The Isadora Diaries:

Blackmail:

Sunday, April 8th

"Hey, what happened with the fire and the toy?" That was the first thing my mother said to me when I stepped through the front door after coming home from Grayson's party. I had managed to keep anyone from talking to me after the little scene I kind of made all the way up until that point.

I should've been prepared to go through my mother.

On second thought, I didn't really think she'd find out, and if she was going to find out, I didn't think it'd be that quick.

"How did you-"

Mother interrupted me. "Haley's mother called and told me what happened. Why did you try to burn Haley?"

"I wasn't trying to burn anyone!" I argued. "It was an accident!"

"You always say they're accidents, Isadora!" she scolded. "I can't even count how many 'accidents' you've had! When will you finally grow up?"

I was silent for a moment. Honestly, I really didn't know what to say. Tomorrow? My fourteenth birthday? I don't want to grow up? I've grown up enough; it's just that Haley is an immature brat that's out to get me? Like any of those would make a bit of a good argument.

I dropped my gaze to my dirty sneakers and reach for my elbow with one hand and upper hand with the other. "I'm sorry, Mother," I said quietly.

"Don't tell me you're sorry." She tossed me her phone. "Tell Haley."

I looked back up at her. She couldn't be serious. She really wanted me to call Haley and tell her I was sorry? If anyone was going to apologize, it should've been Haley for blackmailing me!

Then I thought of something that I felt stupid for not thinking of in the first place. I could just tell my mom, and she'd tell Haley's mom, who would get the video deleted.

"Mom, I have to tell you something," I said quickly as my mom took her phone out of hands and began dialing Haley's mother's phone. "You can tell me after you apologize to Haley."

"But it's really important-"

"Shh!" My mother held up a finger and held the ringing phone up to her ear. "Hi, Mrs. Hines? Yes, it's me. Could you put Haley on the phone for a moment? My daughter has something she would like to say to her." She handed me the phone. I reluctantly took it and held it up to my ear.

"Hello?" Haley said. I almost threw up. I never dreamed I would have to do something so repulsive. Knowing that there was no way out of it, I ripped off the band-aid and got it over with kick. "I'm sorry for almost burning you."

She laughed, and I had to keep myself from puking because my mother was still watching me. "Is that all, Isadora? I thought you'd be putting up some sort of fight.

I was losing my patience, which was almost non-existent when it came to her. "Goodbye, Haley."

"Oh wait, Isadora! Don't tell anyone about our little deal, or your brothers will have the same fate as you. I have more than one video." Oh, no. "Yup. If you say anything, everyone will know how much of a loser you and your brothers are, and they will never live it down." She hung up.

I didn't say anything. I couldn't say anything. I only handed the phone to my mother. "Now was that so hard?" she asked as she walked into the kitchen. "Now what was that important thing you wanted to tell me?"

I walked into the entryway of the kitchen so she could hear me better, because I didn't think I could speak very loud. "We earned more money to pay you back today."

"Thank you, Isadora, that's great. Where are your brothers, anyway?"

"They went home with Violet."

"Oh. Well can you call and tell them I want them home now? Dinner is almost ready."

"Yeah," I muttered, and went up the stairs to my room.

I didn't feel like talking to anyone, so I just texted Quigley and told him to come home with Duncan.

I really had no idea what to do.

Like, I literally just sat there wondering what to do with my life knowing that Klaus would never be my friend again, and I couldn't do anything about it. I tried watching some of my favorite Youtubers (ConnorFranta, Danisnotonfire, AmazingPhil, everyone who is mildly hilarious), but I just couldn't be cheered up. So instead, I went to that website Bea found with bunch of fanfiction and started reading. I really don't know what archive I was in because I've never heard of any of the characters, but I still got really into the story. Even if it was a little confusing with it's Asian vocabulary. (Yes, it was an anime story. You can't not read one, they're everywhere.)

Again, I had no idea who anyone was, and I had a hard time remembering their difficult names, but the story was still good. In fact, it was so good that I forgot I even existed. I was reading it like a madman, treating the story like it was more important than my own life (seeing how my life was at that moment, I was cool with that).

I'm not sure how long I sat there reading it, but it felt like an eternity, which was apparently long enough for my mother to finish making dinner. I didn't even smell the French-inspired meal in the air until Quigley came and pulled my laptop out of my line of vision. "Isadora! Mom's called you, like, ten times! I've been saying your name over and over! What's up with you?"

"No! Give me back my world!" I screamed at him, reaching for my laptop. He moved it to the farthest part of my bed so I couldn't reach it. "Your what?"

"Please! I only have fifteen chapters left and Akashi still needs to save Sakuya from his ex-team Generation of Miracles because they hate him for quitting their team because now they lose all the time instead of win, so now they're trying to hurt him by kidnapping and torturing Sakuya and Akashi needs to save her before she dies because she's coughing up blood, and he still needs to propose and they still need to get married and live happily ever after with their Atashi/Sakuya children that will run around with their awesome "Emperor Eye" skill they inherit from their father because it's special, but that's never going to happen if you don't let me finish!" I threw myself to the other end of my bed where my laptop was and tried to find my place in the story.

