Chapter 5- Trouble
Elvin and I kept going to our Ballroom dance lessons as school continued. We both improved a lot. By the end of the school session (Which was every season), we had the basics to all sorts of different dances. By far, our best was the Waltz. We worked very hard on that one.
By now, Elvin could lead me into different turns. We even were doing the traveling Waltz, instead of the basic. I was used to my shoes, and I stayed on my toes throughout all the dancing.
Amber was really proud of us. Apparently we learned the faster than anyone she’d ever taught before. That helped my confidence level soar up. Thanks to Elvin, it was now hard for anyone to find me not smiling. I was so incredibly happy. It felt like I had entered a different world, or something.
Now, when I walked down the halls it seemed like I was floating. Well, not exactly floating, but at least with my head held high. But seriously, it’s true. I felt whole and almost complete. The only thing missing, of course, was a boyfriend. Quite honestly, I was starting to feel out of place. Everyone around me had boyfriends, and I really wanted one too.
The ironic thing was that I was the first to start liking guys. I would hang out with Poppy and Sage, and they would think I was crazy or something. And look what’s happened now? They are both happy with steady boyfriends, and look at me? Well, I suppose I just haven’t met the right one yet. Seriously, the last time I liked a guy was so long ago, I can’t even remember.
But, other than that, I was extremely happy. Ballroom really helped keep my head on straight. Elvin noticed that, too. Apparently, my good mood had rubbed off on him. He was smiling all the time, also. We were some happy pair of friends, weren’t we?
One day, when we were walking back from Ballroom, someone asked us if we were married! I couldn’t believe them! It was some lady who just walked up to us, and asked us that question with no right. I dropped my jaw and just stared at her. Elvin was very taken-aback. He took a step back when she asked that.
I was the first one to speak up. “No, we are not. We are just friends.” Then I pulled Elvin along, past the lady.
I swore she mumbled, “that’s what they all say,” as we were walking away. Elvin and I just started laughing at the lady. That was the first time we had gotten that. Seriously, what gave her the right to ask that? It just made me really mad, but I really did enjoy laughing at her.
Usually people just assume that we are dating, but to go as far as personally coming up and asking if we were married. That was out of line. I hoped I never saw that lady again. Chances are, I would. I thought to myself, things never go my way. I suppose she thought we were too young or something.
Elvin took the subject off my mind, temporarily. He told me that he and his family were going to their vacation house and he would be missing the next ballroom lesson.
“Oh.” I said as I looked down at the ground.
Elvin obviously thought my reaction was cute. He let out a small laugh and tapped me on the shoulder. “Lorelle, I asked my parents if I could invite you to come with us. They thought it would be a great idea for you to come see the secret vacation house we always sneak off to. I think you’ll like it. Unless you don’t want to go, of course.”
My eyes widened in surprise. How could he think that I didn’t want to go? Was he kidding? I had always wanted to go there since he described it to me. A beautiful pond with crystal sand, and the fabulous vacation house sitting right by it. I could just imagine relaxing on a towel, soaking up the sun. Or I could swim in the pond. I had been told that it was exceptionally clean and warm.
“Elvin, I want to go so badly!” he smiled. Of course he knew that. My face was so easy to read, he could probably see the light sparkle In my eyes whenever he mentioned it. “But, I have to make sure it’s alright with my parents.”
Gosh, Mother please let me go! I knew she’d find some excuse to make me stay home with them. Maybe go on some boring mother daughter shopping trip. Wouldn’t that be fun? Under certain cercumstances, yes it would be. But in contradiction to going to Elvin’s vacation house? Not a chance.
“Yes, of course you do. I couldn’t forget about parental permission. You know me.” And I did know him. Very well. He always was the one who made sure I had my parents permission to go anywhere. It seemed that he had rubbed off on me this time. Well, you know what they say. You turn into your best friend. In this scenario, I was hoping for personality wise.
As soon as I got home, I started planning on how to work my way up to asking my Mom if I could go. After about an hour of thinking (with plenty of distractions), I finally decided to subtly work my way up. I would do a few things to help her out. Maybe the dishes?
