Here's my submission for the winter writing challenge. The prompt was "Stevie and/or Alison gets their ears pierced for the first time". I hope you enjoy!

"But why not!" Stevie McCord cried out in annoyance.

"Stevie, we've been through this" Elizabeth McCord replied, frustration evident in her voice, "You can get your ears pierced when you're 13" she finished with a sigh as she steered her car containing her children along the road.

"But everyone else has their ears pierced!"

"Really? Everybody in your school has their ears pierced?" Elizabeth queried with a hint of humour as she briefly raised her head to look at her eldest daughter in the rearview mirror, one eyebrow lifted to show her scepticism.

"Well, no, obviously not everyone, but Ashley, and Lexi, and Erin, and Rachel, and Sarah..."

"Sorry" Elizabeth interrupted her daughter's rant "your father and I have already discussed this and we've agreed that you can't get your ears pierced until you're 13".

"Ugh! This is so unfair!" Stevie exclaimed as she threw up her hands, before sullenly crossing them and glaring out the car window.

Elizabeth used every fibre of her being not to smile in amusement at her tweenage daughter's antics. Every year around the time of Stevie's birthday they would have the same conversation. Stevie would ask to get her ears pierced for her birthday and every year Henry and she would tell her she couldn't get her ears pierced until she was 13. It was something she and her husband had agreed on years ago, none of their children could get their ears pierced until they were old enough and responsible enough to look after their own piercing. 13 had seemed like a good age, the first grown up thing they could have done as they entered their teenage years. She just needed to get through the next couple of years with Stevie first.

Pulling into the driveway of her home she parked the car and began the task of getting Alison and Jason out of the car, sighing as Stevie stormed out of the car and stood moodily at the front door. As much as she found her tweenage daughter's antics amusing, they were equally as grating on her patience.

As she opened the front door and hustled her family into the house she vaguely heard Stevie's voice over the din of Alison and Jason's cries of joy at being home from school.

"Can I use your computer?"

"Why?" she queried distractedly as she struggled with book bags, lunch boxes, and coats.

"Need to use the internet to do some research for my history homework" Stevie replied grumpily.

"That's fine" Elizabeth replied, a cry from the living room causing her not to question Stevie any further and disappear into the room to investigate the cause of the cry.

Stevie was so angry at her parents. All she wanted was to get her ears pierced so she could wear pretty earrings like her best friends. For as long as she could remember she had wanted her ears pierced and all her parents kept saying was that she had to wait until she was 13. 13! That was forever away!

After loading up her profile on the computer she dutifully started Googling the list of historical people she had been given to research for her homework and she was soon distracted by the task. She was startled by her MSN Messenger alert and she quickly looked up to make sure her mum had not heard the alert as she wasn't allowed on Messenger whilst doing her homework. Seeing her mum chopping something up in the kitchen she breathed a sigh of relief that her mum hadn't heard the alert and she quickly muted the sound on the computer and opened Messenger:

AwesomeAsh562: Hi!

A smile lit up Stevie's face and her mood brightened as she realised her best friend, Ashley, from her old school in Langley was online

SuperStevie1010: Hi! I miss you!

AwesomeAsh562: I miss you too! Class just isn't the same without you!

SuperStevie1010: Class here isn't the same either. Miss my BFF! Can't believe we've lived on the horse farm for 6 months now! How are you?

AwesomeAsh562: Bored! Supposed to be doing homework! Can't wait to come and visit you at the horse farm in the summer!

SuperStevie1010: Me too! It will be so cool when you come for summer, I can teach you how to ride! Any goss?

AwesomeAsh562: Hmmmm... Maddy and Kaitlyn fell out as Max asked Kaitlyn to the school dance and Kaitlyn said yes, even though she knew Maddy liked Max. Oh! And April swears she saw Mr Caines and Miss Miller kissing in the cupboard!

