The next morning, I wake up surprisingly early at 8:34 to the sound of my stupid cell phone ringing. I reach around with my eyes still closed-looking for my singing cell phone. I seriously should have put it on vibrate. My fingers wrap around it, and I pull it to my ear; hitting the answer button.

          “Hello?” I ask my voice groggy.

          “Hey.”

          “Matt?” I ask, shocked. I’m pretty sure I didn’t give Matt my number.

          “Yup it’s me.” He replies. After a few seconds he clears his throat and says, “So what are you doing?”

          “Well I was asleep; but now I’m just talking to you.” I tell him.

          “Oh I woke you up? Sorry.”

I sit up in my bed, rubbing my eyes, “No it’s fine. What’s up?”

          “I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today. Maybe see a movie or something.”

          “Oh.” I say. Well I didn’t expect him to ask me that.

          “We don’t have to if you don’t wanna, just offering.”

          “Umm sure, but how did you get my number?”

          “Your ‘friend’ gave it to me.” He says, and I can practically hear the sarcasm in his tone.

          “Ryder’s not my friend.” I tell him. It’s true; Ryder isn’t my friend. He’s….well I don’t know what he is, but he isn’t my friend. He said it himself…he doesn’t need friends. And how dare he just give some random boy my cell phone number.

          “Well whatever he is.” Matt corrects, “So what do ya say?”

I think about it for a second. I don’t see any problem with it so I clear my throat, trying to get the hoarseness out of my voice. “Sure. Well I have to ask first, but I’m sure they’ll say yeah.”

          “Okay. So just call me after you ask or something.”

          “Okay. I’ll talk to you later.” I say, hanging up the phone.

Stupid Matt. I mean, he’s cute and everything, but he woke me up, and now I know I won’t be able to go back to sleep. I groan, and get out of my bed. I make my bed and put my phone down on my dresser. Then I stand up getting ready to go downstairs; I’m starving.  I grab my toothbrush first and head out of my room going towards the bathroom. I brush my teeth in the sink, and then wash my face. After that, I leave the bathroom, going downstairs. I push open the door to the kitchen, and walk in. I see Ryder, Sarah and Uncle Ricky l sitting down at the table. Well this can’t be good.

          “Umm, good morning.” I say, going behind the counter, and pull out a bowl, and a box of cereal.

          “Hi Mickey.” Uncle Ricky greets me.

I grab my spoon, and take my cereal, sitting down at the table. I could eat in my room-well I guess I could. I don’t think Sarah would mind. But any who; I don’t wanna eat in my room. I never particularly liked eating in my room. 

          “So you two got home pretty late last night, huh?” Sarah asks.

          “Not that late.” I tell them.

          “You’re aware that curfew is 1 a.m. correct?”

Ryder sighs, “Mom, you don’t have to do this. I mean, it wasn’t McKenna’s fault.”

          “No, it was.” I disagree; I don’t want Ryder to get in trouble. Ryder shoots me a look which I interpret as: Don’t do it. But me, I ignore it. “Ryder brought me to the party; if I hadn’t gone, then we wouldn’t have broken curfew.”

          “That is true; I guess.” Sarah says.

          “So how’d you two even get in?” Uncle Ricky wonders.

          “Well we…kinda climbed through Ryder’s window.” I say.

          “My God.” Sarah says in exasperation. “Grounded. Two weeks.”

          “You’re not serious.” Ryder says. “And I don’t even live here. I’m only staying here until college starts back.”

          “Yeah Sarah; it’s not really anything serious. So they broke curfew, big deal.”

          “It is a big deal Ricky.”

          “McKenna’s only gonna be here until August, and Ryder’s leaving for his sophomore year in college in September.”

Sarah looks from Ryder to me and back and forth for a few minutes before she says, “Fine. One week.”

          “But how am I gonna go to the hospital?” Ryder wonders, looking desperate.

