Rebel Wrong

Chapter Six: Grounded, What's That?

It was early enough that Cade was hoping everyone would still be in bed. She was wrong. Her father was sitting in the front living area, just off of the main entrance, when she walked in. He stood up as soon as he heard the door open.

Cade tried her hardest to avoid him. She bowed her head, pretending she didn't see him, and walked a little bit faster towards the staircase. It was to no avail, of course. He came after her.

"Cadence, where the hell have you been all night?" he demanded of her, stopping her before she could ascend the staircase.

"Wesley took me to a party and ditched me!" she exclaimed. It wasn't entirely a lie. He had left her. She just left out the part where she refused to go with him.

"That's not what Wesley said. He said you hounded him about the party scene and decided to chaperone you when you said you'd go by yourself anyways," her father retorted.

"What!?" Cade sputtered. She was at a loss for words. All she could do was make weird strangling noises as she tried to form a coherent sentence.

"I know you didn't have any supervision with your mother and she let you do whatever you wanted-" he began, going into a full on lecture mode.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on a minute!" Cade waved her hands in front of her face, motioning for him to stop talking. "You think I was the one who came up with the party idea?"

"That's what Wesley-"

"So you just automatically believe him over me?" she demanded.

Henry Quinn wasn't a stupid man. He'd been dealing with women for most of his life. He knew there was no right answer to that question. There was a brief pause as he thought of an appropriate response that wouldn't get him into hot water.

"It's no secret that you aren't happy being here. I don't blame you for that, Cadey. A little acting out and rebellion is to be expected, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you do whatever you want," he told her.

"I didn't want to go there! Wesley was the one who dragged me along and then left me," she growled out.

"Wesley wouldn't do that. He's very responsible," Henry defended the little asshole. Cade let out a snort of laughter. "Cadence," he warned.

Cade wanted to tell him about Wesley's behavior, but that would be admitting that they had kissed. She didn't want him to know that. It was embarrassing and she was ashamed that she had let herself be put in that position. So, probably for the first time in her entire life, she kept her mouth shut and didn't say anything.

Her dad took advantage of her silence and continued with his lecture. "I hope you know this means you're grounded."

"What are you going to do? Keep me away from my friends? Oh, you already did that," she snapped at him.

"No leaving the house for anything other than school," he started, choosing to ignore her comment. "If you take another step out of line I'll take your car away and make you ride the bus."

He was threatening her with the bus? Did he not realize that Melanie hadn't had a car for the last two years? Cade had been taking the bus to and from school and all across town since the first day of her sophomore year.

"Fine," she agreed. She honestly couldn't think of anything to say. She wanted to laugh in his face, but knew that would probably get her into more trouble. So she just accepted it.

She had suspected she'd be in some sort of trouble, but she also hadn't given up hope that her dad might possibly take her side. There was no way that Wesley could hide that shitty personality from everyone.