The Leap Of Faith

Chapter 4

"Mom, did you really give me permission to go on that trip with the girls?" I asked, sitting on one of the stools in the kitchen island, still on my pajamas and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"Oh, hi sweetie." Mom said and turned around and gave me a kiss on my forehead. "Yes, Natalie's mom called me and told me what they were planning and asked if I was okay with it. Why, is there a problem?"

"No, not at all. Just curious..." I said and then mom turned around again and got back to making breakfast.

"Well, then you should probably start packing, Natalie's dad is picking you up tomorrow morning at seven. Oh, and call your father and sibling down for breakfast."

I got up from my chair and stood at the bottom of the steps, yelling for them to come down.

"Riley! If I wanted to scream, I would have done it myself! Now come and set the table." She commanded and I rolled my eyes. This happened every time she asked me to call for them to come down.

After everyone was seating at the table and eating their omelettes, Ryan turned to mom with a grimace, and I immediately knew he was going to start complaining about something.

"I just don't understand why she gets to go on a trip for, like, three weeks without 'parental supervision'. It's just not fair!" My brother said making air quotes and pouted at them.

"Simple. Your sister's older and is going to stay with her girlfriends, and it's a 'going away trip', not a weekend in Vegas." Dad said without even looking up from his breakfast. "And plus, I trust her to not do something stupid." He said and winked at me. I giggled and Rayn gave an exasperated sigh.

"You trust her to not do anything stupid. Really? She's a train wreck!" He said pointing at me and I glared daggers into his skull.

"Am not! And you're one to talk! You get detentions at school as if it's a sport or someone's keeping score!"

"Okay, that's enough! You are not going anywhere because you're grounded for sneaking out and you are going to stop fueling on his already bad temper." Mom said to Ryan and I, accordingly. We still continued to glare at each other from across the table. "Now, let's finish breakfast. You're both on dish duty."

When everybody finished their food, Rachel tried to pick up the empty plates, but mom stopped her and she turned and gave me an apologetic smile. While mom was making Rachel leave the dishes, I saw Ryan trying to ditch me and going for the stairs.

"Oh, no you don't!" I said and grabbed him by his sleeve and practically dragged him to the kitchen with me. All the while, Ryan was complaining and trying to escape my grasp, but I was too determined and pissed off. "I call dibs on drying and putting away." I grabbed the rag and jumped up to seat on the counter beside the sink. He just glared at me and picked up the plates from the table.

"You're lucky I'm trying to stay on mom's good side. Otherwise I would have knocked you on your ass." he said picking up the sponge and started with the first plate.

"Oh, shut up. If you were to try that, you would be the one on your ass." He gave me the plate and I started drying it. "Besides, what is it with you that you're so mad I'm going on a trip?"

"You always get what you want! They never let me do anything. Yeah, the other day I sneaked out to Theo's party, but so what?"

"First of all, you're fifteen and they are just looking out for you. Soon enough, you'll be old enough to do whatever you wanna do." I got up from my seat to put away some of the dishes.

"Yeah, but still. They don't trust me!"

"Well, what have you done to earn their trust? Just think about it. You are always getting in trouble, you sneak out, go to parties, get drunk and arrive home very late at night." I paused, giving him a minute to think about it, and then continued. "They love you, and want to trust you, but you have to stop giving them reasons not to."

He just stared at me for a few moments, and then shrugged and turned back to his work.

"And besides, it was not my idea to go on this trip. They tricked me into it and called mom to ask her themselves!" I finally said with a little smile and slapped him playfully with the rag. At this, he couldn't contain the small giggle that left his lips and turned to me and splashed me with the water.

Ah, this moments are rare. My brother is... difficult, but I love him and can't even begin to imagine my life without our little fights.

***

After three hours, the entire contents of my closet were either on the floor, my bed or my desk, and my bathroom looked like a hurricane passed through it, it is now 12:30 am, and I think I have everything I need packed and ready to go.

I have decided I'm too tired to tidy up my room, which I know my mom won't be happy about. I instead makd a bee line for my bed and after checking my phone one last time, fell asleep.

I woke to my phone blasting off with my ring tone and, still half asleep, picked up without even checking the caller ID.

"Ri, you better be ready in twenty, 'cause I'm loading up the last of my bags and we have to get this show on the road!" Jane practically screamed into my ear, making me groan and get the phone away from me. But then, her words sunk in and I checked the time on my phone. Crap. I overslept.

Quickly hanging off the phone, I got up so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash and fell back on my bed. Running up again, I grabbed the outfit I had put out yesterday and ran into my bathroom and took the quickest shower I have ever taken in my entire life. Getting out, I slipped on my summer dress and sandals and went to brush my teeth, only to realize I packed my toothbrush and toothpaste away yesterday. Double crap. Now I have to open up my suit case, brush my teeth and get it back together.

In record time, I was able to brush my teeth and fix my suitcase. I grabbed my phone, charger and earphones from my side table and threw them in my backpack, along with my wallet, keys and a book that I knew I wasn't gonna read.

Getting out of my room and running down the stairs, I found my mom in the kitchen making breakfast. I grabbed a granola bar and an apple, kissed my mom goodbye and ran to the front door just as Leah's car pulled up in front of my house.

I quickly put my suitcase at the trunk of the car and took my backpack up with me to the back seat of the car. I was so hyped up from all the running, I didn't even say hi to my friends.

"Well, hello to you too." Said Jane from the front seat.

"Sorry, I forgot to set my alarm." I finally said. "Natalie, weren't we supposed to stay with your dad?" I assumed if we were staying with him, he would have used his car to pick us up.

"And we are, but daddy said, and I quote, 'I don't want to ride with you guys because it would be awkward', and I don't argue with that logic." Natalie said as an explanation, making air quotes. "And besides, he's coming in tomorrow, and staying in a different room so he wouldn't, and I quote again,'crash into our party'."

"And does my mom know that?" I said suspiciously.

"Ah, minor details. Don't worry about it. " Jane said shrugging a little.

God, my friends are insane.