known to man from coming out. Then she motioned for Kim to get into the apartment and waited for Kim‟s reaction. Kim just complied and started for the apartment door and her mom turned and headed for Mrs. Simons door to pick up Ally. Kim left the apartment door open and heard her mom thank Mrs. Simons for keeping an eye on Ally. She heard Mrs. Simons ask if everything was ok and her mom replied “It seems like it is. I‟ll have to get to the bottom of last night before I can be sure and then I‟ll have to strangle her.” Kim heard her mom and Ally head for the apartment and she quickly slipped into her bedroom and closed the door as if it would provide a barrier against her mother‟s fury. She quickly took the phone out of her bag and slipped it under her mattress. Then she fell onto the bed and laid there bracing for the impact. She heard her mom explain to Ally that she had to talk to Kim and she had to entertain herself for a bit, maybe watch some iCarly. Then she heard a knock on the door and her mom opened the door not waiting for an answer. She closed the door and sat down on Ally‟s bed and sighed. “Where were you last night?” she demanded. “Just out” Kim responded vaguely hoping that would be an acceptable answer even though she knew it wasn‟t going to be. Her mom was calmer than she had anticipated. “Out where and with whom?” came the expected response. “I was out with Jake” she confessed not knowing how much Annie had already revealed to her mom. “Jake who?” her mom asked. “I don‟t know his last name” she lied, “I never asked. She didn‟t want her mom to know too much about him. The less she knew about him the less she could oppose to him and she would oppose. “Where did you go?” her mom asked with a look of major suspicion, clearly having doubts about her daughters honesty. “We went to a club and then for a walk on the lake front. Then we sat down on a bench and watched the lake and we fell asleep. We didn‟t wake up until 9 in the morning. Then we had to walk back to the car and it wouldn‟t start. He had left the dome light on and the battery died. Triple-A didn‟t come until almost eleven and he drove me straight to Annie.” She lied while amazed at herself for spinning such a believable lie. She could see that her mom didn‟t buy it though but Kim had covered all the angles and she knew that her mom wouldn‟t be able to prove that she was lying, unless Annie had told her she had called her she wasn‟t coming home. But her mom stayed calm, this was a good sign that Annie hadn‟t told her. She might actually get away with this. “How old is this Jake?” she demanded. “Nineteen or twenty” Kim said sheepishly. Her mom frowned. What would a nineteen year old want with a seventeen year old girl? She must have thought. “Where does he live?” she asked getting less infuriated but more anxious. “I don‟t know” Kim said, “I‟ve never been to his place.” “How do you know him?” the barrage continued. “I met him at the mall. Some girls from school were picking on me and he came to my rescue. He‟s really sweet” she said in a pleading voice trying to convince her mom of how great Jake was. Her mom clearly wasn‟t buying it. “And nothing happened?” her mom wanted to know but really she didn‟t want to know. Kim shook her head. “We kissed” she admitted. “That‟s all?” her mom demanded. Kim nodded. “How did you get into the club?” her mom asked. The questions seemed to get less intense. Her mom was starting to get more at ease. “Jake said he knew the bouncer and he let us in. It‟s not that bad mom. There are a bunch of kids from school that go there” she said. “Did you drink any alcohol?” she asked. “I had a glass of wine but didn‟t like it and only had 3 sips of it.” She lied knowing that completely denying all wrong doing would only make things more unbelievable. Her mom got up from Ally‟s bed. “I was worried sick about you? Don‟t you ever do that again.” She said in a voice as stern as she could manage trying not to show how happy she was Kim was home safe. Kim nodded. “Sorry” she said softly, “I‟ll never do it again.” Her mom nodded back. She walked to the door and grabbed the handle to open it. Then she stopped and said “And I don‟t want you seeing this Jake again. He‟s too old for you. You aren‟t ready for his lifestyle.” She said. “But mom” Kim protested, “he‟s really nice.” “I don‟t want to hear another word about it” her mom said opening the door. “And you are grounded for a month” she added as she walked out and closed the door behind her. Kim dropped her head in her pillow and was furious. How could she? She thought. What did she know about love? She was not going to give up