It All Started With An Apple

Chapter 41

“Brianne, I know Maria can be improbable, but you can’t fall for her games.”

I rolled my eyes, lying back on Britain’s bed.  My mom called a family meeting immediately after dinner was over, sounding scary-calm.  I knew that I was in for an ass whooping, but I couldn’t really bring myself to care.  The girl had it coming.  I had no guilt what-so-ever.

“I don’t care,” I snapped, scowling at my mom’s figure from the corner of my eye.  She was standing in front of the door with her arms crossed across her chest—which was steadily growing bigger now.  I guess the sea monkey wanted to start making itself known.  My dad didn’t look invested in this argument at all.  He winked at me before leaning on the bedroom wall, crossing his arms over his chest, his gaze turning stern.

“You should!” my mom seethed.  “You are supposed to be setting an example for these kids.”

“Mom, Maria brought up sex at the table while I was eating my mac and cheese.”  My scowl deepened.  “And she accused Dannon and I of doing the deed.  You really think that I was going to just let it go?”

My mom pursed her lips, conflicted.  I knew that the fact that Maria accused someone as innocent as Dannon of doing something like that pissed her off.  Sure she was mad that Maria would accuse me of doing something like that, but let’s face it: I was more likely to do something like that than Dannon was.

Wow, that sounded messed up.

“I know she did,” my mom muttered finally, “but—”

“Mom, let it go,” Garrett interjected finally, leaning on the doorframe in a carefree manner.  “I thought Brianne was pretty kickass at dinner today.”

My mom didn’t even bother to tell Garrett to clean up his language.  She sighed in defeat.  “Fine, I’ll let this go as a warning.  But if you act like that in front of the little kids again, you’ll be grounded until they day you die—even if I die before you.”

I rolled my eyes and stood up.  “Well, this chat has been fun, but I would like to leave the room now.”  I stretched my arms, yawning.  “And remember that you need to drive me to the hospital tonight so that I can visit Dannon.”

My mom bit her lip at the mention of Dannon’s being in the hospital.  She’d been absolutely hysterical when I got home past eleven o’clock and told her what happened.  Of course there were a few shrieks about how I worried her sick, but it was mostly, “Oh my goodness, is he okay?”  Which was to be expected.  I would have been disturbed if there had been anything less.

“All right,” she murmured finally.  She turned and walked out of the room without a single word, my dad quickly trailing behind her.

I hopped off Britain’s bed, trotting toward the door.  Garrett was waiting for me, a goofy smile on his face.  “Kickass,” he whispered, holding out his hand for a high-five.  “I couldn’t have said it any better myself.”

“Of course you couldn’t,” I teased, slapping his outstretched hand.

Garrett rolled his eyes, leaving the room without looking back.  I giggled under my breath before following him—well, attempting to anyway.  I gasped, clutching the doorframe as Maria appeared out of nowhere, her face pinched with menacing ferocity.  I sighed when I realized it was only her.  And then I got pissed.

“Would you care to let me pass, Maria?” I asked as patiently as I could.  If I said something wrong, I was going to get grounded.  And I couldn’t get grounded.  Being grounded meant that I couldn’t go anywhere.  I had to visit Dannon in the hospital.