Autumn

11: Why she's grounded

On Thursday, Autumn threw balls of paper at Theodore's window. At first, he didn't notice. He was doing his modern history homework with his earphones in. But as his playlist switched to the next song, he heard a dull thud.

"Theodore? Is it raining?" his mother called.

"What?" he belted back, pausing his music.

"I said is it raining?"

He looked out his window. The sky wasn't exactly the cheeriest blue, but it definitely wasn't pouring either. "No?"

They both paused, listening. Then Theodore saw a crumbled ball of paper go flying across the yard. It managed to hit the bottom half of his window and it bounced back down to the ground. He heard his mother curse.

"Honey, I think I'm going crazy. I'm seeing huge white things falling from the sky."

Theodore's bedroom was directly above the kitchen, so anything he saw, his mother was sure to see it too. He quickly got up from his desk chair and went to the window, pushing it open and peering outside. It didn't take long for him to spot Autumn's dark hair and brightly coloured coat. He took the stairs two at a time.

"Finally," she said. "I nearly went through my entire biology paper trying to get your attention and that thing isn't short. It's easily sixty pages long."

He turned and saw a collection of crumpled up papers littering his lawn. He grinned. "Well, what was so important that you had to destroy a perfectly good paper to get my attention?"

"I'm grounded," she admitted, sighing dramatically. "I didn't want you to wait up for me tonight—or the rest of the week for that matter—because I won't be around."

Theodore picked up a piece of paper and tossed it between his hands. "What did you do?"

"A lady never tells," she said mischievously. "But it's bad enough that I'm under house arrest. I'm allowed outside—within the perimeters of my own house—until six. Then it's dinner, shower, homework, bed by nine. If I even dare to go to the bathroom at midnight, my dad will probably want to escort me just to make sure I don't jump out the window or something. Even my mum is being paranoid. Don't be too obvious, but look just past my shoulder and you'll see her snooping by the window."

Autumn gently tilted her head as if to encourage him, so Theodore's eyes slid away from her and towards the house. Sure enough, he saw a wisp of greying blonde hair just before she disappeared behind the curtain again. He let out a low whistle.

"Must be serious."

"They'll get over it," she answered, but she didn't seem convinced.

"Well, it's going to be boring without you," Theodore said.

"Are you trying to say you'll miss me?"

He tried to be nonchalant about it, but his cheeks flamed and betrayed his cool façade. Autumn laughed and tugged on one of his dark curls.

"Well, not as much as I'll miss you. You still have my number. Text me, okay?"

As she turned to leave, Theodore hastily pulled out his phone and sent her a quick message. She was barely at her front door when she received it, pausing for a moment to read. Then she turned and gave him a heart-stopping smile.

She disappeared inside and as Theodore was on his way back to his own house, he got a response: Yes.