Read Online The Yearbook Committee by Sarah Ayoub - Free Book Online Page B

drenched.
    â€˜How are two people — and all this stuff — meant to travel on a push bike?’ I ask.
    He motions for me to follow him — and, against my better judgement, I do.
    Without saying anything, he takes two of my bags and wraps one around each handlebar.
    â€˜Pegs,’ he says, pointing.
    â€˜Huh?’ I ask, wondering what the hell I’m doing.
    â€˜You put your feet there,’ he says, gesturing to two steel bars poking out from each side of the back wheel. ‘And then you hold on to my shoulders.’
    I raise my eyebrows but do as he says.
    â€˜Directions?’
    â€˜Um, what about your friends?’ I ask.
    â€˜They’ll be here when I get back,’ he reassures me. ‘Hold on.’
    I direct him to my street, asking him to drop me off at the nearest corner.
    â€˜Strict parents?’ he says.
    â€˜Sort of. And you could be a creep.’
    â€˜I’m no creep, I’m Mike.’
    â€˜Well, Mike, you’ve certainly puzzled me enough for one day.’
    â€˜Here’s hoping you think about me for the rest of the weekend,’ he says, as he turns his bike around.
    What a sleaze , I think, heading inside. But I can’t help but smile.
    The amusement vanishes as soon as I see my mother scowling.
    â€˜What?’ I ask.
    â€˜Get in the kitchen,’ she says, shaking her head.
    I sigh and follow her inside. Dad’s sitting at the breakfast bar, a NSW Police Academy brochure in front of him.
    â€˜You went through my mail?’ I ask, horrified.
    â€˜Well, you are living under my roof,’ he counters.
    â€˜I sent that to Yia Yia’s place!’ I exclaim.
    â€˜And I own your grandmother’s place too.’
    â€˜Dad, that’s a terrible abuse of my privacy.’
    â€˜And you have terribly abused my trust,’ he says, frowning. ‘Moonlighting as a clown while pretending to hang out with your friends? Deliberately applying for something I told you toforget about, and having the audacity to send it elsewhere so I stay in the dark? That’s deceitful, Tammi.’
    â€˜What, do you have contacts at kids’ parties now? Just in case the six-year-olds decide to rob a bank?’
    He doesn’t appreciate my sarcasm. ‘It’s up to me to know what’s going on in my kid’s life. What if some creep lured you over pretending he needed a clown. You couldn’t go work in retail like other kids your age?’
    â€˜Well, what did you expect? You say no to everything.’
    â€˜I expect you to stick to what we discussed.’
    â€˜What you discussed, you mean,’ I remind him. ‘I never agreed to any of it.’
    â€˜Tammi, your father’s just trying to look out for you,’ Mum says, sighing. ‘He’s been in the force for twenty years. He knows what it’s like. It’s no place for a young woman.’
    â€˜Please, Mum,’ I say, rolling my eyes. ‘It’s the twenty-first century. There’s no such thing as “places for women” any more. We can go anywhere.’
    â€˜Just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should,’ he says. ‘Being a cop is not safe, it’s emotionally draining and sometimes your colleagues are as sleazy as the crooks. It’s not an environment I want for you. You’re going to find another career.’
    â€˜This is so frustrating!’ I shout. ‘This is all I want to do with my life. If I were a boy, you’d have no problem with it.’
    â€˜But you’re not a boy, you’re my only daughter, and just like I vowed to protect and serve the citizens of this state, I vowed to protect you and your mother the day you each came into my life.’
    I roll my eyes.
    â€˜Seriously, Tammi,’ he says slowly, ‘haven’t you heard my stories? Seen what I’ve gone through? What I’ve struggled with? Some if it haunts me every day.’
    â€˜And doing