“Yes, I am.”
“How old are you?”
“I’m twenty. I’ll be twenty-one next month,” he says, crossing both his arms.
At this moment, I envy Kai so much more.
“I assume you guys can take it from here.”
“Yes. Thank you, Officer,” my mom says.
"Thanks, Officer,” Kevin says.
He nods his head and walks away.
What an asshole. He gets us in trouble and then leaves. Was that his mission, to find underage kids to get them in trouble? They could have just let us leave without causing all of this.
“We need to talk alone,” my mom grits out, and I tremble. I haven’t seen her this mad in…maybe forever.
I turn to Kai and hug him. The look on both of our faces says more than words can say. We don’t want to part ways. Wecan tell this is going to make it harder for us to spend time together.
My mom waits for Kevin and Kai to get into their car. “What the hell were you thinking, Blakely?”
“I wasn’t,” I admit, slowly letting my tears start to fall.
“You’re right. You weren’t.”
I glance over to the parking lot, watching Kai and Kevin drive away.
“Look at me,” Mom says, and I do.
“This is not fair. I shouldnotbe woken up by a cop saying they have my daughter. Do you know how awful that felt? My whole heart dropped. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I had to drag your sister out of bed just to come pick you up. And do you know what happened the second she saw the cops?” She pauses for my answer but I don’t reply. “She started crying and asked if you were going to jail.”
My stomach spins. I never even thought about what Brynlee would think.
I’m so damn selfish.
“What did you tell Brynlee?”
“I didn’t have time to explain anything to your sister. I told her everything was okay and came here as quickly as I could.” We walk toward the car. No one else is in sight but us. I look back at the spot I’ve come to love, feeling some kind of comfort. It’s still mine and Kai's spot.
“You’re grounded. Give me your phone.”
With trembling hands, I do as she says.
There’s no other option.
“You better come straight home after school. I don’t care who takes you, but I will be calling you on the house phone right at three p.m. to make sure you are home and alone. That gives you forty-five minutes to find a ride and get your ass home.”
Without looking at my mom, I say, “Okay.” I slide out of the car and start walking into school. Once again, I’m late, and not because of me. My mom had a hard time waking up this morning after last night. I can tell she didn’t get any sleep after we came home. Both her eyes are puffy and she won't stop yawning. It’s hard for me to look at her because I knew I had disappointed her.
Again.
The last time I disappointed her was when Paige and I took her mom’s car for a joy ride.
