” My dad said. “Tell us everything, how’s school going? How’s Chastity?”

“Um, well,” I swallowed. “Chastity and I…have decided to see other people.”

“Oh that’s horrible!” Mom interrupted. “Is everything okay? What happened? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“It’s uh…fine,” I nodded. “We just…we decided that we’re not right for eachother, you know? But we’re still friends.”

“Well that’s understandable,” My dad said in his ever reassuring voice. “You’re not in high school anymore, you’re in a new place, time to stretch your legs, see what else is out there.”

“Right,” I agreed. “We’re…just…checking out our options.”

“What about class? How’s dorm life? Have you made any new friends?” My mom smiled as she glanced at the menu.

“Yeah,” Tiffany said. “Have you made any new friends?”

I nearly jumped out of my seat, actually I nearly shat myself right there. I looked up, startled at Tiffany who was standing over our table, grinning.

“Jesus, Tiffany!” I practically shouted. “I’m a little busy here!”

“Oh too busy to introduce me to your parents?” She plopped down in the chair next to me. “I just met Todd this year and I have to tell you he is FASCINATING. You’re his parents?”

“Oh wow, hi, yes,” Mom nodded, smiling and offering her hand, which Tiffany shook. “And you are?”

“Uh, mom,” I gulped. “This is…Tiffany, she’s a friend of mine…”

“Oh, a new girlfriend already?” Dad teased. I turned bright red.

“No, no, no,” I said insistently, waving my hands in front of me. Tiffany raised an eyebrow and grinned. The waitress returned with our drinks and asked us if we were ready to worder.

“Um, yeah,” I said. “I’ll just...have the house salad-“

“Todd will have a the Weir Burger,” Tiffany cut me off. “Medium rare, pickles, onions, and mayo.”

Okay, so Tiffany knew what I would have liked if I were actually ordering what I wanted. What a creepy bitch.

“Look at you!” Mom smiled. “Looking out for our little boy and making sure he eats!”

“Some days, I think Todd needs a feeding tube,” Tiffany laughed.

“I’ll have the New York Strip steak,” My mom told the waitress. “Medium well, if you don’t mind.”

“And I’ll have the Porter house,” Dad nodded. “I want it rare. I want it to bleed like a newborn calf going through a paper shredder.”

“You’ve got it!” The waitress smiled, ever so cheerfully again. “We’ll get that right out to you!”

“So Todd,” Tiffany said, pointing to the phone in my pocket. “You got that right?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I got the text.”

“After you’re done here, get over there.”

“Oh?” What’s going on?” Mom asked. “Is it a school project?”

“Uh, yeah,” I nodded. “It’s a theater thing…I’m…in this production of Les Miserables, so is Tiffany. She’s playing Eponine.”

“Oh that’s amazing!” Mom said. “I loved Les Miserables when I was a child. The story of Jean Val Jean and Cosette, just amazing!”

“I tend to prefer Terminator,” My dad joked.

Tiffany silently stood from the table and made her way back to her own family on the other side of the restaurant.

“So, son,” My mom said, reaching out to take my hand. “Your father and I have something to tell you, something important. We’ve…been wanting to do this for a while, but we waited until you were out of the house and on your own, so maybe it won’t affect you as much now.”

“What?” I laughed. “Are you renting my room out as an Air B&B?”

“No son,” Dad said. “Your mom and I are getting a divorce.”