Later that night, as Annie called Mary to wash the dishes, Lucy volunteered instead. Suspicious, Annie asked why she's suddenly interested to do Mary's chores when she usually couldn't get along with her for a second. "I lost a bet with her whether a guy would go out with her or not, so I have to do her chores for the rest of the week," lied Lucy. "Besides, she might still be on the phone."

"This time of night?" asked Annie, raising her eyebrows.

Lucy, desperate to stall as long as possible, said, "Well, they spend a lot of time together. Their whole lives revolve around each other."

Annie, still suspicious, said, "all right. Tell her to get off the phone in 5 minutes. Your father has an important call to make to the church." She then went to the master bedroom to wait for Eric to come to bed.

Lucy proceeded to her chores, wondering when the hell Mary will be back so she could get the burden of covering off her back. She had done this for Mary lots of times before and she never got used to how exhausting it was, especially considering that Mary was a much better liar. I can also be very good and the story would change around if I had been in her place, but unfortunately, I don't make the story; I just tell it, and it's not very much in favor of Lucy in the later chapters.

Coming to bed, Annie asked Eric if he noticed something was going on with Mary. Lately, she had been out late at night alot and made lots of flimsy excuses for breaking curfew, such as, "I just lost track of time."

"Well, bring a watch next time!" Annie had yelled. Yet, nothing seemed to stop her from staying out and Eric didn't seem to notice, or pretended not to. Having grown up on restrictions, he felt the need to let his kids have the freedom he never had. Not making their own mistakes will not do them any good anyway. So as usual, his reply was, "Nope. Mary's Mary."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Annie, who had been raised by liberal parents who let her do almost whatever she wanted within minor limits and didn't want her kids to get into the trouble she been in.

"She's the kid she's always been and she proved that she could be trusted. We have to see how things turn out before we jump to conclusions. Good night." He turned off the lamp on his dresser next to his bed, but Annie turned it back on.

"Maybe you have to see how things turn out. You always have to overanalyze everything. I go with my instincts," said the annoyed Annie. "The last time you didn't suspect anything, Simon brought an alarm clock to school so that they could get out of the building when it rings!"

"You know what? Let's just sleep on it. I'm too tired to know who's right this time." He turned off the lamp again, but this time, Annie did not turn it back on. Still, she can't help thinkong how right she is.

Climbing through her window late at night, Mary tried to sneak in carefully so she won't wake Lucy, who turned out to not have been asleep anyway. "Damn it, Lucy, what are you doing up?" she said with surprise and exasperation.

"What do you think I'm doing?" retorted Lucy. "I had lie and do all your chores just to cover for you while you're out there getting screwed!" Waving the note Mary left her in the air, she yelled, "If I get busted on your behalf, You're dead!"

"I was not getting screwed. What I did is none of your business, so stop being a pain in the ass. I got enough of that from mom and dad."

Just then, a pack of Malbaro fell out of Mary's pocket. Shocked, Lucy cried, "What are you doing with these?!"

"I bought it on a dare to see if I could pass for 18. I don't even intend to smoke. God why do I have to answer to you? Just let me be."

"Your boyfriend dared you to do this? Stop seeing this son of a bitch." Lucy grabbed at the Malbaro, but Mary reached it first, yelling, "For your information, I was with my boyfriend and a coupla other guys and girls. Besides, who I hang out with is up to me. Don't you have your own life to tend to?"

"Yeah, and I don't spend it making an ass of myself!"

"Ok that's it. You're going down!" Mary lunged herself at Lucy who pushed her off and yelling that she (Lucy) could take her (Mary) down in two seconds flat if she wanted to. After two minutes of trying to prove thy can overpower each other, Mary told Lucy to not say anything to their parents.

"You can do whatever you want, Mary Camden!" shouted Lucy. "I wash my hands of you!" Both then collapsed on their bed to await the following morning.