“Well, after we go shopping, why don’t you come back to my house? We can help each other do our hair,” she suggested. “I don’t think I can do a good job on mine by myself. My hair’s too long.”
“That’s great, totally,” I said. Going shopping, dying hair, going to a concert, with Fern, my new friend. It was like a whole bunch of opportunities were opening up in front of me. Black hair! A metal concert! Things were definitely looking up.
As we continued talking, I was horrified to hear the side door of my house open and close. I looked up the driveway and saw Mom, wrapped in a sweater, her feet shoved into sneakers, approaching us.
“Er, I thought I heard voices,” she said.
“Hello!” Fern said and, in one fluid motion, quickly discarded her cigarette by the curb and stood up.
“This is Fern,” I said. “Fern, this is my mom.”
My mother smiled politely at Fern. “Nice to meet you. Rachel, it’s after midnight. It’s quarter past.”
“Sorry,” I said. “We were just walking home and we stopped to talk for a few minutes. I was about to come in.”
“Fern, do you need a ride home? I could go get Rachel’s dad and he’d be happy to drive you.”
“Oh, no thank you. I don’t live far, and I can walk from here. That’s okay.”
“Don’t you have a curfew as well?” Mom said.
“Yes, one o’clock. So I should probably get going. It was nice to meet you,” she said to my mother, and to me, she said, “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” I said, feeling stupid that my mother had come shuffling out of the house and ruined our talk.
I watched as Fern proceeded back the way we’d walked. I wanted to watch her until she disappeared into the darkness, but my stupid mother was right there and completely ruined the moment.
“Rachel, come inside right now,” my mother said.
I followed her up the driveway and inside, where I saw my dad sitting at the kitchen table in his pyjamas.
“Were you guys waiting up for me?” I asked, incredulous. “I was hardly late. And technically I was home. I was right outside the house.”
“You’ve never gone to a party before or stayed out late,” Dad said. “Of course we waited up for you.”
“Well, I’m fine. I’m here. Everything is okay.”
“You smell like cigarette smoke,” Dad said.
“She was outside with a girl who was smoking,” Mom informed him.
“Oh, Rachel.”
“Listen,” I said irritably. “At the party, a lot of people were smoking. And yeah, so what? Fern had a cigarette outside.”
“Fern?” Dad asked.
“Fern’s a friend of mine. But I didn’t smoke. I didn’t drink. Everything is fine. I’d like to just go to bed now, if that’s okay with you.”