I wonder why he likes to go to the hospital so much. Sure he says it’s because he likes to visit them, but I don’t buy that. I mean, he’s a….well he’s a pretty attractive nineteen year old boy. Man, boy…whatever he likes to be called. Why would he spend his time visiting crippled kids and teenagers in a hospital? Not that anything’s wrong with that; but Ryder’s not exactly one to open up to anyone…in fact I’m surprised he even told me about Scarlett, but I’m gonna find out what his deal is. No one can just enjoy visiting people. I mean, I guess they could, but not Ryder.

          “You can go without visiting for a week, I’m sure.” Sarah says.

Ryder mutters, ‘assholes’, under his breath, but I can hear him perfectly. Although it’s completely inaudible to his parents by the looks of it. Then he stands up from his chair, and leaves the kitchen vicinity without a word.

          “You shouldn’t blame Ryder, ya know.” I say lowly, “It wasn’t his fault.”

          “He broke curfew McKenna, and so did you.” At the moment, uncle Ricky gets up and leaves too.

          “Well technically...you never told me that I had to be here by 1 a.m.” I point out.

          “One week.” She reminds, me standing up from the table, and leaving.

I groan I will regret this in the future. By future; I mean in like two hours, “Wait Sarah.” I call after her.

Sarah turns around, “Yes?”

          “Don’t ground Ryder. Just ground me. Please?”

Sarah sighs but eventually gives in, “Okay. You’re grounded McKenna. One week.”

I nod, “Okay. Thanks Sarah. Well not for grounding me, I mean for not grounding him.”

Sarah nods, like it was no problem and leaves the room. I sit there at the table all alone, swirling my spoon around in my cereal. I guess this means I can’t go to the movies with Matt. Oh well. I’ll just reschedule or something. I slowly eat it and then suddenly the door opens and I hear someone sneeze behind me. I jump in surprise, and turn around to see who the sick culprit is. Jacob.

          “Eww!” I say, covering my face with my t-shirt as if his airborne germs are in danger of hurting me. “What is wrong with you?” I ask.

          “I’m sick smart ass.” He pronounces, pulling out the chair across from me, and putting his head down on the table.

          “Oh my God; go away. You’re gonna make me sick.” I tell him.

          “It’s my house; you go away.” Jacob argues.

          “I can’t, I’m grounded.”

          “What could pure, innocent McKenna have done to get grounded?” He wonders as he lifts his head up from the table.

          “I broke curfew.”

          “Oh yeah; I thought I heard you and Ryder trying to get in this morning.”

          “What? And you didn’t help?”

          “My mom doesn’t joke about curfew, bro.” Jacob informs me as he lets out a wet cough.

          “What the hell is wrong with you?   

          “I don’t know.” Jacob tells me, as he takes my cereal bowl from me, eating my cereal.

          “You better sleep with one eye open Jacob O’Connor. I will murder you in your sleep.” I threaten, as he licks my spoon and shoves it in my face. I knock it out of his hand, and watch as it falls to the floor. “Why would you use the spoon that was just in my mouth you weirdo?”

          “It’s like kissing you; but not.” He states shrugging.

          “You’re so freaking weird.” I tell him, as I get up from the chair, leaving the kitchen.

All of sudden I feel a rush of cold run down the front of my shirt. I shriek as the cold liquid freezes every inch of me from my chest to my stomach, and the sound of glass smashing into the floor rings through my ears.

          “Thanks McKenna, now I have to get more water.” Hailey says, pouting.

          “You totally did that on purpose!” I accuse.

          “How would I know you were coming out of the kitchen?” She inquires.

          “You, ah, ugh!” I shout, as I stomp past her, careful to avoid the shredded glass on the floor.

Back up in my room, I call Matt. Frankly, I think if you’re gonna ground someone, you should take their cell phone. That’s not me complaining, I’m just saying. Whenever my mom or Phil grounds me back at home they take everything. I mean…everything. Cell phone, Laptop, iPod, iPad, TV-yes they seriously move the TV out of my room. Needless to say; I try to avoid doing anything that could get me grounded back home, because lying in my bed staring at my hot pink walls all day isn’t fun. Seriously, it isn’t. And it makes my head hurt when I concentrate on it too long.

