I spent the whole damn day lying in my pathetic bed, trying to figure out how to explain why I suddenly had to drop out of high school without telling my parents about the beatdown or the terrifying threats against my sister. My ribs still ached like crazy where Liang Xu had punched me, and the bruise on my shin was turning a nasty yellow and purple color, a constant, painful reminder of that public humiliation, seriously. I knew I had to stop flinching every time my mom looked at me, because she was already worried sick, asking me why I was sleeping so much and acting so weird. I felt like a massive piece of shit for lying to her, but telling the truth would just put my sister in danger, and I couldn't risk that for anything in the world.
I finally came up with the huge, complex lie: I was going to tell them I was "transferring" to an online, night-school program to speed up my graduation and start working full-time immediately. I planned to use the excuse that I realized the high school was too "slow" and I needed to get a job to help with the bills right now, since they were struggling so much. It was a perfect, guilt-tripping lie, because it made me look responsible and mature, and it directly appealed to my parents' desperate need for money, making it really hard for them to say no to my stupid plan. I hated myself for manipulating them like this, but I didn't see any other goddamn choice, man.
I had to sell the lie tonight. When my dad came home from his minimum-wage job, looking exhausted and stressed out, I sat them both down at the kitchen table. My heart was pounding so hard I thought they could actually hear it, but I forced myself to look them right in the eye. I rambled on and on about how I was "wasting time" in regular school and that I had already found an online program that was cheaper and faster. I finished by saying I desperately wanted to help them pay for the electric bill and maybe even save up for my sister's college fund, which was a total manipulation, but it worked like a charm.
My mom started crying a little bit, saying how proud she was of me for being so mature, and my dad looked so relieved about the money part that he didn't even question my sudden plan to leave school. It was disgusting how easy the lie was to sell because of how poor we were. I felt absolutely terrible and completely disgusted with myself, but I also felt this cold, hard relief. The massive lie was built, and now I was officially free from the terror of Liang Xu, even though I had sacrificed my entire future to do it.