Big Men of the House(2)

“Don't worry Mr. S, I'll do better next time.” I snatched my test back and walked out of the class room, whistling. This was a one time thing. I wasn't going to wreck my future over a stupid squabble with my parents. This was just a warning.



I got home and could barely contain my excitement. I hid the test under my pillow until my stepdad came home. I wanted to reveal it to them during dinner. I imagined my parents' face melting into a pool of ooze, mixing with dinner into a disgusting soup. The thought of me failing at something would snap them out of their dreams of me becoming president.



When Christopher pulled into the garage, I gleefully grabbed my test and brought it downstairs. I had rehearsed all afternoon and knew exactly what I wanted to say. My mom was in the kitchen plopping some pasta onto a plate and covering it with meat sauce.



Christopher came through the door, carrying his briefcase and looking like he had a long day. It was going to get a lot worse.



“Hi, honey,” my mom said, setting the plates of food at the dinner table. “How was your day?”



“Oh, just the normal stuff,” I said.



“Well, let's see your test,” Christopher said, dropping his briefcase to the ground.



“I got it right here.” I revealed my hand from behind my back and placed the test in my mom's hand.



Christopher leaned in close to my mom to get a view of the grade. Their eyes went wide as their jaws dropped to the floor. “What the fuck is this?” Christopher yelled, pulling the test from my mom's grip, almost tearing it in two.



“It's my science test,” I said politely. I sat down at the dinner table and wrapped some spaghetti around my fork.



My parents were in shock, standing around the kitchen island. “What the hell happened?” my mom asked. “This has got to be a joke.”



“No joke, mom. That's a real F there.” I chomped down on the pasta, savoring the flavor of the sauce.



My parents looked at each other, not knowing how to react. Everything I did was throwing them off. “Well we can't let you get away with this. You're supposed to be getting A's, not failing. This is unacceptable and you'll have to be punished.” She looked over at Christopher, wondering what the punishment should be. I'd never been in any real trouble before so this was brand new to my mom.



Christopher threw the test paper into the trash can. “You're grounded, young lady. Go up to your room with no dinner.”



I quickly ate up as much as I could before my mom came around and stole the plate from under me. I sucked up the last remaining strands of spaghetti hanging from my lips and stood up. “I'll be in my room then.”



My smile made them go crazy. Any punishment they could come up with would only make me laugh harder.



As I walked up the stairs, I could hear them arguing with each other. Christopher told my mom, “Don't worry, I'll make sure she never forgets what she did.”



“Thank you babe,” my mom said.



I shut my door, awaiting for Christopher to come up to my room and punish me further. After twenty minutes, I figured that he wasn't coming. They must've been satisfied with just grounding me. Or they couldn't come up with a harsher sentence.



My plan had worked and now that I had lowered their expectations, getting a B+ wasn't going to freak them out as much. Hell, even a C would be good enough.



I sat at my desk, and crammed for an English quiz that I had the next morning. My revenge on my parents was over with and now I could finally focus on my studies without my parents breathing down my neck every five seconds.



My English book was so boring and my eyes soon became as heavy as dumbbells. Who wanted to spend the night studying about Shakespeare anyways? My bed was only a couple feet away but I ended up face-planting right in the book and falling asleep.







I was awoken to a slight rustle outside my door. My eyes turned towards the clock next to my bed that said 1:15 AM. Another noise at my door, made me bolt upright with terror. My heart lurched into my throat as my door knob slowly turned. The door creaked opened and a shadowy figure entered the room.



“Christopher! What the fuck are you doing in here?”



“Shhh,” he said, putting his finger to his lips. Christopher closed the door quietly and listened for any sign of my mom waking.



“What are you doing?” I repeated in a lower voice.



“Your mother and I promised you a punishment.”



I closed my English book and stood up from the desk. “So grounding me wasn't enough?”



“Getting an F on a test went way too far, Amber. You really disappointed your mother and I.”



“Well that sucks for you guys,” I said. “I don't really care how you both feel.”