The moment she walked into the dining room, Harper knew something was up.

Neither of her parents had ever had a good poker face. And though they smiled sweetly at her as she took her seat at the table, she could see through them instantly. The fact that her Oma was having dinner with Clara that evening only made her more certain that something was coming — Hope and Zayne always seemed to choose evenings when it was just the three of them for having serious discussions.

Harper groaned inwardly. Oh God, what’s it gonna be this time? She wondered as she took her usual seat beside her father. Still, she did her best not to betray her suspicions. After all, it could all be in her head, couldn’t it? Maybe she was imagining things. Harper tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach and focus on enjoying the delicious meal her father had made.

Unfortunately, her parents seemed to have other plans.

“So… How was school today, Peanut?” Hope asked sweetly.

A feeling of dread washed over her immediately. Her parents had already asked her about her day when she’d arrived home a few hours ago. She could only think of one reason why they would bother asking again. Shit. It’s gonna be about school. Here we go…

“It was fine.” Harper replied with a small shrug and forced smile. “Hey, why is this conversation giving me déjà vu?” She tried to keep her tone light, but hoped they would take the hint.

But, just as she feared, they didn’t. She watched as her parents exchanged a significant glance.

Zayne cleared his throat softly before finally speaking. “We got a call from Mrs. Brandt today.” He admitted.

Oh shit. Harper took a deep breath. “Papa, look, I…”

“You’re still failing algebra?” Her father continued, his tone suddenly much harder than before. “You told us things were getting better.”

“I must have just gotten a really bad score on the last test. I’ll do better next time, okay?” Harper lied.

Hope shook her head. “It’s not okay.” Her mother sighed softly. “We’ve gotta start looking at getting you a tutor. This is your last chance to get your grades up before you start looking at universities.”

Harper rolled her eyes at her mother’s words. “How many times have I told you guys? I’m not looking anywhere. I’m not going to uni.”

“This again?” It was Zayne’s turn to sigh. “I thought we’d gotten past this, Harper. I thought you were finally starting to take school seriously.”

Harper couldn’t believe it. Are they for real?! This was the same argument they’d had, time and time again for the past year. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take.

“Mom, Papa, I want you to listen to me, okay? I. Hate. School. Ich. Hasse. Schule.” She spoke the words slowly and carefully. “How many more languages do I have to say it in before you get it?!”

“Honey, we do get it.” Hope assured her gently. “I promise you we do. But you’re such a smart girl. Getting a degree would open up so many opportunities for you.”

Her father nodded. “We just don’t want anything holding you back from doing great things, baby girl.”

“Are you for real?!” Harper couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “God, you’re such fucking hypocrites!”

“Harper!“ Zayne’s hand came down sharply against the table, rattling their plates and silverware. “You watch your mouth.” He narrowed his eyes at her as he spoke.

His daughter was completely unfazed. “Papa, I know you hated school just as much as I do! You too, mom.” Harper’s eyes flicked toward Hope for a moment. “So please, just stop trying to convince me that I have to go to uni to be successful, okay? Because I don’t! I mean, look at you guys! How many millions do you have tucked away, huh?”

Hope shook her head slowly. “Harper, that’s not –”

“What about Ur-Opa Tobi?” Harper continued, turning her attention back to her father. “He never went to uni. And neither did Onkel Florian. Or your Papa! And they all did pretty damn well for themselves, didn’t they?”

“They got lucky, Harper!” Zayne’s deep voice cried. “We all did.” He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. “Look, you want to write, don’t you?”

She nodded, but said nothing.

“Well, what if it doesn’t work out?” He continued. “What then? What would have happened to me if I never got my restaurant off the ground? Or what if your mother never got signed for a modeling contract? Where would we be right now?”

Beside him, his wife nodded in agreement. “We never had anything to fall back on. It was a stupid risk we both took.” Hope said gently. “You’re so talented, Pumpkin. You have such big dreams. And we love that. But if things don’t work out, you need a Plan B.”

“No, I don’t! You’re making it sound like I’m gonna end up on the street or something! As if you’d ever let that happen!” She scoffed. “Look, maybe if we were a normal family, I’d buy it. But we’re not!”

Her father’s eyes widened. “You think we’ll just throw money at you? Let you sit around and do nothing? Harper, we raised you better than that.”

Harper rose to her feet. “Look, I’m not going to uni. I don’t want to, and I don’t have to. So you can forget about that stupid tutor, because I don’t need it, okay? And if you can’t understand that, then fuck both of you!” Harper had never sworn at her parents like that — ever. But she’d had enough of her parents’ bogus arguments. She couldn’t take it anymore! “Thanks for dinner.” She muttered, sounding anything but grateful as she headed for the door.

The sound of her parents’ chairs scraping on the hardwood floor reached her ears as she crossed into the kitchen. Harper could hear their voices pleading with her, but coudn’t quite make out what they were saying. And she didn’t even bother trying to. It would probably just make her angrier anyway. And that was the last thing she needed right now.

“‘I’m going out.” Harper called out over her shoulder as she reached the front door. “I’ll be back later.”

She didn’t even have a clear direction in mind. She just needed to get away. And by the time she made it to the end of the street, Harper knew exactly where she would go.

—————————————————————————-

Harper could feel her heart racing in her chest as she took one last look around the small drug store. There were no other customers in sight, and only one employee — a young, blonde woman busying herself behind the cash register. This was her chance.

She reached out almost blindly, grabbing the first two items her hands touched and shoving them into the folds of her denim jacket. Her palms were slightly sticky with sweat as she took a deep breath and walked slowly and calmly back to the front of the store.