Jake and that her mom being a bitch about it wouldn‟t change that. She didn‟t mind being grounded. She could have lived with just about any punishment her mom could have come up with except for not letting her see Jake anymore. See would find a way and eventually she would make her mom see what a great guy he was. She wanted to tell her how gentle he had been with her and how he had introduced her to his friend and treated her like an adult but knew that wouldn‟t be a good idea. If anything it would reveal the lies she had told and just infuriate her mom. Right now she was pissed at her mom. She had never felt this way about her mom before but her mom was trying to destroy the one good thing going on in her life and she was not going to allow it, she swore. She reached under the mattress and grabbed around for the phone. She felt something hard, grabbed it, opened it up and immediately checked to make sure the sound was off. She looked at the screen and opened the text menu. There was a text from him. “You were wonderful last night. I can‟t believe you were with me!” it read. She blushed and all the anger and negative emotions washed away in a matter of seconds. Last night had been wonderful. However she had been a virgin and had felt like a fool. Not knowing what to do or how to act. She felt better hearing that he had enjoyed it too. She replied to the text “You were wonderful too!” She was about to put the phone away as she received a response. She looked at the phone and the screen said “I love you!” Her heart skipped and she felt warm all over. Then she heard a sound and quickly shoved the phone under her pillow. Ally walked in and sat on her bed with a poof. Then she slumped and looked at Kim. “Are you ok?” she asked. “I‟m great” Kim said. Ally looked puzzled. “Someday you‟ll understand kiddo” she said to Ally. This didn‟t relieve Ally‟s confusion. “Aren‟t you in major trouble?” she asked. “Yes” Kim replied. Then she paused, “but things in my life are falling into place” she continued. “I heard mom say you can‟t see him anymore” Ally said. “I know” Kim said, “but what mom doesn‟t know can‟t hurt her. I have to see him. I love him and he loves me. Mom will understand someday. She is just upset right now. She just needs to get to know Jake.” Then Kim paused again. She thought hard about what to say. She would need Ally‟s help to save her relationship with Jake. “I need you to help me” she pleaded to Ally, “I need to keep seeing Jake and I can‟t live without him. Can you help me and not tell mom?” Ally looked frightened. “You want me to lie to mom?” she asked. “Don‟t see it as lying” Kim answered as she sat up to look Ally in the eyes “think of it as helping me be happy. He makes me happy and mom will understand. It will just take some time that‟s why I need your help.” Ally nodded carefully. Kim got up and sat next to Ally. She threw her arm around her and gave her a hug. “Thanks sis, I know what I‟m doing” she reassured Ally with a smile. Ally left the room and came back with the monopoly game. The game didn‟t last too long and Kim was in no mood to go out and face her mom again so she offered a rematch to Ally. This time she drug the game out and in the end made some bad trades to let Ally win. It almost didn‟t work but a small case of some discrepancy when moving helped and Ally wasn‟t going to argue whether or not Kim really did land on her hotels as Kim acted like she was sure was so sure she did. At six thirty their mom called out that it was dinner time and Kim was quick to concede her game. Ally accepted and they went to the kitchen to collect their plates. Kim and Ally took their plates into the living room and Kim suggested to watch another iCarly episode. Ally was delighted, usually Kim would complain about them since they had seen them so many times. She turned one on and Kim was happy to be sitting having dinner just watching the show. The fiftieth viewing of the same show was sure going to be better than any conversation was going to be. Her mom would just be hammering on her not seeing Jake anymore and she wasn‟t going to go for that. It would surely end in another fight that she would probably lose because her mom was in charge. It was not fair. She was old enough to know what was good for her. Hell, she was old enough to have sex and be with a man she loved. After dinner she and Ally did the dishes and did another jigsaw puzzle; anything to stay clear of her mom. At eight thirty Ally went to bed and Kim joined her claiming she was beat. She wasn‟t tired but more afraid of being in the same room alone with her mom. Ally had been a good buffer