2

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Elaina woke up with the worst hangover she'd ever had in her entire drinking career. Remarkably, she remembered everything that happened last night perfectly. Not just what Mandy and Lindsay had told her, but actually doing it, which was ten times worse. Just thinking about it made Elaina groan and sit up on the couch she'd fallen asleep on. Lindsay was sitting in the loveseat across from Elaina reading Cosmo. She looked up and noticed Elaina awake.

"Well hey there! I thought you'd never wake up," Lindsay said, closing her magazine.

"Ugh. What time is it?" Elaina asked, looking around for her phone.

"Around 11 A.M. I've already showered and gone to the gym. You should really get a move on."

"How did it get that late?! I have to go!" Elaina said in a panic. She found her phone in the couch cushions and slipped her heels on from last night. "Thank you so much for everything, Linds! Bye!"

"But, Elaina-!"

Elaina was already out the door and into the driveway. The empty driveway. Elaina had completely forgotten. Her car was still on the street near the Jade Cafe. Wonderful.

Lindsay came out of the front door with her keys in hand. "C'mon, crazy. Get in." She opened the garage door and they hopped into the car.

They cruised through town in silence until Elaina remembered a question she'd been dying to ask.

"Wait, so, why were you and Mandy at that bar last night anyway?" Elaina asked.

"We were following Mandy's brother. He snuck out last night and we wanted to bust him. He went into the bar and we kind of lost him when we got inside. We were still looking for him when we saw you making a complete moron out of yourself," Lindsay explained, smirking.

Elaina groaned. "Yeah. Let's just not bring it up again."

"Whatever you say, Vodka Momma," Lindsay teased. Elaina gave her a look. "Okay, I'm done."

"Thank goodness."

They arrived at the Jade Cafe and Elaina retraced her steps to where her car was parked on the street. Or where it was supposed to be parked. No, no, no! This couldn't be happening.

"Oh. My. God. Lindsay! The car's gone!" Elaina yelled frantically over her shoulder.

"What do you mean it's gone?" Lindsay said, catching up to Elaina and stopping beside her. They both looked at the empty parking space. "Are you sure it was here?"

"Positive."

Just to be sure, the two walked around the block and back to where they started. The car was no where in sight. Elaina sighed and walked to the middle of the road where she continued to lie down.

"What are you doing?" Lindsay asked, almost smiling.

"Well, I'm going to die anyway so I might as well get it over with," Elaina said.

"Oh stop being a drama queen. It probably got towed or something." Lindsay helped Elaina to her feet and led her back to the sidewalk. Lucky for them it was not a particularly busy street.

"Even better!" Elaina said sarcastically. "At least if it was stolen I could make up some story that I was told to get out of the car at gun point. My parents are going to kill me."

"Elaina, you can't do anything about it now. All you can really do is go home and wait for a call. In the meantime, you should probably think of a back up story to tell your parents. A good one." Lindsay grabbed Elaina's arm and pulled her toward her car.

Elaina couldn't think of anything else to do. The only thing that she still had control over was how she would break it to her parents, or at least what she would tell them. She decided that she was at the bookstore with Lindsay and we were there for so long that when we came out someone had hotwired her car and drove off with it. It was fool proof. They couldn't blame her for "studying" and it really wasn't her fault. And who knows? Maybe someone did hotwire her car. She had to find out sooner or later. Time to start calling around for towing companies.

Lindsay dropped Elaina off at home, wished her luck, then sped away. Elaina took a deep breath before opening the front door. She closed it as quietly as she could, hoping that no one would hear, then tip toed up the stairs to her room. She tore off her clothes from last night and left them on the floor, sighing with relief from the release of the tight fabric.

Elaina went through her drawers randomly picking clean clothes and marched into the bathroom to take a shower. She stayed in the shower as long as she possibly could, soaking up every moment of silence and solitude. Elaina must have rinsed and repeated at least six times before deciding that she might as well get out before she stripped her hair of whatever nutrients was left.

She dried herself off and put her hair up in a towel. She ended up wearing gray, loose shorts and an aqua V-neck.

