The Story of Tonight

Chapter Twenty Three

If Lia had to describe her weekend in one word it would be draining. She spent most of Saturday with a splitting headache and guilt over ruining her mom and Lin's relationship. Not even Christmas decorating, which was one of her favorite activities, could get her out of the funk she had been in.

She could tell the events of Friday had been weighing on her mom. She wasn't used to seeing her mom so down. Even when Vanessa smiled, there was a sadness in her eyes. Lia couldn't shake the fact that she knew she was the cause.

Not having her phone, she tried to spend as much time on her school work. She had stayed cooped up in her room most of the time, rereading study guides and drafting paragraphs. She had been up until two a.m. finishing up. She was walking around like a Zombie on Monday, and not even concealer helped her look less like one, according to Lindsay's helpful commentary.

"Didn't you get the test from Steven though?" Lindsay asked, referencing the pothead Lia had paid, as the pair sat in the courtyard of the school before their history class.

"Yeah, but I didn't want to use it," Lia replied, throwing her hair up in a bun to keep it from flying due to the cool breeze.

Lindsay looked at her with a quirked eyebrow, "You do realize that Hunter is really strict about your semester GPA. If you don't maintain a 3.4, they'll put you on academic probation. Any less and you could get kicked out."

"Yeah I know." Lia replied slightly aggravated at the insinuation that she would fail without cheating, "That's why I spent so much time studying."

"And because your mom basically put you in lockdown hell."

"I don't get how you're not in any trouble,"

Lindsay shrugged, "Marissa just had the cops call our brother. He's 23, an adult, and doesn't care if we throw parties."

"Must be nice," Lia answered sarcastically.

"Speaking of parents though, can we please talk about the fact that your dad, an actual celebrity, was in my house?!"

That was, in fact the last thing Lia wanted to talk about.
"I really don't want to talk about him," Lia hadn't even spoken to Lin since she last saw him Friday night. Although her phone had been taken away, Lia knew if he had wanted to speak to her he could've called Vanessa, aside from the fact that they had just broken up. She also knew that the phone worked both ways, but she was still mad at him, too. Everything was just a mess. Lia was grateful when she heard the bell ring, signalling that they had to start heading towards their history class.

"I get that. He did seem really pissed when he showed up." Lindsay said, as she gathered up her backpack, "He just seems so nice whenever I see him on tv."

Lia rolled her eyes, but the last thing she needed was some rumor spread that Lin was an asshole. Lindsay was her friend, but she also seemed akin to any of the school's gossip, "He is a nice guy. I just don't want to talk about Lin, alright?"

"You call your dad, Lin?" The glare that Lia gave her was enough to give Lindsay the message, "Alright."

The two made it to Mr. Martin's classroom. Lindsay gave Lia a assuring thumbs-up, which Lia appreciated. When Lia sat down, she felt a bit of nervousness overcame her, which was pretty usual. However, being grounded had its perks and she had spent more time than she would ever want to with Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar.

Mr.Martin placed the exams on each student's desk and then told them to begin. When Lia turned the exam over and started reading through the questions, her calm demeanor started to dissipate. She glanced around the classroom to see if anyone else was as confused as she was, but her classmates were simply filling out their scantrons.