"Buy you all those fancy things that you only see on T.V"
One week after
Allison
I sit on my bed, mindlessly scrolling through pictures on my laptop. I was grounded, but my parents had allowed me one source of entertainment. I chose my laptop, you could do the most on it, after all.
I huff, looking through people's posted pictures. They were all enjoying their summer break, while I was stuck in my room, doing absolutely nothing.
"Allison!" My mom yells from downstairs.
"What?" I groan, swinging my legs to the side of the bed. I close my laptop and make my way downstairs, fighting the urge to flip her off.
"You're not allowed to shop when you're grounded!" She scolds me, placing her hands on her hips.
"What are you talking about?" I furrow my eyebrows.
"You ordered something online, it just came in today." She motions to the package sitting in our front hallway.
"I never ordered anything." I argue. I look at the package, it has my name on it, but there is no from address.
"Check my credit card, I swear I never ordered anything." I mutter, picking up the box. It has fragile in big red letters on the side, and I feel my insides churn with excitement.
My mother sighs, "Fine. Go on upstairs before I change my mind about you keeping it."
I squeal quietly, racing up to my room. I set it down on the ground before tearing it open.
Inside is a beautiful white jewelry box. It has small, swirly details on the side in peach pink. On the top in calligraphy it has the word 'mine.'
I open the box, a small note inside. I pick it up, my hands shaking.
I hope you like it, I went through a lot of trouble for all the engraving.
Leave it empty, don't put anything in it, that'll be my job.
-J
I gulp, re-reading it multiple times. Who is J? How does he knows my address and why is he sending me gifts?
My mother knocks on my door and I quickly shove the note into my pocket. "So, what is it?" She asks, taking a peak.
"A jewelry box," I mumble, covering the top with my sleeve. My mother examines it, her eyes narrowing.
"It's very pretty, does it say who it's from?"
"No," I say.
She nods before leaving my room. I bite my lip, running my hands along the sides of the small box. It was very elegant, and looked expensive. Who would possibly go out of there way to send me this? I had no friends who's name started with the letter J, and even if I did they wouldn't send me a gift like this.
I pull out my laptop, sending Sophie a Facebook message.
'Any hot guys at our school with a name starting with the letter J? And do they know of my existence?' I type out the message and she replies in seconds
'Hm, Jared? But he's not that hot...plus really fucking stupid. Other than that, Jeremy, he's kinda cute.'
'Does he like me?' I probably sounded desperate and annoying, but my curiosity was overpowering all.
'How am I supposed to know? What's got you worked up?' She replies.
I snap a picture of the note and the jewelry box and send it to her
'You lucky bitch...but I had math with Jeremy. He doesn't write like that. Looks like you've got an admirer outside of school.' She sends.
I groan, shutting my laptop. I barely associated with people outside of my school, so how on earth does this person know me?
My feet pad along my carpeted floor as I walk towards my stairs. My mother and father are sitting at our dining room table, drinking tea.
"Mom, Dad, I have a favour." I put on my best smile.
My dad glances up, "Oh no."
"Can I please be ungrounded for a week." I see my mom roll her eyes, so I quickly continue. "Just one! I just want to find out who sent the package!"
"Package?" My father raises his eyebrows.
My mom interjects, "Allison got a little gift from an unknown person."
My dad snorts, "and how do you expect to find them?"
"Well, Sophie knows a lot of people outside of school, it can't be that hard..." I trail off.
"The answer is no." My dad says.
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
I scoff, "Whatever." I storm back up to my room, plopping onto my bed.
'Mind doing some investigation on your own? My parents won't give me a week off.' I type quickly and angrily slamming my fingers down onto my keyboard.
'Ou, a mission. I'm on it. If he's not hot I'll send him away.'
'Please do' I replied.
I laugh quietly, exiting Facebook and trying to find something else to busy myself with.
Annoyance is clear in my room as my mother knocks on my door once again. I don't answer, pretending to be busy.
"Allison, I'm sorry. I know you're curious but your father is very strict with his punishments." She moves to take a seat on my bed.
I agree with her statement.
"He also doesn't want you getting hurt. That's why we have decided to take the box."
I shoot up from the bed. "What? You can't do that!"
"Sweetheart, please. It's for your own safety. Who knows who sent it!" She argues. She tries to be soothing by placing a hand on my shoulder but I shrug it off.
"That's not fair!"
"Life isn't fair." She counters, picking up the precious jewellery box.
"Bitch," I mumble.
She turns to me, "What was that?"
I roll my eyes and sit on my bed. "Forget it, you already know it anyways." I sneer.
She purses her lips, but walks out without another word. The box rattles in her hands, the pretty pink detailing fading from my vision as she leaves with it.
