Time Warp: Fight Fire with Fire (Emery)

[Lorelei Wuornos]

August 18th, 2008
- Chicago, Illinois -

It was another day at school. A day like any other. Lorelei sat in class with her eyes focused on the teacher ahead, her mind somewhere else entirely. The windows to her left allowed an abundance of sunshine inside the classroom and Lorelei wanted nothing more than to run outside and lounge under its warmth, nap until time to go home. The teacher droned on and on about History, practically repeating the reading that the students had been given for homework the night before. Lorelei had done the reading, so what use would she get from it anyway? The tree in the courtyard swayed in the cool wind, the same cool wind that Lorelei had felt walking to class earlier. It'd felt so refreshing that she'd paused to take it in. School was necessary, and she was good at it, but that didn't mean that she had to enjoy it. If there were outside classes...well, that she would like.

The teacher honed in on Lorelei's dreamlike state and called out her name, making Lorelei jump in her seat and drop her notebook on the floor. "Ms. Wuornos, would you like to pay attention today or would you like to lie down on my desk and take a nap?" her teacher asked, causing Lorelei to turn ten shades of red.

"No, ma'am, sorry," Lorelei said apologetically and sunk down in her seat while some of the other kids laughed at her. Just five minutes or so later, after some fun-poking from some of the same kids who laughed, the class bell ring and she got up from her seat and left with the crowd.

As she walked down the halls she hugged the wall, hoping to steer clear of bumping into anyone. Toward the middle of the hall she took a left and pushed through the door to the girls bathroom. Inside Emery sat on one of the sinks facing away from the mirror, doodling with a pen on her arm. When she looked up and saw Lorelei she smiled somewhat and capped the pen, sticking it in her backpack that sat in the sink. Lorelei walked over and leaned against the stall wall opposite where Emery sat.

"Hey Em, hows classes been so far today?" Lorelei asked, sitting her backpack on the floor near where she stood.

[Emery Wuornos]

Emery hopped down from her perch on the sink, pushing back a few strands of hair that had fallen into her face. Her day had gone much differently than Loreleis, then again it usually does. Even though they were twins they lived very different lives. Emery sat in the back of class, her eyes glued to the pen that was making its way across her notebook. An owl, an octopus, a unicorn eating a mouse. That was how she spent most of her time in class, doodling. Her teachers didn't bother with her, after dealing with it for so long, they knew there wasn't really any point. She was learning the materials, so why did it matter anyway, right? As long as she wasn't disturbing the others they didn't really pay her too much mind, and she liked it that way.

About half way into class she excused herself to the restroom. She had a hall pass that allowed her five minuets of free time. She had no intentions on returning to class, however, as she walked out the door with her backpack in hand. They would probably send the school truancy officer to find her, good thing he was a dude and couldn't come into the girls bathrooms. When she got in there there were a few girls standing in the back stall smoking. She could hear them shuffling as one girl stuck her head out of the stall to make sure it wasn't a teacher. Emery shook her head at the scene. What were they going to do if she was a teacher? Even at a young age Emery couldn't help but laugh at the stupidity of others. No matter how dumb she thought they were the girls in that stall were older than her, which automatically made them cooler.

"No, it's just Emery, we're fine."

The older girl sounded relieved as she alerted the other girls that they were free to continue stinking up the bathroom. They all filed out into the bathroom and went back to what they were doing. One of them re-applying her already caked-on makeup, the other two talking about a party they were going to later on that night.

"Are you going, Em?" The older girl asked, sucking in a long drag of the cigarette. Of course she didn't inhale.

"What party?" Emery hadn't heard of any party going on, one of the disadvantages to being a freshman.

The girl shrugged, her and Emery had been acquaintances since the beginning of the school year, and sometimes she forgot that Emery was only a freshman. "Oh, well, you should come. It's at Sarah's house. Starts at eight."

She finished her smoke, throwing the but into the nearest toilet and flushing. Emery tried to keep it cool, doing what she could to hide her excitement. It was the first high school party she had been invited too.

"Yeah, sure." She replied, hopping up onto the sink.

"Cool, see ya there."

With that the girls left the bathroom, leaving Emery with her excitement. It was only a few moments after that when Lorelei entered the bathroom.

