Chapter 5 - Kasey

[Link to Chapter 1 (Beginning of Book)]

[Link to Chapter 4 (Previous Chapter)]

“Wait. Dad. YOU had a bully?”

She’s already twelve. Halfway through seventh grade. She does not think I’m cool. She has never thought I’m cool. She does not believe me being cool is even possible in this universe. Yet somehow, she seems genuinely surprised that I could have been bullied as a kid. This car ride is going to be fun.

“Yes,” I begin, “But you keep changing the subject.”

I wonder where she learned that.

“Dad.”

She pauses. I wait.

“Come on.”

Another pause. I wait again.

“I already took sex ed in school.”

Sexual education, or ‘Sex Ed’ for short, became a serious school topic back in the 1980s and 1990s due to skyrocketing rates of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and teen pregnancy. The goal was to educate children about the horrors of sexual intercourse. Mostly to make sure we never had it. And to remind us we were expensive mistakes our parents probably regretted.

This educational practice continues today, and the torch has finally been passed to my own child.

“Good. Then this should be quick and easy,” I retort.

She hasn’t done anything that bad. I’m just giving her a hard time because I keep walking in on her and her boyfriend being all kissy-face in front of the TV.

”DAD!” she half-shouts, with her trademark mean-girl tone. She’s getting quite good at it for her age. Unfortunately for her, I’ve been dealing with that tone from girls since I was six. It doesn’t faze me. Not any more. I chuckle at her, which would irritate most people, but she knows that when I’m still finding something amusing, things are okay. My daughter knows me better than nearly anybody else.