* * *
The next morning I feel hot and sweaty as I wake up in my bed. I wipe the crunchy sleep from my eyes before sitting to the edge. My back is hunched along with my spirit. I go to pick up my glass of water from my nightstand, my eyes widening at the jewelry box.
How did it get here? Did my mom have a change in heart? I touch the top, tracing the one word on it. I open it, a gasp falling fro my lips.
A pretty diamond necklace lay in it's glory on top of another note. I quickly reach for it, unfolding the paper.
I see your parents are not my biggest fans...hide the box under your bed.
Enjoy the necklace, I know it will look glorious on you.
-J
I bite my lip, my heart pulsing wildly in my chest. How did 'J' get my box back in here? Won't my parents notice it's missing?
A knock on my door causes me to slam the box closed and shove everything underneath my bed. My dad walks in, frowning at me as I sit on the floor.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh, just cleaning," I say.
He nods and stands in silence for a moment.
"Here," he holds his hand out, my iPhone 5S shimmering in his hand. "I understand I was hard on you yesterday, I just want you to be safe."
I scramble up, ripping my phone from his grasp. I hold it to my chest, smiling. "Thanks, Dad."
"You're welcome, come down for some breakfast."
I agree and he leaves my room.
I pull the jewelry box out again, bringing out the beautiful necklace. Clasping it around my neck, I let the pendant of a heart fall on my chest. It tucks away under my shirt before I run downstairs for breakfast.
"Now, don't make me regret giving that to you." My father chuckles as I sit at the table, my nose buried in my phone.
"I have so much to catch up on." I mumble, texting back Zach, one of my closest friends.
'You lucky whore...What does he see in you anyways?' He was always so dramatic over text.
I laugh softly as I tell him about 'J'.
'Don't ask me.'
'It's probably someone from your party, dip-shit. You and Sophie are the two dumbest females I've ever met. Allow me to do the searching.'
'Fine, but mess it up and I will happily ruin your love life.' I was also friends with Zach's long-time girlfriend, Danielle.
'You know my dick is way too far down Danielle's throat for her to ever break up with me.' He sends me and my eyebrows pull together in a frown.
'I hate boys, you're all pigs.' I replied to him, lightly rolling my eyes.
"Seriously, Allison. Put it away while we're eating." My mother scolds. I shove my phone under my thigh before picking up my cutlery.
My mother and father make small talk about their jobs, and they turn to me. "So, we were thinking, you should get a job."
I look up from my omelet. "A job?" I've only ever had one job at an animal shelter, and I got fired because I got too attached to the animals and wouldn't sell any of them.
"Yes, it'll keep you busy and can actually be quite fun," he explains.
"Where?" I ask.
"Wherever you want," my mother smiles.
"So, I'm allowed to go out and look for jobs?"
They both nod and I smile, "Perfect."
Excusing myself, I go back up to my room. I rarely spent that much time in my room, usually sitting in the living room, enjoying an episode of Glee, but to avoid my parents I close the door to my room.
I text Sophie.
'Guess who's getting a job?'
'Let me guess, me and you.' She replies, she knows I always drag her everywhere
'Yup. McDonalds here we come!'
'Gross, do you want endless acne?' She replied, Sophie was a drama queen.
'Fine, let's job search today. Come to my house and we'll take my car.'
Sophie doesn't reply but I know she's coming. She loves my car, my parents had bought it for me on my seventeenth birthday. The Mercedes CLA was my absolute dream car, and since I had gotten a ninety-four average, they made my dream come true.
Although my parents were strict and annoying, they showered me with anything I wanted. Mainly because my mother was a doctor and my father a businessman earning themselves a shitload of money, but also because that was the only way they knew to show their love.
I mindlessly scroll through twitter before Sophie knocks on my front door. My dad glances at me as I run down the stairs in a maxi skirt and crop top.
"Don't you need a sweater or something?"
"No, dad. It's hot outside."
"But your stomach is showing," his eyes narrow
"That's the point," I mutter, opening the door to reveal Sophie. "We're going job hunting." I tell my dad and he nods.
"Better be," he grumbles.
We leave my house and Sophie presses herself against my car. "My baby."
The drive around town seems endless. McDonalds and Tim Hortons were hiring, but Sophie immediately turned down those ideas.
"Seriously, the grease will get on your face and you will get so many pimples it'll be disgusting-"
Waving her off, we roll around pointlessly in a large plaza with Staples, Chipotle, Shopper's Drug Mart, Subway and a bunch of other pointless places. I didn't even want to work, especially in a school supply store or a pharmacy; talk about boring.
"Working is for old people," I groan and Sophie laughs at me.
"True, I'm getting a sugar daddy."
"I wish," I mumble before we both agree to just eat our problems away.
(Ty guys for 10K reads and 1K votes already!
juz10 coming soon)
-steph