Sworn (8 page)

2 New Messages:

Dad: WHERE ARE YOU? GET HOME NOW.

Dad:?

Rachel didn’t know what to respond. They were still a good 45 minutes from home and stuck in Friday night city traffic.

Rachel: Long story, I’m on my way, 45 minutes. I’ll explain.

Dad: We need to talk. You’re in trouble, missy.

Rachel put her phone back in her bag and sunk down into her seat. She didn’t know what was worse: being stuck in that car, or what she would face when she got home. She hated this night and wished it had never happened.

Chapter Seven

As the car finally rolled into the driveway the clock read 1:23am. Rachel saw her parents standing in the window, looking outside.

“Bye Rach, I’ll text you tomorrow, maybe we can go to the movies, you have your ID!” Emily said.

“Uh huh, have a good night,” Rachel said.

 The second she entered her house, she heard her parents’ voices.

“Rachel, come here right now!” her dad said.

“Coming,” Rachel replied.

Rachel approached her parents who were red with anger. They looked tired and mad, and Rachel had never seen them quite like this before. She was scared.

The three walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

“What happened?” her mom said.

“I um, lost track of time.” Rachel said trying to get out of the punishment that awaited her.

“The movie ran over, and then Taryn wanted to stop by a friends house: I couldn’t say no.”

“What do you mean you couldn’t say no? Who’s house was it anyway?” Rachel’s dad replied.

“Jessica, my other new friend,” she replied quickly.

“You are two and a half hours late, do you realize that? Your mother and I were worried sick.”

“I’m sorry. I said I was sorry. I don’t know what else you want.”

“You are grounded. No TV, radio, or hanging out with friends for the rest of the weekend. You need to think about what you did tonight,” said Rachel’s dad.

“And no more riding with that girl Taryn, she is clearly bad news,” said Rachel’s mom.

“She is not. She’s a nice girl, what do you know?” Rachel screeched.

“That’s enough out of you! Get to your room!” her dad said.

As Rachel got up from the couch and walked past her parents and headed for the stairs, her dad said, “Get back here.”

Rachel slowly walked near him.

“Come here, he said, “closer,”

“Were you smoking?”

“NO!” Rachel said.

“You smell like an ashtray, do you smell that?” Rachel’s dad said.

“Rachel, tell us the truth, were you smoking?” Rachel’s mom asked again.

“I am telling you the truth, I wasn’t smoking.”

“It was probably your new friends. They’re bad influences on you. You need to find new friends,” her mom said.

Furious, Rachel turned and headed upstairs. She knew her parents didn’t believe her, but the funny part was she didn’t smoke. At least that wasn’t a lie. Rachel felt guilty for lying to her parents, but if they found out that she had gone into NYC, she would have been grounded for life, not just the weekend. Rachel was also mad because she knew that tomorrow (well, today) was her big date with Rob and she didn’t want to miss it, or miss the first party of the year. This was turning into a real disaster.

Exhausted, she took off her Nirvana tee and slid under the covers. Rachel feel asleep quickly, forgetting to write in her journal for the first time since she began back in 7
th
grade.

Rachel woke up the next morning feeling groggy and exhausted. Her late night was all a blur as she tried to run its events back in her mind. She felt upset that she’d worried and disobeyed her parents, but on the other hand, she felt her curfew was too early, and they were being too hard on her. Compared to most of the girls in her grade she had the earliest curfew and the most rules.

Thinking about this upset Rachel, and whenever Rachel felt upset she liked to write in her diary to get her thoughts out. She reached for her diary, and then suddenly remembered she had forgotten to write in it last night. This was the one thing Rachel was strict with herself about: she never wanted a day a to go by without documenting it.

Rachel opened a page, backdated it, and wrote about her crazy first night out with the girls.

When she finished writing, she locked it up. If her parents ever saw this entry, she knew they would be pissed.