"Oh, classes have been a little boring, the last five minuets have been pretty cool though." She replied, hugging her sister. "How about you? Hows it going?" She could tell by the look on Lor's face that her day hadn't been quite as good.

tbc;

[Lorelei Wuornos]

Lorelei gave Emery a polite smile and shrug of her shoulders, slouching back against the outside stall wall once again as Emery propped herself back up on the sink. The last class hadn't been the only one to cause her a little trouble, but she was more than used to it. If it wasn't the teacher taking notice of her, taking notice of the outside, than it was one of the boys in class or one of the popular older girls.

"It's been just fine. Same ol' same ol'," Lorelei responded and gained a skeptical look from Emery, who knew better. "It really hasn't been too bad, don't worry. Nothing I couldn't handle. Though, I can't figure out why Mrs. Jade always has to call me down. Like I'm the only person in class who gets bored. She just goes over the same stuff we're supposed to read the night before."

Emery nodded with a roll of her eyes, agreeing with Lorelei. "She does it because she knows no one else in the class does the reading," Emery said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"It's really not fair. She knows I do the reading. I have the best grades in our class. I hate to wish it on someone else, but..." she paused, biting her lip with a faint smile, feeling deliciously devious when she said it. "If she made Edward write a two page essay for staring out the window, I wouldn't cry over it." Edward was one of the boys in class that picked on her sometimes but even then she couldn't wish anything bad on him. Emery rolled her eyes a little bit. Wishing a two page essay on him was nearly cruel in Lorelei's eyes, but it was childs play to Emery.

"So, what was so cool about the last five minutes?" Lorelei asked, her usual smile returning.

[Emery Wuornos]

Emery met her sisters smile with one of her own. She loved it when Lorelei smiled, especially when it was genuine, it liked to see her sister happy.

"Weeell," she mused, holding her sister in suspension as she made her way back off the sink again, and started walking to the opposite end of the restroom. Emery was a very animated story teller, so she needed her space. She told Lorelei about skipping out on class (and ignored the frown that she threw her way), and about the girls who were hanging out in the bathroom. Lorelei knew her sister was hanging out with the older girls, and didn't really approve, but Em didn't really care. She had friends, and she liked that.

Once her story was finished she ended with "and they invited me to come to the part with them, isn't that awesome?"

Lorelei didn't look as excited as Emery thought she would. "Yeah... totally awesome." The sarcasm in Loreleis voice was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Emery frowned, assuming her sister was upset because she wasn't invited. "Don't worry, you can come too, I'm sure they won't mind." She was hoping her sister would accept. Lorelei was shy, and didn't have very many friends, this would be a good opportunity for her to make some.

tbc

[Lorelei Wuornos]

Emery's statement made Lorelei smile, genuinely. Emery had invited her to a party that Lorelei knew she wouldn't normally be invited to. She'd assured her they wouldn't mind, and she was probably right. The bigger kids at the party wouldn't mind because it would give them someone to pick on, an outlet, because who wanted to be nice to everyone? They needed someone to bully, and Lorelei would be their first choice if she showed up.

"I've...I've got a lot of homework to do tonight, so I think I'll have to pass," Lorelei responded finally, with a bit of sigh. She avoided Emery's eyes but noticed Emery visibly get a little annoyed. She was going up to bat for Lorelei, offering to bring her to a party so she could meet more people.

"Lor, come on, we both know it'll take you five minutes to do your homework. Come with me, have fun, it won't be as bad as you think."

The truth was that Emery knew Lorelei yearned for more human contact. She wanted more friends, she wanted to be cool, she wanted for people to like her. But realistically, people just seemed to pick on her a lot. They used her as a joke, and that wouldn't change just because she was with Emery. If they did it in front of Emery, Emery would most likely call them down on it. And if she did that, Emery would be viewed as less cool and might even be kicked out of the party. Lorelei didn't want that for her sister. Her sister deserved to be popular and have people like her. She was cool, funny, witty, pretty, and tough. Emery was all the things that Lorelei wasn't, and she wanted her sister to have all the things she wanted. But the truth was...

