15
It’s only when we come blazing down Drayton Street in Sam’s awesome blue truck, obvious as a Mardi Gras parade float, that I remember my grandmother’s warning to stay away from the Buzzards altogether. And because I am, and always have been, a somewhat inherently unlucky person, there she is—naturally!—standing on the porch, staring us down.
“Hello, Miss Lee,” Sam sings out from the window.
“Sam,” Miss Lee answers, smiling sternly as her eyes travel from him to me.
“Thanks for the ride,” I say hastily, hopping to the ground and lifting out my bike to head inside and face my grandmother’s wrath—and when I tell her where I’ve been all afternoon, wrath is exactly what I receive.
“To his home?” she sputters. “Are you joking?”
I shrug. I’m not a liar; even though I know that making up stories or avoiding the truth could make things a lot easier for me sometimes, I’ve never been into it. It’s too confusing. How are you supposed to remember what’s true and what’s not? But now that she’s going so nuts over this, I seriously wish I had just said he’d stopped to offer me a ride home from school.
“You deliberately disobeyed me,” she hisses.
“I didn’t, actually. I just forgot what you’d said. It was my first day of school, which was seriously overwhelming. I mean, those Magnolia girls? They are nuts. So I saw Sam Buzzard, and he was nice to me, and I just forgot you said not to hang out with him. Okay?”
“Okay?” Miss Lee spits. “Okay? No, this is most certainly not okay. You went to a strange man’s house. What egregiously irresponsible behavior! Is this the way people act in California?”
“Well, I can’t speak for the whole state, but, yes, I’d say I’m a pretty open person.”
Miss Lee purses her lips. “All right. Well. I’m sorry, Alexandria. I have no choice but to ground you.”
I stare at her in disbelief. She’s okay with me getting into a car full of teenagers with bad driving skills and spending all night at a keg party, but she’s grounding me for checking out a friend’s garden?
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. For the time being, you’re not to leave the house. And you may never go to Sam Buzzard’s again.”
“But that’s just crazy,” I say. “You can’t imprison a young person like that. It’s… un-American.”
“I can’t talk about it any further, Alexandria. I’m late for dinner out. I’ll have Josie make you something.” She looks at me hopelessly, gives one last dramatic sigh, and leaves.
I slink up to my room and plop on the bed, shaking my head in disbelief. Grounded? I never got grounded at the RC, even when I sneaked off with some kids to San Francisco for three days to see a concert without telling anyone. What am I supposed to do in this house? Learn ballroom dancing? Listen politely while my grandmother explains the correct way to sip friggin’ sweet tea?
Suddenly, I have an idea. I flip on the computer, waiting impatiently for the Internet to come up. No new e-mails from Reggie… big surprise. But that’s okay. After tonight, we won’t need this stupid e-mail system anymore. I bring up Delta.com and grab that brilliant new credit card out of my backpack.
Okay. I know the Visa was meant for new clothes, not a plane ticket back to California. But I promise you one thing, Grandma. As soon as I get there, I’ll get out some scissors and cut it up for good.
The Magnolia League
Katie Crouch's books
- Alanna The First Adventure
- Alone The Girl in the Box
- Asgoleth the Warrior
- Awakening the Fire
- Between the Lives
- Black Feathers
- Bless The Beauty
- By the Sword
- In the Arms of Stone Angels
- Knights The Eye of Divinity
- Knights The Hand of Tharnin
- Knights The Heart of Shadows
- Mind the Gap
- Omega The Girl in the Box
- On the Edge of Humanity
- The Alchemist in the Shadows
- Possessing the Grimstone
- The Steel Remains
- The 13th Horseman
- The Age Atomic
- The Alchemaster's Apprentice
- The Alchemy of Stone
- The Ambassador's Mission
- The Anvil of the World
- The Apothecary
- The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf
- The Bible Repairman and Other Stories
- The Black Lung Captain
- The Black Prism
- The Blue Door
- The Bone House
- The Book of Doom
- The Breaking
- The Cadet of Tildor
- The Cavalier
- The Circle (Hammer)
- The Claws of Evil
- The Concrete Grove
- The Conduit The Gryphon Series
- The Cry of the Icemark
- The Dark
- The Dark Rider
- The Dark Thorn
- The Dead of Winter
- The Devil's Kiss
- The Devil's Looking-Glass
- The Devil's Pay (Dogs of War)
- The Door to Lost Pages
- The Dress
- The Emperor of All Things
- The Emperors Knife
- The End of the World
- The Eternal War
- The Executioness
- The Exiled Blade (The Assassini)
- The Fate of the Dwarves
- The Fate of the Muse
- The Frozen Moon
- The Garden of Stones
- The Gate Thief
- The Gates
- The Ghoul Next Door
- The Gilded Age
- The Godling Chronicles The Shadow of God
- The Guest & The Change
- The Guidance
- The High-Wizard's Hunt
- The Holders
- The Honey Witch
- The House of Yeel
- The Lies of Locke Lamora
- The Living Curse
- The Living End
- The Magic Shop
- The Magicians of Night
- The Marenon Chronicles Collection
- The Marquis (The 13th Floor)
- The Mermaid's Mirror
- The Merman and the Moon Forgotten
- The Original Sin
- The Pearl of the Soul of the World
- The People's Will
- The Prophecy (The Guardians)
- The Reaping
- The Rebel Prince
- The Reunited
- The Rithmatist
- The_River_Kings_Road
- The Rush (The Siren Series)
- The Savage Blue
- The Scar-Crow Men
- The Science of Discworld IV Judgement Da
- The Scourge (A.G. Henley)
- The Sentinel Mage
- The Serpent in the Stone
- The Serpent Sea
- The Shadow Cats
- The Slither Sisters
- The Song of Andiene
- The Steele Wolf