I went down my green runway and into the kitchen. It appeared that my mother had already done the dishes, so I decided to dust. I took a ball of moss, ran it under the water to get it damp, and started dusting around the house.
My mom came into the room I was working on and gave me a confused look. I tried not to look at her so she couldn’t tell what my plan was. When she asked me why I suddenly decided to help around the house, I told her that I just suddently got into one of those cleaning moods. I guess she bought it because she left without further questioning. I guessed she had picked up on my happy mood since I started Ballroom, and just wasn’t surprised at what I did anymore.
When I finished dusting, I went up to my room. I had decided I wouldn’t ask her just yet. I didn’t want her to grow suspicious of my plan. I really didn’t know what she was going to answer. Knowing my Mom, if she said yes there would be some kid of condition behind the permission.
Once I cleaned my room, I decided that the sooner I asked my Mom, the better. I found her relaxing on our couch, in the living room, which is right by the kitchen.
“Hey, Mom?” I asked her, approaching the couch a little slower than I would normally.
“Yes, Lorelle?” She asked, sitting up so she could talk to me.
I sat down on a recliner, then cleared my throat. “Elvin and his parents invited me over to their vacation house for the break. That’s about two weeks, and then I would have one week back home before the next school sessions starts. May I please go?”
My mom let out a sigh. Uh oh. “Honey,” she said slowly. “Don’t you think that might be a little weird?”
I frowned. “Weird, how?”
From the look on her face, I knew this wasn’t going to be good. “Well, you and Elvin have been very close lately. I mean, extremely close.” I started to understand where this was going, and I didn’t like it. “You are at that age where girls are feeling different towards the other gender now.” I could tell she was starting to feel uncomfortable now. She wasn’t the only one. “Is there something you aren’t telling me, Honey?”
I pretended to play dumb. “Why would there be something I’m not telling you? Elvin is my best friend, Mom. I’ve never been to their vacation house, and you know how much I’ve always wanted to. Plus, this way I can be with Elvin instead of bored at home with nothing to do.” I made it sound like I hadn’t caught on to what she was saying before.
Obviously, that wasn’t the right tactic to use. “Lorelle. There’s something going on. I can tell by the way you answered that question.” Ugh! Of course, I pretend to play dumb and she notices. Great. And now she was thinking it was for a completely different reason than it actually is.
I thought carefully about my words, and made sure there was nothing that could be a hidden meaning. “Mom, what are you talking about? I just want to go relax on a fun vacation. I think I deserve it, too! I worked very hard on Plants and Animals this season. You can’t argue with that!”
She took a few seconds before she answered. “No, I can’t. That’s true. You were very responsible with all your work this year, as you always have been.” Okay, good it was starting to go my way again. “But I’m a little uneasy sending you off without your father and I there. We would miss you a lot.”
Oh my gosh. Ususally it’s the kid coming up with excuses. But, in this case, it was the parent. Excuse after excuse! My mom really didn’t want me to go on this trip. First she accuses me of being in a deeper relationship with Elvin than I am, and then she tells me that I would be missed too much. Obviously, I wasn’t going to miss my family one bit. If I did go, I would be having so much fun. It would be torture to stay home, knowing what could have been.
“I will call every day! Please, Mom! I really, really want to go!” I begged. I almost went down on my hands and knees, but I figured that wouldn’t help much.
“Honey, No. I don’t feel comfortable with this situation.”
Defeat started pulsing through me. My Mom wasn’t letting me go. I couldn’t not go. She was making me pass up such a fun opportunity. A tear rolled down my cheek. I had to go! I had to convince her!
Suddenly an idea came to me. It was so obvious I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it before. “Mom, would it help if you talked to Maple about this? She’s your best friend and if you have any concerns you can talk to her about it! Please, I really want to go! It seems unfair.” I pleaded.
Her expression changed to one of thought. “Okay, Lorelle. I will talk to Maple, but I’m not keeping any promises.
