Texting your sister from the driveway during the Fourth o...

Conversation

1. They're showing our family chat on the TV.
2. What? Which chat?!
3. Oh my god I didn't mean to screenshare.
4. It says I confessed to breaking Mom's heirloom vase.
5. You told the whole family?!
6. A Zoom notification popped up during the match.
7. No, I meant to send that only to you, Lena.
8. You posted it in 'Family — Do Not Touch'.
9. Someone paused the stream and scrolled back.
10. Is Mom in the house? I can't go in yet.
11. Yes, she's at the snack table with Aunt Mara.
12. They're reading lines from the chat out loud.
13. Oh my God is my name visible on screen?
14. Yes, it shows 'From: me' at the top.
15. Someone screenshotted and sent it to the party group.
16. Don't let them post that anywhere, Lena, please.
17. I can't delete other people's screenshots, I tried.
18. I can pull the post down, give me seconds.
19. If Mom sees the exact text I'm screwed.
20. Why would you lie and break it instead of telling?
21. I panicked, I thought I could fix it before anyone noticed.
22. Also, your ex Evan is here with a plus one.
23. What? Which ex?!
24. Evan, by the bar texting, looking smug.
25. He already retweeted the screenshot, it's on his story.
26. Wait, did you actually break it or are you lying?
27. You told me you knocked it off the mantel last month.
28. That's not the whole story, Ava was there.
29. Ava just walked past the TV and froze.
30. She left two minutes ago acting like nothing's wrong.
31. I think she took the replacement piece in her bag.
32. Her bag looked oddly heavy when she left.
33. Great, now I'm blamed for breaking and stealing.
34. We need to get inside before Mom reads more.
35. I'm going in; if I'm blamed I'll tell the truth.