"Em...do you think mom and dad will let you go? I mean, you know how they are. They don't even want us wearing the wrong shoes in public, do you think they're going to want you at a party with the seniors?"

That was the question, after all, wasn't it? Would Emery be allowed to go? After Lorelei posed the question, Emery's body language changed completely. She slumped a little bit and looked much less excited, knowing that she'd have to ask her parents for permission. Lorelei gave it some thought and tried to find something positive she could do to help Emery, even if Lorelei didn't want to go to the party.

"Well, maybe I can assure mom and dad that the kids that will be there are good kids, from good families? If mom and dad think that you'll be at a party like that...they're probably more likely to let you go, right? Otherwise..."

[Emery Wuornos]

"Otherwise I'm going to be stuck at home all night doing my homework with you."

You could hear the annoyance in her voice, Emery hated her parents. They were so hypocritical. They went to parties every other night of the week, leaving the girls to fed for themselves, but the one time Emery wanted to go out and do something she was probably going to get shot down. Em looked up, and saw the look on her sisters face. Her brain to mouth filter was broken, as she had only just realized how cutting her comment might have come off as.

"I didn't mean it like that, Lor. I just mean it would be nice to go out and have some fun every now and again."

Lorelei understood. "Yeah, I know what you mean, maybe they'll let you go though?"

Emery sighed, it was doubtful.

"Maybe I can just neglect to tell them I'm leaving and go anyway, they'll probably be too busy boozing it up with the neighbors to notice." The sisters shared a laugh in the comment. Emery was probably right, the only time their parents pay attention to what the girls are doing is when they're showing them off to their friends, or ridiculing them for something.

[Lorelei Wuornos]

Lorelei slouched a little more and gave off a quiet sigh. The fact of the matter was that Emery was right. Their parents weren't really parents. They were like young adults that had yet to understand the reality of their children. They'd created this pretend life for themselves and somehow made it a little believable...for them. But for everyone else, well, the truth was apparent.

The Wuornos family was not rich. They weren't poor. They were maybe a little better off than average but they weren't as well off as others. Their parents refused to believe that. So they'd moved into a higher class neighborhood just outside of Chicago, into a house they could barely afford, and spent all their extra money on nice clothes and throwing parties for their friends and neighbors. Emery and Lorelei got nice things, too. Nice clothes, cute jewelry, nice shoes. Their parents wanted them to be seen in public wearing those things, no matter how much in debt it made them. But don't think for a second that they were bought those kinds for any other reason. Emery and Lorelei were meant to be trophy children and sometimes they just couldn't live up to it. Sometimes they just wanted to be...kids. And kids make mistakes. Kids go to parties.

"It'd be pretty easy, I guess, Lorelei admitted. "You could say you're really tired, going to bed early. You know they'd never check in on you. But..." She paused, looking up at her sister, just wishing she'd forget all about going.

"But what, Lor?

"But what if they catch you? We've been bad before, but going to a party with the kids from school...not even the ones they like. I don't know, Em, I just...I'm worried. I get a bad feeling about the whole thing and I don't want you to get hurt. You never know what they'll do when they've been drinking and they get mad. Especially about something like that. They'll be furious."

Emery seemed to think over Lorelei's words for a moment, then let out a heavy sigh.

"It's like you said. If I say I'm going to sleep, they'll never check on me. I'll only go for a few hours, then I'll sneak back in. Okay?"

Lorelei looked at her sister, and didn't agree but didn't disagree either. It was something her sister wanted, and she wasn't wrong. The two of them never had a chance to go have fun with their friends. It didn't look "proper" - but really it just wasn't fair. Still, Lorelei couldn't shake it.

"I just have a bad feeling about the whole thing."

[Emery Wuornos]

Emery dawned a half hearted smile, as she made her way over to Lor, putting her arm around her. She worried too much for someone her age. Of course Emery understood where ti came from, having the parents she had, and having the luck with people she had, Lor had no choice but to worry about things constantly. It made Emery sad to think that her sister would never truly be able to let go and be a kid. Emery tried to involve her in things, but for some reason Lorelei couldn't seem to let go.

"Everything'llbe fine Lor, you'll see. I wish you'd come." Emery sighed, removing her arm from around her sisters shoulder, and fixing some her Loreleis hair that she had bumped out of place.

