Lost In Paradise

Chapter 1

We heard the police cars well before we saw them.

At first Karl shrugged them off, saying there was no way in hell they could be for us. Even Alyssa hadn't been as stupid as to draw attention with her usual drunken shrieks.

But then the car turned in at the car park, and we all knew that we were fucked.

"Quick! Hide the booze!"  Mark cried, as if there was anywhere to put it.

"How about run?" Alyssa suggested, slightly more sensibly.

It was a Saturday, Mark and Karl had picked up a six-pack of beer and a bottle of Blue WKD to share between us. We'd only drunk enough to get a buzz, but the night was still young. Tell that to the police car pulling up in front of us.

"If any'un asks," began Alex, a greasy boy who I'd never spoken to before that night, "It's alc'hol-free beer an' juice with a loada food col'ring, alright?"

Alyssa shook her head. Her over-sized hoops bounced up and down. "So that's where all the beer went."

Mark and Karl looked at each other and bolted to the exit where a police car pulled up and blocked their path.

"Oh, shit," I said, dropping my can on the ground.

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"What the HELL do you think you were playing at?!?" My dad screamed the moment we got in the car. "Why did you have to go and do something so STUPID? Right before we go on holiday, too!"

I didn't bother to reply. Instead I chose to stare outside where I could see that I wasn't the only one getting the third degree- Alyssa's mum was having a go, too.

"Are you listening? Hayley?" Mum's asked.

"No, not really," I replied.

"What the-"

"Just leave it," Mum hissed at him. "We'll have to talk in the morning when she's sober. Let's go home. I'll call your parents to tell them that we're coming back. No doubt that Hannah will have kept them on their toes."

I glared at my parents as my dad pulled out of the car park at the police station.

The next morning, my parents didn't even wait for me to have my coffee before they let rip. I mean, seriously, if you're going to bite someone's head off, at least let them get their caffeine fix first.

They gave me all their usual crap: You're a disgrace to the family; What the fuck was going through your mind?; You're setting a terrible example to your sister! etc, etc. They said that when we go on holiday, I'm basically grounded. I don't see how that works. Like, at all. Who goes on holiday to do nothing but study, and not go out at all?

It was going to be a long week.