Aubrey Hart wasn't supposed to be out, her mother had grounded her for her grades and putting her brother Lucas in a headlock after he'd walked in her on changing her clothes too many times, lately the sweet little girl had turned into a mouthy teenager, at 14 once the pride of her mother had become the cause of many of her headaches.
The daily screaming matches over the condition of her room, her clothes and other things including her choose of having older friends, who could drive and were frequently in trouble with the police
Life inside Hart house sometimes unbearable and frequently made the younger Harts scurry for cover, they weren't used to this side of their sister, normally so kind and loving, she now had no time for them, if not for dinner and the endless groundings, they would never see her.
But this time, she'd gone too far, right after her Daddy left with the boys for a fishing trip to Reno and her mother was putting her baby sister into the tub, Aubrey had gone down the ladder, across the 2nd floor roof and down the trellis, down the driveway across the pond and into the waiting car driven by her best friend, Roxy Leigh, who'd found out through the High School grapevine, that an unsupervised party was happening in the hills and that if they were to gain any popularity in High School, that as the place to be
Walking into the house, She was immediately handed a beer and lead into the living room where a group of kids were dancing and some were pairing off, the music was deafening but she loved it, for a moment she didn't feel like Aubrey Hart, rich kid from Bel Air daughter of the industrialist and a famous journalist, she was just Aubrey.
She was dancing with Harvey Kinkle in a mish-mash of kids when suddenly the music cut out and a voice ordered everyone to freeze
It was the police
The entire room erupted into Chaos and suddenly everyone began to scatter, Harvey grabbed her and ran, except just before getting to the door, she was grabbed by the waist and pulled back, fighting she accidentally head-butted whoever was behind her, instantly hearing the cracking of bones, she turned her blue eyes to a police officer, who was holding his face
"Oops" She said grimacing "Sorry"
"You're under arrest" the officer said holding his face, blood pouring down his uniform
"Come on, Can't we negotiate on this?" She pleaded over the noise of the cruisers and kids shouting, Harvey still holding her hand
"Nice Try Miss…"
"Hart, Aubrey Hart" She said quietly
She had no idea where Roxy went, and she wondered for a second if she'd been ditched but just as the Officer was leading her out, She spotted Roxy being put into another cop car.
"Come on, my mother's going to kill me, can't we write this off as a youthful indiscretion?" She asked
"Sorry Miss," He handcuffed her and placed her into the cop car, Harvey was cuffed and placed beside her inside
"Don't worry, Aubs, We'll get a lecture and then released," He tried to reassure her
"Yeah, well my mother won't see it that way," Aubrey pictured her mother beating her to death in the middle of the precinct
The ride to the station was only 10 minutes but it felt longer, every second felt like an eternity
Arriving at the precinct, she was lead into a room by herself and a female officer came in
"Alright Miss, I need your phone number to call your parents" The officer asked
"Do you know who my father is, Jonathan Hart, He can buy and sell you a million times" She was willing to try anything
"Either you tell me now, or I take you down to have you finger printed and mug shot taken" the Officer threatened her
Aubrey reluctantly gave her phone number
"Mrs. Hart, this is Detective Fox of the Calabasas police department" the officer said into the phone
Aubrey could hear her mother gasp and ask if her husband was alright, which didn't make sense since he was in Tahoe with her brothers but considering Jennifer thought Aubrey was upstairs in her bed, it wasn't a total farfetched idea
"Ma'am, we have your daughter here, we're detaining her for underage drinking,assault of a police officer, as well as trespassing"
"That's impossible" Jennifer spat, "My daughter's upstairs"
The officer handed Aubrey the phone
"Mama," She said quietly
"Aubrey Rose Hart, what have you done?" her mother demanded to know
"Can you just come get me" She just wanted to go home
"I suppose I should just leave you there to teach you a lesson ," Her mother never would but the threat was constantly in the air "I'll be there soon" then slammed the phone down
Aubrey was led back out to where a group of her friends were sitting and waiting for their parents, Harvey included
"What did your mom say" he asked quietly
"Nothing good, I think I see boarding school in my future"
"Oh Come on, Jennifer's not that bad"
"You've never pissed her off"
Harvey had recently become a new addition her life, she'd never felt so passionately in love with anyone, she figured this is what her parents must have felt about each other, the constant need to be around each other, constantly kissing and hugging.
It was often a wonder that she only had three siblings, the way they acted the house should have been filled with little Harts
Harvey was so wonderful to her, he listened when she had problems, laughed with her over ridiculous movies and saw past the big house and money, he was her new best friend, along with Roxy, who was her soul Sister, they had so much in common
Which was why Jennifer had such a problem with her, Because they were too much alike and Roxy's ideas weren't often in Aubrey's best interest, which involved cutting school and hanging out the mall
A few other Roxy ideas included dying Aubrey's beautiful red hair, black and piercing her nose which Aubrey had to admit she hated but considering it nearly gave her mother a stroke, she was learning to love it and she loved Roxy's style
It was punk clothes, tank tops, mesh skirts, Goth boots, heavy makeup, the look of the anti-rich kids which made her love it even more. She didn't even want to mention the little heart tattoo on her hip
But she had a feeling that her punk days were over before they started, when her Daddy finds out about this, she'd be lucky if she didn't wind up in a Swiss Convent
"Oh Boy, I blew it" She whispered
Soon each of her friends were being picked up, and she was becoming the last one left, which was kind of ridiculous considering they lived less than 20 minutes from the precinct, it was her and Harvey left, Roxy's mother, who'd been working the night shift as a waitress came in, and simply said that Roxy would have to pay back the lost wages she would have earned had she been working instead of bailing her out. Roxy rolled her eyes and smiled to show that her mother was cool and didn't care.
