Ranger's Apprentice - The Afterwards

Ch. 9

They stood at Maddie's front door, not wanting to go inside.
Unlike the night before, they hadn't arrived early. After their kiss, they had talked for hours and hours. They had ridden the horses back to the market, where Jason had bought Maddie lunch, although she'd offered to pay multiple times.
Then, they'd went to watch the sunset back in the meadow. Jason had told Maddie about his life; about how he had three older sisters who'd all became housewives of farmers or bakers, and two younger brothers, who were twins.
Maddie had found this interesting. She didn't have siblings and was amused by how different they seemed to make life.
Maddie was aroused from her thoughts as her father opened the door.
"Maddie, Jason." Horace said as greeting.
"Hullo, Sir." Jason said, polite as usual. "I'm sorry Maddie wasn't back as early tonight."
"That's alright. She's not late. Right on time, in fact." Jason smiled.
"Yes Sir," he said. Then he turned to Maddie. "I'll be by a little earlier tomorrow. It's my day off from morning chores."
Maddie felt like jumping up and down, but she contained herself. Jason shook Horace's hand and left.
Maddie hadn't stepped two feet from the door when Will walked in. He seemed upset.
"Hullo, Will!" Maddie greeted cheerily. The old Ranger turned to look at Maddie without a smile. Her own happy expression melted off her face.
"Madelyn." Will replied shortly as he dropped on the couch.
Madelyn? Why is he using my full name? Maddie sat on the couch next to him, thinking it over.
"Is something wrong, Will?" Horace asked, seating himself in the chair.
"We will discuss it later." Will retorted. Horace began to protest.
"Is now such a bad-"
"We will discuss it later." Will cut in, more fiercely. He cut his eyes to Maddie quickly. Maddie almost missed the action. But she knew it was there. And then she understood.
She should've known her father would never trust her alone with Jason. He'd sent Will to spy on them. Will had seen their kiss. Maddie had been so caught up in getting to know Jason, she hadn't kept her eyes peeled.
And Maddie had said those things to her father, about how sorry she was for misbehaving. But he hasn't trusted her, still. He was just using her own mentor, her own godfather, to intrude on her privacy.
"I'm tired." Maddie announced. She needed to get out of the room before her anger, her betrayal and her hurt feelings all exploded. She stood and waited for her father to dismiss her before walking calmly to her room.
Once the door was closed, she let out a massive huff of anger. She let several tears fall as she thought of how much she'd thought she'd been trusted and how wrong she had been.
Maddie wasn't sure how long it had been before the tears stopped, but she began to get tired. She crawled in bed, still angry, and stared at the ceiling.
Maddie had a plan to teach her father and Will a lesson. And she'd do it alone.