Chapter 8

The teacher was speechless, too angry to get his words out cleanly. "Ma'am, I don't know what kind of misunderstanding you have about this student, but as his teacher, I need to set the record straight.

"Cody Hewitt is a hardworking, well-behaved student. There is absolutely no truth to your claim that he has an inappropriate relationship with a female student.

"As for coming home after 10:00 pm, the seniors have mandatory evening study sessions. Dismissal after 9:30 pm is completely normal."

Grandma spat on the ground. "How do I know he didn't pay you off to cover for him?"

There was no reasoning with her. I stepped forward before the teacher could respond. "Sir, don't bother arguing with her. I've already called the police. Let's just let them handle it."

Grandma had been gearing up for a full performance, but the word 'police' sobered her up instantly.

"You called the police? You ungrateful little wretch. You'd actually have your own grandmother arrested?"

She gathered up the megaphone and the banner in a hurry and made for the school gate. She was moving so fast that she nearly ran straight into Mom, who was just arriving.

The second Grandma saw Mom, her confidence came flooding back.

"Oh, sweetheart, there you are. That wonderful son you raised is trying to throw me in prison!"

She threw herself into the performance, sobbing and carrying on as loudly as she could.

Mom, ever the devoted daughter, immediately teared up. She turned to me with a glare. "Apologize to your grandmother. Now."

I took a deep breath. "Mom, do you even know why she's here? Do you know what she just did?

"She came here to destroy my reputation and take away my scholarship. She stood in front of my classmates with a megaphone and told everyone I was having some kind of relationship with a girl at—"

Grandma's wailing drowned me out before I could finish. "My life is nothing but misery! My own daughter and grandson treat me like dirt! Why do I even bother going on?"

Mom panicked. She whipped around and screamed at me, "Your parents are never wrong, no matter what. Disrespecting your elders is unforgivable. Apologize to your grandmother right now!"

I turned my head away and said nothing.

The next second, Mom's hand connected with my face. Half of my face burned.

Something like regret flickered across Mom's expression after she did it.

"Cody, I didn't mean to hit you. But you were so disrespectful to your grandmother today that I had no choice."

When I just stood there holding my cheek, she kept going.

"If you think about it, this whole mess is because you refused to donate. If you'd just agreed from the beginning, we'd all still be one happy family. None of this would've happened."

Somewhere in the middle of saying this, she seemed to convince herself she was in the right. She let out a long sigh.

"All this chaos over something so small. You tore this family apart, and now, you're the one paying for it."

She was putting all the blame on me simply because I had not obliged her demands. It was so absurd that I almost laughed.

Just then, Dad arrived. He walked straight up to Mom and slapped her twice across the face.

"Lorraine, if you ever help your family bully Cody again, I swear to God you'll regret it."

He pulled me behind him and stared Mom down. "I've already asked you for a divorce. Cody will stay with me. If you can't get that through your head, I'll file a lawsuit and we can do this in court. Just make sure you show up."

Mom's face twisted in pain. "Wade, why can't you just understand? It's Cody's own uncle who's sick! Cody's too young to know what's right. Instead of teaching him, you're encouraging him to act out, and now, you're threatening me with divorce?

"Well, go ahead. Even if you try to use divorce to scare me, I won't back down. Cody has to donate that kidney."

Dad let out a laugh of disbelief. "Who's threatening you? I'm going through with this divorce, and Cody is never giving your brother a kidney. Stop playing dumb. This marriage is over. And after what you pulled today, hitting Cody to force him into donating, no court in this country is going to award you custody."

After the scene at school, Dad took me to Mom's office and made sure her boss and coworkers heard the full story. The goal was not to make her lose her job.

Once her colleagues knew the truth, the looks they gave her said everything.

A parent being close with their siblings was one thing. Trying to give away your child's kidney to save your brother, especially when the child had made it clear he was against it, was something else entirely.

Word around the office was that everyone had taken to calling her the 'devoted daughter' behind her back. It was not a compliment.

After that, Mom finally went quiet for a while. She kept a low profile, and then one day, she showed up at the front door with gifts, saying she wanted to apologize to Dad and me.

Dad still hoped for an amicable divorce and wanted to keep things out of court if possible. Mom sounded sincere, so he opened the door and let her in. She was noticeably calmer this time, and for my sake, Dad kept his composure too. No fingers were pointed, and no voices were raised.

Mom opened a box she had brought. "I figured we should sit down as a family and talk things through properly. Clear the air."

Yet the moment she lifted the lid, the expressions on both my face and Dad's went cold.