Lakewood: The Next Chapter

Grounding sucks

Do you know how you have that little voice in your head that says keep your mouth shut? Yeah, ours decided not to do that. Now, our dads grounded us, except for Simon, the lucky dog.

I laid on my bed after cleaning my bedroom when my bedroom door opened. I looked at Dad, who looked at my bedroom, then looked at me.

"Malia?" Dad said in a tone I knew too well.

"Yes, I'm taking my medication," I assured him.

He walked into my room and sat down on the bed. I looked at him.

"Look, I know that you all think this is unfair, but life's not fair," Dad told me.

"I know," I said, blowing air past my lips.

"It's hard to know that you're growing up. I remember that little girl who got her head stuck in the railing at the Detroit house," Dad reminded me.

"I wanted to see if my head could fit through the opening. I didn't think it would get stuck," I replied.

Dad chuckled. "Malia, you have always been my Curious George. I worry about you."

"I know, but I can't help it. Mom says I get that from you," I explained.

"Yeah, you do, which makes my job as your parents difficult. I want to keep you safe," Dad informed me.

I sat up and looked at Dad. "You do. I use everything you taught me to protect myself. I learned from the best," I said with a shrug.

Dad looked at me and smiled.

"Don't worry, you have a week of grounding, then you can spend time with Luka," Dad mentioned.

"Oh, thank God," I groaned. Dad laughed. Yes, I was acting overdramatic, but I'm a teen. It's my job to be a drama queen.

********
"Stop your whining," Luka yelled at Niko.

"But this is so unfair," Niko whined from his bedroom.

"Well, life's unfair. Suck it up, buttercups!" Joe yelled in the hallway.

"How long are we grounded for, Dad?" Luka asked.

"One week, you're lucky it's not the rest of the Damn school year," Joe answered, making Luka and Niko groaned.

Maria came upstairs. "How're the prisoners doing?" She asked.

"Whining like real prisoners. I wonder how Charlie is doing?" Joe asked Maria, who gave him a look.

*******
"You got a big fucking mouth!" Damon shouted.

"Well, you're a loser, which takes forever to admit anything!" Abby yelled.

"Bigmouth!" Damon shouted.

"Loser!" Abby yelled.

"How about you both knock it off before I knock you off?" Charlie yelled. He heard grumbling from the twins.

Claire walked over to Charlie.

"I thought New York was bad, it has nothing in these two," Charlie mentioned, making Claire giggled.

"Well, It's the perfect week with school closed and everything calming down around here. I can't believe how crazy it's been here," Claire mentioned.

"Yeah, Gabe is putting in place new laws and keeping people on the right path. There are too many secrets in this town. The worst is sending the kids to the school for that all-night party. Who does that?" Charlie asked.

"People that forget who's important," Claire answered.

"These people would last five minutes in New York. They think they're invincible because they live in a small town," Charlie reasoned.