As she walks out to the breakfast table, she sees her father reading the paper. Her mother is asleep, having worked the night shift. She sits down, and her father looks up with a grin.

“Hope you slept well, Lorrie. Mom made some bacon and eggs for you before she went to bed. You’re going to go out with Olivia and Ruth today, right?”

Lorene begins cutting into her breakfast. She puts on a smile. “Yeah! It’ll be fun. Are you still going to work today?”

Her father takes a sip of his coffee. “Of course, dear. You’d been telling us about Ruth’s birthday for weeks, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to work overtime again. We still have those debts to pay off, after all. Tonight, though, we’ll make sure to celebrate the end of the school year!”

………..what. Lorene’s fork clatters to the table. Her father looks at her, confused.

“Is something wrong, sweetie?”

“…Dad. The debt-collectors haven’t called for weeks. Why are you… saying those things?”

Her dad laughs. “What do you mean, Lorene? I did think it was a little odd they weren’t hounding us anymore, but we still owe them! In fact, I was planning on calling them later today, to make sure we weren’t racking up any interest or anything.”

“…Dad. Listen to me. Don’t do that. Don’t do any of that. We don’t owe them anything.”

Her father gives her a serious look. “Lorene. Come on, I raised you better than that. If you borrow something, the right thing to do is pay it back.”

>…fuck.