Hi! I've got a new story and, look who I casted as the 'dude' in the story. (Haha, sorry I spoiled you but you do know that every one of my story has a dude, right?
***
“Are you Allison Summers?” The snobby Russian lady muttered as she eyed me up and down like I was some kind of fugitive.
I looked down on my damp clothes and sighed heavily. “Yes, I am.”
This girl probably didn’t know who I am based on her actions. She probably didn’t know that this was my dad’s company. The girl stood up and quickly strutted away, her heels clacking as she walks. I quickly followed her, the water squishing under my shoe.
After passing by several rooms and hallways, we finally reached dad’s office. She straightened her posture and knocked on the door. The door automatically unlocked and opened itself. I guess being a businessman has its perks, now don’t they?
The door opened and I saw my dad’s tired face, beads of sweat pouring down his face. His gray hair sprouted in different areas of his head that it was quite alarming.
He focused his gaze at me. I bit my lower lip and closed my eyes waiting for the long lecture he is going to give me. If there is one thing I know about my dad, it is that when he’s really mad, he isn’t afraid to express it.
My father cleared his throat and said, “Petrova, can you please leave us alone now?” He says directly to the rude lady who I believe is called Petrova. Petrova nodded obediently like a golden retriever and sashayed out of our conversation.
“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” I muttered in a robotic tone. Usually, sorry always does the trick. And normally, he’ll just let me go off the hook. That’s just how we roll, you know. He led me inside his office and I quickly followed, lounging for the black leather couch.
Dad settled down on his swivel chair and started talking.
“You know, Ali. Sorry doesn’t always fix everything.” He muttered, his green piercing eyes glaring at me.
Don’t tell me that pops, sorry always does the trick.
I forced a laugh. “Ha-ha, very funny.” I lifted my legs and placed them on top of the desk adjacent to the couch that I was sitting on.
“So what punishment am I going to get? Shortage of allowance? Grounded for three weeks?” I sat up straight enthusiastically as I thought of another brilliant idea. “Or better yet, no internet for a month?”
You are probably wondering why I am so nonchalant about this. It’s just that when I do something wrong, which is like all the time, I don’t get major punishments. I only get minor ones like the few that I just mentioned.
But instead of him laughing and riding along with my lame joke, his face was neutral and he looked like he wanted to kill somebody. Not really kill, he just looked dead serious; pun intended. He cleared his throat and fingered some documents that he needed to sign.
“Your mother and I have talked about it,” He mumbled, still messing with the papers. “And I think this madness needs to stop.” He lifted his cup and took a sip of what was inside it.
I grimaced. “What madness?”
“I’m talking about your attitude, young lady.” He says, carefully placing his cup back on top of his table. I managed to get a pack of gum from my pocket and started chewing on it.
“What about it?”
He looked at my bubblegum “This is getting out of control.”
I was still chewing my bubblegum when I talked, ignoring his comment. “So, what is my punishment?”
I shouldn’t have asked that question.
“I’m sending you to volunteer for community service.”
I stood up almost rapidly. “Excuse me, what?”
He nodded, acknowledging the fact that he was telling the truth.
“Your behavior isn’t manageable anymore, Allison. You should know when to act like a lady. Our family’s reputation is on the line.” He pondered at the thought and waited for my response.
I never wanted to be a delinquent. Heck, the only reason why I am doing all of this stuff is because my parents are never around. You can always see them in front of their computers or sorting things out with their iPhones on the phone. Plus, what happened today wasn’t even planned by me. It just went so wrong.
I actually grew up not getting any kind of moral support from my parents. I mean, yeah, they always buy me the coolest stuff and I should be thankful that I’m not homeless or anything but I would really appreciate it more if they just squeeze in some days for our family bonding.
I kept waiting for that moment for years now. And yet it hasn’t come.
The minutes passed by and I was left staring out the window, waiting for someone to speak. Preferably dad but of course he didn’t because he just looked at my reaction.
“What kind of community service?” I finally asked. He then shook his head, a reminder that he was back.
His lips formed a thin line and the look on his face looked like he wanted to tell me the kind but he looked as if I was going to overreact when I find out what it was,
He cleared his throat. “A pound. For animals.” Uh-huh.
He expected me to scream right? So I did. I screamed like I was giving birth to a kid the size of a behemoth.
He covered his ears and stuck them in there like it was some kind of super glue.
“What?! You have got to be kidding me!” I panicked. No, no, no, no I do not want to see animals. No. I am scared of those creepy little…creatures. The last time I interacted with an animal, I began bawling my eyes out crying and I almost got into a mental institution.
Other than that, I am not going to spend my weeks in a stupid pound scooping feces and cleaning up after the fur balls’ mess. Nopey dopey dope. I am not cut out for that kind of labor.
“No, Ali.” He started typing on his computer like it was the most normal thing ever. “I am not supposed to be kidding you.”