Emery could see the look on Lorelies face, and knew there was no talking her into coming. "I know, better safe than sorry."

As Emery finished her sentence the class bell rang, letting the girls know that it was time for third period. Only to more classes until the day was over and it was time for Emery to get ready for her first ever high school party.

"I've gotta go, Em. And you should too, you need to stop skipping class. You know they're going to call mom and dad soon."

Emery smiled and nodded, picking her bag up off of the floor and throwing it over her shoulder. "Yeah, you're right. I'm going, see you in a few, try to have a good rest of the day."

Lorelei smiled and nodded towards her sister before jetting out the door, she didn't want to be late. Lor was right about going to class, they would definitely call her parents, and that wouldn't be good. With a sigh Emery exited the bathroom and made her way to class. She tried to concentrate, but the only thing she could think about for the rest of the day was the party. What in the hell was she going to wear?!

L A T E R | T H A T | E V E N I N G

Emery tore through her closet, knocking both hers and Loreleis clothes off of the hangers as she attempted to pick out the perfect outfit to wear to the party tonight. She wanted to look older, but not like she was trying to look older. All the clothes her parents had bought for them were nice, but none of them were necessicarily cool. She began to get frustrated, fearing that she would never find something perfect to wear.

"You need to try and be more quiet, they're going to wonder what we're doing up here." Lorelei warned as she turned away from her homework, throwing a slight scowl at the mess her sister was making.

Emery could only laugh "Sorry." she admitted, picking a few of the garments up off of the floor and hanging them back on the bar. "I just can't figure out what to wear."

Lorelei laughed at her sister, she'd never seen Emery try so hard to look cool. "Since when do you care what you're wearing?"

Her question was so honest. Emery had never cared about what others thought about the way she looked, and she probably shouldn't start now. "You're right, Lor. There's no reason to try so hard, I'm fabulous regardless." She joked, rolling her eyes and flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Lorelei laughed, and Emery picked out a pair of black jeans, along with a black shirt with a geometric skull and a black grey and white flannel shirt to top it all off.

"Perfect, Em. You look great."

"Thank you." Emery gleamed, "You could still come you know, I'd love it if you did."

Lorelei shook her head, turning back to her homework. Can't, Em. I've go thomework to do."

Emery sighed, walking over to her sister and giving her a kiss goodbye on the top of the head. "I know, don't work too hard. And PLEASE try not to let mom and dad in the room."

Emery did feel bad, bringing Lorelei into all of this. She knew if she got caught they'd both be in trouble, but she just wanted so badly to go out and have fun for a change.

"I'll try, have fun."

I'll try." Emery opened the window to their second story bedroom, looking down to the ground below. Her plan was to climb down the drainpipe that was net to their windows. It worked in all the movies, so it couldn't be that hard, right?

[Lorelei Wuornos]

Lorelei watched her study the distance from the window to the drainpipe, then from the drainpipe down to the ground. Emery hadn't really thought the whole thing through enough but she also really didn't have much of a choice otherwise. It was the only way out where her parents wouldn't see her, as they usually guaded the entire first floor - her father in the living room, reading the paper or watching television and her mother in the kitchen having a drink or spreading rumors with friends on the telephone. If Emery did it just right, she'd slide down the drainpipe and hit the ground just to the right of the first floor living room window. If he was quiet enough their dad wouldn't hear or see, and she could slide along the front of the house to the side where their bikes were propped up. She could walk it across the yard using the trees as coverage, and once she hit the sidewalk she'd have no problem.

Yes, Lorelei had given it thought. She'd really wanted to go to the party, afterall, but knew that only one of them could manage it, and Emery would be the welcomed one.

Emery sucked in a breath, looked back at her sister with a smile, and Lorelei watched as Emery pushed the window open as quietly as possible. It creaked a little and Lorelei let out a little cough to attempt to cover it up. Emery stuck her right leg out first, then her left, and reached out for the drainpipe. She got both hands on it, took another breath, and hopped off of the ledge of the window.

"Be careful," Lorelei whispered to herself and looked down to her homework, keeping an ear open for any sign that her parents might come up.