I exhaled in relief. That’s all I was asking for. I was pretty sure I would get to go. No one could argue against Maple. She was too sweet and caring. If she promised my mom she would keep an eye on us, my mom would have to believe her. I just wasn’t too keen on my mother’s suspicions. Of course, always going for the most far fetched idea.
I decided to call Elvin and tell him what my mom had said. I wasn’t afraid of telling him everything. Why not? He’d already heard plenty of stories about my frustration. The only thing I was going to leave out was her largest suspicion. But I would indeed include all of the excuses she gave me.
“Hello?” Maple’s voice sounded through the phone. It was a smooth honey voice. No wonder her name was Maple.
“Hi, Maple. It’s Lorelle. May I please speak to Elvin?” I asked her, using my manners.
“Of course! Let me go find him for you.” I heard her set the phone down, and yell Elvin’s name.
“Elvin! Where are you?” I heard her yell.
“I’m upstairs.” He yelled back.
“Lorelle’s on the phone!”
“Oh, okay. I’ll get it up here.” There was a tiny click, and Elvin picked up.
“Hey, Lore!” he said, with an excited edge to his voice. I heard another click as Maple hung up the phone she had picked up.
“Hi, El. What are you doing?” I asked him.
“I was just practicing my Rumba, actually.” he chuckled.
“Oh,” I said. “So I asked my mom...”
“Uh oh. You don’t sound very thrilled? What did she say?”
“Well, at first she said no because she would miss me too much.”
“That’s understandable.”
“So she kept making up excuses, and I finally convinced her to talk to your Mom about it. I’m hoping that will convince her to let me go.”
“Oh, I sure hope it will. Whatever it is, I’m sure Maple will clear everything up and make her change her mind.”
“I hope you are right.” I sighed. “She almost had me begging on my hands and knees!”
He laughed loudly. “Well, I’m glad you suggested she talk to my Mom. That was a good idea. Do you really want to go that badly?” He asked me.
“Yes! It’s is so boring at my house when you guys are gone, and I really want to see your vacation house. Besides, my Mom should let me go. I’ve been very responsable.”
“That’s true. You’ve been getting very good grades, and have been trustworthy. Since when are you not?” He joked. I knew it was a rhetorical question, but I answered anyway.
“I don’t know. Sometimes I wish she could see inside my mind for a little bit. She doesn’t understand me very well. I love her anyway though.”
“Of course you do. I’m sure she understands you just fine. Maybe she gets a little confused once in a while? I think things are different for you than they were for her.”
I wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about, but I’m sure there was more than one meaning. It didn’t really matter. “Yeah, that’s probably it. That makes a lot more sense than-”
Someone squeezed my side from behind me. I squeaked really loudly and whipped around. I hate it when people take advantage of me being ticklish. But, really! When I’m on the phone?
Guess who it was? There he went, randomly appearing at the worst time possible!
“Flick! Get out of my room!” I yelled at him, trying to push him away.
I had dropped the phone, and I could hear Elvin trying to ask me if I was okay. I quickly picked up the phone and said, “yeah, it’s Flick. Hang on.”
Flick just laughed at me and my unsuccesful attempts to push him away. He took advantage of me and flew up just out of my reach. I jumped up, and somehow managed to grab his ankle. I hung on tight, and he started to fly higher. My feet were about five feet off the ground when I really started to get scared. Flick could sense my grip slipping, so he bent down and picked me up.
“Flick!” I screamed. “Put me down right now!”
“Hang on Sis, I want to show you something.” He said. I tried to fight him, but I realized it was no use. Number one, we were already flying higher and I didn’t want to fall. Number two, my struggling was doing absolutely no good to help me get out. Flick was too strong.
I grew limp and yelled to the phone, hoping Elvin would hear me. “Flick’s kidnapping me. I can’t talk right now, I guess.” I didn’t want him to worry, as I knew he would.
I turned my attention to Flick. What was he going to show me? I silently wondered if it had something to do with where he’d been sneaking off to all the time. I guess it wasn’t really sneaking. He was an independant fairy now. But still, he was always disappearing.
