“Emily hasn’t been in class all week,” her teacher told me. That made no sense — I watched my daughter leave every morning. So I followed her.

When she stepped off the bus and got into a pickup truck instead of going inside, my heart stopped. When the truck pulled away, I drove after them.

I never thought I’d be the kind of mother who follows her child, but when I discovered she’d been lying to me, that’s exactly what I did.

Emily is 14. Her dad, Mark, and I split up years ago.

He’s the guy who remembers your favorite ice cream but forgets to sign permission slips or book appointments. Mark is all heart but no organization, and I couldn’t carry it all by myself anymore.

I thought Emily had adjusted well.

But the terrible teens have a way of bringing problems to the surface.

Emily seemed like her usual self.

She was a bit quieter, maybe a little more glued to her phone than usual, a bit overly fond of wearing oversized hoodies that covered half her face, but nothing that screamed “crisis.”

She left for school every morning at 7:30 a.m. Her grades were good, and when I asked how school was going, she always said it was fine.

Then I got a phone call from the school.

I answered right away. I assumed she had a fever or forgot her gym shoes.

“This is Mrs.

Carter, Emily’s homeroom teacher. I wanted to check in because Emily has been absent all week.”

I almost laughed; it was just so out of character for my Emily.

“That can’t be right.” I pushed back from my desk. “She leaves the house every morning.

I watch her walk out the door.”

There was a long, heavy beat of silence.

“No,” Mrs. Carter said. “She hasn’t been in any of her classes since Monday.”

I hung up the phone and sat there.

My daughter had been pretending to go to school all week… where had she really been going?

When Emily came home that evening, she complained about homework and gave me the standard teen eye roll when I asked about her friends.

She’d been lying for four days, so I figured a direct confrontation would just make her dig a deeper hole.

I needed a different approach.

***

The next morning, I went through the motions.

I watched her walk away down the driveway. Then, I ran for the car.

I parked a short distance from the bus stop and watched her get on the bus. Nothing concerning so far.

So, I followed the bus. When it hissed to a stop in front of the high school, a sea of teenagers poured out.

Emily was among them.

But as the crowd flowed toward the heavy double doors of the building, she peeled off.

She lingered by the bus stop sign.

What are you doing?

I soon got my answer.

An old pickup truck rolled up to the curb. It was rusted around the wheel wells and had a dent in the tailgate. Emily yanked the passenger door open and hopped in.

My pulse turned into a drum solo against my ribs.

My first instinct was to call the authorities. I was reaching for my phone… but she’d smiled when she saw the truck, and he’d climbed in willingly.

The truck pulled away.

I followed them.

Maybe I was overreacting, but even if Emily wasn’t in danger, she was still skipping school, and I needed to know why.

They drove toward the outskirts of town, where the strip malls give way to quiet parks. They eventually pulled into a gravel lot near the lake.

“If I’m about to catch you skipping school to be with a boyfriend you haven’t told me about…” I growled as I pulled into the lot behind them.

I parked a short distance away, and that’s when I saw the driver.

“You have got to be kidding me!”

I was out of my car so fast that I didn’t even close the door behind me.

I marched toward the pickup truck.

Emily saw me first. She was laughing at something he’d said, but her smile dropped the moment we made eye contact.

I marched up to the driver’s side window and rapped my knuckles against the glass.

Slowly, the window lowered.

“Hey, Zoe, what are you doing—”

“Following you.” I braced my hands against the door.

“What are you doing? Emily is supposed to be in school, and why on earth are you driving this? Where’s your Ford?”

I sharply raised my hand.

“Emily first. Why are you helping her cut school? You’re her father, Mark, you should know better.”

Emily leaned forward.

“I asked him to, Mom. It wasn’t his idea.”

“But he still went along with it. What are you two up to?”

Mark raised his hands in a placating gesture.

“She asked me to pick her up because she didn’t want to go—”

“That’s not how life works, Mark! You don’t just opt out of the ninth grade because you don’t feel like it.”

Emily clenched her jaw. “You don’t get it.

I knew you wouldn’t.”

“Then make me get it, Emily. Talk to me.”

Mark looked at Emily. “You said we were going to be honest, Emmy.

She’s your mom. She deserves to know.”

Emily lowered her head.

“The other girls… They hate me. It’s not just one person.

It’s all of them. They move their bags when I try to sit down. They whisper ‘try-hard’ every time I answer a question in English.

In the gym, they act like I’m invisible. They won’t even pass me the ball.”

I felt a sudden, sharp pang in the center of my chest. “Why didn’t you tell me, Em?”

“Because I knew you’d march into the principal’s office and make a giant scene.

Then they’d hate me even more for being a snitch.”

“She’s not wrong,” Mark added.

“So your solution was to facilitate a disappearance?” I asked him.

Mark sighed. “She was throwing up every morning, Zoe. Actual, physical sickness from the stress.

I thought I could just give her a few days to breathe while we figured out a plan.”

“A plan involves talking to the other parent. What was the endgame here?”

Mark reached into the center console and pulled out a yellow legal pad. It was covered in Emily’s neat, looped handwriting.

“We were writing it out.

I told her that if she reported it clearly — dates, names, specific incidents — the school has to act. We were drafting a formal complaint.”

Emily rubbed her sleeve across her face. “I was going to send it.

Eventually.”

“When?” I asked.

She didn’t answer.

Mark rubbed the back of his neck. “I know I should have called you.

I picked up the phone so many times. But she begged me not to. I didn’t want her to feel like I was choosing your side over hers.

I wanted her to have one safe place where she didn’t feel pressured.”