“Dad,” I said, trying to keep my composure. “I’m sure we could work this out. I mean, it’s not like I did the girl any harm, and nobody even got hu—“
“Allison,” the voice that he gave out had a sense of authority in it. “What you did to the girl is completely unacceptable. You didn’t only embarrass her in front of your peers; you also made her sprain her knee and break her nose. You’re lucky that she didn’t file a case against you.”
I giggled at that part but got a stern look from dad so I just suppressed it. “The part where she sprained her knee and broke her nose, that was completely her fault, dad! If only she held more caution she could have—“
“Ali,” He spoke impatiently. “The decision has been made. You are going to do community service.”
***
“Haha! I can’t stop laughing!” My friend, Emily, laughed hysterically on the other line when she found out about my punishment.
“Uh, you’re my friend. You are supposed to grieve with me here.” I pointed out. “Why exactly are you laughing at me right now?”
She snorted again. “Well, isn’t it ironic? You doing community service in an animal pound?” I can visualize her already red blotchy face because of all the laughing she has done. “I mean, you are the last person that I would expect going in there. Voluntarily.”
“Hey, I didn’t voluntarily sign up.” I protested. “Okay, maybe I did, but I was pushed against my will. I’m planning on suing my parents.” I shuffled to another comfortable position in the couch.
“Oh really?” She said, totally not impressed by my sudden decision. “You can’t even live a day without someone doing something for you.”
“Hey, I can live with it, I just choose not to.” I reasoned.
My parents aren’t home…as usual. Magda was here though. Magda was our Spanish maid. Her stories entertained me when I was little and I decided right then and there that we were going to have a bountiful friendship.
Magda asked me what I wanted for lunch and I answered, temporarily removing the phone from my ear. “Anything will do.”
Emily was talking about her hardships so I decided to answer Magda. She nodded and I pierced the phone back on top of my ear.
“Yeah, and putting make up isn’t that easy, so how dare she call me a—“
“Oh, Emily? I have to go.” I excused. “There’s this thing that popped up and I just need to go. I’ll text you.” She bid farewell and we hang up. Just as I dropped the phone back on its receiver, the door opened and I saw mom, holding a couple of paper bags. She just arrived from Paris.
What a shocker. Not.
Mom was a well-known designer. When she saw me, she quickly hugged me and I stood there like a twig. It was weird. Hugging her, I mean. Her blond hair was curled and she had some light makeup on.
“How’s my little jewel doing?” She mutters a pair of smiling eyes boring at me. There are two things wrong with that question.
1) I am not little. I have a reasonable height of 5’6 and I might be too tall for my age.
2) I am not a jewel. I am not expensive, shiny, or even valuable.
The question sent little tiny bells inside my head. How am I doing? Well, oh I don’t know, freaking out because I will be doing community service for a pound. I ignored her jewel comment because I don’t want to get all touchy-touchy with her.
The reason behind that is because she never really had the time to listen to me. Whenever I am excited about something she just nods and continues on with her job, thinking that she already satisfied me by nodding.
I even remembered the time when I said I bought everything in Tiffany’s with her credit cards for Christmas and she just nodded and smiled. What if I told her I broke her mirror embedded with Swarovski crystals? Would she still react?
Thanks for paying attention, mom.
“I don’t want to go to the pound and you definitely know why!” I started off. Her smile faded away.
“Aww, come nearer, dear.” She sat on the huge armchair. She looked at the couch beside it and pointed her lips towards it, signaling me to sit down. And so I did.
“Your father and I have talked about it and we decided to put you into community service.” Wow, it’s not like I never knew that.
“Why? Probably because what you did to poor Stephanie was absolutely outrageous.” A line dad had emphasized, mom. She looked up as if she was recalling a memory. “Weren’t you two friends way back? Why can’t you just make up?”
Mom was so innocent. Turns out that sweet girl I played Barbie with almost every day turned into a mean female dog who doesn’t care about nothing but herself and her little posse filled with people who are unbelievably vain.
“What happened?” Mom asked, slapping me back to reality.
“Sh-she changed, okay?” I shook my head because I can’t believe the topic has changed. That’s how good my mom is. “Anyway, just please do something about it.”
She looked at me with pity in her eyes. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think you can do anything to change our minds.”
I looked at her with exasperation. “Please? I never ask for anything! Just this one time, please mom!”
She looked at me and reviewed the sentence that I blurted out. That sentence was quite true; I never ask them for anything. They normally just give me the latest gadget there is. Except maybe when they bail me out when I get into all sorts of trouble, but that is a whole different story.
Seeing that she had uncertainty in her eyes, I took the opportunity and threw her the puppy dog eyes look. “Please?” I even considered pouting but that would be a bit extraneous. “Please, just this one time?”
Her eyes started roaming around like crazy and I know for a fact that she was giving in. And of course, I was right.
“Fine, I’ll see what I can do.”
Well, knowing that I may or may not enter that stupid pound, I think I want to die.