Blame it on September

Chapter 1 (Leila)

Waking up to my alarm clock on the first day of summer isn’t at all what I was expecting. But I guess it was my fault for not turning it off last night. I try to fall back asleep but the never ending growling in my stomach keeps me up. I finally decide to get up and go downstairs to eat breakfast to please my tummy. It is pretty early so I try my best to be quiet. As I walk past the living room and make my way into the kitchen, I hear clicking and then see my father typing away on his laptop. I have to be honest, he wasn’t the first thing I wanted to see in the morning, it may have ruined my appetite. He hasn’t turned around yet, so I hope he hasn’t realized I am standing here. I turn around planning to go back upstairs. I will just come back down and eat once he goes to work.

“Leila, where are you going beautiful? I made you and Annabelle breakfast since it is your first day of summer,” Apparently my sneaking away from this old hag didn’t really work out, unfortunately.

“Oh, well then I will wait for her, in my room.”

“What? You didn’t know that today was her first day at work? I thought she would’ve told you,” I just shrugged. I totally forgot that today was her first day at the Cape May Diner. I guess I can’t get out of this after all. “Come sit with me and tell me what this nonsense is about you wanting to go to photography school. I thought you wanted to go to Law School at Stanford like the rest of us.”

“No Dad, that is what you and Mom have planned for me. You have never even asked me what I wanted to major in. And for the heads-up, I want to be a photographer, and Annabelle wants to be a psychologist. We don’t want to follow in your and Mom’s footsteps. In case you haven’t noticed, you guys aren’t the best parents.” 

I can’t believe I just said that. I have always thought that and Annabelle has too, but neither of us have ever talked back to our parents. We hope that if we don’t associate with them, they will disappear. But everything I said is true, they don’t care one bit about us. All they care about is themselves and what people think of them. God-forbid they have the decency to even pretend they care. I hear footsteps coming from the hall and all I hope to see is Annabelle, even though she is at work. But I am sadly mistaken, it’s my mother.

“What did you just say to me?” 

Like he didn’t hear me. I feel like I should apologize because he is getting up now and I am scared. What if he hits me? The only thing at arms length to defend myself with is a bowl of fruit and a cereal box. I’ve never seen him this angry, his head looks like he is going to explode.

“Never have I ever heard or seen someone so disrespectful! Me and your mother do everything we can to make you and your sister happy! Am I right? You ask for money, food, clothes, anything, and we give it to you! You are such an ungrateful brat,” He is starting to make his way closer to me.

I feel like he is going to do something crazy. I slowly walk backwards preparing to defend myself. At this point my mother is standing at my dad’s side and just shaking her head, agreeing with this lunatic.

“It isn’t that we are ungrateful; it’s that you and your wife don’t know how to raise a child and love them with everything you have! It’s not all about the money or what you give to us. It is what you do with us and how you express your love for us. And maybe we would appreciate what you do for us if you didn’t always flaunt everything around and make everything about you and what you want!” I am glad I got everything off my chest, but now my mother and father are yelling at me then at each other then back at me. I cannot decipher what either of them are saying.

“You know what, thanks for breakfast, Dad. It looked really good. I am going back to bed!” I run off to my room before anything more was said and call Annabelle.

I tell her everything that happened and she said she would be home when her shift was over, which was in another forty-seven minutes. I guess I am locking myself in my room until then.

***

My phone beeps and I look down to see i have a text from Annabelle.

Hey come outside...I am here. And try not to let Mom or Dad see you.  

I don’t know why she added the part about my parents. They were both at work and I always do my best to avoid them. Even though it doesn’t always work out how I want. I just reply with an OK, grab my purse, and go out to her car.

“So where are we going?”

“Shopping, lunch, then I don’t know. We have to go home sometime, we have to sleep somewhere,” She is right. We cannot sleep in her car all night, but I wish we didn’t have to go back to that hell-hole.

***

It’s almost ten-thirty now, and we are pulling into our driveway. Hopefully my parents are both asleep. I don’t need them to spoil the good day that I have had with Annabelle.

“Ready?” Annabelle says, obviously forcing a smile.

“Not really, but I guess we have to go in,” I reply.

As we walk through the front door, we're trying our best to be as quiet as a mouse. But something just doesn’t feel right. Maybe my mom and dad haven’t fallen asleep yet.

“Where have you two been? We have been worried sick!” Mom says.

“And the nightmare begins,” I whisper under my breath, just loud enough so only Annabelle can hear. “We were out shopping,” I say, hoping she doesn’t care enough and will just let us go to our rooms.

“Just out shopping? Don’t you know how worried we were? You don’t answer our calls or texts, and you don’t even leave a note here.”

“Well you never cared before. So we decided to do what we wanted for once. We wanted to see what it would be like if we didn’t do what you said for one night. And to tell you, it was fun and exciting,” I hope all this arguing doesn’t start again, I just want to go to my room and go to sleep.

“You know what, you two are grounded. For two weeks. Disappoint me or your father again and next time it will be four weeks,” Mom is trying to scare us, and it isn’t working. Does she really think we will listen to her? At this point I start to wonder where my dad is. She keeps mentioning that he was worried. I bet he is out at the bar with his friends getting drunk like every other Friday night. 

“Go to your rooms right now, and don’t come out until morning,” This lady finally says something I actually care to hear. Right now I know she is serious about grounding us, and I am furious about that, but I just want to go to sleep.

***

ANNABELLE: Hey wanna get out of here tonight?...well not just for tonight...but for a while?

ME: Where to?

ANNABELLE: IDK...just meet me outside around 2:00 a.m...and pack everything that you will need for at least a month...but try to pack light.

ME: Where are we going to stay?

ANNABELLE: We’ll figure it out...just get ready for the thing we have always wanted...to get out of this crappy house.

ME: Alright...see you later!! :)

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AUTHORS NOTE:  Vote and comments would be nice!!  THANKS! (: