UNDER EDITING
Charlotte Cooper's life had been a simple one up until Louise Bauman went missing. And she was okay with that. The day that the girl had gone missing, everyone immediately became on edge, growing suspicious of each other, trying their...
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It was finally the last night of Charlie's punishment, as sadly her mother never lifted her grounding. She hadn't even lifted the phone part of her grounding, even though Charlie had obliged to every part of her punishment except for the one night she snuck out. She hadn't snuck out any time after that, much to Trystan and Benjamin's dismay, as they'd begged her to many times after that.
For her it was just too risky, and she had too many eyes on her. Not to mention, she just felt as if she was somehow hurting her mom by doing so. Not physically, obviously, but she was lying to her mom and she didn't like that she'd resorted to doing that just to see her friends which she could easily see whenever her grounding was lifted.
She sat in the living room with her mother, the TV playing some crime show that Carolyn had put on for the two to watch while they ate Chinese takeout she'd grabbed on the way home from one of her shorter shifts while Charlie finished up the rest of her homework, her eyes repeatedly darting to the TV as she paid attention to the case the agents were trying to solve on the missing girl.
"I've been wanting to talk to you, Charlotte." Carolyn broke the silence between the girls. Immediately, Charlie was on edge considering her mother had called her by her full name, which she didn't usually do unless she was either in trouble or she was joking with her.
And since they hadn't really been on joking terms, that could've only meant one thing.
"Wha- what's it about?" The blonde reluctantly asked, shutting her binder before setting it on the coffee table. She grabbed the leftover chinese she had sat down earlier so she could finish her homework and began to slowly eating it, her mind immediately beginning to think of the possible worst news that her mother could give her.
"I know..." Carolyn stopped, trying to think of the best way to word her next statement. "I know that you snuck out the other night. To hang out with your friends."
At the statement Charlie choked on her noodles, immediately coughing as she hit her chest hard enough to get the noodles down. Her face turned red from not only the food but also in embarassment, not expecting that to come out of her mother's mouth. "Huh?" She asked, her eyebrows bunching together, although she knew exactly what her mom was talking about.
"You don't need to play dumb, Charlie." The older woman who looked a lot like her daughter waved a hand in the air, showing no sign of even disappointed. "I'm not mad, not upset. I expected you to do it way sooner, if I'm being honest. I just didn't expect you to do it the way you did. So I give you credit."
"So you're telling me-" Charlie stopped, putting her food on the coffee table before fixing her position on the couch, facing her mother. "You knew that I was going to sneak out and instead of being like, uber pissed about it, you're... dare I say, impressed?" Charlie sent her mother a confused glance, the older woman sighing as she mirrored her daughter's position.
"You acted out. You definitely had no reason you go after that girl, the way that you did. Which, I will not scold you again because I think you got the message and felt enough regret when I did it the first time." Carolyn clapped her hands together, "But-" She then pointed a finger up, "After giving you all this grounding, all this isolation from everyone, I realized how unfair it was. I mean, for what you did it's understandable. But, I realized the other girl got nothing. And she did just as much as you did, just didn't start it. And the only reason I know that is because you told me. You've been honest with me through this whole thing. Maybe not at first, but you eventually came clean which is more than most teens do with their parents. I only added ten times more punishment to what the school gave you."