“Honestly, Flick! Where are we going? Mom won’t know where I am!” If my Mom thought I was sneaking off without her permission, I would definitely not be able to go to the pond. Also, if she thought I was sneaking off, guess what her first thought would be? Yeah, Elvin. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be allowed to see him for a while if that were the case.
“Relax. I’ll explain it to her later. She will have to believe both of us if we are together.” He assured me. I rolled my eyes.
I didn’t relax. I stayed extremely stiff. Multiple worries ran through my head. I continued to wonder what the aftermath of this situation would be. And where was Flick even taking me? I assumed we’d go right to the tree, but he flew right past it, to the other side of the valley.
Green leaves from the tree flew past in a blur. It was starting to get darker outside, so I could see a few homes with their houselights on. The glow came out of mulitple flowers and bushes. I would have thought it were pretty, had I not been looking ahead, trying to look for our destination.
As Flick started getting closer to the ground and slowing down, it was easier to see. He was approaching a small area with a cluster of homes. I figured he was going to land on the dirt somewhere between them, but he went on right into someone’s home.
At this point I was even more confused than I already was. I thought he was heading towards some secret hiding place, but here he was suddenly landing in someone’s house. I sure hoped he knew who lived here. I didn’t want to get in trouble with anyone. With Flick, there was no telling what he was going to do.
“Here we are.” Flick said as he set me down in the tallest flower of the bush. I assumed this was some kind of storage space, because, believe it or not, there was stuff everywhere. Elvin ignored my continuing questions, and led me down to what seemed to be the main part of the house.
I was getting pretty freaked out.
“Shhh.” He put his finger on my lips. “Mari! I’m here!” He called.
Who was Mari? I guessed I was about to find out where Elvin had been sneaking off to.
An average-height red head woman walked into the room. Her hair was shoulder-length and curly. She was a small, beautiful woman. One of the first words that came to my mind was cute. She had very small features; small nose, small mouth, small eyes, small ears, etc. She was wearing a pretty purple dress. She was about the same age as Flick. She had very pretty fairy wings. They were not small, unlike the rest of her. They were a deep shimmery purple. Her dress definitely complimented them.
Flick left me where I was, and walked over to her. He greeted her with a sweet kiss on the lips. Ooooh, I thought. He had a girlfriend. That explained a lot! He had been leaving to see his girlfriend. A part of me thought that was really sweet and cute.
As he stood next to her, I realized that they actually looked right together. I knew that sounded really weird, but they looked like they belonged together. Elvin was a lot taller than her. They looked at each other with soft eyes.
Elvin turned toward me. “This is my little sister, Lorelle. Lorelle, this is my girl, Marigold.” Marigold blushed a little at Flick’s reference to her as ‘his girl’. She smiled tentatively and came over to meet me.
“I’ve heard so much about you. It’s nice to finally meet you!” She said with truth in her eyes. She hugged me and I hugged her back. I really liked her. I wondered how in the world Flick got her.
I was about to tell her that Flick hadn’t told me anything about her, but I figured that would hurt her feelings. I met Flick’s eyes, and he gave me a thankful look. I could tell he hadn’t told her about this being a surprise.
“Lore,” he said. “We have a surprise for you.” At this point, I was as confused as ever. I thought the surprise had been Mari. Now I was growing with curiousity.
I cocked my head to the side. They both laughed. Flick laughed louder than Mari, who seemed to be a very quiet girl. I guess opposites really do attract. She seemed just the opposite of Flick. Somehow, Flick, the big loud obnoxious guy ended up with Mari, the small, sweet and quiet girl.
“It’s not much, but I thought you would like it.” Mari told me.
“You see, Mari works at a beauty shop. She is a professional make-up artist. She wanted to give you a small makeover, with a little product kit.” Elvin explained.
I thought this would not be a very good idea. I didn’t want to attract a lot of attention to myself, but as it was a gift from Mari, I was going to be incredibly polite and nice about it.
“Really? That’s wonderful! I bet she’ll do a great job!” I praised her. She smiled widely. I was making her day. She must have really wanted to impress her sweetheart’s family. How nice is that?
