How to be Visible

Chapter 5

Okay I had no actual plan up my sleeves plus I was 'caught in the act'. Why today of all the days??

Need I remind you that this is my third day as a griddle high student and my fourth day as a New Verniy resident. Just to clear that up.

I lifted up my hands in frustration and silently screamed. Understand this, my life was totally and completely complain free. I never gave my parents a reason to keep an extra eye on me. Currently, I had a pretty bad feeling that things were about to change.

"Um, eh.. You see.. Thing is.. Uh.. He.. We.. Nothing... The goodbye... Okay I'll stop talking now.". I babbled like a malfunctioning robot because actually I could not explain what just happened even I didn't expect that.

"Come inside, we have a lot of talking to do miss." My mum gave her order and marched into the house, my dad followed suit.

Okay this was very bad. My mum only called me 'miss' when she is pretty ticked. My dad just kept silent. Which was also a bad sign.
I walked inside and closed the door behind me.

"Take a sit miss." My mum gestured to the empty chair beside her.

I quietly sat down. I was careful about my attitude because my mother watched me like a hawk.

"Now do you care to explain why you didn't come home immediately after school, why you didn't call throughout, why a boy dropped you off ten minutes into your curfew and why he decided to declare his unashamed love for his 'darling'?"

She added air quotes when she said the word darling. Seriously my mum should stop watching Nickelodeon with Mason, she was acting like Barb from the Thundermans.

Oh Rita, you are in the middle of a serious conversation with your parents and your comparing your mum to Barb. Really??

"Mom its not what it looks like. I am really sorry that I didn't call you. My battery died and we had rehearsals for the school drama and then we decided to meet up in Chase's house and then his mom wouldn't let me go until I had eaten cookies and milk with them and then immediately after eating, I rushed home hoping to beat my curfew and when he said he loved me, he didn't mean it that way, I mean Chase calls every girl darling, cupcake, sugar and mushy stuff like that. He is just a random play boy."

"So you mean that in Chase's home, no one there owned a phone you could use to call us? And you mean that his mom made only you stay back to snack while everyone left? Next thing you will tell me is that you couldn't come home on your own because his mum requested her son to drop you off."

Knowing my mom she would find a loophole in everything I said, looking for a way to ground me. Well I must say, I did pretty well. I left out the girlfriend part. Knowing myself I would probably tell her later on though.

"That is exactly what happened ma." I replied, nodding my head.

"Well Rita you have only spent two days in school and you are already 'acquainted' with the boys. Do I need to resound it redundantly that the very major part of the reason we moved to this town is because of a 'random play boy'? In fact John what should we do with this child?" She turned and looked at my father.

Trust mum to bring the wonderful past up again.

Dad had been looking at his phone and I was pretty sure that he wasn't doing anything. He was just waiting for an intro to make his verdict.

"Rita, I am disappointed in you. Not because of anything, but for the very fact that you are trying to justify yourself, you know you are a girl and...."

I zoned out. I didn't do anything to deserve this lecture. Why do parents derive pure joy in lecturing their children? If they wanted to do it that bad, they should have registered with a school or something.