Chapter Eight
The days were grueling, and they were the longest of my life.
Being grounded was worse than house arrest, because I couldn’t even have what few luxuries most prisoners enjoyed while carrying out a life sentence. No television. No phone calls. No time in the yard. Nothing.
Solitary confinement: my own personal hell.
There were infinite downsides to my imprisonment, starting with the fact that Dad wouldn’t let me out of the house by the time Monday rolled around . . . not even to go to school.
Taking his possessive and protective nature to an all-time low, he’d called in and lied that I was sick and bedridden, and he’d collected a week’s worth of homework for me to complete from the “comfort” of my bedroom. Which meant he fully intended to make this punishment last through Friday. Maybe even longer.
Was that his plan all along? To keep me from my friends, ensuring that I couldn’t continue with my plan to host Carter’s birthday party at The Red Barn on Friday night? If it was, it was a genius move on his behalf. From where I sat, completely out of touch, there was no way to finish what I’d started.
And he’d made sure I stayed out of touch, too, because Dad hadn’t left the house either, which gave him a perfect guarantee that no one could come or go. He’d called off work each day, which meant he probably wouldn’t have his job at the gym much longer. He was already walking a thin line with his boss because of previous attendance issues, so no doubt this would be the final straw. And although the house was paid off—all thanks to the business my mother nurtured from the ground up—we still had plenty of other bills to worry about. Bills we couldn’t pay if he lost focus on what really mattered around here.
There were a few upsides to my punishment, like the frequent meals Dad would bring up each day. It was a pleasant and welcome change. I guess he figured if he was going to banish me, the least he could do was feed me. But he still wasn’t talking to me, and that was frustrating to no end.
The confinement had also given me a lot of time to think.
I’d always assumed that nothing makes you value time like having none of it to spare, but I’d found the opposite to be true. Solitude had given me a grand opportunity to really reflect on all the things I’d talked about with Jasper on Friday night.
I’d had time to put my thoughts in order, to see my life from a new perspective. I gave myself a chance to look outside of the moment I was in, to focus on the possibilities of my future, and it gave me something to look forward to.
I also looked forward to the nightly visits from Jasper—that’s what’d kept me sane.
I could always count on him to be up that ladder, at my window, ready and waiting with baked goods by three o’clock every morning. And each time he arrived, we’d make cute and quirky small talk over the dessert we shared on either side of the window. It’s a miracle he’d never fallen off that ladder, which had grown more and more unstable each night. But regardless of the hazard, he always took the risk.
On Sunday, I’d passed over the physics homework I’d completed, asking him to leave it with Carter—which was good, considering I hadn’t made it to school the next day.
Each time he showed up, I tried bringing up the subject of Carter’s birthday party, but he always shut it down. Don’t worry about it, Al; we’ve got it covered.
I didn’t know what he meant by that, and he wouldn’t elaborate. He’d just left me with a promise that he was in contact with Mel and Roz, and he wasn’t going to let any of our planning go to waste.
So even if I couldn’t be there, even if I couldn’t call the shots, Carter was still going to have her party. But where? I’d even posed that question, but Jasper was being super-evasive about the whole thing. I feared he was probably just afraid to admit that they were scrambling to pull it all together.
And so I sat in this prison of my bedroom all through Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Tuesday evening rolled around, and there was no end in sight for this punishment.
The doorbell rang at five o’clock that evening, and I could hear Dad shuffling downstairs. He’d already turned away my friends the few times they’d shown up looking for me this week, and he’d turn them away once more if he had to.
The doorbell rang again, and I assumed Dad had just chosen to ignore whoever it was.
But then it rang again, and again, and again, and I finally tiptoed out of my room to the top of the steps to steal a glance downstairs.
Dad stomped over, throwing open the door.
“What?” he yelled.
“Mr. Montgomery,” Mel said, clearing her throat. “Jim—”
“I’ve already told you,” Dad said. “She’s grounded.”
He started to shut the door, but Mel put her hand out to stop it. She pushed it open again.
“I understand Ally’s grounded, but she’s missing school, and we’re concerned. We’re all very worried about her, and we were hoping—”
Dad grumbled something, but it was completely indiscernible from where I stood.
“Quit being so damn nice,” Roz said, shoving Mel out of the way. She pointed her tiny finger in Dad’s face. “Hey, asshat, I’m here for my friend, and I’m not leaving until she walks out this door with me. Where is she?”
Dad took a step back as if he was afraid of how quickly Roz had charged at him.
“Roz, stop,” Mel said, trying to rein her in, but my fiery friend wasn’t going to back down from anyone, especially if she felt he’d wronged someone she loved.
“Screw this charade,” Roz mumbled. “I’m going to get her.”
She shoved by Dad, straight up the stairs to where I sat at the very top, watching as the events unfolded below.
“Are you okay?” she whispered, coming closer. I nodded. She slid down on the step next to me and hugged her arm around my waist. “Ally, I thought you were dead.”
“No, you didn’t,” I smirked, comforted by her familiar exaggeration.
“Okay, fine, but the mind goes to some dark places.”
Roz’s words were soon drowned by Mel’s voice of reason downstairs.
“I’m sorry for the attack,” she apologized. “That’s not how this was supposed to go.”
Roz shrugged, leaning into me. “Oh, well. I got what I wanted, didn’t I?”
Mel continued, and Dad’s eyes focused on my friend—one he’d watched grow up right alongside his very own daughters. If anyone stood a chance of getting through to him, it would be her.
“As much as we love Ally, we’re here to help you, too,” she said. “We’re afraid for your health and for her safety, and we can’t stand by and let this go on any longer.” She took a deep breath, and swiped a single tear from her cheek. “We want to help.”
“We don’t need help,” Dad said, barely managing to spit the words out. But Mel’s eyes encouraged him to think otherwise, and only silence remained for another long minute. Dad cleared his throat. “I can admit that . . . maybe I was too hard on her.”
“No shit,” Roz mumbled, and I nudged her.
“You can’t keep her out of school, Jim,” Mel said. “You realize that, don’t you?”
Dad nodded, but he refused to meet her sightline again. “She’ll be back to school tomorrow.”
“Yeah?” Mel asked.
“Yeah,” Dad said, gruffly agreeing to end a sentence he himself knew had gone on too long. “But you and Roz have to go now. She’s still not allowed visitors.”
“Understood.” Mel glared up the stairs at Roz, who only rolled her eyes.
“Go on,” I told her. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
With a wave in their direction, my two friends disappeared off the porch as Dad closed the front door. He didn’t look up the stairs to meet my eyes. He didn’t even act as though he realized I was sitting there watching the whole conversation unfold.
Unsure of whether or not I was even allowed downstairs yet, I thought better than to take the risk, and I got up,
turned back into my bedroom, and shut the door, hopeful that this nightmare would soon come to an end.