30 Things We Did. (And Probably Shouldn't Have)

1. Lied To Our Parents

                                                    1. Lied To Our Parents.

Now That's What I Call Quality Family Time:

The sound of the door slamming floated down the hall and bounced of the disgusting vegetarian burgers that occupied the fridge. I rolled my eyes, grabbing hold of the Pepsi that my brother cautiously hid behind the veggie burgers (knowing that I wouldn't go near them) before slamming the fridge door and stomping my way out of the kitchen. I sipped my soda thoughtfully as I walked up the stairs, trying to ignore the screaming match taking place downstairs. Here we go again. Lately, the secretive whispers and the childish fights had been getting worse. Slowly increasing. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I barely felt it when I slammed into my wall of a brother, Aaron. He smiled before ruffling my hair. "Watch it shorty." He smirked. I rolled my eyes to the ceiling. "Hardy har har, I'm not short, you're just enormous. What's going on down there?" I asked when I saw his face, he looked mildly upset. He ran a hand through his hair. "Mom found Wendy's umm, unmentionables in the wash today. She thinks dad's cheating on her. So she took all of his umm, unmentionables and grilled them. Hey is that my Pepsi?" He said this all really fast, narrowing his eyes at the last part. I almost laughed out loud  Only mom would think of something like that. Wendy is Aaron's girlfriend, they've been going strong for two years. Of course mom probably wouldn't know that, too busy wrapped up in her world where the only thing that matters is paperwork.

The door slammed again. But this time it echoed around the house. My eyebrows furrowed. That was the sound of the front door slamming. I rushed downstairs to find mom calmly peeling a pair of boxer briefs from the stovetop. I narrowed my eyes. "Where's dad?" I said, ignoring the sound of the car engine starting. I just needed to hear it. To make sure it wasn't what the annoying voice in the back of my head kept telling me it was. Her mouth pressed into a firm line, "Harper, we tal-" "Scout mom, its Scout." I interrupted her. She huffed before turning back to trying to pry dad's undies off the stove. "He's leaving Harper." She said. I didn't even bother correcting her. My eyes widened and I had to blink away tears. He's leaving. He's leaving, gosh, did I hear her right?  To say I was a daddy's girl would be the understatement of the century. I always took His side. Listened to His rules. "No." I whispered. My mom just looked at me with apathetic eyes. "He's outside if you wanna say goodbye." She mumbled. But I didn't hear her because the door was already slamming behind me. 

"We can talk about it, if you want." he said. I didn't answer. Instead I stared off into the distant blue skies. We were sitting on the porch. The violets and orchids from the garden pushing their floral scent towards us through the wind. I couldn't look him in the eyes. "Scout," He said his voice forced. "Scout." He said again. He waved his hand in front of my face. I just blinked slowly. He sighed. "You have to understand, sometimes in a marriage the couple just doesn't connect anymore and I tri-" "Stop," I said my voice angry and hurt "I don't want to hear it." He frowned and lifted up his baseball cap before pushing it down even further. "Trust me when I say that this was the la-" "How could you?" I glared at him. "How. Could.You?" I pronounced each word slowly. His jaw smashed into one hard line. "You'll be living with you're mother." he said. "No way." I replied forcefully. There is no way I'm living with that bitch. "You have no other place to go!" He said desperately  "I'll live with Kat." Again, no way I'm living with my mom. "Her mom will be there."  I spat. He looked down. "This isn't something I can discuss, you'll have to bring this up with Jul- I mean your mother." He stuttered. I got up wordlessly and walked away, faintly hearing him get into his car and drive away. I couldn't handle a goodbye right now.

"We're moving." My mom said, pulling out a brochure. I dropped my spoon into my cereal, it landed with a loud clanging noise. It had been three weeks since dad left. I had been ignoring his desperate phone calls and deleted every message. Yes, I'm royally pissed at him for leaving me with her. The past few weeks had been hell. When Aaron found out, he threw a fit and locked himself away in his room for hours. Music pounding through the walls. "But I have school, I can't leave in the middle of the year, are you crazy?" I asked my, voice raising. Tears threatened to fall, not the first time this month. "It's okay, it'll a fresh new start, we can be a family again!" She smiled blandly. The cereal threatened to make a reappearance. 

Until something clicked. I smiled evilly  There's no way she can say no. "Mom," I asked sweetly, "How about I stay with Kat for the remainder of the school year?" She scowled. "Absolutely not!" She roared. I sulked and looked up at her from underneath my eyelashes like all the girls in romance novels do. I guess romance novels don't have their facts correctly because she shook her head violently. "Think about it! We wouldn't be alone! Kat's mom would be there and... um... Aaron could come and make sure we don't do something stupid." Aaron chocked on his pancakes and glared at me. "Leave me out of this! I'm moving in with Wendy!" I sighed. Of course Aaron got to move in with Wendy on his own because he is "a mature adult who can handle adult situations." And of course, to prove that he's a mature adult, he stuck his tongue out at me and grinned. I rolled my eyes while my mom carefully analyzed the situation. She's gonna give in, I just know it.

Like A Bloodhound:

"Get in the car" Kat said smiling. Her hair was bright purple, her color of the week. I smiled back and hopped in. Kat's a year older than me, but decided to take a "break" before going to college  After my mom asked Ms.Sullivan if she was alright with me staying, Kat texted me nonstop about the changes and how many wild parties we would throw together. I knew she was kidding. Kind of. "I can't wait, this is gonna be so much fun!" She laughed. "We should get a cat, no wait a dog, we should throw a party, my mom has so-" "Kat!" "What?" she asked innocently. "What's your mom gonna say about this?" I said. Sometimes I had to be the mature one, even though Kat's going off to college soon. She bit her lip. "Umm, have fun and party hardy?" I glowered and she shifted in her seat uncomfortably  "Don't be a fool wrap your tool?" I hit her in the arm and she yelped. When she looked up at me, her eyes flashed with something. I narrowed my own eyes. Something was ticking in the back of my head. Something seemed off. Then it clicked.

"KAT!" I screeched and the car came to a complete stop as I gripped her arm. Hard. "Damn girl, you've got some nails!" She shouted. "ISN'T YOUR MOM IN TAHITI WITH HER BOYFRIEND?!" I shouted again. She gulped loudly. "Yeah..." "FOR SEVEN MONTHS?!" I screamed. How could I have forgotten this? She swallowed again, looking nervous. "Yeah..." she said again, her voice cracking. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. We could do this. All we had to do was be careful and we could pull this off. I wouldn't have to live with my mother and Kat wouldn't get in trouble. The only problem is my mom can sniff out lies like a bloodhound. And I was a terrible liar. 

"That was you on the phone, wasn't it?"

"Yup."

"And my mom thinks that your mom's gonna be watching us?"

"Yup"

"And your mom thinks that my mom's cool with me staying over with you unsupervised?"

"Yup."

"And we're in some serious shit right now?"

"Yup."

I laughed out loud  "We're gonna have an the apartment all to ourselves then?" She cracked a smile, glad that I wasn't mad. "Of course." I smiled, a real smile. This is gonna be great.