Not Your Average Prep

Chapter One

I park the car and leave, grabbing my bag. It had been nearly impossible to find a parking space. The party is packed.

I enter the house without knocking, knowing nobody would care if I come in uninvited. Josh sees me and pushes his way through the crowd.

"Hey, Alana," Josh says, handing me a cup. I take a sip, not caring what's inside.

Loud music pounds into my ears,my heart beating to the beat of the song. "Let's dance!" I shout over the music.

He nods, grabs my arm, and pulls me onto the dance floor. I shove people out of the way so we have room to dance.

Josh does the same, until we have a small circle to dance in. I grin, and begin dancing. People try to enter our little circle, but we just shove them back out again.

The music is so loud I can't hear myself think; not like I would do much of that at a party, anyways. My favorite song comes on, and I squeal in delight. "I love this song!"

But, my squeal is drowned out by other screams. The music stops, the lights turn off, and hundreds of teenagers scream in terror.

"What's happening?"

"Just a power outage," Josh says, trying to act calm, but I hear panic in his voice, "we'll be fine."

"What's wrong?"

"We must've just... Blew a fuse. I dunno."

I hear something crack, and then a small light. They must have cracked a glow-stick.

The music turns back on quietly, and the light above us flickers. "The power's back!" someone says.

Thanks a lot, random person. I couldn't tell.

The lights flicker back off, and the music stops. People groan. "What're we gonna do?"

My phone buzzes loudly, and I whip it out of my pocket. Mom. I panic, not knowing what to do. After eternity, the phone stops ringing. Six missed calls.

Crap. What time is it? I glance back down at the phone; 5:58.

Crap! I promised myself I'd be home by four. "I have to go," I say to Josh. He nods, and I walk out the door quietly.

I park the car into the driveway and get out. I enter the house, and my mother greets me, a stern, angry look stamped on her face.

"Where have you been?" she screams.

"I was at a club after school," I say slowly.

"Then why did I get a call saying you weren't there for the second half of school?"

"It was, uh, a field trip," I stutter.

"What club?" she sounds more angry than curious.

"The... chess club?"

"Give me your phone." she holds out her hand.

"What?" I clutch my purse to my chest.

"The phone. Give it to me."

"Why?"

"Just give it to me. Now."

I sigh and open the purse. I fish out my iPhone and put it in her hand.

"What's your passcode?"

"My what?"

She shows me the lock screen of the phone. "The passcode. To unlock your phone."

"Oh." I take the phone and unlock it. I give it back to her.

"What are you doing?"

"Just looking at some texts."

"Mom!" I shout, reaching for the phone. "Those are private."

She pulls the phone out pf my reach. "When I first gave you this phone, what did you promise?"

"Mom-"

"What did you promise?" she asks louder.

"That you'd be able to moniter my texts," I mumble.

"Hm?"

"That you'd be able to moniter my texts!" I shout. She nods and continues to read through the texts.

"Mom-"

She throws me the phone. "I've read enough. You're grounded for a month."

"Mom!"

"You can't just skip school to go to an adult-" she enunciates adult- "party. I'm not letting you get away with it. Now, go do your homework."

"I can't do it," I grit my teeth. "I wasn't at school."

"Maria was kind enough to drop off your homework. It's on your desk. Don't come downstairs until you're finished."

I roll my eyes and walk to my room. I'm not going to do that homework; I'll just get one my phome or watch TV or something.

"Oh, and give me your phone," she adds. I want to scream. I shove the phone into her hand. "No TV, or computer, or anything else."

"Really? Fine. Lock me up in my room all day!" I say, storming into my room and slamming the door behind me.