Matt finally answers on the third ring and says, “Talk to me.”

          “Umm hey Matt.”

          “Hey McKenna, did you ask them or whatever?”

          “Yeah I did; but I can’t come. I’m grounded.”

          “Seriously, why?”

          “I broke curfew.” I tell him.

          “That sucks. Well how long are you grounded for?”

          “One week, so until the 25th.”

          “So we’ll go the 26th.”

          “Sounds like a plan.”

          “Oh when are you going back to work? I’ll just come up there and we can hang out.”

          “I’m not due back until Tuesday.” I tell him.

          “Well I’ll see you then.”

          “Definitely, bye.” I say, hanging up the phone.

I put my phone down on my bed, and walk over to my dresser. I pull out a new shirt since thanks to the wicked witch of the west; the one I’m wearing now is completely soaked. I take the shirt off, and pull on a new one; tossing the wet one in my hamper. God I hate that Hailey O’Connor. I hate her so much that when I think of her; she has to be referred to as, ‘Hailey O’Connor, not just ‘Hailey’.

So one week in the house. Well I guess I’ll find something to entertain me.

I wake up-even though I had no idea I’d even fallen asleep. My eyes are still heavy with sleep, and I wipe them; taking away the sleepiness. I grab the remote and hit the guide; seeing that it’s 1:13. So I only slept like five hours. I seriously don’t know why I’m so sleepy now-a-days. I get out of my bed, just as my door flies open. Ryder stands before me; still wearing the clothes he was this morning- a pair of plaid pajama pants and a grey t-shirt.

          “Hi there.” I say, shocked that I literally woke up seconds before he came in.

          “Hey.” He replies.

          “What’s up?”

          “My mom said you told her not to ground me?” He tells me, phrasing it like a question.  

I nod, “Yeah; I did.”

          “Why?”

          “Why what?”

          “Why’d you tell her to ground you and not me?” Ryder asks, stepping closer to me.

          “You just seemed like you were pretty pissed about having to miss the hospital visits.” I say truthfully.

          “So you did it for my benefit?”

I swallow the lump in my throat, “Well yeah; I guess I did.”

          “I thought you didn’t like me?”

          “I don’t like you.” I remind him.

          “Right.” Ryder says, chuckling, “I seem to recall you calling me a pervert.”

          “You are a pervert. I’m seventeen; you’re nineteen. That makes you a pervert.”

          “Right of course.”

          “Is there a certain reason you came in here?” I ask him.

          “Just to say thanks.”

          “Oh,” I say, taken aback, I didn’t expect him to thank me. “Well you’re welcome.”

Ryder holds out his arms awkwardly in front of him. “What?” I ask, looking at his face.

          “Come on.”

          “What do you mean, ‘come on’?” I ask.

          “Hug me.”

          “Hug you?”

          “Ya know, embrace one another.”

          “Umm, do I have to?” I ask uneasily.

He chuckles, “Yes, you do.”

I step forward, and Ryder engulfs me in a hug. I hesitantly wrap my arms around him, hugging him back. It’s only awkward because we’re not friends…well I don’t think we are, and not to mention the whole thing that happened when we were kids. Ryder pulls away after a second and looks down in my eyes. I look up into his, and I’m pretty sure he’s about to kiss me.

Well I wasn’t wrong. He does kiss me…on the forehead. Not that I care, I don’t wanna kiss Ryder O’Connor anyway. He smiles...like a real smile, not a smirk. He smiles, and says again, “Thanks McKenna. I mean it.”

Ryder leaves my room, closing the door behind him. Great; I’ve been back in Vernon for three days, and I’ve already managed to let something awkward happen. I plop down on my bed. I shouldn’t feel the way I do. But if I’m being honest…which I intend to do…I have three questions running through my mind, but they’re all saying the same thing: Why am I missing the feel of Ryder O’Connor’s arms wrapped around me?

Oh bejesus, what have I gotten myself into?