"What?! I can't even understand you! Are you still sane?!"

"Shh! Akashi just found the Generation of Miracles's secret underground headquarters!"

Suddenly, I was pulled away from the laptop by my ankles, and, with an arm around my stomach and another around my legs, picked up and carried away from my bed. "Okay, you're coming with me. You need a nice spoonful of reality."

"What?! No! It's just getting intense! You have to let me finish! No! AKASHIII-"

"-Is not healthyyy!" Quigley butted in.

I honestly didn't car if Akashi was unhealthy for me or not, I fought for that fictional character! I fought for him all the way down the stairs, to the dining room, and to my chair, which Quigley made sure was by my mother so I couldn't escape.

"Isadora, what you have been doing?" Mother scolded. "Didn't you hear me calling you?"

"Sawray, Ma, I coulint ear oo," I said, stuffing food in my mouth so I could finish quicker and get back to my story.

"Isadora, slow down!" Mother ordered.

"I need Akashshish!" I yelled, my mouth still full of food. I left some food on the plate and stood up from my seat and tried to break out of there.

"Hold it, young lady," my father, who I just realized was home, said sternly. "Who is this Akashshish and why is he more important than your family dinner?"

I swallowed the last bit of my food and sighed. "Akashi is the point guard and captain of Razukan High and is leading his team to victory for the Winter Cup while trying to save his girlfriend from the Generation of Miracles. No, he's not more important than our family dinner, but he's pretty important."

"Well, I think that Akashi can wait for you to finish your dinner. Now sit."

I followed his order unhappily and with a small pout on my face.

My mother shook her head. "You are just one surprise after another, Isadora."

"Tell me about it," Quigley said, rubbing his arm. "Her punches got surprisingly better, too."

"They didn't hurt, you're just a baby," I muttered.

"What?!"

"Can we please not fight at the dinner table?!" Mother yelled.

Duncan made a really unattractive noise that I think was supposed to be a laugh.

"Oh, shut up, Duncan," I muttered grumpily.

"Weirdo," he said quickly before shoving another spoon of food in his mouth.

"What did you call me?" I said a bit louder than I should have.

He shrugged and began looking around as if the word 'weirdo' had just come out of nowhere. "Huh? I didn't call you anything? That was someone else. Someone here is calling people names. We better find that person. I don't know. It wasn't me." He went back to his food.

"Stop teasing your sister, Duncan," Dad said in an annoyed tone. "She doesn't need to know that we think she's weird."

I sat upright. "Wha-what?! Dad!"

"Duncan!" Mother scolded.

"What?" Dad and Duncan answered at the same time.

"See," Quigley said with food in his mouth, "that's what happens when you name your child after your significant other."

Mother put her face in her hands. "I don't know how I've managed to live with all of you for as long as I have."

"You haven't," Duncan joked.

To my surprise, Mother laughed. I seriously thought she'd get mad at him for being smart like that, but no. "That's right, but I get my fun every now and then. Like that dance at your school next Friday? That's going to be fun."

"No!" my brothers and I protested. "I seriously thought you forgot about it!" Quigley exclaimed.

Mother nodded. "I did actually, but your school is so wonderful that they called and reminded me about it. They also said that there were opening for chaperones. I might take up that job."

"Well, you can be a chaperone all you want, but I'm not going to that dance," I said defiantly.

"Um, you're going," she said with finality. "All of you."

"Ha, losers," Dad teased as he chewed his food.

"You too, Duncan."

He froze. "I'm sorry. What?"

"Duncan," Mother pleaded, reaching across the table for his hand, "don't you think that we should be more involved with our children's lives? I mean, they're wrecking zoos and setting things on fire, for God's sake!"

"Yeah," Dad nodded, "but they're still alive, aren't they?"

"That's not the point, Duncan!"

"Okay, okay, okay, so. Let's hypothetically say that we get more involved in their lives, okay?" Dad waited for Mother's approval. She nodded and he continued, "What does us chaperoning at a dance that you're forcing them to go to have to do with anything?"

"Yeah, Mother!" I agreed at the same time that Quigley said, "Yeah, why do we have to go?" and Duncan yelled loud enough create an echo in the dining room, "Anarchy!"

Going to the dance meant seeing Klaus and Haley together, and that was too much of a painful sight for me to behold. So, just like I fought for my Akashi, I was going to fight for my right to stay home. Since I was against my mother in this situation, there was a pretty big chance I was going to lose. Even so, I refused to go down without putting up a good fight.

"Well," she began, "if we don't force them to go, then we're not making sure that they're having a good time out with their friends. Knowing that they're not out having fun with friends, but they're just sitting alone in their rooms and not doing anything about it is not being involved with their lives."

"I don't sit alone in my room," I argued.

"Oh, really?" Mother asked. "Then who were you sitting with just a few minutes ago?"

"Akashi."

Everyone groaned.

I hadn't even mentioned Akashi more than five times, and they were already sick of him.