The time was 10:15am and Rachel’s stomach began to growl. She was a little nervous to face her parents but knew she couldn’t stay in her room all day. As she headed into the kitchen, her parents were sitting there, still in their pajamas, reading the
New York Times
and drinking coffee. They looked up at her but didn’t say anything. Their stares made her feel guilty all over again.

Rachel’s parents sat there quietly and Rachel could tell they were still mad. She went over to the cupboard to get out the Golden Grahams, some milk from the fridge and then sat quietly across from them at the kitchen table. The room was still, and nobody said anything.

She felt torn; she desperately wanted to tell her parents the truth, but feared their response. She wished she could have a more open relationship with them, but they were so overprotective, she figured it was best to shelter them from the truth.

As she tilted the bowl back to sip the remaining drops of milk into her mouth her dad finally spoke.

“Don’t forget: no TV, or radio today -- and don’t even think about going out with your friends tonight. You are grounded until Monday morning.”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” Rachel said, trying to be sympathetic.

She thought about her punishment and realized they had forgotten to take away her cell phone away. Usually, when they grounded her, her cell it is the first thing they held hostage.

Before they could remember Rachel cleared her dishes, put away the cereal and milk and headed upstairs. If she sat there any longer she was sure they would have remembered her cell.

Rachel unplugged her cell phone, charging on her nightstand, and looked at it.

1 New Message:

Hoping it was Rob texting about their date tonight, Rachel opened the phone.

Dana: Hey Rach, went to the movies last night, we missed you.

Reading this, Rachel felt sad. She remembered how simple her life was back in Pennsylvania. She rarely got in trouble, and hanging out with her friends never turned into a crazy ordeal either. She wished she could be back with her old friends now, doing the fun things she used to do: but now she was thrust into this different world she knew little about.

Rachel didn’t feel up to rehashing her whole night over a text message, but she didn’t want to be rude and not text back, even though Dana had been remiss about contacting Rachel the past few days.

Rachel: Hey! Sounds so fun, wish I could have been there, I went out, too. Let’s chat later.

Rachel had hoped that Dana’s text was Rob texting her instead. She was anxious for Rob to text her about the party, but she also didn’t know how she would respond. Could she really tell him that she had been grounded for staying out past her 11pm curfew? She couldn’t bear to do that. She knew that if she told anyone that she was grounded, her friends would think she was lame. Not to mention, they would hate her parents, and Rachel didn’t want that.

Rachel pondered her options. She had to find a way to get to Jordan’s party and to see Rob, but she didn’t see how that would ever fly with her parents. Rachel knew if she tried to reason with them, they would get angrier and might ground her for longer -- so she knew that wasn’t an option.

 She wondered if she had Rob show up and ring her bell, that maybe her parents would feel bad and let her go out. But she didn’t think that would work because she knew she wouldn’t get the sympathy card tonight.

Suddenly, Rachel had an idea. Today was Saturday, and she knew her parents always went out on Saturday nights for dinner. Rachel could sneak out. She had never snuck out of her house before, but tonight was not just another night out with the girls -- this was her BIG date night with Rob, and she couldn’t miss it for the world.

The one hiccup in the plan was that Rachel wasn’t sure if her parents were going out this Saturday, because it was their first Saturday in the new house and they might still be unpacking, or have other things to do around the house. They might also be too tired after the craziness she had put them through last night. She had to find out.

But how?

Rachel knew that if she asked them straight out, they would know something was up; Rachel never inquired about their plans before, so why would she start doing it now? Especially when she was grounded?

Suddenly, a stroke of genius entered her brain. She figured out the perfect way to find out their plans, while not letting on that she was really trying to find a way to sneak out.

Rachel felt torn about her idea. She knew if she went forward with it, she would have to tell a lie -- but if she didn’t go through with it, she may let the love of her life slip through her fingers. The battle in her mind went on for a few minutes, and then she decided she couldn’t miss her date with Rob, she had to lie to her parents.

