Like I had expected, my mom came home twice as furious as my dad had been. 

As soon as she walked through the door a little after 6:00, I immediately placed my phone face down on the coffee table and watched her as she abandoned her chunky heels, tossed her car keys into the bowl to the right of the doorway, and march over to me. 

I could tell she was holding her anger in by the way she pressed her lips together to tightly, they became a pale shade of white and her cheeks became bloated, like she was holding in her breath. 

When she reached me stationed on the love seat furthest from the door, she towered over me, her chest rising and falling faster than usual. 

She didn't break our eye contact when she opened her mouth, yelling out my dads name. 

His quick pounding footsteps told me that he did not want to be the one to make her even more angrier by making her call him over again. 

He came barreling down the stairs a second later, huffing and puffing like he'd just run a mile. 

I kind of felt sorry for the guy. 

He stood at the end of the stairs for a second, absorbing in his daughter and wife in a silent battle. 

His steps were slow. "Elizabeth, how was your day honey?"

When he went to kiss her on the cheek, she side stepped him and sighed heavily. 

She unbuttoned the single button on her navy dress suit, allowing her black tank top to become more exposed. 

"That's a silly thing to ask, now isn't it?" She was talking to dad, but her eyes never left mine. 

In one single movement, she pulled the single hair clip out of her hair and wavy dark locks cascaded a little past her shoulders. 

"You know, my day was going as it usually does, when I got a very unexpected call from the principal of Cedarwood." She feigned shock, her lips perusing ever so slightly. 

Oh boy, here we go. 

"I just about lost it when I was informed that my daughter was involved in a physical fight, and most of the responsibility fell on her!"

I cringed as she finally broke our eye contact, pacing in front of me while rubbing her forehead gruffly. 

Dad went to grab onto her hand, but she held out her hand, stopping him from moving any further. 

She cast her gaze to the ground for a second before plopping down on the coffee table directly in front of me. 

"Now, I've been told most of the details, but I want to hear everything from you, young lady."

She jabbed her manicured finger in my face, causing me to pull back instinctively. 

"Mom, I know what you're thinking and I--"

"Oh, for Heaven's sake, Malona!" She cut me off sharply and threw her hands in the air before I could even explain myself. 

"Your father and I expected better from you! Right, honey?" Her head snapped in the direction of my dad and I watched with pity as he shoved his hands into the front pockets of his dark washed jeans and nodded quickly. 

"You know, I don't think I could take another retelling at the moment." 

She stood up, frowning down at me. 

"You are to go to your room and think about what you're going to tell the young lady you punched tomorrow morning." Her tone was stern, leaving no room for argument. 

Me being me, I didn't get the memo quite as quickly as I should have. "Wait, what? What I'm going to "tell the lady," what do you mean?"

With her hands planted on her hips, she exhales lowly. "Yes, Malona! I've already contacted her parents and have told them that you'll be making a stop there tomorrow morning to apologize. And I'll be tagging along, just to make sure you get there okay."

I could only picure the shock and horror written all over my face. 

What? She wanted me to apologize to Joyce? Joyce?

I stood up quickly, gawking at my mom. "But mom, come on--"

"--No, that's enough Lona! Go up to your room, and leave your phone on the table."

Before I could argue any further, she began walking into the kitchen when she halted to a stop.

"Oh, and I assume your father's already grounded you, but I can only imagine how easy he went on you. Add a month to your grounding." 

My hands tightened into fists. 

I looked over to my dad but he was quiet, knowing better than to go against what his wife says. 

I mean, she was right, he did go pretty easy on me, only grounding me to the house for two weeks and taking away my phone for one. 

But grounding me for nearly two months? That was just ridiculous, but it didn't look like I had much of a choice. 

I tried my best to silently plead with my dad but he wouldn't meet my gaze, only rubbed his stubble chin and turned his back on me. "I'll call you down for dinner." 

I watched as my last chance of persuasion disappeared around the corner, most liking going to speak to my evil mother. 

There was absolutely nothing I could do at this point. 

Tomorrow morning I would be faced with something far worse than being grounded and suspended. 

I would be apologizing to Joyce Raymond who wasn't innocent in any fucking way. I bet this was her plan. 

Get into my head and fuck up my squeaky clean record to get into a good college. 

I could only imagine the boon and pride she'd shove into my face later on knowing that she won and got an apology from me.  

If it were up to me and there'd be no repercussions, she'd get another punch to her face.