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Emmy sat on her bed and painted her nails. She had only been grounded two days but she was already bored out of her mind. She wasn't allowed her phone or laptop and could only watch TV during family time. Added to that she couldn't leave the house to meet any friends. Emmy heard the phone on her bedside table vibrate. She had kept an old mobile as a spare for whenever she was grounded. Emmy checked the phone; it was a text from Melissa saying, "Can you talk?" Emmy went into the hallway, ensuring there was no one near-by.
Emmy waited for Melissa to answer the call, "Hi," she said.
"Hey," Melissa answered, "How's prison?"
"Hell," Emmy laughed, "What's up?"
"You know tomorrow there's a party in the woods?"
"Yeah," Emmy said nervously. There was no way that she was sneaking out again for another party.
Melissa sensed Emmy's concerns, "Don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to come!"
Emmy let out a sigh of relief. "So what do you want?"
"I need something to wear and I miss you," Melissa explained, "I thought we could spend some time together at the mall."
Emmy bit her lip, unsure what to say. She wanted to say yes but her Dad would go mental. "Emmy, I understand if you say no." Melissa said it in a way that made Emmy think she didn't mean it. Emmy couldn't let Melissa think that she was a pathetic little kid; she had no choice.
"Sure, I'll come," Emmy said.
"Great, see there at two tomorrow." Melissa hung up.
Emmy paused, thinking about what to do. Then it hit her. She called Joanna. "Hey Joanna," Emmy chirped.
"Hey, how is it being grounded?" Joanna asked.
Emmy, Joanna and Rachel had been best friends almost their entire lives, yet ever since Emmy had started hanging out with Melissa, she had spent less and less time with Joanna and Rachel. Emmy tried to silence that little voice in her head that said she was just using her old friends. "I am so bored and I need to get out of this house! But I think my Mum feels bad for me. Maybe if you came around and asked if I could go out with you and Rachel, she might let me go."
"Do you think so?" Joanna asked.
"Yeah," Emmy said, "How about you do that?"
Joanna paused before she answered, "Well we are going to the swimming pool tomorrow, do you want to come?"
"Sure," Emmy said as she rolled her eyes, this was reminding her how lame everyone else her age was. "So come over and ask me to come with you, but remember to act like this conversation didn't happen."
"Okay, I'll do that," Joanna agreed.
"Thanks, bye," Emmy hung up.
She waited for Joanna. The doorbell rang and Mrs Soren called, "Emmy, Joanna's here!"
Emmy came downstairs and sounded surprised as she said, "Hey Joanna." She looked at her to tell her to start talking.
"Umm, Mrs Soren, would it be okay if Emmy came with me and Rachel to the pool tomorrow?"
Mrs Soren looked between Emmy and Joanna. "She is grounded," Mrs Soren said reluctantly.
"Please Mum," Emmy said with puppy dog eyes.
"I suppose it is summer," Mrs Soren contemplated, "And she does deserve to enjoy it after working hard all year. It's fine, you can go."
Emmy smiled and rushed to hug her Mum. "Thank you Mummy," she said. "Will I see you at tomorrow at two?" Emmy asked Joanna, who nodded.
Emmy saw Joanna out the door. "Thanks again," Emmy said, "Although my Dad's probably not going to be happy about this, and he might stop me from going."
"It's fine, I'll understand," Joanna said, meaning it.
…
Emmy got ready for going to the mall. She was going to bring a sports bag to pretend it had her swimming costume. She could also use it to carry anything she bought. Then she phoned Joanna. "Hey, bad news," Emmy tried to sound upset, "Dad found out about me going to the pool, and he went mad. He's not letting me go!"
"Oh no!" Joanna replied, "That's too bad."
"I know," Emmy agreed, with a notable catch in her throat. "I'm sorry but I hope you and Rachel enjoy yourself."
"Maybe in a few days your Dad will soften a bit and let you go out another time," Joanna suggested.
"Maybe, but I have to go, bye," Emmy ended the call and smiled.
"Emmy! Caine! Lunch!" Mrs Soren yelled. Emmy went downstairs to the kitchen. "Do you need a lift to the pool?" Mrs Soren asked as Emmy sat down.
"No, I'll just walk because I could do with the fresh air," Emmy said before biting into her sandwich.
"Have you seen Caine this morning?" Mrs Soren asked, looking between Emmy and Carla, who was cleaning the oven. Emmy shook her head while Carla said she hadn't. Mrs Soren went into the hall and bellowed, "Caine! Come downstairs now!" After she sat down she was relieved when she heard the sound of Caine coming down the stairs.
He entered the kitchen, wearing only boxers and rubbing his sleepy eyes. "Morning," he yawned as he sat down.
"Afternoon, actually," Emmy corrected.
"It's morning somewhere in the world," Caine said snidely.
"Well, in California it's one in the afternoon," Emmy retorted.
"Whatever," Caine said.
"Whoa, that's a great comeback," Emmy said.
"Can't you two stop bickering so we can enjoy our lunch?" their Mum asked.
"It's more like brunch," Emmy ignored her Mum, "we're having lunch but this is Caine's breakfast."
Caine pointed a finger at Emmy, "See, she's the one that always has to have an argument. Besides, it's summer; I'm not doing anything. Plus I never get a lie in at school."
"Why?" his Mum asked.
"My roommate is an early riser, and he usually wakes me up. Seriously, I'm lucky if I get to sleep past nine on a weekend."
"Nine is a lie in," Mrs Soren said.
