The Switch

Chapter 8

Aria

I had been laying in my bed with the blanket pulled up over my head when I heard the knock. "Aria, can I come in?" My mother says softly, but still loud enough for me to hear it through the door.

"I don't want to talk to you right now!" I yell back, I just wanted to be mad for a bit, and I knew if she came in, she would reason with me and I'd give in and forgive Emory. 

"Okay, I'm giving you until your father gets home, but when he does, we're gonna talk and the outcome might be very different." She says before I hear the sound of her steps  going down the stairs.

I throw the blanket off of my face, sighing. Knowing that if I wait till my father gets home, I'll probably end up grounded, but if I talk to my mother now, I'll just end up with a light scolding and maybe some extra chores this week. This is so unfair, because if I wasn't forced to share a room with Emory in the first place, I wouldn't have had to walk in and see her after losing my sleep over because of her. Okay, so maybe that was a bit of a stretch, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm mad because of her.

Sighing I unlock the door and and make my way downstairs to find my mom standing next to Emory at the kitchen table. I guess she was helping her with her homework. When she looks up and sees me she turns back to Emory for a second. "Go put your stuff back in your room while I have a talk with your sister."

Emory stands up, closing her book and gathering her things. Taking a cautious look between us before making her exit. Once she's gone my mother sits down and then gestures to the chair next to her, "sit," doing as told but maintaining my defiance, I sit across from her instead. I was expecting a lecture but instead she looks at me with concern. "What's going on?"

I look down, I wanted her to yell, that would have made being mad easier. "It's her fault."

"Did she do or say something that made you kick her out of your guy's room?" She asks gently.

I look back up, "it's not our room, its my room that you forced me to share with her, and yes she did something, just her being here is enough!" I snap and she just nods, Which completely confuses me.

"I'm sorry that we made you share a room, but I want you to know, that just because Emory is living with us does not mean that your father and I are going to giver her anymore attention then your brother and you." I now understand ehy she thinks I'm mad.

"What that's stupid, I'm not jealous of her, I just don't want her here. I've told you before, it's wrong and not right. You know she wants to be called EJ, and I saw her talking to Cassidy earlier, and now we're supposed to be going to Uncle Joey's cabin this weekend, it's not right. She's not my sister, she's not Evelyn!" My mother looks startled, like she wasn't expecting me to say any of that.

Then, without Missing a beat she recovers and has a response. "She's not trying to be Evelyn, her going by Ej, I'm sure is just a very likely coincidence, and I'm sorry if the cabin upsets you, your father and I hadn't stopped to think about the last time we had gone there." Then she sighs, "if you apologize and promise to start getting along, you can go to your sleep over."

I look at her shocked, "really?" I was expecting to be in trouble, but I was getting what I wanted instead.

She nods, "yes, but your doing the dishes all next week." She tells me as I hug her before thanking her on my way upstairs to pack. I almost forgot about the fact that I had to apologize, until I walked into my room and saw Emory standing there, nothing bad been put away yet, and it looked like she had either just gotten to the room or had been waiting for me.