Can you believe my family?

Of course not, you're a laptop.

That's okay. You wouldn't anyways if you were human.

"I'm afraid you're mother has a point, children. We can't just let you be anti-social." I wasn't surprised that Dad gave in so quickly.

"But I like being anti-social!" I whined.

"Yeah, Mom!" Quigley agreed. "Besides, who needs friends when you have the premiere of an awesome monster truck competition in HD?!"

"No one!" Duncan answered in a sing-song voice.

"Wait, Duncan, why don't you want to go?" I asked. "You have a date! And Quigley, you told me you were going!"

Quigley shrugged. "Yeah, but Violet told me today she might not be able to go. And if she can't go, then I'm not going."

"Yeah, and I never said I didn't want to go. I only said 'anarchy'," Duncan said matter-of-factly, crossing his arms.

"Wait!" Mother exclaimed. "My little Dun-Dun has a date!" Her voice went up, like, ten octaves. My ear almost fell off because of that awful pitch. I also drank my water at the wrong time, so I almost did a spit-take when she called Duncan 'Dun-Dun', and my dad started choking on his food. Quigley just flat out laughed.

Duncan glared at me. "It's possible."

Mother squealed. "This is brilliant! You have to tell me who she is, have I met her before? What does she look like? Is she pretty? Oh this is so exciting!"

"It's Bea, Mom," Duncan said, obviously not as excited as her. Not because he didn't want to go to the dance with Bea, but because of how big of a deal Mom was making it. It would've been okay if I did it because I've been shipping them since Bea told me she liked him, even if the idea grossed me out a little bit. When our mom does it, it's just weird.

"Bea?! Snicket's daughter?!" Mother looked straight at Dad. "I can't believe I never saw this coming. How come I never saw this coming?"

Dad shrugged. "Beats me. You're usually one step ahead of things."

"I am, aren't I?" she turned back to Duncan, "When were you going to tell me this? Now I have three weddings to plan! This is wonderful!"

"Mom," Quigley said, obviously annoyed. "I think you're forgetting that we're not even fourteen yet."

"And I think you're forgetting that I'm not with anyone, so you can't plan a wedding for me," I said matter-of-factly.

Mother shrugged. "Petty details. Let's take one party at a time. So for the dance, Duncan you need to find out what Bea is wearing so you color coördinate her dress with your tie. Quigley, it's the same for you and Violet."

"But she might not-"

"Doesn't matter," Mother interrupted. "Isadora, we need to pick out a dress for you soon so that we can get you to match Klaus as well."

"I'm not going with Klaus." Don't take this wrong way, but I was suddenly glad I wasn't going to the dance with Klaus-or anyone for that matter. If I was, I wouldn't be able to handle how my mother was acting. It was just too much.

"Oh, stop it, Isadora," Mother frowned. "Of course."

I shook my head. "No, Klaus is already going with someone else."

I didn't expect my mother to look so confused about that little fact, but she did. "With who?"

"Haley Hines," I said flatly. I tried to sound like I didn't care, even if the truth was the absolute opposite.

"Oh,"Mother said, a bit dumbfounded. "Well, I'm sure you can go with one of your friends. You could always ask Mark! I'm sure he's still single!"

Before I could argue about how that was not going to happen, she turned to my dad and changed the subject. "If we're going to chaperone, we should make sure we know where the fire extinguishers are."

"Wait, we're actually chaperoning?"

"Mom," Quigley said, "why do you need to know where the fire extinguishers are?"

Mother looked at him as if he should already know the answer. "Uh, have you met yourselves? You set fire to everything."

"Not true!" Duncan argued.

"Okay," Mother said, "let's count your fire-related incidents, shall we."

Oh, goodness. Here we go.

"The stuffed monkey," she began, "the New Year's roof incident, your Great Uncle Tom's funeral, the last Fourth of July party, am I forgetting one?"

Dad nodded. "Their sixth grade picture day."

"Oh, right! How could I forget?" she laughed. "That one was my favorite."

"Okay, Mom, I'll make you a deal," Quigley leaned in her direction from the other side of the table. "If you let us decide whether we go to the dance or not, we won't set anything else on fire ever again."

"Yeah, right," Mother said, returning to her food. "We're going shopping for your outfits tomorrow."

I groaned.

Mother turned to me. I could tell she was about to give me a lecture about the joys of shopping, but then she suddenly changed her mind and said, "Isadora, what is that on your neck?"

3,055

For the record, I don't read or watch anime, so don't kill me if you know those references and I got them wrong. I just saw them in a fanfiction somewhere in this website and used them. Not the kidnapping and hurting Sakuya part, though. That came out of my own brain.

By the way, I don't own anything having to do with Akashi or whatever fandom he is.

He has a pretty cool name, does he not?

"I'm a a ship sailing
And the seas are rough
I'm a satellite
In the space above
When I'm holding here
Or I'm hanging up
In the suspension
You're not close enough
You're not close enough
You're not close enough
You're not (suspension)..."

~ Suspension by Lights

;)