Hurricane Love

Eleven

'I'm home,' I mumbled, aiming to be loud enough for Christine to hear. Glancing around the house as I walked, I looked for her and finally found her putting together bouquets on the kitchen counter.

'Wow, you look rough,' she said, when she saw me.

'Late night of studying at Abbie's,' I sighed, moving to the sink for a glass of water. I was seriously dehydrated with the ultimate headache.

'You mean late night of drinking at Mason's house?' she said, making me freeze with my glass to my lips and I immediately lowered it and looked at her.

'How do you know?' I asked.

'I have friends, Amelia,' she said. 'Friends whose kids went there too and all got in so much trouble when they got home. I saw a few mums discussing it on Facebook this morning and then I read that it was Mason Miller's house.'

'I didn't even know he was having a party,' I told her. 'He didn't tell me. I went there just to see him, I swear! The party was already crazy when I got there and Abbie and I stayed just so I could keep an eye on things because it was all Ryker taking advantage of Mason again. I left early and went to Abbie's house, I promise.'

'Amelia, you are sixteen,' she said, giving me a serious stare. 'You shouldn't be drinking.'

'Everybody does it; it's not a big deal,' I sighed, not feeling up to this argument ahead.

'You do it because everybody does?' she asked.

'Don't you dare start that "if everybody jumped off a bridge" shit,' I warned. 'I'm not in the mood to listen to this; go ahead, just ground me.'

'What's the point?' she asked. 'Do you ever listen to me anyway? Maybe I should wait until Stan's home; maybe I'll let him be the bad parent for once and maybe you'll listen to him.'

'Stan doesn't give a shit,' I told her. 'He just wants to come home and watch his TV shows in peace, not deal with me.'

'I thought you were past all this?' she said. 'The drinking phase ended ages ago and now you're doing it again?'

'No, it was a one off!' I cried. 'It was a party for Christ's sake!'

'I'm not yelling at you, why are you yelling at me?' she asked.

'Because you're annoying me!' I exclaimed.

'If you're going to shout I'm not talking to you,' she said, flatly.

'Good!' I yelled, turning around and heading for the stairs to my room.

'So you're skipping school today too?' she called up to me, as I moved up the stairs and ignored her.

She didn't say another word and I quickly closed my door behind me, trying to forget about how annoying she was.

I lay on my bed and pulled out my phone, dialling Mason and I rolled onto my back as I waited.

'Hey babe,' he answered. 'You okay? I didn't see you leave, you were meant to stay over.'

'I left early with Abbie,' I told him.

'Why?' he asked. 'Everything okay?'

I thought back to Luca getting creepy with me in his room and Ryker popped into my mind, reminding me that he had saved my arse from that one.

'Yeah, fine,' I lied. 'I just hadn't been in the mood for a party and it was getting out of hand so we escaped.'

'Oh, don't I know it,' he sighed. 'My mum is losing her mind today. I thought they were away for two nights but they returned this morning and Ryk and I hadn't gotten a chance to get up and tidy the house. There are ornaments and antiques smashed, writing on the walls, empty bottles lying all over the floors, Mum's carpets are soaked with vomit and god knows what else and I'm in so much trouble.'