kitchen. Clear the counters and then work your way down to the floor. Weâll all work together, bit by bit. Letâs get started.â
âBut the holes in the wallsâ¦the broken windowsâ¦the stereo on the lawnâ¦I donât have the money to fix all of that.â
I started to cry again and she put her arm around me.
âYour parentsâ insurance will cover some of the cost,â she said. âAnd the rest will be split two ways.â
âTwo ways?â
âThere were two people who were responsible.â She turned to Jen. âRight?â
Jen nodded her head in agreement.
Chapter Twelve
I looked at my watch. It was almost two oâclock in the afternoon. Only a few more minutes until my parents were supposed to come home. The windows had been replaced and the garbage and bottles and even the stains on the carpet had been, for the most part, removed. If it werenât for the holes in the walls and the broken furniture, they might not have been able to tell that there had been a party.
Of course there was no way of hiding it or even trying to hide what had happened. There would be the bill for the glass replacement, and the comments from the neighbors, and the police coming over later today to meet with them.
Jen sat in the corner. She looked as tired and scared as I felt. This was going to be awful. Her mother was in the kitchen, still doing a few last-minute cleaning tasks. She had agreed to be here when my parents came home. She said that Jen needed to be here alongside me to take her share of the blame, and sheâd be here to support both of us.
âThatâs it,â Jenâs mother said as she walked out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a dishcloth. âThe place doesnât look too bad at all.â
âThanks for all your help,â I said tiredly.
âItâs the least we could do. Are you nervous?â
I shook my head. âTerrified. What do you think theyâre going to say?â
âI have a pretty good idea. Theyâre going to yell and tell you how disappointed they are in you and wonder how you could ever let this happen and tell you how they donât know if they can ever leave you alone again or trust you.â She paused. âAnd then theyâre going to hug you and thank God that youâre all right, because it
is
going to be all right.â
I heard the sound of a car pulling up to the house. I ran to the window. My father and mother climbed out of the car, carrying their small overnight bags. They looked happy to be home. That happiness wasnât going to last long.
âYou better meet them at the front door,â Jenâs mother suggested.
I got up and went to the door, getting there just as they walked it.
âMomâ¦Dad. Iâm so sorry. I have something I have to tell you.â
Eric Walters began writing in 1993 as a way to entice his grade five students into becoming more interested in reading and writing. Since that first creation, Eric has published over forty-five novels. His novels have all become best-sellers, have won over thirty awards and have been translated into several languages.
Eric lives in Mississauga, Ontario, with his wife, Anita, and three children, Christina, Nicholas and Julia. When not writing, or playing and watching sports, he enjoys listening to jazz, playing his saxophone and eating in fine restaurants featuring drive-through service.
Orca Soundings
Bang
Norah McClintock
Battle of the Bands
K.L. Denman
Blue Moon
Marilyn Halvorson
Breathless
Pam Withers
Bull Rider
Marilyn Halvorson
Bullâs Eye
Sarah N. Harvey
Charmed
Carrie Mac
Chill
Colin Frizzell
Crush
Carrie Mac
The Darwin Expedition
Diane Tullson
Dead-End Job
Vicki Grant
Death Wind
William Bell
Down
Norah McClintock
Exit Point
Laura Langston
Exposure
Patricia Murdoch
Fastback Beach
Shirlee Smith Matheson
Grind
Eric Walters
The Hemingway Tradition
Kristin
Kathleen Brooks
Alyssa Ezra
Josephine Hart
Clara Benson
Christine Wenger
Lynne Barron
Dakota Lake
Rainer Maria Rilke
Alta Hensley
Nikki Godwin