Frenzy

6 - Hope

  Hope was wondering why Peony and Chloe hadn't come to the courtyard between the boys' wing and the girls' wing. That was their meeting spot, but Chloe had been looking through a book during it and whispering to Peony too. It was probably just Peony getting tips from Chloe on the test.

Hope wondered this for a while, and she sat in her room looking at her bag. Hope remembered the permission slip. She pulled it out of her bag and rushed down the rickety steps into her mom's office. Her mom was at her desk looking over papers. Hope wasn't exactly sure what her mom did, but she knew that she wasn't supposed to interrupt.

Her mom said, "What do you need?"

"You to sign a permission slip." Hope wished that her mom would let her go.

"Where are you going?"

Hope took a step closer to her mom and her mom turned around. "We are having a weekend slumber party at the school." Hope quickly diverted to begging. "Please! Please let me go! All my friends will be there!"

"Get up, and you may go." Hope hadn't realized until her mother had said it- she was on her knees. She quickly got up and handed her mom the paper. Her mother filled it out and handed it back saying, "Turn this in tomorrow. When is the slumber party?"

"This Friday after school to Sunday morning." Hope was at the door with the paper.

"HOW LONG IS IT!!!"

Emmy and Will came running through the house to see why their mom was yelling. When they reached the office door, they saw Hope standing near with a paper.

"Emmerson and Wilson please go back to your rooms; this is a discussion between Hope and I." Their mother almost never called them by their full names. They left obediently.

Hope had always thought that her sister and brother acted like dogs, and so she had never asked for one. Now, she was sure of it. Hope looked at her mother.

"Mom, please. I'll be fine." Hope felt a spark of hope in her.

"Fine, but if anything goes wrong you come home."

"Yes! I will do that." Hope was excited.

"Just, don't get a bad grade on the test." Hope didn't let her smile fade, but she knew that she wasn't going if she didn't get an A. Her mom made that very clear.