When You Were Everything

After class, Cleo confronts Sloane about the rumor. Sloane insists that Cleo cannot prove that the rumor about her dad isn’t true. Cleo starts to doubt everything and goes in search of her dad to find out the truth.

Cleo sneaks out of school through a side door and gets on the train. She doesn’t text her dad to tell him that she is coming to his work. When she arrives, he is surprised to see her and immediately notices that she is upset. She tells him about the rumor she heard and demands to know if this is the reason why he left Chisholm and moved out. He insists that he didn’t have a relationship with a student; he and Naomi split up because they thought it would be the best course of action. Cleo doesn’t know what to believe and decides to talk to her mom, too.

She takes the train home and calls Naomi at work, then starts crying when her mom comes to the phone. Through her tears, Cleo tells Naomi about the rumor. Naomi reveals that Cliff “had an affair with Ms. Novak” (307), which is why he left Chisholm and why the marriage is over.