It didn't take long for Lorelei to hear a noise, but it wasn't her parents, and by didn't take long, it couldn't have been thirty seconds.

"Lor, help!" Emery's voice came up through the window in a panicked whisper, and Lorelei got up as quickly and quietly as she could to look out of the window. Emery was hanging from the drainpipe, her hands and knees grasping it and ready to slide down at any moment for her escape. But somehow the flannel shirt she'd worn had gotten caught on a nail on the ledge of their window, leaving Emery unable to move. If she reached out to untangle the shirt from the nails clutches she'd most likely lose her grasp on the drainpipe and tumble to the ground, but she couldn't rip the shirt or take it off either because generally the same thing would happen. She looked a little scared, but more so nervous, whereas Lorelei was instantly terrified.

"Oh my god," Lorelei whispered and stuck her legs out the window quickly, climbing to the edge of the windowseal and working to tear the shirt away from the nail. That was when she heard it. Footsteps, loud, stumbling a little, and laughter, coming up the stairs. Her eyes grew and she looked to Emery. "Hang on, okay? Mom is coming up.

Lorelei quickly climbed back inside of the room and stood in the way of the window just in time for her bedroom door to swing open. Her mom, looking a little bit tipsy, pushed through and looked around as Lorelei awkwardly attempted to block Emery from view.

"Where is your sister?" Her mom asked, the smile quickly draining from her face. "And what are you doing? Shouldnt you be working on school work or something?"

"I am!" Lorelei quickly snapped, pointing to the homework on her desk. She tried to act calm and nonchalant but she wasn't generally very good at lying and the words came out more anxious than she'd planned them to. "I just came to open the window, it was stuffy in here. And Em is in the bathroom, she...she isn't feeling well."

"What's wrong with her?" Her mother asked, wobbling a little bit and leaning against the doorframe of their bedroom to support her weight. Lorelei bit her lip, looking toward the bathroom. The door was closed and there wasn't much of a crack between the bottom of the door and floor, which always made it hard to tell if the light was on or not. It worked to her advantage, but she needed to come up with something quick and believable that wouldn't make her mother mad. Emery had sat out once this week already for not feeling well - and she really hadn't, either. She'd had a fever and had been breaking out into sweats - but her parents weren't about to let her stay out twice in one week.

"Uh...she was feeling dizzy, and --" just before she could finish Lorelei heard an inmistakeable sound, the sound of something slowly ripping. It was Emery's shirt. There was no doubt in her mind that Emery was nervous and this interaction with her mother was taking forever. Emery's palms were probably sweating by now, and she was most likely slipping further down the drainpipe, the shirt pulling tightly against the unforgiving nail. Her mother cocked her head to the side, listening, and narrowed her eyes at Lorelei.

Then Emery made a little gasping sound that couldn't be helped, coupled with the sound of the shirt tearing away from the nail, and Lorelei panicked once again. She turned and lunged out the window just in time to grab Emery by the hand. She'd nearly lost her balance and fallen, but Lorelei had reached for her just in time. Kicking off of the drainpipe and climbing up Lorelei's hand, Emery managed to get back in the window, all while her mother watched in shock and awe. As Emery tumbled back through the window to Lorelei's side, her mother disappeared from the bedroom and went stomping down the stairs, calling for their father.

"Shit!" Emery said aloud, stomping her foot.

"I'm really sorry, Em, I tried but I didn't want you to fall."

"It's okay." she said, but Lorelei could tell Emery was disappointed. She'd wanted so badly to go to that party. Why couldn't she have that one thing?

"You better be ready...they're going to be mad."

"Yeah, what's new? Emery asked, and the two walked over to Emery's bed and sat down, both of them listening to the storm coming up the stairs toward them.

[Emery Wuornos]

Emery took a deep breath before throwing her legs out of the window. She was nervous, but almost a little excited. Her hands were beginning to sweat, which was no good considering she was about to be shimmying her skinny butt down a drainpipe. She wiped them on her pants until they were dry, then looked over to Lorelei. She looked worried, but then again she usually did. Emery smiled to her, trying to reassure her that things were going to be okay. Emery reached for the drainpipe and made the leap. Everything seemed like it was going to go well. She began inching her way down, growing more and more confident with every inch closer to the ground. 'This isn't so hard,' she though, looking up to the window to see what kind of progress she had made. It wasn't as much as she had thought, but it was still something to be proud of for her first attempt at a prison break.

