.Brendon. Good good now we're making some progress .Ryan. 29 (NOT SLASH!!)

I woke up the next morning, tired as HELL. I felt like a zombie. I hadn't gotten to sleep until about 3, scared of my mother. When we got inside, we had to have a chat with the cops, who let me off with a warning and left. Then Mom, she just shook her head and went to bed. She didn't even say anything. So 3 and a half hours of sleep wasn't enough to leave me radiant.

I slowly dragged myself out of bed, and put on my uniform. I felt cold as I was wearing a skirt. It was morning so the house was naturally cold, but the colder weather was starting to dawn on us. Girls of course weren't allowed to wear pants, only the winter skirt and summer dress. The only things we are allowed to wear to keep our legs warm are tights. Let me tell you they weren't enough...

I decided not to bother with my make-up, because our principal was cracking down on it, and 3 people I know had received detentions over it. I also didn't bother with my hair because I couldn't be bothered.

As I bounded out my hallway and into the kitchen to eat breakfast, I stopped when I saw my Mom reading the newspaper calmly drinking coffee.

This confused me. Remember when I said my mom likes to go through phases? Well, lately she's become a "career woman" as much as she's still a mother to Faith and I, she wasn't held down anymore in maintaining a family and a perfect household. She was always out the door as soon as I woke up to get to school, and was home around 7pm.

"Modesty, go back to bed." Mom said calmly, not even looking up.

"Um, why?" I asked.

"Because we have a few things we need to discuss, and we won't be able to do it properly if you're half asleep." She said.

"Are you sure?" I asked, quite nervous.

"Yes, go." She sighed, and I didn't need to be told again as I ran into my room, slipped my uniform off and jumped into my pyjamas and fell asleep as I hit the bed.

***

It was around 11am or so when I woke back up. I was still dead tired, but I wouldn't be able to sleep it off now.

I groggily left the hallway, and saw my Mom still in the same position. Instead of reading the paper though, she was now sitting up right, looking dead straight not moving. It was like she wasn't even alive. I knew I had really upset her.

"I'm um, ready to talk." I nervously said, taking a seat.

"Okay Modesty. Are you hungry?" She asked me, and I just got up, grabbed a muesli bar and sat down.

I hated these things, but I was trying to eat them all so I could buy apricot flavour instead.

"Can I ask why?" Mom asked, after a minute of silence.

"It was one of those things you got a thrill in by the adrenaline rush." I said.

"Let me look at your eyes." Mom got up, and looked into them.

"Oh my god, you've been taking drugs haven't you?!" Mom shrieked, and I smirked.

"What made you come to that conclusion? That's like the furtherest thing that's happened." I said.

"You have bloodshot eyes!" Mom said.

"Wow, after staying up until 3am, I wonder how that could happen!" I said sarcastically, finding her conclusion stupid.

"I know drugs when I see them Modesty, and you have the exact effects of them." Mom said.

"I AM NOT ON DRUGS!" I said, jumping out of my chair finding her accusation absurd.

"Another effect, you're overreacting." Mom spat at me.

"You know what?" I asked, and sat down calmly crossing my arms "I refuse to participate in this conversation until you can stop shooting false accusations."
So we sat down for a minute, not taking our eyes off each other in silence. Finally, Mom spoke up.

"Okay, that was a pretty crazy accusation. But after last night...I don't know what to believe." She said quietly.

"I know." I said silently.

"So you do admit it was a stupid idea? This is Vegas, Modesty. Sure it's no New York, but it's much more dangerous than where we used to live." Mom said.

"Mom, in one ear out the other. Seriously, I know it was dangerous, rah rah rah. I know I shouldn't have done it, and yes I regret it now. Partly because of the punishment. There's nothing you can say to make me regret what I did, and nothing you can say to change the past. So just punish me and get it over with." I said.

She sat in silence for a few seconds.

"You're right, you do seem to regret it, and I can't change the past. But this, this is weird. It's so unlike you. You've never even thought about doing stuff like this with Brendon. It was that Ryan kid wasn't it?" She asked.

