“Charles Albert Isaac Nicola Newton,” Marie Newton snapped. “You’re being obstinate, and I am not happy about that.”
He knew his mother meant it. She only used his full name when she’d lost complete patience with him. After all, the argument had been going on for almost an hour. Why wasn’t she as exhausted as he?
Charles, known to his few friends as…Charles, although he’d have been over the moon if they gave him a cool nickname like Chick or Chaz or something…He gave a heavy sigh. He’d hoped to avoid this conversation with his parents—well, primarily with his mother—but it seemed like it had become inevitable. That didn’t mean he had to meet her disapproving gaze. He had no doubt she’d be wearing her habitual frown, the one that turned her lips into a thin, tight line, making her seem ye
