Falling For Amelia Manning

Suspension.

A week's suspension.

Phoebe has never been suspended for more than a day in her life. But a week! It was an insane thought. She knew her extra college credits would be over when Ms. Jenkins found out and she could kiss trying out for the varsity team for the remainder of the year goodbye. She never thought it would take sitting in the middle of her bathroom, with James trying to find some clean clothes for them, to make her realize how stupid she really is.

"Would you stop brooding and help me with all this nasty food on the counter?" James tried to snap her out of the funk she was living in, but Phoebe didn't want to be helpful, she was done doing anything that contributed to anyone else.

"This is all my fault, James, how can you still be my friend when I got you suspended?" She asked quietly. "Because I didn't sit it out. I could have run and hid and stayed out of it, but I didn't. I threw food just as far as you did." She reminded her, but it didn't make Phoebe feel better.

"Get up and get out of those pants that I know have mash potatoes leaking into them. Do you really think all this is about you?" She asked her with an edge to her tone. "I started it. I start everything. Didn't you hear Amelia?" Phoebe's voice cracked, and it set James' nerves on edge. She didn't like hearing her best friend's voice like this.

"Look, she made her own decision. You can't keep blaming yourself whenever she gets mad at you or pranks you and you especially can't keep retaliating. It's going to end with broke noses and bruised egos if you keep it up. I love you, you know that, but I think she would win in a fistfight." James gently sat down on the towel Phoebe had been sitting on to keep the slimy food off the floor. Tilting her head, Phoebe leaned it on James' shoulder while tears ran down her face.

"It's okay to cry, get it out now while we're all dirty. But we really should get cleaned up, that's what your mom thinks we're doing and we're walking a fine line as it is." She reminded Phoebe.

Sighing, she tried not to think about how Amelia's punishment was so much worse than her own. She might not be able to try-out for the team again this year, but Amelia was kicked off the varsity team and without the tutoring, she wasn't going to graduate. The scholarship she worked so hard on would be taken away from her and Phoebe had some part in it. She didn't want to admit it out loud again, but this was bad. Very bad.

"Come on, let's get cleaned up and maybe we can salvage our underwear in the wash," James helped her up from the floor. Phoebe lazily took off her food clung clothes one piece at a time until she heard James say the shower was ready. She didn't pay attention to James shedding her own messy clothes, she only carefully stepped into the shower and under the warm water. Once she was sufficiently soaked to the bone, she moved out of the way so that James could drown herself.

Picking up the body wash, she went to town trying to get the gravy and Jell-O off her face and parts that were crusted on her skin. She handed the bottle over to James who mimicked her movements. Phoebe quickly dosed her hair with shampoo to scrub out the junk that accumulated up there before passing the bottle. It didn't take them long to get the food off their bodies. After swapping under the water, James stepped out of the shower first and tossed a towel to Phoebe just after she shut the water off, watching the food pieces sink down to the drain.

"I'm going to have to clean the whole house again. I can feel her telling me without even seeing her."

"I had to do repairs at the house until my arms ached yesterday. Who knows what he'll want me to do this time," James told her offhandedly while drying herself off.

"I'm in shock that our parents let us get cleaned up at the same house! If your dad hadn't been at work, we would be so screwed!" Phoebe's mood lightened just a little bit, making James laugh at the face she made. When a bang came at the bathroom door, they both shut their mouths quickly.

"You two are supposed to be cleaning yourself up. Not having a party in there. Come to the living room when you're done." Phoebe's mom shouted through the bathroom door making both girls freeze in fear. After they heard her mom's footsteps walking back downstairs, they finished cleaning up and got dressed quickly.

"I'll wipe up the counter, you get a basket for the dirty clothes. I'll have to stick them in the washer quickly." Phoebe took the reins and tried to organize the two of them before her mom came back up there.

James scurried around the bathroom once the door was open and grabbed all the dirty clothes she could find while Phoebe cleaned up the counter. Once they were out of the bathroom, they gave it a look over to make sure there wasn't anything they missed. Satisfied, they both quickly ran to the laundry room to start a load. Hitting buttons and throwing the clothes in the washer, James quickly spilled some soap in it before Phoebe slammed the lid shut.

Slowing down a bit when they reached the living room, James peered around the fireplace to see the look on Phoebe's mom before they entered. She didn't spot a super angry look on her face but that didn't mean too much. She's never seen her raging mad and neither has Phoebe, they were lucky that the calm parent was in control of their punishment today.

"Come in here and sit, girls," she demanded calmly, making them both jump a little when she talked suddenly.

