“Well, someone was,” Dad said. “The Andersons’ alarm shows each time it’s been disabled and which code was used. Someone used the one they’d created for me to enter their house late Friday night. Do you know anything about this?”
I shrugged, but my heart was racing. “Nicole was going over there to water plants, wasn’t she using the code?”
“This was later—hours after she’d been there.”
Mom chimed in, “Nicole said you were out with Ryan Friday night.”
I glared at Nicole. What else did you tell them?
“Yeah, so what?”
“And you came home past four in the morning.”
So Nicole had ratted me out. Two can play that game.
“Nicole was out late too. She had just gotten home when I did.”
Mom looked shocked, and Nicole’s face turned red.
Nicole stammered, “That’s not true—I was just going to the bathroom.”
Mom turned back to me. “It’s bad enough that you’re lying to us, Toni, but trying to point the finger at your sister is just low.”
“I’m not pointing the finger at anyone. I’m saying I wasn’t the only one out.”
“This isn’t about your sister.” Mom looked flustered, like she was trying to regroup. “It’s about you sneaking into our neighbors’ house.”
My dad said, “They trusted us, Toni.”
Now I felt really bad. I hadn’t wanted to get my dad in trouble. “Maybe their alarm is screwed up and it recorded the time wrong or something.”
“Some of their alcohol was also missing.” Dad’s voice turned soft, doing the calm-and-reasonable thing. “We just want to know the truth.”
I glanced over at Mom and knew there’d be hell to pay if she knew the truth. I kept with my story. “I am telling the truth.”
Dad looked disappointed, my mom furious.
She said, “You’re grounded.”
“What? You can’t do that!”
“For a month—that includes phone privileges. And you can’t use the car or see Ryan after school. We want you home every night.”
“You can’t ground me—I’m eighteen.” I was furious—I’d been a week away from getting the car on the road. “I’m supposed to start work at the Fish Shack the middle of March.”
“You should have thought of that before.” Then she took a breath, like she was bracing for something, and said, “If you don’t abide by our rules, you’ll have to find another place to live.”
Blood rushed to my face. “You’re kicking me out?” I knew it had to be some tough-love bullshit she’d read in one of the stupid books—I’d seen them in her office: How to Talk to Your Teenage Daughter and other crap like that. But it still shocked the hell out of me. I didn’t think they’d ever go that far.
“We aren’t kicking you out,” Dad quickly said. “But your behavior is getting out of control. We don’t know what else to do, Toni. Your mom’s right. If you’re not going to respect our rules, then you can’t stay here.”
He looked upset saying those last words, and I had a feeling it was more my mom’s idea than his. I glanced back at her and she looked upset too, but more nervous or scared, her mouth tight and her eyes red-rimmed. She was probably freaked out that I might actually leave, and then she’d have no control over me.
I felt panicky, trying to figure out what I was going to do next. Where would I go? Ryan’s place was no good. His mom was cool, but I was pretty sure she’d draw the line at my living there. Amy and the rest of my friends still weren’t speaking to me. Maybe I could negotiate my way out of this.
“What if I did more chores around here and stayed home during the week?” Then I could still keep my job.
Dad looked at my mom.
“One month,” she said, her voice firm. “It will give you time to realize that when you’re with Ryan, you don’t use your head. You have to learn there are consequences to your actions.”
What she meant was that she hoped it would make us break up.
“Now you’re calling me stupid?” I said. “You didn’t want me to work at the Fish Shack anyway. You’re just trying to screw things up for me!”
“No one’s calling you stupid,” Dad said, “and no one is trying to screw anything up, but when you’re with Ryan, you don’t think things through.”
That stung. “I think about things just fine.”
“We just don’t want to see you do something you might really regret. It will be good for you to have some time apart.”
Near tears, I glanced across the table at Nicole, who was staring down at the floor.
“How come you’re not asking Nicole why she’s lying about where she was Friday night? Or about her boyfriend?”
Both my parents looked at Nicole.
Her face was flushed as she said, “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Right.” I almost mentioned the party that Nicole had been at, but when I saw the look of fear on her face I dropped it. If my parents wanted to be blind, so be it, but I didn’t need Nicole to retaliate and throw more fuel on the fire. I was already in enough trouble.
“We’ll talk to Nicole in a minute,” my dad said.
“Are we done?” I said.
“No. You’ll also mow the Andersons’ lawn every week for the next month.”