*The next day*

Electra's POV

So, I've gotta pretend I'm not grounded for the next.. forever. Ugh, it's too much. I just gotta be lucky dad didn't take my phone. Without that, I'd be nothing. At least I can talk to friends and whatnot with my phone.

I can live with being in the house for the next three weeks. I'm sitting, playing on my phone right now, actually. Nothing major, just checking my Facebook account.

Brittany Van-Cleaf updated her status: 'Totes ready for the prom in a few days. Got myself a bf so shud be gud.' 19 people like this. View all comments:

Sydney Houston: Can't wait baby xox

Brittany Van-Cleaf: Me neither gawjuss xox

Sydney Houston: Gonna be a night to remember for sure xoxo

Brittany Van-Cleaf: Sure is xoxo

Ryder Jackson: Pass me the bucket, sum1.

Brittany Van-Cleaf: Get lost Ryder.

Ryder Jackson: Nah pal, don't think I will.

Sydney Houston: Someone's fighting back..

Ryder Jackson: U know it.

Brittany Van-Cleaf: OMG get off my status Ryder!

Ryder Jackson: Wuz only a bitta fun, get ovah it.

Sydney Houston: And learn to type properly bro.

Ryder Jackson: K thx 4 the advice.

Sydney Houston: No problems, now bye.

Ryder Jackson: Fun chatting.

Lacey Turner: Can't wait for prom :D xx

Brittany Van-Cleaf: Same here babe xx

Lacey Turner: Sydney weren't you originally going with Electra?

Sydney Houston: Yeah I was.

Lacey Turner: She was looking forward to going with you..

Sydney Houston: Sorry but I'm going with Brittany now.

Ryder Jackson: My sister wuz so upset u dumped her Sydney.

Ryder Jackson: Don't ignore me bro

Brittany Van-Cleaf: Go away Ryder, tell your sister to get the hell ovah it cuz Sydney's goin with me now.

I'm gonna comment myself.

Electra 'Leccy' Jackson: Brittany, enjoy Sydney, if he chose you over me, I don't want him anyway. But Sydney, if you change your mind, not that you will, but if you do, forget coming back to me. Ryder, just ignore them. They ain't worth it.

That should sum up everything. And why do Brittany and Ryder feel the need to abbreviate so much? 'Shud be gud?' 'Wuz only a bitta fun?' wow, that's stupid.

Ryder Jackson added a new photo: 'Wiv ma boyz.' 37 people like this. View all comments:

Alex Sharpe: Sick night bro

Ryder Jackson: Sure wuz

Joe Simms: Need to do it again soon

Alex Sharpe: Yeah we do

Ryder: We'll sort sumthing out.

Joe Simms: Cool

Alex Sharpe: Kk

What's wrong with normal talk? All this slang makes me dizzy. And the photo is him with his friends. They went out last night, and must have taken a few selfies. Quite funny, really. Has Dexter been on here recently? Hmm, I'll check how long ago he was active.

Dexter 'Dex' Jackson, active 10 minutes ago.

Has he updated his status recently? Let's check his timeline. I type his name in the search bar, and click his name.

Dexter 'Dex' Jackson tagged Ally Knight in his status: 'Hey baby, how goes it?' Ally Knight likes this. View all comments:

Ally Knight: I'm fine baby, you?<3xxx

Dexter 'Dex' Jackson: I'm good too<3xxx

Ally Knight: Can't wait to see you later<3xxx

Dexter 'Dex' Jackson: Same here babe, see you at 3<3xxx

Ally Knight: Ok baby<3xxx

Oh my gosh! Dexter has a girlfriend! He's kept that one quiet! But why would he write that on a public status? Hmm, maybe he's decided to show it off now, cos I never knew til just now. How long ago were those comments written? An hour ago. And what time is it now? 2:57pm. Three minutes!

I come off my phone and run out my bedroom, and downstairs. Dexter is waiting by the front door.

"Hey Dex, whatcha doing?" I ask politely.

"Oh, just waiting for a friend to get here. You know Ally Knight, from my year?"

"Yeah I know her. Nice girl, isn't she?"

"Yeah, I guess. She's coming over in a couple minutes. What are you doing?"

"Oh, no, Dex! I wanna talk to my eleven-year-old brother about his "friend" Ally!"

"Why?"

"I saw your Facebook status, Dex."

"What status? I haven't updated my status today."

"Dex.. the one asking 'hey baby.. how goes it?' y'know which one I mean?"

"What? No. No, I don't!"

He looks rather shifty now.

"And the comments were oh so adorable, calling her 'babe' and whatnot, how sweet!"

"Electra.. how did you see that? I set my status so that only she could see it."

"No you didn't, little brother. It's on public."