“I was hoping we could do it right now? I have things set up in the bathroom if you want to do it now.” Mari asked me. I smiled and nodded. Flick sat down on the sofa as Mari led me back to her bathroom.
There was a long counter with a long mirror in front of it. She motioned for me to sit down on the chair. It was one of those chairs that rotate. The kind that are also used at hair salons. I sat down, and looked at all the stuff she had sitting out.
“I’m going to try some things on you that I think will look wonderful. You can just sit back and relax while I explain things to you.”
She started by putting a light all-natural foundation on my face. Then she moved onto mascara and eyeliner. Mari told me that that was all I needed. Apparently I had lots of natural color to my face. She just added a tiny bit of lip gloss.
When she turned the chair around so I could look at myself in the mirror, I gasped. My face looked a whole lot better. Heck, I could almost call myself pretty. Only Almost.
I wasn’t sure how long she had been working on my face in the bathroom, but it was almost completely dark by the time we came out. Flick was still lounging on the sofa.
When we walked in, he jumped up and smiled at me. “Mari, you did a great job! She’s very pretty!” I blushed. I looked up and Mari was blushing too. Mari and I had a lot in common.
“Thank you so much Mari. I really do like it.” I said. And I really did. It wasn’t too dramatic of a change, which is exactly what I wanted. I’m sure a few people would notice, but no one would start talking about me or drawing a lot of attention to me.
“You are welcome. I’m glad you like it. Here’s a kit you can keep. You can put on everything, like I showed you, at home.” She handed me a bag that had everything carefully arranged in it. “If you want some more things, just ask me. I can get them for free.”
I smiled at her. Flick walked over to stand beside Mari. They were so cute! He couldn’t stand to be away from her for very long.
“As much as I hate to leave,” he said truthfully, “I must get Lore back to the house before our Mom freaks out.” He hugged her tight, and gave her a very long kiss. I looked away, pretending to examine a photo that was hanging on the wall. I wanted them to have their privacy.
As he turned away and came to get me, he said “I’ll come back as soon as I can,” and pulled me out of the house. Mari waved and blew Flick a kiss.
Flick immediately took off. I guess he figured that the sooner he left, the sooner he could come back. He would have to eat dinner with us though, if he was going to explain things to our Mom.
As Flick flew, I asked him a question. “What are you going to tell Mom? Does she know about Mari?” I asked him
Flick pursed his lips. “No, she doesn’t know. I will tell her eventually. I just feel that it isn’t the right time. I’ll just explain that you were with me and if she asks where we went, I’ll just make something up on the spot. Follow my lead, okay?” He asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, I will. I promise I won’t tell her.”
Flick looked down and smiled graciously. We were quiet for the rest of the ride. Both of us were lost in our own thoughts.
When we got home, he set me down in my room, then went to find our mom and check if she knew we had been gone or not.
He came back upstairs. “She didn’t see me, but I can tell she’s a little frantic. Prepare for her hysterics.”
I groaned and we both went downstairs. Flick was right. She was crying and screaming and yelling all at the same time. She was really mad, but Flick told her I was with him. Thankfully he explained that he picked me up to go see the sunset by the tree. And to my advantage, she got mad at him for not telling her where we were going.
As soon as Flick left to go to his room (that’s what my Mom thought), she started telling me how worried she had been. Ugh.
“I went upstairs to tell you I had talked to Maple, and then you were gone! You could have been anywhere! I called Elvin’s house again, but Elvin wasn’t there either. I thought you were with him, and you didn’t call me or anything!”
I definitely called it. I knew she would think I was with Elvin. She has one strange mind. What gave her the right to think we were dating? I thought she trusted me.
Then it hit me. “Wait. You said Elvin wasn’t home?”
“No, Maple said he was out.”
I frowned my eyebrows. “But I was talking to him on the phone when Flick came and took me to see the sunset.”
“Don’t talk to me about that, Lorelle. I don’t know anything.” She explained. I knew she was trying to blame me in that sentence, but hey I didn’t pay attention. I was worried about Elvin now, because I didn’t know where he was.
