Inferno

~152~ What is Going on with Her?

Ellie's POV

"Emma, can you come here for a minute?" I yell up the stairs. Mason is silently grading at the table and Luke is working on homework.

She comes down a couple of minutes later.

"Yeah?" She asks with a smile.

"What's the health teacher's name?" I ask, looking at Mason.

"Nathan Martin" he answers.

"Mr. Martin called me. He said you refused to do your presentation today" I say, raising my eyebrows.

Taylor's going to be mad that I didn't talk to her about this privately, but tough.

"Yeah" she says as she gets a bottle of water from the fridge.

"And?!?" I ask, getting mad.

"I didn't want to do it" she says in a bored tone.

"Care to tell me why?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"No thanks" she says.

"Emma Katherine, I'm going to rephrase. Why didn't you do your presentation today in class?" I ask, losing my patience.

"Mom, leave her alone" Luke snaps.

"Stay out of it young man" I point at him without bothering to look at him.

Taylor comes in, once he hears my tone. He's surprised that it's with Emma and not Luke.

"What's going on?" He asks, looking from Emma to me.

"That's what I'd like to know. She had a presentation in health, and refused to do it. She won't tell me why" I say, getting even more mad.

Taylor looks at Emma hard and then back at me. "Why don't we ask her about it upstairs" he says gently.

"Nope. Right now" I say, glaring at her.

"You heard mom" Taylor says, after waiting a couple seconds to see if Emma was going to speak.

"I just didn't want to. I have an A in that class. This will only drop me to an A-. I can easily get it back up" she says, getting an attitude.

"Where is this attitude coming from?" I ask

"I'm pretty sure that Sasha never even knew how to speak without an attitude. Luke gets them all of the time. The moment I do, however, it's a huge deal. Quit holding me to such high damn standards" she snaps.

"Watch your mouth" Taylor barks.

"Oh, sorry....PLEASE quit holding me to such high DAMN standards" she spits.

Taylor and I look at each other, completely stunned. What is going on with her?

"I'm losing my patience with you. Tell me right now, young lady" I say, my voice getting low.

"Or what?" She asks, getting mad.

I chuckle. "You think you're tough now that Jake has taught you a few things? Little girl, I can still knock you on your ass. Wanna try?" I ask, taking a step towards her.

Taylor grabs my hand and pulls me gently back. "Ok, let's all calm down. Emma...I'm telling you to start talking now, before you and I go upstairs" he says darkly.

"No" she says, glaring at him.

Taylor's eyes get wide with surprise.

"Well, you just messed up. Let's go" he says, taking a step towards her.

She laughs darkly as she turns on her heels, grabs her keys off of the hook, and goes to her car.

Taylor rushes out to catch her, but he isn't fast enough. She's gone.