“Have a nice evening, miss.” The woman behind the register called kindly as Harper made her way toward the exit.

She did her best to give the woman a small smile, fighting against the dread and anxiety in the pit of her stomach as she crossed through the doors and back onto the sidewalk. As was often the case, no alarms sounded, and there was no need for her to resort to her usual tactic of flashing her hearing aid. It was easy to tell now which items would have security tags and which would not. And Harper knew that the rolled-up magazine and inactive Visa gift card she’d tucked into her jacket were a pretty safe bet.

The moment she knew she was in the clear, Harper allowed herself to relish in the release of all the tension that had been building up inside her. And it wasn’t just the tension she’d felt inside the store. It was all the stress and anger she’d been feeling toward her parents too. The tension she felt arguing with them almost every day.

It all seemed to melt away, replaced instead by a rush of pure adrenaline — just like Harper had known it would.

From there, she headed straight for the alley to meet her friends. She’d texted them as soon as she left her house, but she knew it would take them a while to get to their usual hangout spot. And by the time they showed up, she was already in a much better mood than she had been when she’d left home.

Still, the sight of Rylie and Devin walking down the sidewalk sent a pleasant warmth washing over her.

“Hey.” Harper smiled gently at the pair as they approached. Neither of them had replied to her text, so she hadn’t even been sure they’d show up. I should have known… They’d never leave me hanging. “Sorry for bugging you guys. I guess I just needed to talk to somebody.”

Devin was the first to speak. “It’s okay.” He assured her. “What’s up?”

“Your parents being stupid again?” Rylie suggested.

She nodded slowly.

The other girl chuckled softly for a moment. “Figured as much.”

“It’s so ridiculous. They wanna sign me up for tutoring.” Harper groaned.

Rylie’s eyes widened. “Yikes.”

“I know.” She sighed for a moment before continuing. “And I guess I kinda lost it when they told me.” Harper admitted sadly. “We got into a pretty big fight about it.”

She took a deep breath, then gave them a brief play-by-play of the argument with her parents. Repeating it back to them was a bit uncomfortable — only now did she realize that maybe she shouldn’t have blown up so much about it. But then, she’d already tried discussing things calmly with her parents in the past, and what good had that done her? They never listened!

The thought only made her more angry, of course. And she found herself launching into the exact same rant she always did. Poor Rylie and Devin must be so damn sick of this by now. She shook her head and took a slow, deep breath to calm herself.

“Sorry.” She muttered almost guiltily. “I know you’ve heard me bitch about them a million times, but today was so fucking bad. I don’t even know what to do anymore.” Harper shrugged slightly and studied her friends’ faces uncertainly as she finished, wondering what they would say. Their expressions were so hard to read.

It was Rylie who finally broke the silence. “Well, shit.” She half-laughed. “Definitely a couple of hypocrites.” The girl shook her head in amusement.

“They are.” Devin nodded in agreement, but seemed to hesitate for a moment. “But…”

Harper’s eyes went wide. “Oh God, please tell me you aren’t gonna side with them.” She practically begged.

“I’m not.” He assured her. “Not really. I just feel bad that you’re having this same fight with your parents like, all the time.” Her friend explained. “I’m not saying they’re right, but maybe it’s time to throw them a bone or something?”

Rylie bit her lip for a moment before chiming in. “I… I really hate to agree, but…” She shrugged. “Don’t ever tell my mom I’m like, quoting her or anything, but she always talks about ‘picking your battles’. And this might be one of those times where you gotta give in a little? Get them to finally leave you the fuck alone for once, know what I mean?”

“Oh God, you too?” Harper asked miserably. “What ever happened to ‘you’re right, your parents suck?'”

Rylie smiled. “Desperate times, desperate measures.” She teased.

“We’re not saying you should start looking at universities or anything… Or at least, I’m not.” Devin glanced over at Rylie for a moment, who shook her head. “But maybe it wouldn’t be the worst idea to suck it up and meet them halfway on this tutoring thing? Just enough to get them off your back, like Rylie said.”

Harper did not immediately reply. Maybe they had a point. It was getting pretty damn exhausting fighting with her parents about her grades all the time. Maybe this would be the way to get them to leave her alone?

“I dunno.” She said at last. “Maybe… But UGH. Tutoring?” That familiar feeling of dread suddenly washed over her at the thought.

“It… might not completely suck?” Rylie replied weakly.

Devin’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Hey, it really might not. Remember my cousin I told you about?”

“The one who did your ink?”

He nodded. “I’m pretty sure her uni has a tutoring program. Like, actual uni students doing the tutoring.”

Harper raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”

“I mean, tutoring’s probably gonna suck no matter what… But maybe it’ll suck a little less if your tutor isn’t some boring teacher or something?” He suggested.

A soft sigh passed Harper’s lips. If she had to give in and go along with this tutoring idea, that would probably be the least painful way to do it.

“Guess it’s better than the alternative…” She replied softly, trying to smile. “Thanks, guys.”

“Okay, don’t lie.” Rylie smirked at her. “You’re not grateful, you’re pissed because we didn’t tell you what you wanna hear. Ow!” She rubbed her arm where Devin had punched her. “What?!”

Devin ignored his friend. “Just… think about what we said?” He asked Harper seriously. “Please? I know it totally sucks ass…”

“But if it’ll get your parents to lay off, maybe it’ll be worth it?” Rylie finished the thought for him.

She looked for a moment at the beautiful, smiling faces of her two best friends. How could she possibly say no?

“Okay.” Harper promised. “I’ll think about it.”