After throwing her towels in the hamper, Elaina headed back into her room only to find her older sister, Christy, wearing Elaina's top and skinnies from the night before and examining herself in the corner full length mirror.

Christy turned around to face Elaina with a devilish smile as Elaina took a few steps toward her. "Cute. Where'd you get it?" Christy asked a little too sweetly.

The blonde girl stood tall with a messy bun on top of her head and the clothes she was wearing hung loosely from her hips and shoulders.

"I thought I told you to stay out of my room," Elaina said, grabbing the blue brush off her wooden bureau and sat on her bed, brushing her hair.

"Did you? Can't recall. I was probably too busy talking to Tyler about your little adventure last night." Christy pulled the top and bottoms off letting them fall to the floor and slipped on her own oversized Tshirt.

Elaina stopped brushing her hair to glare at her sister. "If you say a word to mom and dad..."

"Oh I won't have to. This is a small town, Elaina. People see things. And they talk." Christy flashed an innocent smile and headed for the door.

"Nice T-shirt. Did Tyler give it to you?" Elaina asked, clearly knowing the answer.

Christy stopped in the doorway and turned to look at Elaina. Her calm condescending face never changed. "Isn't it adorable? Took forever to get your lip gloss stain off, though. Might want to be more careful in the future," Christy said then sauntered into the hall.

Trying not to let Christy's comment get to her that much, Elaina diverted her attention to French braiding her damp hair. Her efforts were in vain. Her mind wandered to the times her and Tyler had spent together. Granted none of it was all that romantic, but Elaina didn't care. She was just happy to be with him. That was a year ago when Elaina was fifteen and Tyler was seventeen. She missed his tan skin and his strong hugs...

Elaina shook that thought right out of her head. "Asshole," she whispered even though there was no one around to hear. Things weren't the way they used to be.

Elaina refused to think about Tyler anymore and focused her attention on the footsteps downstairs. They became more audible then stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

"Elaina Maria Wolfe, dining room! Now!" Elaina's father yelled angrily up to her.

"They know. They know everything!" Elaina thought. Panic filled her and she felt her heart race.

Elaina's parent never used the dining room except for holidays and major discussions. Holidays were kind of ruined for the children since they could never get through one of those dinners without thinking back to the last hollering they had gotten. And she was definitely about to get one.

Elaina gathered herself and figured that this was inevitable. She had been pretty reckless last night and she knew it. She had to deal with the consequences as annoying as they were.

She finished her braid and took her sweet time getting to the dining room. Her father was at the head of the long, rectangular table. To his right, Mrs. Wolfe was seated unusually close to him, holding his arm. Christy was standing by the window with her back toward Elaina, whispering on the phone. When she realized Elaina had entered the room she quickly said goodbye and turned to smirk at Elaina.

"Have a seat, Elaina," Mr. Wolfe said, gesturing to the chair to the left of him.

Elaina took a few steps and sat in the chair directly across from her father, as far away from him as possible. Mr. Wolfe tightened his jaw, but let it go.

He folded his hands in front of him on the table and continued. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"

Okay, this was not helping. What exactly did they know? What should she be apologizing for? What if she said the wrong thing?

"What do you mean?" Elaina ventured cautiously.

Christy scoffed in the background. Elaina shot her a dirty look. Mr. Wolfe held up his hand to signal both girls to keep their mouths shut.

"I'm talking about why I had to call a tow truck to get your car back that was sitting outside a bar downtown," Mr. Wolfe said, folding his hands in front of him.

Elaina's mouth went dry. Her pulse quickened and her eyes glazed over. She hadn't felt this scared since the Tyler Thing. She didn't know what to say. She was caught. What would they do to her? They probably wouldn't tolerate another slip up on her part. Better start groveling now.

Elaina looked into her father's eyes. "Dad, I...I just..." Just then Elaina's eyes lit up. She remembered that there was a bakery across the street from the bar in a little plaza. Her savior.

"I just...wasn't thinking! I was in Shay's Bakery getting a muffin and coffee and I saw Lindsay there. We went to her house and I fell asleep. I totally forgot about the car. I'm sorry!" Elaina lied. She surprised herself at how well she could pull a story like that right out of her ass.

