"I think everyone's here now?" Mrs Miller announced herself as she entered the lounge. It was pretty crowded in there, but there was just about space for everyone to have a seat. Serena had started attempting to explain her fascination with the concept of punishment, although she started out by trying to reassure Marcie that all those questions about the lisp hadn't been treating her like a lab rat. Marcie's mother had appeared before the conversation could go far.
"Yes," Marcie nodded. "This is everyone."
"Very well. Now, Cecilia is staying with friends tonight, and I have enjoined the boys to stay in their room so much as possible, so I don't they should interrupt your fun. However, I would ask you to keep the noise down, especially as it becomes late, so that you won't disturb their sleep. Will you all agree that you should all be in bed well before midnight, and that there will be no noise after that? And, of course, I expect that your boyfriends will be gone before nine thirty at the latest."
She was answered by a chorus of nods and murmurs. They were giving us the space to celebrate; nobody was going to argue. Even if it seemed absurd to be going to bed so early at what was supposed to be a party. We'd had a sleepover here in the past, although not with the whole group, and based on that I was fully expecting Marcie's little brothers to be playing online games and yelling into their microphones until two or three in the morning. They had the basement room; and were pretty good at recognising when their parents were close enough to realise they were awake.
"Uh... Mrs Miller?" I asked, raising my hand a little. It was like being in school, with the strict teachers who insisted on excessive formality. "There's something I need to talk to you about. If you don't mind?" I was almost shaking when I thought about telling her the embarrassing secret of my punishment, but I forced myself to go through with it by thinking about what might happen if I didn't. I really didn't want to break any of the rules tonight.
"Well, what is it?" she asked, glaring at me as if she hoped the power of her gaze could render me silent.
"I'd rather not let everyone know," I said. "Dad said I have to tell you and one of my friends. I already told Serena, so I don't want to spoil the party with all the tedious stuff. Would you mind going somewhere else for a moment?"
She grumbled and muttered something I didn't catch under her breath, but she reluctantly let me follow her to the kitchen. Behind me, I could hear Serena trying to pick up her confession again. She told the others that I'd already guessed what she planned to tell them, which meant Elspeth wasn't worrying anymore about me feeling out of the loop.
"Okay then," Mrs Miller glared at me again when we were in private.
"I have to tell you about the results of my Punishment Pill shot," I said. "And that I'm planning to deal with it properly so it won't be a problem for you. I think Mum already told you everything really, so do we really need to do that?"
"Your father told me that you would fill me in on your problem. I feel that is entirely appropriate as a way to ensure that you take responsibility for your problems, and indirectly for the behaviours that made such punishment necessary. So you will have to tell me."
I growled under my breath. I didn't want to get into an argument now; this was supposed to be a fun night. I just needed to get through this explanation as quickly as possible.
"Fine," I answered, after a second to think. It took all my self-control to avoid getting angry, but I knew that it wouldn't help anything today. "They gave me the shot. It makes me wet the bed sometimes. If I drink before bed, mostly. I think it just affects my muscles, so it won't have any effect if my bladder is already empty. So here's the plan. At nine o'clock I'll stop drinking. No more wine, no water, no juice. That's me done for the evening. If I've still got a glass I might finish it, but it's all gone by half past. Then an hour later, I go to the bathroom. Just to make sure that all that fluid is out of my body. And while I'm there, I've got these protective underwear to put on."
"Oh dear, a girl your age in diapers," Mrs Miller shook her head, but I could tell she was laughing at my embarrassment. I was really starting to hate this woman, and I couldn't imagine what it must feel like for Marcie to constantly have to endure this kind of criticism.
"Yeah," I answered. Really, that comment didn't even deserve to be acknowledged. "Anyway, I put those on an hour after I stopped drinking. Just so I can't get distracted later, when everybody's getting ready for bed. After that I'll already have stopped drinking, so I don't think it will prove necessary. But some time around eleven, when we'll probably be unrolling our sleeping bags and stuff to make sure we're not up too late, I use the bathroom one last time. Even if I don't feel like I need to go, I want to make sure I'm empty. So then I can go to sleep, and I should still be dry in the morning. The padded underwear is just there as a backup plan, a last resort that I really won't need."
"And your parents still allow you to drink alcohol while you're demonstrating how infantile you are?"