the whole day and she was not going to give that up. They lay down and turned off the light. She read to Ally and then sang to her. She needed Ally in her corner but most of all she needed Ally to fall asleep. Before nine Ally was fast asleep. Kim checked to make sure and when she was sure she reached under the pillow for the phone. There were no new messages. She opened a new message and wrote: “My mom found out. I lied about last night‟s events and she grounded me for a month. She also doesn‟t want me to see you anymore but I can‟t give you up.” Then she hit send and lay down with the phone in her hand, like it was the most precious thing on earth. Seconds later she startled as it vibrated in her hand. She looked at the screen and it said: “Sorry about that sweetheart, I don‟t want to give you up either. We will work it out. Nothing can keep me away from you. I have to go away on business for two weeks anyway. I will call you tomorrow. After I get back we‟ll figure out how to see each other again. Remember that I love you!” It was followed quickly by another message which read: “BTW, please don‟t say anything to your mom about us. I could get in serious legal problems with you only being seventeen and all.” Pondering this she put the phone away and fell asleep. Chapter 9: The next morning she woke up and heard her mom in the other room getting ready. She decided to stay in bed rather than hang out with her mom. She was still mad at her mom for trying to rip her away from Jake and she didn‟t need a lecture from her either about this weekend. When she finally heard her mom leave the apartment she got up and went into the other room. There was a note on the counter reminding her to be home right after school as she was grounded. She hadn‟t minded the being grounded too much but now everything her mom did pissed her off. Grounding was for kids Ally‟s age. Not for someone like her. She was a year from legally being an adult and being able to make her own decisions. Then she let it go and went into the bedroom to check the phone. No new messages. She showered and got ready. Then she woke Ally and urged her to get ready. They had breakfast and headed for the bus stop. While waiting for the bus Kim reminded Ally of their talk last night and made sure that her sister would not say anything to mom. Ally nodded uneasily as the bus pulled up. They got in the bus and rode in silence. Ally got off at the middle school and Kim sat in silence for once not cursing how quiet the bus was. At this time who rode the bus and who didn‟t was the least of her worries. She arrived at school and found Annie waiting at the bus stop. They walked in together and Kim told her everything about the night and her mom‟s reaction. She also told her how she had lied to her mom and that Annie was off the hook for any wrong doing, finally she told her how her mom had grounded her and demanded she‟d stop seeing Jake and how unfair that was and she was not going to do that. She loved Jake and nothing could come between them. Annie agreed cautiously. She didn‟t feel comfortable but Annie was a hopeless romantic and was surely not going to get in the way of true love even though she sensed something was wrong about everything. “Just be careful” she said as the school bell rang for the first period. They talked more during lunch about how unfair her mom was and how wonderful Jake was. After school Kim decided to walk home from school. It was a mellow March day and winter seemed to be ready to give way for spring, which was unusually early for this area. So it wasn‟t too cold and Kim was in no hurry to get home to serve her unjustified grounding. She thought about heading to the mall or something, anything to defy her mom but figured that no good would come from that. She was walking with her mind all over the place when she was snapped to reality by the vibration of the phone in her pocket. She checked the screen and saw it was Jake. She quickly answered. “Hello sweetheart” came the response and she felt herself light up. They talked all the way home and he told her he had some business to take care off so he‟d be out of town for a week or two. They would figure out a way to hook up when he would be back. She stopped for a few minutes before getting to the apartment in no hurry to get there and wanting to keep the call going as long as possible. They said goodbye and she headed into the apartment and got Ally at Mrs. Simons. The next two weeks went by fast and the routine was the same almost every day. She would walk home from school to serve her grounding and he would call every day. Sometimes he would