| 04 |

| 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐞 |

I stare back at the gray stormy eyes.

Yup. He's pissed.

His arms are crossed against his chest, one eyebrow raised with his body leaning against the wall.

"Welcome home." His voice, deep and dark, addresses me, coolly.

I step inside the house and close the door behind me, offering Dad a half-smile, half-wince. "You stayed up late again?"

Of course, he did. He never goes to sleep until I come home.

"You missed dinner." He says.

"I was sleeping."

"Ah, right, the library." He nods, his gaze watching my face closely. He's waiting to see if I slip up and admit the actual truth.

"Yes. The library." I confirm. "You can ask the librarian. She got me out."

He narrows his eyes at me. "Holly?"

"Yes, Dad?" I grin.

"What were you doing at the library?" He asks as if expecting an answer like 'hiding drugs in the books'. 'Roofing all the nerds'. 'Vandalizing the bookshelves'.

I don't hide my grin. "I've been a good girl today."

He immediately catches on to my response. "Ah ha! Tell me! You did something. It's clearly written on your face."

I shake my head.

Why did mom leave me with him? He takes his fatherly job too seriously.

"Can I have something to eat first?" I ask. "I'm hungry."

He continues giving me his skeptical look but complies anyway and pushes himself off the wall with one foot before walking into the house towards the kitchen.

I take off my heels, slip on my slippers and follow him.

He lays out a plate of microwave-heated food on the table.

I slide onto my chair and start eating. God, how long has it been since I've eaten?

"Spill." My dad says, sliding into the chair across me so that he's directly looking at my face.

A sigh comes out of my mouth, and I reach down to open my bag, taking out the test result which marks my failure.

Without a word, I slide the test paper on the dining table, in between us.

His eyes drop to the test results.

He stares at it.

I resist the urge to wince.

He doesn't say a word, just keeps looking at the paper as if something is gonna explode out of it.

"Holly?" He says after a while.

"Yes?" I reply in a cheery tone.

"What letter is that?" He taps my F with his ringed index finger.

"It's an F, Dad," I reply.

"Why is it there?"

"Because I...failed... Dad." My cheery tone starts to dim.

"Again?" He raises an eyebrow.

I almost gulp. "Yes."

He finally lifts his eyes to look at me.

He licks his lips. Then bites his bottom lip with a frown, as he gazes down at my paper. "Holly." He finally speaks. "You're ground—"

"Wait!" I jump, holding out my hands in protest before he can finish that dreadful sentence.

He sighs. "I can't–"

"I can fix it!"

"You said that last time too."

"I didn't know you were gonna take it seriously," I mutter.

He raises his eyebrows at me.

"But I promise, I found a solution to fix my grades."

"Oh really?" He keeps one eyebrow raised, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest. "Do tell. What is this solution of yours?" He waves a hand at me to speak.

A smile comes on my face. "I found a tutor!"

He blinks. "A...tutor?"

"Mhmm." I nod.

He stares at me before giving out a sigh. "You really don't wanna take this seriously, do you?"

"Dad. I really am gonna give it my best this time." I bite my bottom lip. "Julie said I can't be a cheerleader anymore if I don't get a C on the next test."

For a moment, I think my dad's entire face lights up like a Christmas tree, but he quickly hides his happiness and instead tries frowning, "Oh no, that's terrible."

I give him a flat look. "Laugh. Laugh all you want."

A grin breaks his face, but he tries to hide that too. He tries a couple more times before giving up and letting out his grin.

I narrow my eyes at him, and he laughs.

"I told—"

"Don't finish that sentence," I warn.

"—you—"

"Dad!"

"—so!"

I shake my head at him.

"Oh boy, I gotta tell your mother about this." He quickly fishes for his phone from his pocket.

"It's the middle of the night. She's sleeping." I stop him.

"Oh right." He deflates in his seat, placing his phone on the table.

Since my grandma was terribly sick, my mom had to fly out of the country to take care of her.

"Anyways." Dad clears his throat. "So who is this tutor of yours?"

"Someone named Castle."

"Oh hell no."

"Let me finish—"

"I knew it! I knew it! You're gonna make excuses that you're studying while doing the...things...behind my back!"

"You mean hookup and have sex?" I ask.

He visibly grows uncomfortable. He's grown even more protective of me after mom left so any topic about guys makes him act all macho.

"Yes...err...that." He clears his throat. "You're gonna do that with the excuse of studying."

I laugh.

"You know me too well." I take a bite out of my food. "But to your relief, I really am planning to study this time."

"Uh-huh."

"For real," I promise. "The Castle guy isn't even interested in me. He accidentally touched me and then acted as if his hand caught on fire."

Dad gives me a look as if he's not believing me.

"It was really hard to convince him to tutor me. He didn't even wanna look at me."

Dad assesses my face, searching for a lie somewhere in my words. "You're not lying?"

"Nope."

"For sure?"

"You can see him for yourself and see that I'm not lying," I say. "He's gonna be here tomorrow at 8."

"Then we need to discuss some rules for when your tutor comes over."

I groan.

Dad picks up his phone, "Rule number one—"

"I promise I really am gonna study sincerely this time." I protest.

He ignores me. "Rule number one, you people will sit in the living room the whole time where I can keep an eye on you." He types in the rule on his phone

I sigh, giving up. Once he starts with his rules, there's no stopping him.

I just silently eat my food, while he lists out his billion rules.

When he's finally done, he taps one last time on his phone. My phone pings from my pocket with a text of all the rules he typed down.

"Done?" I give him a sarcastic smile.

"Make sure to go through those rules once more and even forward them to that tutor of yours."

"You're impossible." I shake my head.

I realize I forgot to take Castle's number.

Guess I'll have to ask a couple of people to get it for me.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" I look up at Dad.

"What?"

"You remember you were looking for someone to work as your assistant after you fired your last one?"

He furrows his eyebrows. "Yeah. What about that?"

"Today's your lucky day." I grin. "I just found you a new assistant."    

★・・・・・・★

If you're interested in reading something completely random, funny and cute, then check out my other book 'Jake's Kennedy'. It's not a proper novel, just something I wrote out of boredom and as a way to pass time.

How's No Shame In Desiring going so far for you people??

Words: 1,200

Date of publishing: 1st March 2023