Lemon Water // Paul Lahote

four

A knock on my door interrupted me from working on my project. My dad stuck his head inside and looked around, spotting me sitting on my floor. "Hey, we brought you back some food, it's at the table" he said.

I followed him out to the dining room where there was a leftover box sitting in the table. I sat down and opened the box to see macaroni and cheese with grilled chicken in it.

My mom and dad were both seated at the table watching me eat, and eventually my mom spoke up. "Your father and I have been talking today and we decided to get you a cell phone. The only reason you are getting one is because you have all A's in school and you do a lot of extra chores around the house. We do have the right to take it away whenever we see fit and you are not allowed to argue with us. But know that if you skip school again it will be mine and you won't get it back, understood?"

I nodded my head and took the phone from her hand, then cleared the table from my dinner. I went back to my room and started messing around on my phone. They probably put a tracker in it, but I could care less, I'm not going to sneak out again anyway.

I went to bed content that night, forgetting about Luke moving. The next day was a Saturday and my parents were going to be gone all day for work.

They locked me inside the house with nothing to do and I got bored quickly. After trying to find something to do for 2 hours, to no avail, I decided to got back to the beach.

I went through my bedroom window and hopped the fence again, then ran towards where I remember the beach being yesterday.

Once I reached the beach I saw a group of tan, muscular boys playing soccer. In the group of boys was Jared and Embry, who I met yesterday.

I walked passed the boys and back down to the water, sliding off my sandals and stepping into it. "Hey! Serena! Fancy seeing you here!" A voice called, and I assumed that it was Jared. I turned around to see Jared running up to me with Embry and the other 2 boys following him.

"Serena, this is Jake and Quil, Jake, Quil, this is Serena, we met her here yesterday" Embry said, introducing me to the 2 new boys.

"Hi" the boys said at the same time, and I waved shyly back.

"Back so soon? I thought your parents didn't let you out of the house?" Jared asked me

"Uh, yeah, they're at work today so I was home alone. I got bored so I came here" I responded

"Ahhh, makes sense, hey, do you want to play soccer with us? Or you can meet my girlfriend Kim" Jared asked, pointing over to a girl sitting on a blanket with a book in her hands

"Um, no thanks, I'm not very athletic, I'll meet Kim" I said and Jared nodded excitedly. He led me over to Kim and introduced us then went back to playing soccer with Embry, Jake, and Quil.

Kim and I started to get to know each other when I remembered that my mom gets off from work early today. "Hey, what time is it?" I asked her quickly

"Um, it's 3:47, why?" She responded after checking the time on her phone

"I have to go, sorry, it was really nice meeting you!" I exclaimed rushing to get up

"You too! Wait, let me give you my number!" She yelled and hurriedly wrote down her number on a slip of paper from her purse.

I took the slip of paper and waved before running back towards my house. On the way home I tripped and skinned my knee on the side walk but I didn't pay any attention to it, my mom was supposed to be home at 4.

I hauled myself over the fence and the tripped again on the patio outside in the backyard. I quickly got up and went through my window.

I ran around to the back sliding glass door and opened it and shut it quick so my parents would believe me when I told them I tripped on the patio. After I was done making my excuse believable I went into the bathroom and began to clean up my knees.

"Serena I'm home! Where are you?" My mom yelled walking into the house

"I'm in the bathroom!" I yelled back

A minute later my mom walked into the bathroom, "what happened to your knees?"

"I was outside in the backyard and when I was coming in I tripped" I responded continuing to clean up my knees

"Sit down and let me do it" my mom commanded me so I sat in the toilet and handed her the hydrogen peroxide.

She finished cleaning up my knees and then put bandaids on them, pressing firmly and hurting me a little bit. "What did you do today?" Mom asked me, throwing away the paper towels she used to clean up my knees

"I worked on my project some more, read some, took a nap, and figured out how to work my phone a little bit more" I replied, talking as natural as possible.

Mom nodded and then left the bathroom to go and do whatever. I went to my room and pulled the little slip of paper out of my pocket.

I typed the number into my phone and started a text conversation with her.

Hey Kim, it's Serena sent 4:13 pm
read 4:16 pm
Hey Serena! What's up? sent 4:17 pm
Nothing much, I skinned my knees in my backyard so I just had to clean them up sent 4:18 pm
read 4:21 pm
Ouch, those always suck, I'm pretty clumsy so I should know sent 4:23 pm
Yeah, it's never really happened to me so it's a new experience, I've got to go though, mom needs help making dinner, see you :) sent 4:26 pm
read 4:31 pm
Ok, have fun! ;) sent 4:33 pm