“So, from what I understand, you had nothing to do with this?” My mom gave me a firm look and I nodded. She had been pacing the kitchen, interrogating Scott and I about the babysitter incident for quite some time now.
“It was all me Mrs. Hunt.” Scott said and winced a little. Technically, that wasn’t true, and I really wanted to tell my mom the truth, but something inside me told me it was better to just keep my mouth shut and let everything happen.
My mom was silent for a few paces and then suddenly she stopped. She sighed heavily and threw her hands up in the air. “Alright, I give up. Ally, you’re going back to school, no matter what it takes. Scott, I’m sorry to have to do this to you, but you’re staying home, and going to counseling as well.” She said sternly and both of us nodded, though I could tell Scott was not happy about the counseling part. “We need to figure this out, I can’t let your mother down.” My mom said to Scott, with tears in her eyes and sadness in her voice.
Scott didn’t say anything, and I have to admit that I didn’t expect him to. Emotions weren’t really his thing, and I doubted that my mom’s show of sadness even had any effect on him.
“There won’t be anyone here for about an hour or two after you get home from school Allie, so I expect you to get your homework started.” My mom nodded to me and looked at me to make sure I understood. I nodded back and she sighed again. For a moment she looked like she was going to say something else, but she abruptly turned and left without a word. Scott sat there in silence across the table from me, and I did the same for a few minutes.
“Scott...” I managed to say, but I didn’t know what talk about. I felt like I should say something about what happened, but there really wasn’t anything to say.
Surprisingly, Scott didn’t glare at me or say “what?” in a snobby tone. Instead he just pushed his chair away from the table and left the room. Shortly after I heard his door almost slam closed.
I sighed. At least I would return to school, my friends, and some sense of normalcy soon. Or so I hoped, lately I never knew what was going to happen. I just pushed myself away from the table and went about finishing my chores. No point in dwelling on things that I couldn’t change, right?
My alarm clock woke me from a disturbing dream about Scott and I nearly jumped for joy. Not only had my alarm saved me from thoughts of my worst enemy, but it signaled the beginning of a mostly Scott-free day, which I had wanted since he moved in.
I quickly pressed the off button on my alarm clock and shot out of bed to pick out what I was going to wear. After selecting my signature jeans and t-shirt, I walked joyfully out of my room to take a shower. So far, the say was going good and the whole house was quiet. My parents had probably already left for work and Scott was probably still asleep.
Fifteen minutes was all I needed before I was squeaky clean from head to toe. I stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel (which unfortunately was one of the smaller ones due to lack of laundry getting done with all the drama lately) and looked around the steamy bathroom. When I was a little kid I used to enjoy drawing in the condensation on the mirror, and my mom used to leave notes so when the bathroom steamed up I could read the message. She’d stopped doing that a few years ago, but it still made me smile.
I walked up to the sink to grab my toothbrush and froze. Had I really forgotten my clothes on my bed? I twisted around to look for my clothes but they were nowhere in sight. My mouth dropped open and I shook my head slowly. No worries, right? My room was pretty much just across the hall and Scott was still asleep, so I had nothing to worry about. I hoped.
I brushed my teeth stiffly while listening a little too carefully for a sound that might tell me Scott had gotten up. Every creak or pop that came from the house made my heart jump and my pulse race. I couldn’t seem to make myself calm down, even though there really wasn’t anything to be afraid of. I turned toward the bathroom door and put my hand on the doorknob. Alright, so I was going to make a run for it. One. Two. Three…
