They Left Me Out Of The Picture So I Created My Own Chapter 13
I stared at the screen for two seconds, then answered.
“Avery?” My father’s voice was nothing like the cool, indifferent tone I remembered. It was charged with an excitement that was edged with caution. “Is what the newspaper said true? Is your work really going to be displayed in Union Station?”
“It’s true.”
There was a beat of silence, then I heard Lauren’s startled gasp in the background. Sadie’s voice followed. “Oh my God, Union Station?”
As if that confirmed something for him, my father’s tone immediately warmed.
“Why didn’t you tell your family about something this important?”
I looked at the photograph on my computer screen, its colors still not quite right.
“How was I supposed to do that? Post it in the family chat so it could get buried under Sadie’s drama club flyers, the way my national gold medal did?”
His breath hitched.
I kept going. “Or should I have printed it on a Christmas card? Oh, right. There was never any room for me on those.”
The line went completely quiet.
A few seconds later, my father stiffly changed the subject. “When does the exhibition open? The whole family can fly out to support you.”
“It’s a public art project. There’s no private opening.”
I paused.
“And all of my plans were in my RISD application essay. The one you never bothered to read.”
“Avery, I just—”
“Thanks for your interest, Dad, but that’s all in the past now.”
I saved the file and put my headphones back on.
“I have a lot of work to do. I’m hanging up.”
This time, I ended the call before he could.