"No it's not," Caine argued.
Emmy finished her lunch and went to her room to get her bag. "Bye," she called as she went out the door. Emmy walked around the street corner and saw Melissa, waiting in her car. It was a light blue soft top that was the envy of all the other girls in the neighbourhood.
"Hop in," Melissa called. Emmy dumped her bag in the back and sat in the seat beside Melissa and they set off for the mall.
…
Emmy and Melissa were sitting in Starbucks, laughing. "OMG!" Melissa suddenly exclaimed.
"What?" Emmy asked her.
"Do you see those two guys over there?" Melissa pointed to where she was looking.
Emmy turned and looked away quickly. "Oh my word!" Emmy laughed.
"I know," Melissa said, "Do you think we should invite them to sit with us?"
Emmy stared at her, trying to figure out if she meant it. "You're not serious, are you?"
Melissa shrugged, "Why not? They're hot."
Emmy couldn't think of a reason so Melissa waved over at the guys. They smiled at the girls. Melissa pointed towards the empty seats around them and the guys made their way over.
"Emmeline Soren!" Emmy froze and turned to the source of the call behind her, already knowing who it was.
"Hi Mum," Emmy said sheepishly.
Her Mum glared at her, "So is this your idea of swimming? And my, haven't Joanna and Rachel changed? They've morphed into one person, who looks rather like Melissa."
"I'm really sorry," Emmy pleaded.
"Save it for when your father talks to you," Mrs Soren snapped. She gestured for Emmy to follow her and Emmy did. Neither said anything on the way home. Emmy ran up to her room while Mrs Soren called her husband to come home early.
Half an hour later the door was thrust opened by Mr Soren, and it as it was slammed shot he let out a roar. "EMMY!"
Emmy shuffled down the stairs. "I'm SO sorry," Emmy offered, but neither he nor her Mum cared. She sat down on the sofa while her father let out a torrent of his anger and disappointment which culminated in him asking her what she thought was going to happen now. Emmy barely shook her head, she didn't trust herself to open her mouth and let anything other than a sob out.
"We warned you if you disobeyed us again or saw Melissa again that we would send you to Coates Academy," her Dad explained, "And it's happening. You're going!"
Emmy put her head into her hands and screamed. "No! Don't you love me?" she yelled at her parents.
"Of course we do," her Dad yelled back, "This will be for your own benefit. Look at Caine, his grades and behaviour have improved since he's been at Coates, that could happen for you."
"Will," Mrs Soren said quietly, "Maybe we should give her another chance?"
Mr Soren stared at her, "You were just as reluctant to send Caine, and aren't we glad that we did?" Mrs Soren unwillingly agreed.
She turned to Emmy, "Go upstairs."
Emmy paced her room. There was a knock on the door and she wanted to scream when she saw who entered. There was a wide grin on Caine's face. "Someone's been bad," he laughed.
"Get out," Emmy said slowly, conveying her hatred for him.
"So I hear you're going to Coates," Caine sat down on the desk chair.
"We'll just see about that," Emmy said, "Mum might get me out of it".
"I thought the same," Caine replied, "I was wrong. Dad can always get Mum to agree with him." Emmy sighed, Caine was voicing her fears.
"So if you do go to Coates, I have a few rules," Caine carried on. "Number one, you can't say you're my sister."
Emmy rolled her eyes, "You can't be serious."
"Why?" Caine asked.
"Because Soren is not a common name, especially in a small school like Coates, people are going to guess we're related. Do you want me to lie?"
Caine let out a sigh of frustration, "No, what I mean is if someone is giving you grief don't say 'I'm Caine Soren's sister'. Got it?"
"Why would saying I'm your sister help?" Emmy asked with suspicious eyes.
"Let's just say that I have a reputation and with that comes respect. Number two if you see me in the corridor you don't talk to me or even say hello."
"I'm fine with that," Emmy agreed.
"Good," Caine said, "The third rule is you don't date any guys at school or go to any parties."
"What?" Emmy yelled, "You can't tell me who I can date or where I can go."
"I'm just looking out for you," Caine said, but Emmy didn't believe it.
"Why?" Emmy asked.
Caine paused, "Let's just say that the guys at Coates don't know how to respect girls."
"All teenage boys don't know how to respect girls," Emmy said back.
Caine shrugged, agreeing, "I suppose so. But imagine, if a girl's upset and feeling bad about herself because she was sent to Coates. Then a guy comes and treats her nice, saying the right things. She's going to do something that she would never usually do. Then the guy usually tells everyone about it."
"That's awful," Emmy said, disgusted.
"I agree," Caine said, "but what can you do?"
"You've never cared about me dating guys or, really, anything that I do. What's changed?"
Caine thought for a moment, "I just don't want to hear some creep brag about what he did to my little sister, okay?" Caine stood up to walk away.
"Would you ever do that to a girl?" Caine stood in the doorway for a moment before he turned around to answer.
"There's a lot of guys at Coates who are bad apples, and they tend to ruin the rest of us. By the way I never thanked you for setting me up with Amanda."
"You're welcome," Emmy couldn't care less about that, "Are you dating her now?"
Caine frowned, "Maybe, unless I get a better offer. Otherwise we'll go out, until the end of summer obviously. Coates is a great place to be single."
"You are a prime example of what is wrong with humanity: Men."
Caine rolled his eyes, "Don't go burning your bra, now, Emmeline." With that he walked out, leaving Emmy to wallow in self-pity.