SuperStevie1010 : OMG! Didn't I tell you that Mr Caines and Miss Miller liked each other! Can't believe that Kaitlyn said yes to Max

AwesomeAsh562: I know! So any goss with you?

SuperStevie1010: My parents still won't let me get my ears pierced! I'm so mad at them!

AwesomeAsh562: That sucks! You're almost 11! I've had mine pierced since I was 8!

SuperStevie1010: I know! They keep saying I have to wait until I'm 13!

AwesomeAsh562: That's crazy!

SuperStevie1010: I know! It's so unfair!

AwesomeAsh562: Perhaps you should just pierce them yourself lol!

Stevie paused as she read Ashley's last message. Could she pierce how own ears? Was it even possible? Glancing around the computer screen she could see her mum moving around in the kitchen and she could hear Alison and Jason playing in the living room. She opened up a new browser and nervously typed in a new search as she continued to chat with Ashley. The results of her new search piqued her interest immediately.

Stevie McCord glanced at the items in front of her with a mixture of trepidation, happiness, and nervousness. It had taken her 4 days to assemble the items she needed to pierce her ears and then she'd had to wait almost another week before she could be sure her parents would be out long enough for her to actually pierce her ears, but finally it was now Friday evening and her parents had gone out on a date night leaving her, Alison, and Jason with their babysitter. The babysitter had checked on them all 30 minutes ago and she'd pretended to be asleep so she was confident that the babysitter wouldn't be up to check on her again anytime soon. She'd heard her mum tell the babysitter that they wouldn't be home until about 11pm, it was now 9.30pm so she had plenty of time to get her task done and be in bed before her parents got home. She sat at her desk with her desk light on, a needle and the earrings she had stolen from her mum's jewellery box soaking in hydrogen peroxide, and a square of a Kool n Soothe patch stuck to each side of her ear lobe. The instructions she'd printed from the internet said to use an ice cube, but she'd not been able to figure out how to get an ice cube upstairs without being caught, so she hoped the Kool n Soothe patch worked just as well.

According to the instructions, all she had to do once her ear lobe was numb was to wipe it with hydrogen peroxide to sterilise it, draw a dot where she wanted the earring to be, push the needle through, and then quickly push the earring in as she pulling the needle out. And then finally she'd have pierced ears!

Taking the Kool n Soothe patches off her ear lobe she quickly wiped the skin with hydrogen peroxide, picked up the marker pen and placed a dot on her ear, checking in the mirror several times that it was central and where she would want the earring to be. Nervously she picked up the needle and pressed it against her ear lobe. She hissed as she felt the sharp prick of the needle and quickly pulled it away- it hurt! The instructions said it wouldn't hurt but it did! She tried again, pressing a little harder, but it still hurt - a lot. Her eyes blurred with tears as she thought about how unfair it was that she had to pierce her own ears. All her other friends had had their ears pierced professionally and said it hadn't hurt. She felt weak and mad at herself that she couldn't take the pain- she was a McCord after all - but being a McCord also meant quitting was not in her nature and she held the needle more firmly in her hand determined this time that she would get the needle through her ear lobe. She raised the needle to her ear and pushed even harder, this time she heard a ripping sound which was immediately followed by a burning sensation that caused her to wince and her eyes to water with fresh tears. She took a deep breath and paused for a few moments before she tightened her grip on the needle once again as a shot of determination ran through her. She'd gotten this far, she wasn't going to quit now no matter how much it burnt and stung. Having pierced ears would be worth it. She was just getting ready to push the needle through the back of her ear when her bedroom door opened...

So I have no idea how, but I've somehow made a story about getting your ears pierced into a 3 chapter piece! I'll try my best to post the next chapter tomorrow, but realistically it probably won't be until Friday.

Oh, and the story is set around 2006 when I think Stevie would have been about 10/11 and Elizabeth hadn't long left the CIA. I think MSN Messenger was still popular with tweenagers/teenagers then as I'm pretty sure my cousin used to use it around that time when she was a tweenager/teenager.