The Life Changing Vacation

~Chapter 198~

Kristina's POV
I went to the party where Dory was going. People from our class arranged it because of her birthday. I walked right over to some of my friends, and they offered me alcohol. ''I'm good thanks, I'm not allowed to drink yet'', I told them. ''Come on, it's your sister's birthday. I bet your parents let you for this one night'', one of them said. ''You don't know them'', I laughed nervously. I started thinking about them.

I knew I weren't allowed to go to that party. I was afraid Dory was gonna be on their side. But I just acted cool. ''You know what? I don't give a fuck'', I said before I grabbed a bottle of tequila. We all had fun until Dory came. She brought me into the bathroom. ''What are you doing!? You shouldn't be here'', she told me. ''I don't care, let's have some fun for once in our life'', I said. ''Kris, you gotta go back home'', she demanded. ''Home? My home is about 10 hours away with an air plane'', I explained. ''Your home, is here in LA! And your parents are Alex and Joanna Murphy. I know you've always thought of Norway as your home, but things are different now. You gotta put everything behind you'', she sighed. ''I did a long time ago. You want proof? Well now you'll get it'', I said and continued partying. I could see Dory checked her phone. She looked a little worried, as if she were afraid she was gonna get in trouble.

It was like that for like an hour, but then suddenly Dory had gotten too much to drink and everything changed. ''Hey Kristina, how many shots have you taken?'', she asked me. ''Like two of them'', I answered. ''Is that it? Here take this'', she poured some more tequila in my glass. I begun regretting going to the party. ''Um.. you know.. you're right, I shouldn't have come here'', I was about to get up from my chair. But Dory grabbed my arm. ''Wait.. aren't you gonna finish your drink?'', she asked me. ''Um, sure'', I said and took the whole thing in one shot. I went out of there and called for Alex. After about 30 minutes, he was there.

It was hard to start a conversation when I got into the car. It took about ten minutes before any of us said a word. ''I'm sorry'', I said. ''I know you are. You did a good thing when you decided to call us. But the alcohol smell coming from you? Unacceptable'', Alex said. ''I know, I didn't want to feel different'', I explained. ''I see that, and you made a good decision when you called me instead of Joanna, because she would have just argued'', he laughed. ''That's why I called you. I knew you would take it more nicely'', I said. ''You're starting to change you know'', he begun. ''In what way?'', I asked. ''You're finally beginning to become a Murphy'', he said. ''But.. we're not the same blood'', I said confused. ''Not Joanna or Dory either. You become the people you're with'', he continued. I was thinking deeply about that sentence. It felt like life hit different at that time. ''Why am I still alive after everything?'', I laughed. ''You're a survivor'', Alex explained.

When we got back to the house, we didn't see Joanna. We thought she had gone to bed. But when I went into my room to go to bed myself, she was there. She looked so disappointed. ''Joanna? Please don't be mad'', I begged. ''I told you not to go to that party!'', she raised her voice. ''But I'm almost 18 years old'', I told her. ''I don't care how old you are until you show me you can act like that age!'', she yelled. Suddenly, we heard Janice started crying. Joanna sighed. ''Now if you will excuse me.. and you're grounded by the way'', she said and walked out of the room. I felt a few tears running down my face. But. after a few minutes when Janice was quiet, Joanna came back into my room and hugged me. ''I'm sorry for yelling at you, I'm having. bad day. I'm just so stressed that you guys are growing up'', she told me.

After a little while, we heard the front door open. Dory came home. She was drunk. Very drunk. ''You got to be kidding me'', Joanna said. ''Joanna, she's an adult. Just let her find out about the consequences herself'', I said to calm her down.