Chapter 10

“So are we going to talk about the giant elephant or…?” Amanda said, leaning against the counter in the smoothie shack. 

“And what would that be?” I raised my eyebrows. 

“The fact that the two of you never do anything with us anymore?” Nick raised his eyebrows. 

Mark rolled his eyes, sitting down on the stool in between Hannah and Katie. 

“You’ve been all quiet since your dad was here and we want to know what he said.” Hannah shrugged, resting her head on Mark’s shoulder. 

“We’re basically grounded for life.” Mark explained. 

“So how are you guys here right now?” Naomi raised her eyebrows. 

“Because our lovely aunt doesn’t care what we do during lunch.” I laughed. 

“How long do you think the grounding will last?” Chris asked curiously. 

“Until we hit three thousand.” Mark shrugged. “I’m only on 750.” 

“I’ve got 800 already. It’s going to be a long few weeks.” I sighed. 

“What?” Nick raised his eyebrows. 

“It’s the way we get grounded. It’s complicated.” Mark laughed. 

“And she’s so ripping us off…” I laughed, shaking my head. “Even being at school all day we can get more than 800 points in four days.” 

“She’s trying to act all tough and shit.” Mark rolled his eyes. “We’ll be fine.” 

“As long as you’re at the party tomorrow night, we’re good.” Chris grinned, nudging my shoulder with his. 

“Uh no way. We’ll be at home, cleaning.” I laughed. 

“No parties for us.” Mark shook his head. 

“No come on seriously?” Hannah pouted. 

“Yea no way. The Ryders don’t party when they’re grounded.” I shook my head. “No way.” 

Mark looked up at me. “There aren’t even any parties thrown when the Ryders are grounded, loser.” He laughed. 

“Sometimes there are.” I shrugged. 

“Yea but not good ones.” Mark rolled his eyes.

I felt a grin cross my face. 

“What if we snuck out?” I asked with a grin. 

Mark raised his eyebrows at me, looking slightly impressed. 

“But we don’t have your window at dad’s house anymore.” Mark said, furrowing his eyebrows in thought. 

“But we have a bay window that’s on the first floor.” I replied, grinning. 

Mark nodded. “I’m impressed, Marley Ryder. It’s a plan.” 

~*~*~

“What if you get in trouble?” Chris asked me while I pulled the bananas out of the fridge. 

“She’s not going to call my dad again.” I shook my head. “She doesn’t want to seem like a lame woman who can’t control two teenagers. Worst thing we’ll get is more points or something.” I laughed, pulling out the strawberries as well.

“But what if she does call your dad and the two of you get in even more trouble?” Chris asked, putting all of the unused fruit into the small cooler. 

“She won’t.” I shook my head, pushing my hair back from my face as I walked out of the shack. 

I stacked all of the tables and chairs in the back while Chris took the unused fruit down to the pier. 

I was wearing my necklace again today. It was strange to be around my neck after so long, but I liked having it on again.

I was sure that Logan and I could fix things when I got home… I mean, we had to. 

I’m Marley Ryder and he’s Logan Hamilton. 

Power couples don’t just break up so soon without an attempt at fixing things…

Maybe an entire summer apart was just what we needed. Maybe when I got home, we could pick up right where we left off.
“Why do you look so deep in thought?” Chris laughed, leaning against the counter next to me. 

I looked up at him with a shrug. 

“Just thinking about my friends back home, nothing major.” I laughed, my eyes meeting his. 

“Do you and your brother have a habit of sneaking out for parties at home?” Chris raised his eyebrows. 

“Absolutely not. No, Ryders don’t sneak out to parties.” I shook my head. 

“What, that’s like an established rule?” Chris asked with a laugh. 

“Basically. I mean we’ll sneak out to do little things, but nothing where we could get caught.” I shrugged. “Although one time, I did accidentally stay out all night.” 

“Okay know that’s a story I need to hear.” Chris laughed, nudging my shoulder with his. 

I wrapped my hand around my necklace, a soft smile growing on my face at the memory…

~*~*~

“Marley, Marley wake up.” Someone hissed. 

I groaned, rolling over deeper into my pillow. 

“Marley.” The person whispered. 

I sighed, sitting up. 

“What?” I groaned, facing my door. 

“Over here.” The voice came from my open window. 

I gasped, spinning around to face the dark silhouette. 

“Logan?!” I laughed, raising my eyebrows. 

“Hey.” Logan grinned, literally sitting on the roof and leaning in my window. 

“What the hell are you doing?” I laughed. 

“What? Don’t girls love nice romantic gestures of Romeo climbing their balcony?” Logan teased. 

“Uh yea but not when they have 6 older brothers asleep in the next room.” I whispered, kneeling up on my bed so I was close to the window. 

“Come on, let’s go for a drive.” Logan grinned. 

~*~*~

“This feels so much worse than back at home.” I whispered to Mark as he helped me out of the window. 

“Don’t think about that. We’ll be back before Aunt Audrey notices.” Mark told me as I carefully shut the window. 

I nodded. “We better be.” I whispered as we headed down the beach towards the bonfire. 

“No Mark I feel so guilty.” I said, stopping in my tracks. “Look, I’m going back. I’ll cover for you if something happens but I just can’t do this.” I shook my head. 

Mark turned around to look at me, raising his eyebrows. 

“Look we’re not going to get drunk because she’d kill us, I’m not about to hook up with someone while I’m sober because I’ll just think about Logan the entire time, and it would be boring to stand there alone and sober. We can’t get in any more trouble. What if dad makes us stay here like, during the school year?” I sighed, crossing my arms. “You go ahead, I’m going home.” I added as I turned around. 

Mark groaned, following me. “You think I’m going to go to a party here without you? Hell no. And you make a good point.” Mark sighed. 

I tried to quietly open the window, but it squeaked slightly. Mark swore as he helped me into the house. 

I gasped, my eyes widening. Aunt Audrey was standing next to my bed with her arms crossed and an angry look on her face. 

“We didn’t go!” I said instantly. 

“It was my fault.” Mark added, coming to my defense. 

“We were going but then I felt so guilty so we came back.” I said. “We barely got down the beach.” 

“It was basically a two minute midnight walk that two siblings were sharing.” Mark offered, a stupid grin on his face. 

“We came right back, it just didn’t feel right.” I added.

“We never sneak out for parties, even at home.” Mark reassured her. 

Aunt Audrey sighed. 

“This stays our little secret.” She told us, backing towards the doorway. “Thank you for coming home.” 

Mark and I both relaxed as we heard her walk back into her bedroom. 

“Thank you. Thank you so damn much for having a good conscience.” Mark told me with a laugh. 

“You were right. Ryders don’t sneak out to parties.” I shook my head. “Now leave, I’m going to bed.” 

“Goodnight, Marley.” Mark laughed, walking out of my room. 

“Night!” I called after him. 

I sat down on my bed with a sigh, my fingers playing with the small necklace around my neck. 

Maybe I should call him? 

But no. No I couldn’t do that. Not with Mark in the room anyways. 

We’d be fine when I got home. 

We had to be…