She lowered her feet one more time, and then attempted to do the same with her lower half, but there was a problem. The shirt that Emery had been wearing was too loose, and the drainpipe was too old. It had a few pieces that stuck out, and of course one of them had managed to snag the flannel she had worn. Her first thought was just to rip it, she didn't care too much about the shirt, it would just give it that "torn and edgy" look that all the teens were going for. She couldn't do that though, if she let go of the drainpipe she would definitely fall, and she was still too high up to fall to the ground without breaking something. This also eliminated the option of taking the shirt off because, once again, she would fall. Emery thought through her options for a few seconds, before deciding that she should at least try to tear herself free.

Emery reached down to the area of the shirt that was stuck with her left hand, clutching desperately to the drainpipe with her left. She tugged and tugged, but for some reason the fucking shirt still wasn't coming undone. She gave it one hard tug, using all the strength she could muster, which ended up being a mistake. The force he was using had caused her to jerk away from the drainpipe, making a loud ruckus as she grabbed back at the pipe. There was no way her parents didn't hear that, and odds were they would be coming up the stairs any second to check and see what their precious little trophies were up to.

"Lor, help!" she called out, hoping her sister would be able to help her back through the window before one of the drunkards showed their face. She heard her sister rush over to the window, and looked up at her with a look of desperation when she peaked out.

"Oh my God." She exclaimed, before making her way out onto their balcony, reaching her arms down for Emery. Emery motioned towards the shirt,

"Just help me get it undone." And Lorelei tried, but they weren't fast enough. Lor warned Emery that she heard her mother coming up the stairs before disappearing back into the bedroom.

Emery attempted to remain as quiet as possible, she could hear them talking about something in the bedroom, but she couldn't quite make out what they were saying. She was holding her breath, but there was nothing she could do about the sweat that was forming on the palms of her hands. 'Shit' she though as she felt herself slipping. She attempted to wipe her hands on her pants while still holding onto the pipe and remaining quiet, that was an epic fail. She began to slip more, and let out a gasp. She knew her mother had heard it, because Lorelei had heard it, and came rushing to her rescue.

Once Emery had finally made her way into the bedroom and to her feet her mother was nowhere to be found, she could hear from the screams she was just going downstairs to grab her father so they could both scream at the girls and tell them how much of disappointments they were.

Emery sat on the bed, waiting, her head in her hands. How were they going to punish her this time?

It was only a few seconds time before their bedroom door swung open, the stench of booze and desperation filling the room.

"What the hell do you think you were doing young lady?" Her father asked, his hands flying to his hips. His face was red, which always happened when he was angry. Emery stared at him for a second, attempting to think of a good enough lie to tell. Apparently she was taking too long, "I asked you a question, don't just sit there and stare at me, what were you doing?!"

"I... uh..." She was stammering, she was trying to think of something, anything, to tell her parents so that she didn't have to tell them she was trying to sneak out to go to a party.

Her father wasn't pleased with her response. "Lorelei, where was your sister going?"

Emery looked over to Lorelei, who looked really worried. Emery hated it when her father bullied Lorelei like that. It didn't look like Lor was going to say anything, and Em knew that if she didn't she would be in as much trouble as Emery would.

"I was trying to go to a party." Emery blurted out, drawing the attention back to herself, and away from her sister. "I didn't want to ask you guys, because I knew you'd say no. I just wanted..."

"You just wanted to go hang out with this kids from school and get drunk and do drugs? You're damn right we'd say no." He was screaming at her now, wagging his finger in her face. She could feel her own face growing as red as his, Who the hell was he to judge what she was doing? To make assumptions like that. If he took any time to get to know her at all he would know that she wouldn't do something like that.

"No, I just wanted..." He interrupted her again.

"Don't argue with me, I know what you wanted to do. What's wrong with you, what's wrong with you both?"

Emerys legs were beginning to shake, and Lorelei noticed.