Her parents exchanged a look then turned back to Elaina. "Well..." her father started, carefully examining her. Elaina held her breath and tried to look as apologetic as possible. "That was still a very irresponsible thing to do; just leaving a very expensive car on the street near a hoodlum hangout!"

"I know. It won't happen again," Elaina said, maybe a little too quickly.

"And there is still the matter of mouthing off to your father then just taking off," her mother added. Great. They just had to pin something on her.

"Ah yes." Mr. Wolfe paused again. Oh how Elaina just loved dramatic pauses... "Two weeks. No new camera."

Elaina knew from experience that arguing would not get her anywhere but in deeper shit than she was already in. It could have been worse. Pick your battles, Elaina, she said to herself.

She let her nodded her head without and word and let her face become indifferent, not wanting to give her sister, who had the biggest smile on her face, the satisfaction of seeing her squirm. Still, Christie flashed a victorious smile.

"Well?" her father said. "Go get it!"

Elaina walked from the room, immediately feeling the weight of the tense atmosphere come off her shoulders. Bye-bye fabulous camera. She knew that she would never see that camera again. Most of the things Elaina got taken away from her had a strange way of never being seen again. She was sure that somewhere deep in Christie's closet there was a box of everything Elaina was missing collecting dust.

Elaina went to the garage where she found her long-lost car. She felt like kissing it. She opened the backseat door and grabbed her camera that was still in its box. She took as long as possible to walk back to the dining room, holding her camera close. This was so unfair. And she didn't even get to take one picture with it! Elaina took a deep breath before she let herself get too melodramatic and reached the dining room. Before she rounded the corner, she stopped.

"I don't know. It would solve the majority of our issues, but I'm not sure if it's the right decision," Elaina overheard her mother say.

"Liz, we should seriously consider it. I called Floral Hill yesterday and they are going to send an informational package in the mail. We'll take a look and then decide," Michael said.

"Well I think it's a great idea," Christie chimed in.

Floral Hill?

Elaina heard enough. She proceeded into the room and slid the camera forcefully across the table, obviously with an attitude. She didn't even want to think about what they were talking about. Take a guess, the voice in her head urged.

"Okay, well, if that's it..." Elaina said standing up.

Her father nodded and shooed her away. Elaina ran up to her room, shut the door, and immediately went on her laptop to Google. She typed in "Floral Hill" in the search engine and clicked "search".

A few things came up:

Come on in to Grandma's Floral Hill Floral Shop!

Um...No. That probably wasn't it.

Floral Hill Rehabilitation Clinic for Troubled Teens.

Ding ding ding! They wanted to send her away to...rehab? But why? Why now? If anything they should have sent her away when the whole Tyler Thing was going on. Not now!

But the point was they didn't want her around anymore. "It would solve the majority of our issues..." Elaina repeated her mother's words quietly. Their issues? The point of putting someone in rehab is to help with that person's issues. Not the other way around.

She found it funny that they wanted to send her away and they didn't even know the half of how messed up she was. If they did know, she would be on her way to a mental institution, not rehab.

But fine. If she was done for anyway, there was no stopping her from doing what she had been resisting for three months now. Elaina went into her desk drawer and lifted the false bottom she had made awhile back to pull out a jewelry box. She opened it and took out the razor that she hadn't laid eyes on for what seemed too long. She picked it up, threw the box on the ground, and just turned it over and over with her fingers. Did she really want to do this again? Her scars were just about to fade. Did she really want more?

But it would feel so good. That release. That instant gratification. A shiver of excitement went down her spine as she remembered what it was like. Stop. You're better than this, she tried to tell herself. But the call was so powerful. So enticing.

Maybe just one.

Elaina took a deep breath.

Just one.

She held the razor firm in her hand and ran it across the top of her inner wrist. She let out a sigh of relief and smiled. She knew how sick she was. Of course she did. But that's what an addiction was. Three months clean. That was something to be proud of. Right? Nothing to be ashamed of. Right?

It didn't matter. Not right now.