Carter Ortese is Trouble - completed (The Boys #1)

Chapter 14: Emma

My brain throbs. Every pulse is thick and sluggish as it moves through my head. The early afternoon sunlight is blinding bright. If my parents figure out how much pain I'm actually in, they will tell me that my date tonight isn't such a good idea, no matter how much they love Nicolas Daniels.

I still haven't figured out how to tell my parents that I'm not, in fact, dating Nicholas Daniels.

I lean over the lab proposal for my chemistry class, and I'm wondering how my life got so off balance. Molecules need stability to survive, so can't the same thing be said about people? I swallow, clearing the thoughts out of my head.

"You okay?" Mika asks me from my computer. Her voice comes through the speakers as a tinny, computerized thing. It jars me back into reality. I had almost forgotten about our video call.

"Yeah, I'm just ..."

"Thinking about Carter?"

"No." I shake my head and glance around. My parents are thankfully not hovering. I'm in the living room with virtually no privacy, which is actually better than being in my bedroom and having my dad check in on me as often as he can. "I'm thinking about how impossible this is. I don't have enough time for everything."

"Can't you quit something?"

I blink and look down at the notes I've been taking. Mika's face remains stable in the window on my laptop. She's waiting for me to answer her, but I don't have one. My parents would let me quit band, but that's the only thing I don't want to give up. Their expectations are crushing. "Give me a second?"

She nods. "Sure, I'm not really sure where to start with this lab either."

I plaster on a smile and get up from the couch, crossing the room. I rummage through my bag and snatch my bottle of ibuprofen and take three. When I go into the kitchen to grab a glass of water, my dad is at the dining table, peering out the window.

The moment I turn the water tap on, my dad snaps his attention to me. I've gone most of my Saturday without talking to either of them post-breakfast, which has been a nice change from the usual. My house is rarely quiet.

"What are you working on right now, Emma?"

I take my pills and a long drink, forcing myself to down the glass and go for a refill so I can answer him without wincing. "My chemistry lab. Mika's helping me over video, so I have to—"

"Mika's helping you? Not likely," he snorts.

My feet are plastered to the ground. Cement grows in between my toes, making it impossible for me to move. "I'm stuck on what I should—"

"This." My dad smiles, standing and grabbing a thick book off the dining room table. A smile slithers over his face. The look on his face is stern; it tells me he won't take no for an answer. He's chipping away at what little sanity I have left. His controlling love is drilling holes into my mind.

He hands the book to me, and I put the glass of water down, because both items are too heavy to handle both at once. Or maybe that's my life—maybe my life is too heavy.

"It's on epigenetics. Newest research that shows how close we are to a breakthrough in the bio engineering field." He beams and prattles on about the work and the doctor who wrote all about it. His words sound like the dust jacket pitch.

"Thanks," I mutter, wondering if I can actually use some of the research. While my chemistry teacher isn't expecting any dissertations, I might be able to find some aspect I can recreate. Perhaps ... I flip the book over and realize I'm kidding myself. These are top research laboratories, and there's no way my high school can run any experiments like this. "Looks interesting."