"Daddy, she was just trying to go have some fun, she wasn't going to do anything bad!: There was a pleading in her voice, maybe she was hoping that if she vouched for Emery that he would go easier on her. She was probably wrong.

Their father turned to Lorelei, "You, keep quiet, I'll deal with you later! Who do you think you are lying to your mother like that to protect your sister, I thought you were better than that!"

[Lorelei Wuornos]

"But dad, you don't understand!"

"Understand what?" Their farther pleaded angrily, his full attention turning back to Lorelei. Her entire body was shaking with a mixture of emotions so thoroughly intertwined with one another that even she wasn't sure what she was feeling. Anger? Well, yes, because it wasn't fair to either sister that their parents never let them have fun with kids from school. Annoyance that her father would put her on the spot and treat her like some kind of traitor when all she was trying to do was defend her sister. Frustration, because Lorelei knew that no matter how much she and Emery tried to reason with their parents she knew it would end the same as always. And sadness because somewhere deep down she knew that the punishment would be intolerable. It was different this time. She couldn't explain why, but it was different. Something was going to go insanely wrong.

"Understand that your sister is going out to parties with kids twice her age and probably taking drugs or whoring herself out? And why? Just to spite us, I bet? And you're just as bad as she is because you stick up for her, you make me sick." Their mother stood just behind their father, wagging her finger alongside his with her mouth shut and not a single word spoken in defense of her own children. Her own daughters. Emery's mouth dropped open and she couldn't believe how far her father had taken it, how quickly the accusations had escalated.

"I'm not a whore, you're just --!"

"I promise," Lorelei said, interrupting Emery before she could make things worse than they already were. Emery turned and looked to Lorelei, somewhat angered that she had interrupted her, but she slowly closed her lips. The sad truth was that their parents were more likely to take Lorelei's word over Emery's, and maybe if Lorelei could convince them that the party wasn't going to be like they assumed than Emery could get off without either one of them being in too much trouble. It was worth a shot anyway, right? "It wasn't like that at all! It was just a small group of friends from school! They even - they even invited me to come along but I had too much homework. It wasn't like, some kind of crazy frat party, I swear!"

Emery moved closer to Lorelei, nodding in agreement. The two girls stood by one another in the wake of their parents abrupt silence, and watched as their father shot a glance at their mother.

"I don't know who you two have been hanging out with to make you lie so damn much," their father said in a tone so strangely calm that it frightened them both. "But I'm sick of it."

"But we're not lying! We just --" Emery tried to convince their father, but it wasn't working. He stopped her before she could finish and stormed up to the both of them, grabbing their arms and shoving them down onto the bed where he leaned over them, a presence so ominous and suddenly terrifying that they both sucked in a breath and refused to breathe until it was over.

"Shut up! Both of you are done going anywhere. You will go to school, come home, do your homework, eat dinner, and sleep. We're taking everything away from you - cellphones, computers, television, games, you can't even so much as read a book. Do you understand me? If we hear that either of you got in trouble in school for so much as chewing gum you're getting sent to boarding school."

Their mouths dropped open as their father leaned away from them and turned around, grabbing their mother and half-shoving her out of their bedroom door. Emery and Lorelei sat there for only moments, tears beginning to well up in Lorelei's eyes. They were already suffering in a purgatory that suffocated them like plastic over the head, and now they were banned from any kind of enjoyment or fun at all. All because Emery wanted to do something as normal as going to a high school party. It wasn't fair - no, it was beyond unfair. It was inhuman for a parent to treat a child like prisoner, and even through watery eyes Lorelei could see the anger and hatred bubbling out of Emery's ears. Emery stood up to follow their parents out of the room and Lorelei followed in close pursuit, trying to persuade her from going.

"Please, Em, it's not going to help! You're just going to make it even worse and they're already even madder than I've ever seen them before! Plus they're drunk, Em, come on, wait!"

But there was no waiting or stopping her, Emery was on a war path and all Lorelei could do was follow and hope for the best.

They all stopped in the hallway between the girls bedroom and their parents room, their father turning to face them with the red quickly showing in his face again. He and Emery stood as if waiting for a three count draw, and silence rang clear until their mother cleared her throat, then all hell broke loose.