My Summer with the Jenkins

1

"Izzy, there is a lot of people here"

I roll my eyes and turn to face my father, Ian. "No there's not, Daddy. I didn't even invite, like, half of my friends. It's only like 100 people, don't ruin my birthday!" I whine, hoping he'll just leave me alone.

He starts to get a stern look on his face. "Izzy," he starts, "don't talk to me like that. I am not one of your little friends." Internally, I roll my eyes, but on the outside I plaster a 1000 watt smile on my face, and I see him soften the tiniest bit. "You're right Daddy, I'm sorry. I downsized the guest list like you asked me to, I just really wanted to celebrate my birthday with my favorite people. You only turn 16 once, right?"

He sighs, and I know he's officially caved. Jackpot. "You're right Izzy, you only turn 16 once. Just behave yourself, and tell your friends not to break anything. Your mother and I will be upstairs in our room, don't get too rowdy now."

I beam at him and give him a quick hug. "Thank you Daddy, we won't." He looks down at me with a small smile on his face, before sighing again and turning back around to head up the stairs. I stand quietly for a few seconds before I hear his bedroom door close, and then I breathe my own sigh of relief. Finally, freedom to let loose!

I see my best friends, Rachel and Allie, walk through the front door. I lock eyes with them and bound down the hall to them, squealing and hugging them tightly. Tonight's gonna be so great.

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"Woo! This party is AWESOME!" I slur, holding a bottle of Grey Goose in one hand and waving the other in the air. "Clap for me, I'm the birthday girl!" I yell, and the crowd goes wild. I hear the sound of glass breaking somewhere in the crowd, and I point in the general direction it came from. "Hey, my daddy is gonna get you for breaking that!" I say, or at least try to say. I don't think it came out how it was supposed to. Oh well.

Someone pulls me down off the table, and I'm about to start kicking before I see it's my totally hot crush, Gabe. I attempt to give him one of my famous 1000 watt smiles, but it comes out more like a creepy smile with my droopy eyes. "Hiiiiiii, Gabe!" I say, running a finger down his chest. He grimaces back at me and I scoff at him, my face turning sour. "Whatever." I say, flipping my free hand in his face.

"Izzy!" Rachel and Allie run up to me. "Your parents are coming down the stairs!" Rachel says in a quick hushed tone. Allie snatches the bottle from my hand and quickly passes it off to one of the other partygoers. "Sweet." He says, taking a swig while he walks away. "Stay cool!" Rachel says, smoothing out my hair while Allie smoothes down my dress. Just then I hear a soft gasp come from my mother behind me, and I realize she hasn't seen what an awesome party I've thrown.

I'm about to tell her how I'm the party queen when my father starts speaking. "Isabelle, we have a surprise for you. Please follow us out to the front yard." He commands and most of the room quiets down before breaking out in a murmur, wondering what I'll be getting.

I smile, as I already know what it is. It's my dream car, a Tesla. I've been asking Daddy for a Tesla for years, and now he finally bought me one as a 16th birthday gift! I'm so excited to get in the driver seat of my new luxury car, and I don't even have to drive it! Even the car knows I deserve to be treated like a princess.

I confidently strut behind my parents, while the rest of the partygoers shuffle behind me, excited to see what it will be. We walk out the front door, and in our roundabout driveway, sitting in front of the fountain, is my new-

Wait, what the hell?

"Surprise!" My mother and father yell, holding their hands out to the terribly ugly Volkswagen Beetle sitting in the driveway.

"What the hell is that?" I ask, absolutely disgusted. "Izzy." My mother chastised while my father says "It's you new car, Izzy!" At this, I take a second, and then I start laughing like a crazed person. I get it now! This was a prank. Weird timing to prank me like this, and I wonder what homeless person they stole this car from. Whoever they are, I hope my parents paid them handsomely to take their car for a few hours.

I stand up straight, wiping my eyes and letting out my last few chuckles before turning to my parents. "Okay guys, this was a hilarious prank. I hope you paid them bum you rented this from. But seriously, where's my Tesla?" My mother is slack jawed while my father has a seriously pissed off look on his face. "There is no Tesla, Izzy. This is your car."

I giggle for a few more seconds until I look at both of their faces - they're serious.

Oh. My. God.

"You can't be serious!" I explode, so much anger building in my drunken body it borders on rage. "This thing?" I walk over to it, taking in the disgusting orange color it's painted in. "This nasty-" I punch a window, "disgusting-" I kivk a tire, "ugly fucking thing!" I slam the side mirror so hard on my last word that it breaks, hanging on to the car by a couple of wires. "This is what you expect me to drive!" I screech. "Do you not care about me at all!"

My father starts towards me, but just then a terrible feeling washes over me, and I let it happen.  As my father reaches his spot in front of me, I vomit all over him. "This is what I think about this stupid fucking car." Then, the world goes black.

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And that's the first chapter! What do we think of Izzy, huh?

I know this chapter is a little short, I'm writing on mobile and also just warming up, getting the rust out of my system lol.

Stay tuned for more, and thanks for reading!

-J.A.