Rachel left her room and headed to find her parents. They were sitting in the living room, sorting through boxes. As she entered the room, her parents stopped and looked up at her.

“What are you doing down here?” asked her dad.

“Well, I was going through my homework and then I realized that part of my science homework was to watch an episode of Planet Earth.”

“You’re grounded. No TV,” her dad replied.

“But, how will I do my homework? I can’t go in without it and it’s due Monday morning, 3
rd
period.”

Rachel’s mom looked at her, then turned towards her dad and said, “I think we need to make an exception, Dear. She isn’t watching it for pleasure -- it is her homework. We can’t let her grades slip because she is grounded.”

“What time is it on?” her dad snapped.

“It starts at 8:30 tonight.”

Rachel knew that there was a Phillies game on tonight and her parents were huge fans: arguably, their number one fans. She knew that if they were not going out for dinner, they would be sitting in front of the only TV they had in their house, watching the game. They wouldn’t let anything get in the way of their beloved baseball team.

 Rachel knew her plan was working. Here parents looked at each other and looked at the clock hanging in the corner of the room.

“That will be fine,” said Rachel’s dad.

“The show is two hours though, is that OK?” she asked, looking at her parents.

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” her mom interjected. “We’re going out to dinner tonight at 7 o’clock with the new neighbors. They said they might want to go to the movies after, so we probably won’t get home until around then anyway.”

“Oh, OK,” Rachel said, trying to sound indifferent. She didn’t want them to hear any excitement in her voice.

Rachel knew that Sarah was still at Skidmore and Mark was having a sleepover with one of his friends so she would have the house all to herself.

Rachel had done it. Her plan worked. She figured out all the information she needed. She felt a little bad for lying, but she couldn’t think of any other way.

Rachel headed back upstairs to her room. She looked at her watch. 1:15pm. She checked her phone.

No New Messages

Rachel knew the party started at 8 o’clock, and she only had a few more hours to go. She wondered why Rob hadn’t texted her yet. Maybe he forgot? Maybe he was standing her up?

Many options crossed through her mind.

Should I text him?

Rachel continuously checked her phone thinking that maybe Rob had texted and she didn’t hear the buzz. Still nothing.

She began to like him even more and let her mind wander, thinking about their date. She wondered what the party was going to be like and who was going to be there. She wondered what she and Rob would do together -- she even let herself think about kissing him.

Rachel had only kissed one guy before, and that had been a random guy at one of her sleepaway camp socials. It was more of a peer pressure kiss, and meant nothing to her: she didn’t even remember the guy’s name. So this would be Rachel’s first “real” kiss.

Another hour went by with no text from Rob. Rachel’s hopes of them getting together begun to fade. She was a little annoyed, too, because she had already lied to her parents and had come up with an elaborate plan to get out of the house. She started to feel that maybe she liked him more than he liked her.

All of a sudden, Rachel heard a buzz. Her heart leapt into her throat as she reached for her cell.

1 New Message:

Rob: Hey Rachel, psyched for tonight. I’ll pick you up around 7.

Rachel waited a few minutes to reply, so she wouldn’t seem too eager. She didn’t want Rob to think she had been sitting by her phone all day waiting for his text, and she wanted to play it cool. Having never had a boyfriend, she had many years of analyzing and overanalyzing her friends’ relationships and guy drama.

Rachel: Great. Can you come around 7:45 instead?

Rachel didn’t want Rob to accidentally run into her parents as they were leaving the house, and she also knew that her parents were chronically late for everything, and they probably wouldn’t end up leaving until after 7.

She was also a little puzzled that Rob wanted to pick her up an hour before the party started. She knew it was only a five minute drive to everything in Bedford, so 7 was way too early. Then she thought maybe he wanted to take her somewhere first, so they could be alone. She loved the idea of, but realized tonight was not a possibility. If she wanted any shot at sneaking out, it would have to wait until her parents were long gone.

Rob: Yeah, that’s fine. See ya later babe!