Chapter 5

Julie was walking home and she saw a familiar red car driving by her. She looked inside when it stopped next to her and saw her mom with Emily in the front seat.

"Hi sweetie." She said "Hop in; we're going to the mall." "Why?" Julie asked. "Well, we're gonna get Emily some school clothes and then I was thinking we could look for a dress." "Mom, I don't have a date. I'm not going." "Come on, get in." Julie was supposed to go to the mansion. She had to get out of this. "But I have stuff to-" "Come on get in." her mom said. "But mom-" "Please Julie…you're not staying home by yourself." "Mom I'm 16. Plus, I'll be at Chase's" "Julie please come with us. It will be fun." Her mom begged. Julie was getting annoyed with arguing and didn't feel like it anymore. She opened the door of the car and got in.

"Please try this one on." Julie's mother said handing a long pink dress through the dressing room door. "Mom, I hate pink for the fiftieth time. No" "Mommy look!" Emily yelled coming outside of a dressing room in a new outfit. "You look gorgeous, honey!" she said. Satisfied, Emily went to try on more clothes. "Okay," Julie said coming out of the dressing room in the long dress. "this looks stupid." She said showing the dress to her mom. "Well, I guess," her mom said looking at it. "I like the dress, but the color makes you look pale." "Thank you," she said and went back into the dressing room. Julie took off the dress and put on her regular clothes. She was done humoring her mother. She stepped outside of the dressing room, wondering what Edward was doing right now.

When Julie got home, she called Chase. "Hey," she said. "Have fun?" he asked. "No, my mom took me to the mall. She made me try on like 5 dresses. And I didn't pick out any of them!" "I told you, you didn't have to lie." "I'm not." "Well-" he said, but the connection was gone. The dial tone came on and she hung up the phone. "Pay you freakin' minutes," she said to herself. She went over to the bed and lay on top of it. She was a little mad that her mom made her go to the mall. The whole prom thing didn't seem like much, but she always dreamed of prom when she was little. She kind of wished Chase would ask her, but he didn't want to go to prom. She was also wondered what Edward was doing, or thinking about. She hoped he wouldn't be mad at her or something. She couldn't really picture him getting mad at anyone.

"Julie!" Emily yelled running into her room. Julie rolled her eyes and turned to face Emily. "Knock…and what," "You know that kid Jason who goes to my school? He lives close to your friend Chase," "No," "Well; he said he saw you standing outside by that big mansion. Were you?" "No," Julie said laying back down on the bed. "How does your friend know what I look like?" "Everyone knows you. All the kids at school have brothers and sisters who think you're weird. You made me the girl with the weird sister. I'm popular." She walked out of the room and shut the door. Julie threw a pillow after her at the door. Julie was tired, again. It was only 6 and she was bored. She got her Hot Topic bag and took out the T-shirts she got from her mom. She put the shirts in the drawer and then went to bed.

When she woke up, it was Saturday. It was 10:00 when she woke up. Her mom had to work that day, so she was in charge of her sister. She really wanted to go see Edward and take some pictures of the garden outside of the mansion. She picked up her phone and called Chase's house.

"What?" said Chase "I need a favor," "It's ten o clock!" he said. She could tell her just woke up. "You're not up yet?" "No I'm talking in my sleep." "God, sorry." She said. "What do you want?" "I just need you to watch Emily for me." There was a pause for a minute. "Who's Emily?" "My sister!" "O yeah…right. Um…how much are you paying me?" Julie sighed and thought for a minute. "Uh…ten," "Thirty," "Thirty?" "Deal," he said and hung up. She had forty dollars on her, but she didn't want to give it all to Chase. But she really needed this favor, so she got dressed and ready to leave. She took her camera with her and some of her drawings.

"Hey Em," she said going into her sister's room. Emily was sitting on the floor playing with Bratz dolls. "What?" she asked putting some shoes on the doll. "Um, that's a cute outfit," she said pointing to the doll and smiling. "Thanks," Emily said. "Listen, I need you to do me a favor. I have to go…to the grocery store for mom. But instead of making you get dressed and walk all the way there with me-" "its two blocks away." Emily replied. "Well, anyway, Chase is going to come down to watch you for a little while, okay?" "Fine," she said. "Oh and you can't tell mom." "But I thought you were going to the store for mom." "I am, but I need to go…um…to my friend's house, too. You know how mom gets with-" "You don't have any friends…well except Chase and he'll be here." "I'll pay you." "How much?" Emily asked standing up. She looked up at her sister and held out her hands. "All I have is ten." "That's it?" "Well, it's either that or nothing," "It's either more or nothing." Emily said. Julie took fifteen out of her purse, wondering where a ten year old would get good bargaining skills. "Fifteen is all. Please," "That's fine." She said, putting the money in her piggy bank. "Please be good for Chase." She pleaded as she left the room. "He won't even know I'm here," Emily smiled to herself…

Chase arrived about twenty minutes later. Julie answered the door and saw him in. "Okay, my mom is at work so she shouldn't call. If she does…wait! I'll put the caller ID on. If that number," Julie said pointing to a number on a paper hanging on the wall. "comes up, don't answer." "Okay," Chase said yawning. He sat down on the couch and grabbed the remote, turning on the TV. "You guys have cable?" he asked. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Julie asked. "I promise she'll be okay." Chase said. "And I like to get paid up front." He said holding out his hand. Julie pulled fifteen dollars out of her purse and handed it to him. "You'll get the other half when I know Julie's alive." She said grabbing a hoodie and going out the door.