"Yes. Mum said that I have to ask someone who is sober, so they can check that I'm not drinking too much. I've asked Serena, because she's teetotal. And she already knows that I should stop the soft drinks at nine as well."
"I'll have to stick with the rules that they have laid down," she said, as if she was disappointed about not having more opportunities to punish me. When I heard her talk like that, I was sure that I'd be lucky if I could get through the night without having another week added to my punishment. She really was treating me like her own daughters, looking for any excuse to give me one of those shots.
"Don't worry," I said. "I don't intend to be drinking heavily, and I'm sure none of the others does. That's out choice, we're mostly adults. Not something you have to force on us. We can be responsible on our own."
"Very well. Now, I know that you're likely to get overexcited, and I would rather not have to contend with you keeping the rest of the family awake. I should let you know that I have a couple of recent innovations designed to help overexcited children sleep peacefully. I want to be sure you're not staying awake half the night. Now, I realise that as you're apparently not as mature as I expected, you will need to know what time you will be sleeping. So I will advise you to move your timetable up a little. I will advise you to make sure that you have used the bathroom before eleven o'clock, rather than at about eleven."
"Right," I nodded. I was already vaguely aware of a little gadget that was supposed to be used for making cranky babies fall asleep, which Mrs Miller had found could still work on Marcie and her sister in some circumstances, such as when their homework took longer than they had expected. In the circumstances, it was no surprise that Briony, the eldest sister, had left as soon as she had any opportunity. "So get my last drink maybe fifteen minutes before nine, just to make sure. Set a timer for an hour when I finish it, so I'm getting changed into my night-time underwear then. And that should still give me about an hour before eleven. And then between eleven and midnight you're going to come in with the sleep puff thing. I think that still works."
"Very good," she said, while I quickly tapped my phone to set an alert for ten fifty. It wouldn't surprise me if Mrs Miller decided we needed to sleep a little earlier than expected, so I wanted to be sure that I was completely ready. And then I was rejoining my friends in the lounge. Of course, Marcie's mum was still with us. Just a little more interference before we could start to enjoy ourselves.
"Well," she said. "Lorna has told me that she's still a little baby, which means I need to rethink some of my plans a little. But I think I should be able to let you kids entertain yourselves for a while. But for the sake of transparency, you should know that I'll be coming around with these things if you stay up too late. No midnight shenanigans, okay?"
She held up a thing that looked almost like a child's pacifier, but with some electronics clearly visible embedded in the plastic button at the back, and a ring around the edge that could be adjusted. The logo on the back said Sleepy Puff™, although we weren't close enough to make out that detail now. Everyone who knew the family now would be familiar with Mrs Miller's obsession with getting every new gadget that promised to help control children, and we knew this had once been one of the most used items in her collection.
"Mum!" Marcie protested. "We're not babies!"
"Well if you're mature enough to manage your own sleep cycle, then I won't need to treat you like babies. But it looks like your new friends aren't familiar with these things, so I think I should explain. I got them years ago, when Cecilia was a baby, you see? They're designed to help a cranky little one get to sleep. The catalyst produces a special pheromone in the bulb, and when a baby tastes it they get sleepy really fast. I'm told it tastes kind of like sweet lemons. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that it works with older children as well, so long as you're physically tired. So if you choose to stay up to an unhealthy time, I can just pop this in your mouth to help you get some shut-eye, and maybe take a picture or two to let your friends know that you're not big enough to go to bed at a sensible time."
Clint and Serena glanced at each other, and that look of disbelief was a familiar one. They had known that Marcie's mum wanted to be in control of everything, and treated her technically-adult daughter like a little kid in some ways, but this was their first time seeing her attitude in person. If you weren't used to it, Mrs Miller's obvious glee as she described how she would humiliate anyone who didn't subscribe to her chosen bedtime was almost as disturbing as the punishment itself.
"I've told Lorna that I want to be sure everyone is asleep before midnight, so that you're not disturbing the boys. They're such light sleepers, always tired in the morning. Depending how well-behaved you are, I might be in here at midnight, or eleven. You can have a little extra time if you can be good. Or let me know if any of you are sleepy, and want to bring bedtime forward a little. Remember, this is all about keeping my babies safe. And on that note, I'll leave you to enjoy yourselves."
I looked around at all my friends. Sure, Mrs Miller was proving to be just as crazy as usual. But we were all here, and we were all determined to make this party go smoothly.