Keira tried to withhold her temper, fingers tight on her phone as her mother’s biting voice whined sharp. She withheld the small wish that her mother had never bought the damn thing for her. Everyone else had beepers. But Keira, and the well-funded sports teams at her private university, all got phones. She hated hers. Especially when her mother used it to pick a fight with her at eight a.m. “Mother, Steven is your husband, not my father.” She heard the heavy sigh and knew by the clicking of her mother’s tongue that her comment wouldn’t be overlooked. “And I didn’t say no… exactly,” she hurried to say, hoping to forego a truly heated fight so early in the morning. “You don’t need to threaten me.” “Surely you see that I am only trying to look after you.” Keira walked past two girls standing in the middle of the hallway and tried to bite back the sarcastic retort itching to leave her mouth. Her mother always thought she knew what was best for Keira and if she didn’t agree, a quick slap changed her mind.