Ducking into the room, they both took a seat across from Mrs. Edan who had her nose in a book. Snapping it shut, she looked up at the two teenage troublemakers she had to deal with.

"I'm not going to start by how disappointed we both are in you. I will be speaking for Paul today. He's given me James' punishment, but I think it would do well coupled with Phoebe's." She started. Both girls gulped back their fear. Coupling their punishment wasn't a good sign.

"He wants James to repair one of the houses he's been working on. Plumbing, flooring, counters, the place is very disheveled. Phoebe, you will join her and when the house is up to code, your punishment will be over."

Phoebe's head was spinning. She didn't have the experience to work on a house. She wouldn't even trust her hands to make one made of gingerbread. The cookies always crumbled under her tight grip, which is why they were banned from the house after she threw a wall at the fridge a couple of years back.

"Mom is that even legal?!" Phoebe yelled. Her mother didn't flinch or yell back. She calmly opened her book back up and started reading again without saying a word.

"It's perfectly legal if there is an adult present. You will work on it after school and homework and on the weekend. James if you're not working at the store, then you'll be at that house. There isn't much else to say." She told them and the calm in her voice made Phoebe uneasy.

"We're sorry mom. We messed up, please talk to us." Phoebe got a little choked up before the tears started again. Leaning back, she rested her head on James' shoulder.

"There is nothing more to say. I don't care if you know you messed up. You were told to watch your attitude and you went and destroyed the cafeteria. You're lucky you weren't expelled so close to graduation. During your week of suspension, you will work your hands to the bone and maybe you'll learn a few things about what happens when you let your emotions get the best of you." She kept her calm and cool demeanor. She didn't want to burst when talking about controlling emotions. When she didn't say another word, the girls took that to mean they were done.

Just before they left the living room, her mom spoke up again.

"James, your father will be here in a few hours. You two may work on schoolwork in the dining room and nothing else." She commanded as the girls stepped out of the living room.

It didn't take long for them to gather their schoolwork and lay it out on the dining room table. It took longer for them to work on it since they decided that talking at the table wasn't against the rules.

"What do you think the house will be like? I don't know if I can hammer a nail straight, let alone build new walls." Phoebe complained while opening her English book.

"I don't think it will be that bad. My dad usually has houses that just need code repairs. Not ones that are down to the bones." James told her which made Phoebe feel a little better but not by much.

"I'll have to find some videos online or something for us to even have something to reference. I know your dad has taught you a bunch but that doesn't make you a contractor." Phoebe brought her voice down to a whisper, so she could yell at James across the table who was trying to focus on her math homework without success.

"I would be more concerned with Amelia when our suspension is let up. She got kicked off the team, and if she blames you for just about everything, she'll use that as the biggest excuse to beat the tar out of you." James made a good point and it was something she's had on her mind since the incident, but she couldn't think of that now. All she wanted to do was sneak out with her Crosse and play a few rounds on the practice field. Was that too much to ask for? She knew it was, still she hoped.

Their homework went by slowly and when James' dad showed up there were a few words exchanged before she was taken away. Once Phoebe finished her work for the day, she was told to clean up after dinner and head straight to her room. No TV and no Lacrosse practice in the backyard.

When she swung her bedroom door open, she saw her Crosse just sitting in the chair by her dresser. Like it was waiting for her to take it up, grab her bag, and head out the window behind her bed. She pushed the thought from her head before crawling under her covers for the night.

"You can't do it. If you sneak out and get caught, that's it. You'll be grounded for life or worse, you'll be sent to a finishing school with a uniform and a nun or something that smacks your hands with a ruler!" She tried to talk herself down but the sight of her Crosse sitting over there wasn't helping.

Throwing the covers off her body, she snuck over to the door and listened for her mother. After a quick listen and look for any signs of life, she decided her mom had fallen asleep already and the coast was clear.

"I am a stupid, stupid, girl."

She grabbed her bag and stick and headed to the bedroom window. Careful not to make a sound, she opened it slowly and threw her duffle bag out first and then her Crosse. Looking back as she climbed up to the windowsill, she waited for any signs of life before carefully twisting to set her foot on the little bit of roof this side of the house had that would allow her to jump down easily.

When her bare feet hit the cold and wet grass, she looked around for any signs of life before grabbing her stuff and setting out in a run for the high school field. It was about five miles out, but she could run that in her sleep. Feeling the brisk air blowing through her loose hair, she pounded the pavement as the euphoric feeling of freedom coursed through her body.