I thought of ways to defend Ryan. If I agree, she'll probably ban me from seeing him. But there was no way of defending Ryan she wouldn't go around. I'll try and blame myself for it...

"But I wasn't romantically involved with Brendon" as far as you know...

"So, you're seeing this Ryan boy?" Mom choked out.

"Y-yes" I stuttered.

Not a great defense, should have just defended him...

"Do you really think that's a good idea? I mean, he encouraged you to do something dangerous. Not good signs. Wait is he the reason you haven't been seeing Brendon lately?" Mom demanded.

"No." I half lied. Well, it was the truth really.

"Was it his idea to sneak out?" Mom asked.

I squirmed, but decided adding extra details would probably make things worse.

"Yes." I answered.

"I see. Well Modesty, I really hate to do this, but you're banned from seeing him." Mom said firmly.

I started screaming in my head, wanting to scream them at her. But I knew that wasn't the answer. Carrying on would achieve nothing. Maybe if I was mature about this, she'd lift the ban

"Okay." I sighed, but kept my sight up to see if she would change her mind.

"But that can't be the only thing. No, you have to be punished." Mom said, more to herself.

"Okay. Shoot." I said.

"Wait, why are you happy to be punished?" Mom asked.
"Well naturally, I knew it was coming. No use in pleading not to be." I shrugged.

"Okay, but if you're up to something," Mom said, using an empty threat. "Firstly, no computer for a week."
I opened my mouth to complain, but decided against it, and just to hear the other punishments.

"Secondly, no going out with Faith for 2 weeks. Lastly, no going out with anyone for a month." Mom said.

"So with my computer ban, am I allowed to use the phone and watch TV?" I asked.

"Yes, but there's limits. No using the phone until you've done your homework, and even then I don't want you on it all night." Mom said.

"Fair enough, now, I'm just putting everything out there so I can't do something and get into trouble...but technically I could go out after school and you'd have no idea of knowing." I said.

"I wasn't born yesterday Modesty. I will call the house at exactly 4 o' clock everyday from work. I will then call at 4.05 if you don't answer. That's 50 minutes to get home. More than enough. And if you leave after that, trust me I will have a way of knowing." She said.

Uhhh, there's call forwarding Mom. Of course I didn't mention that though...

"Is there anything else I should know?" I asked.

"Only one I can think of. When you call people, you are not allowed to call Ryan. I will be inspecting phone bills from now on. Same with when you're ungrounded. I'm sorry to be so strict, but it's for your own good." She said sympathy in her voice.

"Own good as if..." I mumbled, but Mom chose to ignore it, probably to not cause anymore problems.

"I will let you have the rest of the day off as there is no point in going to school. I need to go grocery shopping, so you have the time from now until I get back to email your friends on the internet not to worry and you'll be back within a week." Mom said.

I started up my computer, and got to work straight away. I posted a few bulletins, sent out a few emails and comments. I made sure Ryan's was last.

Um, obviously I'm grounded for last night (lol lurkers reading this would be like lol wtf) but there's worse =\ I don't have any internet usage, so don't bother replying. I'll ring you ASAP.

- Modesty.

***

"That seriously is so uncool." Ryan told me on the phone that night.

Whenever Mom would pass by my room, I'd let out a huge fake giggle, then say something along the lines of 'like, noooo way. Well hello!' in a huge girlie accent, and we'd both break into real hysteric giggles. She hadn't picked up on it so far.

"I know. She'll lift the ban, but if she doesn't, well sneaking around is always romantic." I said quietly, hoping she wouldn't hear me.

"I suppose. Are you sure though? This is a big ask, and if you got caught I don't think your Mom would ever trust you again." Ryan sighed.

"It's worth it. Trust me, you're definitely worth it." I said.

"You sure know how to make a guy smile...and blush." Ryan admitted, sounding embarrassed and I smiled.

"Well, my dad is forcing me off the phone to do an essay for college. Bleh. It's my first semester and I'm already over it. I'll speak to you again soon, yeah?" He asked.

"Yeah. Bye Ryan." I said, mustering up a sweet/lovesick voice and hung up, but then freaked out my mother might be nearby.