Sweet Revenge

Chapter 15

I sit up in my bed, rubbing my watery eyes and bending over to get a peek at the alarm clock on my nightstand. It flashes 12:30 in bright blue numbers. Looks like I wasted the entire morning. I'm not the least bit surprised though, considering last night was a complete blur ending with me arriving home at 1:30 in the morning.

My mom was already tucked into bed, so I was exempted from her anger, but I know she's going to admonish me when I come downstairs.

To my surprise, she told me last night that she approved of me going out as long as I come back home at a reasonable hour. Clearly, I did not arrive back at a very reasonable hour, and I am not excited to figure out her reaction to that.

There is one thing I vividly remember from the party: Jesse kissing me. Even after replaying the breathtaking kiss in my head over and over again, I cannot identify if he only did it because of Sarah or not. It sure felt real and I want it to be, but I have much more important things to focus on today.

First of all, I have to muster up the courage to stroll downstairs and mend things with my mom. Second of all, I must meet up with Ashley, Kelsey, and Samara to explain a plan that I have been drafting ever since I tucked myself into bed last night. The plan definitely requires leaving the house a lot, and I won't be allowed to do that if mom is still angry with me.

But before I can pull myself up and out of bed to visit my mom in the kitchen, I hear a harsh knock on my door. Looks like I don't even have to move a muscle to get step one of my master plan finished. Before I can even respond to the knock, my mom barges into my room with her arms crossed against her chest and her eyes shooting daggers at me.

"Ivy. I think you have some explaining to do. You know I heard you come home last night, right?"

Clearly, she is not here to mess around and she's not going to just take some stupid excuse from me. That's exactly why I have no choice but to guilt trip her to receive forgiveness instead.

"Mom, I'm so sorry. It's just that my new friends are so fun to hang out with and I got a little carried away at the party. I guess you were right that I needed friends," I pause before speaking my next few words, scared to voice my thoughts aloud. "I don't know what the Poppy situation did to me."

Honestly, it isn't completely untrue, but I feel more than terrible for blaming my lack of a social life on Poppy. She should be the one blaming me from up in heaven for spoiling her entire life. I was a corrosive poison to her garden of potential.

My mom's smile suddenly drops and gets replaced with a sympathetic gaze.

"That's okay, honey. I shouldn't have been angry with you for having good friends."

She takes a few hesitant steps toward my bed and wraps her arms around me in a tight, warm embrace. For once, I let her squeeze me instead of pushing her away.

"I might have to go out and see them again today. Can I?" I plead, jutting my lip out and giving her my very best droopy puppy dog eyes expression. My mom's sternness melts completely when she sees it.

"Alright, fine." She answers, not being able to turn down my adorable features. Puppy dog eyes always work on her.

"I feel like you're never home anymore." She mentions in a disappointed tone suggesting she misses my daily presence in the house.

Extremely contradictory to what she was just telling me a week ago about being concerned that I have no social life.

"If I can remember correctly, you were the one who told me to make friends and get out of the house." I remind her.