The Perks Of Being Amanda Summerlyn

Chapter 19: Confessions

The next morning, I eat breakfast at Faith's house, which is just Fruit Loops and orange juice- before she offers to drive me home in her mom's car even though her mom will kill her when she finds out. I go home in her pajamas since she told me I could keep them and she also gives me a plastic bag to put my damp costume in. The ride home in silent. I stare out the window at the cold, gray sky. I feel fresh and renewed without all of the dirt and alcohol on me, but there's a huge hole inside of my heart that won't go away.

We pull up to my house to what seems like a second to me, but is only twenty minutes. I sigh, looking up at my house. "You gonna be okay going up there?" Faith asks. I can feel her looking at me, so I look back at her.

"Yeah," I say "I'll be fine." She nods and opens the car door for me. "Thank you, Faith," I say as I jump out of the car. "For everything."

She smiles at me. "No problem," she says, and I shut the door before walking up the stairs, shivering against the cold wind, the snow crunching beneath my sneakers.

Before I'm even at the stairs, the door is being flung open and out steps Mom in a blue sweater, leggings, and socks. She gasps when she sees me and opens the screen door. "Amanda Olivia Caitlin Summerlyn, get in this house now!" she snaps.

I do as she says, not looking back at Faith as I step into the living room. Dad is sitting on the couch in a black T-shirt, jeans, and socks, wearing reading glasses on his eyes. His arms are crossed and he's glaring at me behind his glasses. I smile nervously at him. "Hi, Daddy," I say. He doesn't budge though.

"Sit," he commands, and I do. I sit on the opposite couch to the left as Mom shuts the door and sits down next to Dad. 

The room is terrifyingly silent before Mom speaks. 

"Amanda, you don't have any idea how worried we were last night," she says.

"Mom, I-"

"Let me finish," she says, holding her hand up to stop me from speaking. "Ally called us, saying that you left the party in a hurry. Then she called you several times, but you never picked up. So then I decided to try and call you, but never picked up which I'm very angry about. Then at 11:15 at night, I get a call, saying that you're at Oliver's house?"

"Mom, I can explain," I say. "The reason I didn't pick up is because my phone was dead. I forgot to charge it before I went to the party. And the reason I was in such a hurry to leave the party is because I was slapped, shoved, and splashed with alcohol by students from my school."

Mom's eyebrows knit together and her shoulders relax slightly.

Dad takes off his glasses as he looks at me softly yet seriously. "What happened at the party, Amanda?" he asks.

I start from the beginning: I tell them about my break up with Ricky over finding out that he was cheating on me with Ashley Marks and Lindsay and how he lied, saying that they just kissed. Then I start on my argument with Lindsay and how I found out that they had sex at the Halloween party and about how they've been meeting in secrecy ever since then, and how she told me if I said anything, she would make rumors about Oliver, his friends, and I. Then I start on the Christmas party. I tell about Ally and I fighting in her car and going back over what happened at lunch with Lindsay and Faith, Oliver and I kissing while ignoring Dad's protests, how Ricky kissed me while Oliver was getting some drinks, when Oliver and I fought outside, my fight with Lindsay and how she planned out Ricky kissing me, how I spilled to half of the school how she was sleeping with Ricky when her boyfriend, David, is still in jail for illegal drug use at Ricky's Halloween party, how she slapped me and splashed me with alcohol, and when everyone started catching onto it and shoving me everywhere.