This Moment was Held for Me

After school, I decided to stay in the library and do some study. I ended up staying for two hours but on the plus side I got all of my homework out of the way for the weekend. I walked home by myself and hummed a tune. I was so happy about seeing Frank today. He totally turned my day around. As I entered my living room, I was surprised to see Mom sitting on the couch with her arms crossed.
“Hi Mom,” I said cautiously. She looked angry. I couldn’t help but worry if she knew about today. But Mr Benton said he wouldn’t call her, right?
“Mia,” she said stiffly.
Silence fell upon the room.
“Is everything okay?” I finally managed to say.
Her brow furrowed, “Guess who I ran into this afternoon at the store.”
“Who?” I said innocently. Please don’t say Mr Benton, I thought.
“Rachelle,” she said with an arched eyebrow.
I didn’t immediately understand the connection between my Mom’s anger and seeing Rachelle. I hadn’t spoken to her since History class.
“And?” I said, waiting for Mom to explain.
She looked at me with narrowed eyes, “And,” she mimicked me, “She had some interesting tales.”
I rolled my eyes, “I doubt Rachelle could ever say anything interesting.”
Raged flickered in my mother’s eyes as she hissed, “I’ve had it with you young lady!” She stood up and folded her arms again, “You have such an attitude problem! Everything that comes out of your mouth lately is an insult or sarcastic retort. What has gotten into you? When did you become a liar?”
“A liar?” I repeated.
She nodded angrily, “Yes a liar! Don’t lie to me, Mia. Rachelle shed some light on your whereabouts last night. You weren’t studying at all, were you? She said she saw you at a party!” Mom took a breath and continued to yell, “In fact, I heard you started some trouble at this party! Why did you lie to me?”
“Because you never give me any freedom!” I shouted back at her, “You don’t understand a thing! You always judge or worry or warn me. Why don’t you just give me a chance to do things?!”
“You don’t deserve freedom Mia! You’ve just been taking it without asking,” she hissed back, “And on top of this, Rachelle told me you got into trouble today.”
“What the fuck would Rachelle know?”
Mom glared at me, “She’s looking out for you as a friend. That’s why she confessed to me this afternoon about your behaviour. She told me you got caught kissing some boy!” I heard never seen Mom this enraged. I really was in trouble now. I shouldn’t have lied. At the same time, I was mad at Mom (and stupid fucking Elle) and was too stubborn to sit down and explain myself reasonably.
“Like hell she was looking out for me!” I screamed equally as loud, “You don’t know shit! She picks on me constantly. Ask Amanda! She’s a class-A bitch!”
Mom shook her head and yelled at me, “Go to your room. I don’t want to see your face. I don’t want to hear your swearing. And I definitely don’t want to hear your lies.”
“Fine!” I screamed at her as I marched up the stairs. I was never the type of person who cried in a fight. I just got madder and madder and refused to cry. I sat on my bed, fuming, and wished that I could rewind time and go back to last night when Frankie was with me. I curled up on my bed and imagined Frank was lying next to me again. I whispered Frank’s lyrics to myself with a weak smile, “I stared as this moment was held for me…”

A few hours later, my mother slowly entered my room. She was a lot calmer now. She sat on my bed and shook me awake.
“Mia,” she said. “I’ve rung Amanda’s mother and spoken to her about a few things.”
I sat up angrily, “Like what, Mom? Amanda’s mom actually knew we were going to a party. She’s reasonable.”
Mom swallowed and tried to control her anger, “Yes Mia. Amanda’s mother thought that I had given you permission to go as well. She said she’s sorry and she had no idea you were out without permission.”
I rolled my eyes, “Cool story, Mom.”
She continued, “I also spoke to her about Rachelle. She told me that Rachelle is no longer a friend to Amanda. I’m sorry that I got that wrong.”
“Yeah. Rachelle is a real bitch,” I looked at Mom to see if she’d get mad at me for swearing, “But I am sorry for lying about the party.”
“And the boy? That’s what I’m most mad about Mia. It sounds cheap,” she said, “Don’t you realize? Kissing boys around school? It’s not something you should be doing. People get the wrong idea.”
I shook my head, “No Mom, you get the wrong idea. Frank is a really nice guy. He is my friend and we’ve been hanging out lately. I don’t just go kissing anyone and everyone at school.”
My Mom frowned at me again, “Well that may be the case. But I’m still grounding you for lying to me. And I don’t like the fact that you have hidden this Frank boy away from me.”
I resisted the urge to smile. Little did Mom know that I literally did hide Frank away from her this morning.
“Next time if you want to start a relationship, I want to meet the boy first,” my mother finished by folding her arms over her chest again.
I nodded, “Okay.” There was no real point fighting with my Mom. At least she was being semi-reasonable.
“You’re grounded for one week. And if you ever lie to me again, your punishment will be worse,” she warned me. Before shutting the door, she turned around and said to me with a weak smile, “And I want to meet this Frank boy. I’m only protective because I love you, Mia. If you really think he is a nice boy, I’ll allow you to date him.”

It was now three days into my week of being grounded. Sundays usually were pretty quiet, but this was the quietest and most boring one I had experienced in a while. I sat in my room idly. All my friends knew about how I was grounded. I didn’t tell them that it was because of Frank, though. They all thought it was because of the party. They were currently all at Gerard and Mikey’s house. Amanda was watching their band practice. I was pretty jealous. Suddenly, my phone rang. I lazily hopped off my bed and picked my phone off my desk.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hey,” Frank said on the other line.
I smiled, “I’m glad you’ve called. I’m so bored.”
“Yeah? We’ve just finished band practice. I wish you were here.”
“Well once I’m not grounded, we can hang out again,” I said happily.
He whined, “That’s ages away.”
“That’s like 4 days away!” I laughed.
He huffed into the phone like a little child.
“Do you wanna come here on Thursday afternoon?”
It sounded as though Frank was grinning as he spoke, “Yup! Do I have to meet your Mom?”
I laughed, “Yeah. I think she’ll be okay, surprisingly.”
“Okay, well I look forward to it.”
I smiled, “Alright, me too.”
Just before I was about to hang up Frank’s voice said something into the phone, “Wait!” he said.
“What?”
“You should call me sometime,” he said slyly.
I laughed, “Nah, I’m playing hard to get.”
Frank laughed but said nothing.
“Is it working?” I said coyly.
Frank sighed into the phone, “Hmm….”
I waited to hear his answer.
Ever so quickly he said, “Yes” into the receiver before hanging up.
With a flop, I lay back onto my bed and smiled as I looked at the phone.

Fuck, I wish I wasn’t grounded.