In Her Shoes

Chapter 32: Party Planning

So my punishment wasn't as bad as I thought. I didn't really have much to take away though they did take away my phone that didn't work that well anyway. I got what seemed like a two hour lecture about why fighting is wrong and responsibility and change and for some reason boys came up again, and blah, blah, blah.

I was grounded for two weeks, but apparently my fake parents had never grounded me before so they weren't exactly sure what that entailed. I told them very little but in the end it mostly ended in my favor. They both still had work however so there was no one to make sure I would stay home. I thought I was lucky and could sneak out, but they would take turns calling the house phone at fifteen to thirty intervals just to make sure I was there.

It was so annoying.

I gave them my word that I wouldn't leave, and since I was suspended for three days I had no where to go anyway. They really didn't even have to worry about me escaping since I wanted to give my face time to heal before I went out into society again anyway. By the fourth day I gave my parents the stupid pink slip that said I was allowed back at school, and they signed it reluctantly. They also realized I would need my cell phone back so they could "check up" on me at school, so they reluctantly gave that back, too.

All in all, being grounded worked out pretty well.

I felt too cool to take the bus so I texted Aid to pick me up as soon as my fake parents left for work. I kinda had the feeling that I was leaning on him too heavily, but when he showed up punctually with that big doofy grin on his face I dismissed that thought immediately.

"I tried to call you," he said as I hopped on.

"Phone got taken away."

He was confused. "But...how'd you text me?"

I smiled. "Got it back."

He raised his brows at me, impressed. "That quick?"

"I'm a G like that," I said shrugging.

He tossed his head back and laughed, and we headed off to school.

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We arrived fairly early, for I wanted to beat the crowd. Since no one was around we hung out by the side of the building so people who were arriving wouldn't see us right off.

"So how bad was it?" I asked him wearily.

"Not bad at all actually. I mean, everyone's Shenise got the most hits in, but they really admire the way you knocked her out. "I shuddered as I remembered how I had sent her flying. Definitely not one of my proudest moments.

"You 'kay?" he asked. "You look sorta pale."

I ran a hand down my face. "I just wish everyone one would forget about it. I punched a girl dude."

"You are a girl," he reminded me with a smile.

"Yeah only on the outside."

"Well the outside is what everybody sees. Stop tripping about it."

I sighed. "Yeah I guess..."

"Besides no one's likely to forget this. If we were still doing your stupid little scheme you would definitely be on top now."

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Yeah thank god for that. But I'm running out of time, Aid."

"How's your uh...little tree doing?"

I sighed again. "I think it's dying. The leaves all seem to be falling off one by one."

"Well hey, at least it's dying slowly. Though I admit, it's bad that it's dying at all," he added before I could glare at him for his optimism. "But we still have time."