Phoenix Drop High School

Chapter 13: Fight or Flight

The officer brought Aphmau home and told her mother about what he thought she had done. Aphmau kept her head down in guilt as they spoke.

"Excuse me?" Sylvanna said. "I'm sorry, but there must be some mistake. You're talking about my daughter?"

"Eh, she's your daughter, right?"

"Yes! But my mija would never do this! Show me the spray can," she demanded.

"Well, I couldn't find a spray can on her, just this sponge. So I can't really prove she tagged anything herself. It's just oddly suspicious she was trying to clean it up." Sylvanna's blood boiled at the officer's accusations.

"Look," she snipped, "I raised my daughter to be a clean person. The only spray can she needs is Lemon Pledge. Aphmau, go clean something while I show mister police officer out." Aphmau obeyed her mother without a word.

"Mm, fine. I'll let her off with a warning. This time. Any later and she would've been violating the park's curfew. Have a good night." The officer turned away and left their house, Sylvanna closing the door behind him. The second the door shut, she turned around with a vein popping out of her forehead, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Aphmau!"

"Eek!"

"You've got some explaining to do, young lady. First off, why were you at the park so late?" she hollered.

"Mom, I need to talk to you. This all started with-"

"Wait. Were you out there getting all smoochy with a boy?"

"What? No! I-"

"I swear if I found out you kissed a boy already, I-Well, I don't know what I'd do. I'd probably have to hire a tiny helicopter to follow you around with a camera. To send you away to an all girls school! Whichever one is cheaper."

"You wouldn't!"

"Then why were you at the park?" she yelled. Catching her volume, she took a deep breath. "You know what, I am sorry about raising my voice. We'll talk about this later. Right now I want you to go up to your room. I'm going to call Zianna to calm down." Aphmau whimpered as her mom pulled out her phone. "Don't think you're off the hook for one minute!" Aphmau made her way up the stairs to her bedroom as her mother called her best friend. "Zianna!" she said when she picked up.

"Woo, girl! I know that sound in your voice," Zianna replied as Garroth came into the kitchen. "Who's Zianna gonna have to get all crunk on?" Garroth shook his head at his mom, embarrassed.

"We don't need to get crunk on anyone, yo. At least not yet. I think Aphmau's had her first kiss and didn't tell me!"

"What? Are you serious girlfriend?"

"I'm totes serious right now and I was about to get all up in her grill about it too! But I decided to call you first for advice."

"First off, you don't know fo' sho' if she did. Second, Aphmau's too innocent to be kissing boys." At the Aphmau's name, Garroth looked at his mom, a little afraid when she mentioned kissing. Had they found out about what happened at dinner? He turned back to the fridge, shaking the thought out of his head. "But if she did, I swear I'll find this boy and murder him!" Garroth turned around again, his eyes bulging. His mother was going to murder him?! Now he knew he could never tell them! "I'll make sure he never put his lips on our sweet little innocent Aphmau again!"

"Yes! Could not agree with you more! But we have to remember: WWBD. What Would Beyonce Do?"

While the two mothers screamed at each other about Beyonce's way of handling things, Aphmau sat in her closet, afraid. She wanted to tell Sylvanna about the whole thing, but she knew she would overreact. Then she would never let her do anything with anyone ever again. She always got like that. She needed to figure out a way to solve the problem on her own. That's when it struck her: Laurance.