The Valentine's Note

Chapter 20

After Kyla dropped me back home from school, I sat in the living room, dreading the moment mom and dad would walk through that door and shoot me a disappointed look followed by a long talk.

The day started off on a grim note and I could tell it was only going to go downhill from here. At least I managed to avoid Seth the whole day and Carla wasn't following us around anymore. I almost forgot what it was like to have a nice, peaceful meal without her constant chatter.

To dissipate my parents' anger, I decided to cook dinner today. Finding a good recipe for stir-fried vegetables, I lined the kitchen counter with bowls of various vegetables. Making sure to follow the recipe carefully so that I didn't end up with the fire department having to pay us a visit tonight, I successfully finished making the dish. After that, I steamed enough rice for the three of us and laid the dining table with cutlery. Standing back and examining the dining table, I felt quite proud of myself.

I was watching TV when I heard the front door unlock and then, mom and dad stepped in.

"Hey guys!" I said, sounding like the host to a children's TV show. "How has your day been?"

Dad exchanged a look with mom. He knew what I was doing, but it was still worth a shot.

"Did you cook dinner?" mom asked, ignoring my question.

"Yes, I did!" I exclaimed. "I thought I'd give you the night off."

"Ava, we need to talk," dad said, cutting my act short. Damn it.

"What's wrong?" I asked, sitting up straight and muting the TV.

He came and sat down on the couch with mom following. "We received a mail from your school's principal. Would you like to tell us what happened on camp?"

I sighed. I couldn't escape this, might as well own up to it. "Fine, we played a few harmless pranks that were supposedly not funny to the teacher who accompanied us."

"Playing pranks amongst yourselves is still fine but you guys pranked the teacher's trailer? What were you thinking?" mom said in an accusatory tone.

Should I deny doing those pranks or tell them we did it? We lied to Mrs. Delia and only the seven of us know that it was us, everyone else is simply assuming we did the prank.

"We didn't do it!" I exclaimed. "They're just assuming that we did."

"Ava," my dad said in a stern tone, his grey eyes staring into mine.

"Okay, fine," I said, sagging. "We did it but it was Seth's idea!"

"First, you were dumb enough to help some boy out with those pranks and then, you lie to your teachers and us that you didn't do it?" dad asked, his eyebrows rising. "I expected better, Ava."

"Which is why we have decided to ground you for the next two weeks," mom declared.

"What!" I exclaimed. "That's not fair! We're already getting detention and community service from school. I don't need you to ground me, too!"

"You should've thought of that before you decided to go ahead with those foolish pranks," dad said in a tone that indicated there was no more room for discussion.

"It was just for fun. We didn't-"

"Ava, that's enough," mom cut me off.

With a scowl on my face, I stood up and walked up to my room. They were just pranks for heaven's sake! I agree that the one on the teacher's trailer was going a bit too far but that didn't mean I deserved to attend detention, community service and be grounded.