But Madeline's making a movie with them!

Seeing Madeline's obvious discomfort, Peter started to regret his warning. "I'm sorry sweetie, it's a hard thing for an innocent girl like you to hear, but it's even harder for me to say."

"Lexi said it too," Madeline mumbled, slowly shaking her head before folding her arms across her chest and glancing up at her father. "I mean, when Lexi told her dad about the movie we were making, he said all those things to her, too." She managed a grim smile. "Only way, way worse, cause he used the n-word and all that. Some stuff she couldn't even bring herself to repeat."

Peter took a minute to process the unusual comment. He knew "Lexi" was Alexis Carlson, Madeline's best friend since braiding each other's blonde hair in girl guides (as well as the daughter of Ben Carlson, a powerful executive at his firm) and fellow member of the high school cheerleading squad. He knew Ben was pretty old-fashioned and a protective parent, but he never had him pegged as a racist.

But ultimately, those weren't the details that were giving him pause. "What movie?" Peter asked. "What movie are you making?"

Madeline sighed. "Leroy and his older brother and some other guys are making an independent movie, and they wanted me and Lexi in it, so we said yes," Madeline explained, carefully. "They told us it was going to be a love story about how the prettiest and most popular girls in school have the courage to fall in love with black guys and follow through on their feelings, no matter what anybody else thinks."

"Yeah, complete with kissing?" Peter pressed, and Madeline blinked her big green eyes and nodded in a way that suggested more. "And what, nudity?" Peter wondered if his little girl had committed herself to making interracial propaganda, or pornography!