"...And that's it." Anna said, concluding her long explanation. Saying that her parents didn't look happy was an understatement, they looked borderline furious. She looked down at her feet, unable to meet their gaze. She knew they'd be angry, why wouldn't they be? Their daughter had been spending her time in the mortal world with a mortal boy for almost a month and
lying about it, but somehow it was still a surprise.
"Well, you won't be doing that anymore," Jack said, obviously trying to control his anger. Anna's head snapped up and her eyes met her father's. She felt her heart break at that very moment, and her mind started racing, trying to come up with a way to persuade her father to change his mind. She knew her mother was agreeing with her father's decision, but she would be the easier parent to talk to. She understood what it was like to want someone that badly.
But her father didn't, and she needed to find a way to make him understand.
"But dad--!"
"But nothing," He said, cutting her off. "Tomorrow you're going to take that jacket back and tell this...
Ryan that you're not going to see him anymore."
Anna opened her mouth to protest, but she couldn't force her voice to make a sound. Dejectedly, Anna went back home, trying to keep up a good pace ahead of her parents.
When they got home, Anna went to hide in her room, but was stopped by her father grabbing her arm. "Anna, knock off this...this
attitude! I don't understand why you're throwing a fit over some human
boy!" He said 'boy' like it made him sick to say it. Anna pulled her arm away and took another step up the stairs.
"He's not just a human boy!" She shouted back, "He's the only friend I've got dad!"
"Calm down you two," Sally said meekly, standing beside the staircase with her hands on the banister. She was trying to smooth over the situation as best she could, she didn't want her husband and their daughter to get into a shouting match that would leave one of them with their feelings hurt. Jack probably wouldn't say anything to hurt his daughter, but things slip out in the heat of the moment.
"What are you talking about? You've got plenty of friends! What about that Erika girl?"
"She's
not my friend! I've barely said
two words to her! But Ryan
listens to me! He doesn't treat me like some weak little princess!"
Jack was dumbfounded. He never thought anyone treated his daughter like a princess, despite the fact that she really was a princess and people did give her special treatment for being his child. He never really noticed any of it though.
"What are you talking about?"
She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Forget it. I'm going upstairs," and just as Jack opened his mouth to get mad again, he heard her bedroom door slam.
He sighed and looked at Sally. "What’s the matter with that girl?"
Sally looked up the stairs and then back at Jack. She knew why Anna was acting like that, she'd acted the same way when she was seventeen and living with Dr. Finklestein. She placed her hand on Jack's arm and very calmly said, "I'm sorry Jack, but we're officially raising a teenage girl."
"That's no excuse for her to be acting like a brat. This is why we should've locked her in her room like I suggested, she'd never would've even gotten near that human
boy." Jack stepped down off the stairs and leaned on the wall beside them, glancing up towards Anna's room and then back down at his feet. He never imagined being a father would get so difficult.
Sally stood beside him against the wall. "I think you're mostly mad that she's gotten to know a boy, and not so much that he's from the mortal world. I mean, you're probably mad about that too-- it was reckless of her to even go there-- but you have to admit. This is the first experience she's had with boys, and this is the first time you've had to face facts. She's growing up into a young woman, and you can't protect her like she's five anymore."
Jack looked over at her, dumbfounded. "When did you get so wise about this?"
She softly laughed. "You forget,
you were my first boy experience, and I was just as reckless as she was. Remember?"
He sighed, put his arm around her shoulder, and pulled her close to him. "So this is
your fault?" and they both laughed.
Anna locked her bedroom door and sat on her bed. She'd probably overreacted, or maybe she didn't. She didn't know anymore, it seemed like in a few short weeks she went from knowing what was right and what was wrong to not knowing which way was up. All she knew for sure was that she didn't want to stop seeing Ryan, but she didn't know how to convince her parents to let her. Sneaking out to meet him wouldn't work, it didn't the first time.
Angrily, stood up from her bed and stomped her foot. "Anna I'm your father!" She grumbled, mocking her father's voice. "You can't be so reckless! You can't be friends with a human!" She walked over to her window and leaned against the glass. "Anna be more patient!" She went on. "Don't go off chasing bugs, you have limitations! You could get hurt!" She stopped mocking her father's voice after that, it was starting to hurt her throat. "Why can't I just have
one friend that doesn't treat me like I'm made of glass? Everybody goes to pieces when I'm a few minutes late getting home...everyone else gets a grace period if
they get home late. Why can't I just be like everybody else?"
She stopped and thought about what she'd just said. Even though she didn't want to take any of it back, she did feel a little bad, but the thing is...she didn't know
why she felt bad exactly. She went and laid down on her bed, pressing her face against the fabric of Ryan's jacket, which was just marinating in his smell. Just smelling his jacket made her heart ache. Her father wouldn't let her be with him, he probably wanted to lock her in her bedroom for the rest of her life.
Oh well, if she didn't have any friends anymore, why not?
A knock came at her door. "Go away," She called out, turning over on her so her back was to the door and her front was towards the wall.
"Anna, it's me," Said her father from the other side of the door. Anna felt her heart speed up a little, but then die right back down. It was his house, why shouldn't he be outside her room? "Listen, your mom has talked me into saying I'm sorry, but you're acting like a brat."
"Thanks," She said sarcastically under her breath, making sure he couldn't hear her. She'd be in bigger trouble if she talked back like that, and she might regret it later.
"I understand that you're seventeen, and I can't keep you as the little five year old who used to follow me wherever I went. But
you need to understand that sneaking out to the human world is dangerous and something could happen to you. I'm just trying to keep you safe."
"But Ryan wouldn't hurt me," She said, loud enough for him to hear this time. "I've been meeting him for almost a month and he's never so much as let me trip over my own feet. I don't know how to convince you that he's not a bad guy, even though he's human."
"You're seventeen," her father snapped from the other side of the wall. "You don't know the difference between a bad guy and a good guy."
Anna didn't say anything. She didn't know
what to say. She didn't know what to say that would let her dad know that Ryan was a good guy. It should've been enough that in the month that they've been meeting he's never once hurt her. Or maybe that he's kept her a secret from the other humans when he could've just as easily brought along someone to see a living, talking skeleton girl. But it wasn't.
"That's why," Her father continued after a while. "You're going to go back tomorrow, return his jacket, and bring him back here for me to decide."
At first, she thought she heard him wrong. But when everything sunk in, when she realized that she'd heard him right and he would let her keep seeing him if he felt Ryan was a good guy, a smile unfolded itself on her face. She could hardly believe it, but she took her father up on his offer before he could change his mind.
She just had to hope he saw Ryan as a good guy. If not, she would be right back where she started.
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A/N below:
Hi ppl! You might not have noticed, but some of what Anna was saying to herself were just paraphrased lyrics of "Infected" from Repo! The genetic opera. That was just so perfect for the moment that I couldn't pass it up. Don't hate me!
