I had cracked my bedroom door open to listen. “I’m sorry, Carol,” I overheard Mom say. “Ren won’t be able to go to Adventure Bay with Allison and the other girls after all … No, sorry, next week won’t work either. I’m afraid you’ll have to go ahead without her. Ren’s going to be sticking close to home for a while.” I banged my door shut and didn’t crack it open again until I heard my sister going back and forth to the bathroom. Nora was grounded too, but at least she got to leave the house for work since Mom said she’d make an exception for official employment. “Pssst,” I hissed at Nora when she was on her way downstairs. She rolled her eyes, but turned and followed me into my room. “I feel like we did that whole thing for nothing,” I said after I had shut the door and thrown myself on my bed. “Mom won’t even admit that this was all her fault in the first place. She says that she did work late the other night and she only took a quick break to go out to dinner because she thought I’d still be at Allison’s pool party.