As soon as my mom let me go, I ran upstairs and flew into my room. I dialed the number to his house, and if he still wasn’t there, I would try his personal phone.
His family had a bigger income than mine, so they could afford to have personal phones for each family member. Only my dad had one in my family.
The phone rang four times before Maple picked it up. She told me Elvin still wasn’t home, but she wasn’t worried about him.
As soon as she hung up, I dialed his number.
He picked up after the first ring.
“Lore?” He softly said. Oh, right. I had forgotten he had caller ID.
“Yes, it’s me! Where are you, Elvin?”
He paused to sigh in relief. “Um. Well I went out looking for you, sweetheart. I didn’t know where Flick was going to take you. I was a little worried.”
“Oh. Well, I was fine. I’ll tell you where he took me later.” I promised
He picked up on it quickly. “Oh, okay. I got it. I’m going to come over quickly.”
“Um. I don’t think that’s a very good idea. You aren’t really my Mom’s favorite person right now.” I said slowly.
He didn’t catch on very quickly. “Why? I need to see you and make sure you are okay. I mean, I’ve been looking for a few hours, I think it would be best for me to see quickly.” he blurted out the words.
Great, I guess I was going to have to explain this to him. I figured he would guess it himself. “Well, I don’t know why or how this got in her mind, but my Mom is getting suspicious that we are dating or something.” I said slowly, then faster.
“Oh. I see how that would be a problem.” He said really slowly and softly.
“Yeah. She thought I was sneaking off with you.”
“Ahhh. Is that why she doesn’t want you to go to the vacation house with us?” He asked. He was very hesitant, hoping that wasn’t the case and he was wrong.
“You hit the nail on the head.” I said very matter-of factly.
He groaned. “Usually, I’m not the type to do this, but I’m going to come over without your mom seeing, okay?”
Elvin being sneaky? This was getting good. I started to get excited. It was the kind of mood where I’m snickering, and jumping at the same time?
“I’ll be in my room.” I simply said. He hung up. I wondered how he was going to get over here. Only for a moment, though.
All I could think of was that Elvin was coming over without my mom knowing. It felt kind of good to go against her. Especially since it was just as friends, and definitely not the way my mother thought.
For some reason, I had the sudden urge to clean my room. I started to straighten my bed, when I realized I’d already cleaned it while waiting to go ask my Mom if I could go on the vacation. I prayed my Mom wouldn’t come up and find Elvin in my room. I didn’t know what her answer was after talking to Maple, but I was positive it would be a firm no if she walked in while he was here.
Elvin didn’t take very long to come. He was set down in my room by a fairy chaperone. I didn’t really wonder why he had a chaperone. The chaperone took off as soon as Elvin was safely in my room.
“I’m here,” Elvin smiled and held out his arms.
I ran towards him and we hugged.
He looked at me and smiled really widely.
“What?” I asked curiously.
“You are wearing make-up, aren’t you?”
I laughed. I had forgotten about that. “Yeah. Flick took me over to meet his girlfriend who happens to be a make-up artist. She insisted on giving me a makeover. I thought she did a pretty good job. Not too different.”
“She did a wonderful job. It’s still Lore! You look as beautiful as ever.” He pat my head.
I laughed and went to sit down on my bed.
“I’m sorry that you were worried about me. Too bad I didn’t have any way to contact you. Well, I suppose I could have used Mari’s phone, but I didn’t even think of that.”
“Oh, thats no problem. I just would have been sitting at home anyway. I got to go on my own little scavenger hunt for Lorelle.” He chuckled and sat down next to me. He put his arm around me, and I laid my head on his shoulder.
“How long were you looking?” I asked.
He gently rested his head on mine. “Pretty much as soon as you got off the phone, until you called me.”
“El! That’s a really long time! How did you manage to see outside? Your poor chaperone!”
“Hey, give me some credit! I didn’t have him flying me around the whole time. I looked on foot, too. And the dark was no problem, so don’t sweat it!”
