Play With Me

second, and she asked me if I
wanted anything to eat. Ham and eggs, my favorite breakfast.
    The churning of
my stomach rebelled like the worst traitor through the room. Please, no food. I
couldn’t help but gag and wrinkle my face. “No thanks, Mom.”
    “What’s it?
Don’t you feel well?” She was in front of me before I could escape to the
stairs.
    I pulled off
Hunter’s shades and pinched the spot between my eyes. “Nah, all’s fine.”
    “What’s with
your eyes, honey?”
    Shit. I quickly
hooded my eyes and stared at the floor.
    Too late. She
gasped. “They’re totally red. Liza Isadora Matthews—”
    Oh great, the
full name. This was going downward.
    “Have you been
drinking alcohol?”
    In contrast to
her roar, my voice dropped to a mumble. “Only a little bit. And I didn’t know
there was alcohol in the soda, I swear.”
    From there she
pulled off the full parental orchestra of scolding. She shouted, she grunted,
she called me irresponsible for drinking. But the worst thing, she grounded me.
    The only time
where I would see daylight was soccer training Tuesday and Thursday, and she
only gave in to that because I begged on my knees. After all, I couldn’t not show up for the first week of training when it had been so hard to get onto the
team.
    Then she brought
me a glass of water, hugged me, and said she was happy I didn’t get hurt. Duh,
she didn’t know about my hammering head yet.
    Back in my room,
I slumped on my bed and made plans for a week trapped inside. At least my
to-be-read stack would shrink drastically this way.
    Later that day,
my phone vibrated on the night stand, with Tony’s name flashing on the display.
I pushed the button to cut him off. Just letting it ring wouldn’t have been
enough. He needed to know that I didn’t want to talk to him.
    A few moments
later, I got a text message. ARE YOU MAD AT ME?
    Jerk, I wouldn’t
answer to that.
    It didn’t take
long for him to send the next text. SO IT’S NOT A QUESTION OF IF BUT OF HOW
MUCH .
    I clamped down
on my teeth, scowling sinisterly at the phone since he wasn’t here to receive
the evil glare himself.
    I WOKE UP IN A
STRANGE HOUSE, IN A STRANGER’S BED, WITH A STRANGER SLEEPING NEXT TO ME. WHAT
DO YOU THINK?I texted back, then picked up my book, and read three more
lines before my cell beeped again.
    WHAT DID HUNTER
DO TO YOU? I’M GOING TO KILL HIM!
    HE DID NOTHING.
HE WAS A PERFECT GENTLEMAN. OTHER THAN YOU, IDIOT!
    No text came
after that. But soon my phone rang again. This time I picked up. “What?”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “I don’t care.
You forgot me at the party.”
    He sighed before
he replied. “I didn’t forget you. It was the middle of the night, and I figured
the way you were—”
    “Drunk?”
    “—yes. I thought
it wasn’t a good idea to take you home. And your mom finding out. You seemed in
a good place in Hunter’s room. He promised you’d be awake already when he would
go to sleep.”
    “What time did
you leave?”
    “One. Why?”
    Okay, so he
couldn’t know what happened. “Someone threw up in the hall. The party was over
at three.”
    “Shit.” He
paused. “So will you come and hang out on the beach with a few of us?”
    “I can’t. I’m
grounded all week. Will Cloey be with you all?”
    “Um…yes.”
    Terrific! Tears
of frustration welled up in my eyes.
    “You only met
her yesterday. I don’t see how you can hate her so much.”
    “You know what I
think about bimbos.”
    “Look, she’s not
a bimbo,” he tried in what should be a soothing tone. “And I think you two will
get along well once you know each other better.”
    “No thanks. I’d
rather stay grounded for the rest of the summer.”
    “Agh, Liz. Just
when have you become so complicated?”
    Me—complicated?
“Know what? I wish you a nice day at the beach. Now, if you don’t mind, I have
a book to read.” I didn’t wait for him to say bye, or anything for that matter,
but pushed the disconnect button and tossed the cell into the laundry basket
across the room. Screw him and the Barbie Clone. Screw them all.
    As the first tears
came out, I wanted to rip my room apart with the anger I felt. But I was going
to spend a lot more time than usual in here the coming week and I didn’t want
to live in a mess. So I took it out on my diary. In the evening I watched some
TV then went to bed early.
    It was still
dark when someone shouting my name in a subdued voice woke me. Since there were
not many people who