Five minutes later, Beau's mom had rounded up all the teenagers in her house into the living room. She had them all squished on the couch and loveseat. She was pacing around the room, not speaking. Ally was scared for her life. She had not wanted to meet Beau's mom like this. She didn't want her to look at her like every other rule-breaking teenager. She had wanted to maybe bond with her over lunch, or going out to do their nails. She would have settled for anything but this.
“Beau I-.” Ms. Brooks said, but then shook her head and continued pacing, deciding against whatever it was that she had been going to say. The tension was so high in the room Ally could have sliced it with a knife.
“Weeeeeell...” Harmany said,as she got up slowly. “I think I should be going now-”
“Sit your ass down!” Ms. Brooks shouted and Harmany shot right back down. Jai slipped his hand, subtly, into hers and squeezed it gently, reassuring her.
“Mum, I-” He started to say but his mom cut him off.
“I expected more from you Jaiden!” She exclaimed. “You too, Luke. Beau, not so much, but you two, I definitely expected more from you.”
Beau looked down at his hands, hurt from his mother's insult, and Jai blushed at the use of his full name. Ms. Brooks looked so angry. Ally completely understood where it came from, but she just wished that Ms. Brooks could have been one of those moms that would have walked into the living room filled with strangers and a half naked Harmany and just been like “PARTY!!!”. She was grateful, though, that Aiggie had been smart enough to put the beer cans and bucket away before going to sleep. They didn't look as guilty now.
“Beau Peter Brooks.” Ms. Brooks began, “I leave for one night. One night. And you decide it would be fun to have a....a...A SEX PARTY!” She screamed and gestured at Harmany who was still only wearing Jai's shirt and underwear.
“No, Mum! It wasn't a 'sex party'. They're friends, and we all just wanted to spend time together.” Beau said, trying to calm his mom down.
“Really? It wasn't a sex party? Then please, tell me, whose condom is on the floor in my room. BECAUSE IT SURE AS HELL ISN'T MINE!” She shouted.
Beau glared at Skip. There was no way he was going to get out of this. Ally looked at Skip, pleading with her eyes for him to help somehow. He sighed.
“Um, Ms. Brook?” Skip said tentatively.
“What, Daniel!? What!?” Ms. Brooks screamed.
“The truth is... I uh... you see... I'd never had a condom on before...and well...uh... I... I tried it on...and well...I may have gotten a little carried away.... with myself.” He said, cheeks burning red as he came up with this embarrassing lie to get everyone out of trouble. Ms. Brooks just gaped at him.
“Daniel... get out of my house. NOW!” She yelled, and Daniel sprang up from the couch and rushed out the house, keeping his head down.
“Boys, I'm going to have to talk to you about choosing good friends, but right now you are all in trouble. Okay, so maybe no one was having sex in my bed, and thank Jesus for that, but where are this girl's clothes!?” She said pointing at Harmany once more.
“Well... you see, I was getting out of Beau's car when I slipped and fell into a puddle of mud and dirt. The boys gave me some clothes to wear... but their shorts...um... made my legs itch. I believe that I may be allergic to the material. So I took off the shorts, because I believed that everyone here was mature enough to handle seeing my legs. If you disagree I could go put on the shorts, Ma'am. I know that I'd have a bad reaction, but I wouldn't want to disrespect your house or your rules.” Said Harmany, Queen Bullshitter, herself. Ms. Brooks looked at Harmany and her “sincere” and “innocent” expression. Ally knew then that she'd been suckered into the lie.
