C5 Five

The drive home was terrifying if nothing else. My hands were trembling at the thought of my mother leaving work early just to yell at me for getting suspended in my senior year. And my dad? I might as well just move to another country while I still can.

I get to the top of my driveway and see my mother's SUV sitting in the driveway. I pull into my spot and step out of the car, walking over to the front door.

"Suspended. Suspended?" I hear my mother ask in outrage as I open the door, "Charlotte what is wrong with you?"

"It wasn't my fault!" I defend myself quickly walking over to the kitchen to grab a drink. Ellie, our nanny, is sitting in the kitchen reading a cooking book, shaking her head in disappointment at me. Ouch.

"Not your fault? So, you weren't the girl in the picture?" She asks with an eyebrow raised as she walks into the kitchen with a few papers in her hand.

"I was, but I didn't know that someone else was going to take a picture. Look, I was just embarrassed in front of the whole school, so I'm really not in the mood for this," I tell her, annoyed.

"I don't give a damn if you're not in the mood for this conversation because it is happening, right now! And cut off the attitude before I cut it off for you!" My mother shouts at me because of my attitude. "Now, explain to me what exactly happened."

"Summer Price happened," I mumble.

"Who the fuck is that?" My mother asks confused. Ellie gets up from the stool and walks over to the oven, opening it gently and I can smell the cookies she's baking.

"Nathan's best friend since childhood, who has a massive crush on him and is trying to get rid of me because of it. She stole my clothes last year and took the picture of me to spread around the whole school. Nobody knew it was me last year but now that I'm with Nathan, she's decided to share that fact with the whole school," I answer straightforward.

"God, I hate high school drama," she groans loudly. "So?"

"So, what?"

"What have you planned to make her back off? You're my child, and Olivia is my honorary child and I know you two have something cooked up in case of emergencies," she shrugs as if it's the most obvious thing.

I open my mouth but nothing comes out and I just stare at her silently.

"Don't think that this gets you off the hook for getting suspended because I'm the one that has to tell your father about this and don't think for a second that your life will get easier when I do," she warns. "You're grounded," she blurts out, not being able to come up with anything better.

"Grounded? That literally makes no sense, I am the victim!" I argue.

"Well then you're ungrounded until your father gets home. I'll let you know once I see your dad's reaction when he hears what happened," she mutters back, walking into the kitchen. "Ellie, we're going to need to prepare the good wine for when Peter gets home from work, I'll make the pork roast defrosting."

Her cellphone starts ringing as soon as she's put the bottle away and she grumbles all the way to get it. Looking at the caller ID she mutters a curse and answers it in her sweet innocent voice.