He managed to get his handcuffed hand to grasp hers and squeeze to reassure her
"It'll be okay, I promise" He whispered in her ear
She tried to smile but couldn't
"Harvey Kinkle, Your father is here," the Officer announced uncuffing him
"Harvey, what the hell have I told you about these parties, damn it if you don't smarten I'm going to put your ass in the army" made his presence known
"Sorry Dad," Harvey wasn't surprised when his father smacked him upside the head, was often abusive despite Harvey towering above him
"Let's go" gestured, "Aubrey, I just passed your mother and sister on my way in"
"Great" She rolled her eyes, Gram Pearl had decided she need some sort of vacation so Daddy had arranged for her to visit friends in Florida, thus leaving her mother to deal with her problem daughter and Katarina, who's recent medical problems had kept her occupied
At nearly four years old, she still wasn't talking and was limited in her walking, she refused to eat by herself and still required diapers, as well as her bottle it was thought maybe she had autism but the diagnosis hadn't been proven yet so Jennifer spent all her free time researching and working with her just to progress, at an age she was supposed to start preschool, Katarina was being held back at home for another year until she could improve with the various therapists
It was another piece of Aubrey's resentment, the constant attention away from her mother and the preoccupation
"Bye Aubs" He kissed her nose "I'll call you tomorrow if your warden lets me"
"Bye Harvey" She smiled, the only bright spot in this situation
She heard the familiar squeak of her mother's sketchers and knew that she should brace herself
Her mother's red hair, which she'd obviously just washed was pulled back into a half pony tail and she was wearing her sweatpants and oversized Lakers tank top, she must have just thrown on her clothes, Katarina on her hip, who was wearing her and clutching her teddy bear. Her mother must have pulled Kati out of her crib and threw her in the car
The look on her face said her emotions, that Aubrey should keep her mouth shut until they were in an area without witnesses
"Let's go" Jennifer said through gritted teeth
The officer offered Aubrey a sympathic look as she uncuffed her
"When is my daughter due in court," Jennifer demanded to know
"Two months Ma'am"
"Does she need a lawyer"
"Yes"
"Fine" Jennifer marched out the door with Aubrey trailing behind her the walk to the car was like the walk to the electric chair
"Mama?" Aubrey said quietly after a few minutes
"Not a word until we get back to Willow Pond" Jennifer said buckling Katarina into her car seat
The ride home was agony, for a moment she hoped her mother would just pull over and beat the hell out of her so she wouldn't have to endure this agony
Finally getting to the house Jennifer drove through the gates and into the driveway, shutting off the car
Just before Aubrey could get out of the car, Jennifer grabbed her arm
"Go Upstairs, change your clothes, take off the makeup and remove the piercings, when I am done with Katarina, I want to look at the child whom I gave birth to and I swear if you even think about going out that window again, you better hope God himself will show you mercy"
Aubrey nodded and walked into the house, noticing how silent it was without her brothers screeching or Freeway barking
After doing what her mother asked and shaking inside which she would never show fear on the outside, she waited
She could hear her mother talking to Katarina, who's bedtime requirement took longer than the usual routine she had with the boys but the longer her baby sister stalled, the less screaming her mother would so she wouldn't wake up the house.
A half hour later and Aubrey's eyes beginning to shut from exhaustion, Jennifer swept in
"I'm not going to ask you if you lost your mind, We'll just go on the assumption you have, I just want to know why, we've never given you any reason to rebel and I know your 14 but this is just ridiculous!" Jennifer stood in front of her daughter
Aubrey didn't have an answer, she could only shrug her shoulders
"No answer, c'mon you can do better than that"
Finally Aubrey could only think of one thing, "Just leave me alone!"
"Oh little girl, I know you can do better than that"
"I'm not a little girl!"
"You're 14, you're a child!"
"Look I'm sorry you had to bail me out, if I had any other option I would have used it!"
"I don't care about that, what's going on in that head of yours?!"
"Like you care!"
"What" Jennifer wasn't sure where this conversation was going but she could see the pain and the fact Aubrey refused to look her in the eye
"I don't matter to you, it's all about Katarina or the boys!"
"Do you really believe that?" Jennifer was surprised
"I don't know what I believe, I know I just want you to leave me alone!"
"I'll leave you alone, but this isn't over and when your Daddy comes home, we'll discuss your punishment"
"Maybe I won't be here when he comes home" Aubrey knew she'd crossed the line when her mother got right in her face
"If you leave like that, knowing what we've gone through then you are the most incredibly selfish person in the world and no daughter of mine" Jennifer turned to leave "You know, you think you're the only person going through hard times, there are six other people in this house, think about them for a second and what the consequences of you leaving would do, you want to be treated like an adult then act like one"
She left slamming the door behind her
"Forget this," Aubrey grabbed her jacket and went out the window down to the guest house, she needed space before she really told her mother where to go
The truth was she didn't understand why she was doing this either, she was mixed up and her emotions were everywhere, there were days when they thought she was being sulky when she would sit in her room for hours just reading or crying.
She was tired of being Aubrey Hart, she'd give anything to be someone else and if her mother couldn't understand that then she didn't know her at all.