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Today, though, she didnt even smile She sat in bed, with a book open in her lap so that her husband would leave her alone As she stared at the pages, the type blurred and danced like black dots on the crea in her les The title: Overprotective hters who hate them

Hate them

Crushing your daughters tender spirit

And Dr Till she was a terrible parent; herfro to a cameraman that Kate couldnt hear

She still felt shell-shocked by all of it, nuer that was unlike anything shed felt before She had so little experience with genuine anger that it scared her She actually worried that if she started screa, shed never stop So she kept the lid on her emotions and sat quietly

She kept glancing at the phone, expecting Tully to call

"Ill hang up," she said And she would She was actually looking forward to it For all the years of the friendship, Tully had pulled shit like this (well, nothing really like this), and it had fallen to Kate to apologize, whether it was her fault or not Tully never said she was sorry; she just waited for Kate to ss over

Not this time

This tiry, she didnt care if they stayed friends or not If they were to get back together, Tully was going to have to work for it

Ill hang up a lot of times

She sighed, wishing the thought made her feel better, but it didnt She feltbroken by yesterday

There was a knock at her door It could be any ons around her, treating her like a breakable princess, protecting her Moht hershe was Dad kept patting her shoulder and saying how pretty she was, and the boys, who didnt know exactly rong but sensed that it was big, hung on her constantly Only Marah stood back fro it all from a distance

"Co to look more durable than she felt

Marah walked into the room Dressed for school in low-rise jeans, pink UGG boots, and a gray hoodie sweatshirt, she tried to smile, but it was a failure "Grandma said I had to talk to you "

Kate was relieved beyond hters presence She moved to the middle of her bed and patted the empty place beside her