I laughed. My body shook, and so did his. I knew he should be going right now, but I was very comfortable, and I’m pretty sure Elvin was, too. We sat like that for a few minutes, and made small talk.
“So let’s cross our fingers that our parent’s chat went well. I know they talked, but my mom didn’t tell me the result, yet.” I told him.
He was at a loss for words. Thank goodness he didn’t say anything, because if he didn’t, we wouldn’t have heard the soft thumping of someone walking up the green walkway.
At first, we raised our eyebrows at eachother, and then we froze at the same time. I frantically started running through ideas in my head. How would Elvin get out? I knew Flick wasn’t home, and my dad was at work, or coming home. I had no doubt that it was my Mom walking up the stairs.
There was no time for Flick to get his chaperone to pick him up, and he definitely couldn’t get out of my room by himself. I went to the only option. It was very childish, but it was my only hope.
“Hide!” I mouthed to Elvin. He caught on quickly, and I pointed under my bed. I had to push him, or he wouldn’t have gotten under it in time. I was worried that he would be too big to fit under. I was right to worry. His legs stuck out, and I didn’t think he could tell. If my mom walked in, I would be busted.
My mom had arrived at the door.
I didn’t want to be obvious and yell, hey, mom don’t come in! Or anything suspicious like that. I was starting to panic. It got to the point where I couldn’t think straight. I was frozen in place.
When she knocked, I thought of the only thing that would keep her out and buy me a few seconds.
As I was motioning to Elvin to curl up and get his legs under the bed, I yelled to my mom. “Mom, wait. Give me a minute, I’m changing.”
Elvin got completely under the bed and out of sight. I sighed in relief. Only for a moment, though. I had just created a bigger problem. My mom had seen what I was wearing before, so now I needed the evidence that I was changing. I thought quickly.
I charged over as quickly as I could and pulled a random shirt out of my closet and flung it on my bed. There was no time to go in my closet, shut the door, and change my shirt. That would make my mom suspicious, and that was definitely not on my to do list.
“Ok, I’m ready, what did you want?”
My mom opened the door and walked in. “Lorelle, I want to talk to you about going to the vacation house. I talked to Maple, and we made a decision.” She walked over and sat down on my bed.
I didn’t dare cringe, but I was praying the the bed had not gone down to put weight on Elvin. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, hoping that my mom wouldn’t find him down there.
“Ok. What did you decide?” I asked her.
“Well, we talked about-.” My mom stopped talking and frowned. “Lorelle....? You were wearing that earlier, weren’t you? You told me you were changing.”
Uh oh. Huge trouble. I had to make something up on the spot. I’m a terrible liar, so at this point I was sure that I was in trouble.
I tried to give it a shot. I concentrated carefully on my facial expression. I wanted to go on this trip so badly. I used that desire to lie forcefully.
“I did. I wanted to change my shirt, so I tried that one one.” I said, pointing to the shirt I had thrown on my bed. She turned around to look at it, and then back to me. She was waiting for the rest of my explanation. “When I tried it on, I didn’t think it matched what I was wearing, so I just put my other shirt back on.”
I was hanging in limbo, depending on my mom’s reaction. Whether she believed me or not would determine multiple things. Whether Elvin was caught, whether I could to to the vacation house, and whether I was grounded for a month, or not.
My mom sighed, and nodded. I let out a very soft sigh, making sure that she didn’t hear it. She had bought it. I had lied convincingly. Yes! I was so proud of myself. But it was not over yet.
“So, while Maple and I were talking, she told me that she trusted Elvin fully, and also you. I know Maple is always right, so we decided that you could go on the vacation house, and she will meet some of my conditions.”
I jumped for joy. “Thank you mom! Thank you so much!” I squaled and exhaled in relief very loudly.
“I will explain the conditions to you later. For now, you should get ready to go to bed.” She walked toward my door. I took her spot on my bed, and watched her as she was leaving my room.
She reached out to grab the door handle. Before she could even start turning it, she froze. She froze for a very good reason.
Elvin’s phone started ringing. He had it with him under the bed.