"What?! Oh god, I hope Ryder doesn't see it--"

"Forget Ryder, mum and dad won't be happy you've got a girlfriend at aged eleven!"

"Mum and dad!" Dexter cries in worry. "They'll kill me!"

"Keep calm, little brother," I smile, placing my hand on his shoulder. "Just don't tell them."

"But I can't keep something that big from our parents! They'll kill me!"

"Well, at age eleven, most people haven't even hit puberty yet, and then there's you with a girlfriend, kissing--wait, have you kissed her yet?"

"No.. not yet. We've only been dating a month."

"A month?! How have you kept it a secret that long? That's longer than I'm gonna be ground--"

I cut myself off, and widen my eyes. I didn't mean to say about me being grounded. No one was meant to know.

"You're grounded? Who did it, mum or dad? What did you do? Was it serious? How long are you grounded for? Wait.. haven't you got prom soon? How can you go if you're grounded?"

How many questions?

"I didn't mean to say grounded, I meant to say.. that's longer than I'm gonna be alive for.. if mum and dad find out I know about your little girlfriend!"

That was a good cover-up, right? Yeah, it was.

"Electra.. are you grounded?"

"Maybe.. ok, yes! Dad did it, but it's only for three weeks--"

"Three weeks? Ha, that's longer than I've ever been grounded!"

"I swear you've never been grounded, Dex?"

"Oh yeah.."

"But you might be, if mum and dad find out you've got a girlfriend.. at age eleven."

"Quit reminding me of how young I am, Leccy! It doesn't help things!"

"Well, maybe we can strike a deal," I suggest.

"Yeah? Make it quick, Ally'll be here any minute now."

"Ok, you don't tell mum I'm grounded, cos she isn't meant to know, and I won't tell mum and dad about Ally."

"Ok, fine, deal!"

He shakes my hand, and the doorbell goes.

"You better get that," I say.

He opens the door, and we find Ally standing there.

"Hey Dex," she says with a friendly smile.

"Hey Ally. Come inside," he allows her inside, and Ally looks at me curiously.

"Oh, this is Electra, my big sister. Leccy, this is Ally."

Me and Ally shake hands, and we all walk into the living room.

"Oh, hey Ally!" dad greets her with a smile, looking up from his newspaper.

It's rare dad reads them, he normally finds it to be, and I quote, "tabloidy trash." He was the one who taught us not to read them himself. He must have got it free or something.

"Hey, Mr. Jackson," Ally replies quietly.

"Dex, why don't you and Ally go upstairs. I'll bring you some cookies in a few moments," mom says.

Dexter nods, and he and Ally run upstairs together. Mom and dad look at me.

"How are you, sweetheart?" mom asks.

"I'm good, thanks mom.. and you?" I reply.

"Oh, I'm fine thank you. Hey, I'm going to the shopping center later on today, you wanna come?"

Dad looks at me, his stare sharp as a two-edged sword. I can't say yes, I'm grounded, and we both know it.

"Uh.. that's a very kind offer mum, but no thank you," I decline sweetly, and dad's stare becomes a smile.

"Oh, why not? You normally love going shopping with me!" mom pouts.

"I.. I feel a little sick," I lie.

Now I'm gonna have to act.

"Oh, do you sweetie? Go to your room and get some rest, that might help you feel better."

"I will, thanks mom. I love you."

"I love you too, baby. Michael, will you go upstairs with her, make sure she's ok? I need to get the cookies for Dex and Ally."

"Of course baby," dad replies, kissing mum's lips once, and walking over to me. "I'll be back down in a minute."

He walks me upstairs to my room, and we sit on my bed, and dad rubs my shoulder.

"You're a good little actress there, Electra. You take after your mother and I, for sure."

"What do you mean, dad?" I ask.

Dad smiles, and inhales deeply. He always does that when he has a life story to share.

"Alright, before your mother and I started dating, we hated one another. We would attack each other, and hurt each other, back in college. Then, one day, we had to go to another school together, and we were forced together in everything we did. One day, we had to do a school project, and me and Becky were partnered together for it. Let's just say, we both discovered that our 'tough, bad' sides were acting, and we'd both convinced each other we really did hate each other. It was quite funny, looking back on it. But the point is, acting can get you far in life."

"Interesting dad, I never knew that."

"Well, now you do,' he kisses my forehead, and looks down on me, 'so, two weeks, six days until you're un-grounded."

"I know, I know. I notice I'm the only one who ever gets grounded."

"You know that's not true, Leccy. Dexter has been grounded."

"No he hasn't!"

"Ryder, then."

"The most you've ever punished him is by banning his laptop for a week, and he got by that by using his phone!"

"Hmm.. well, I'll consider it as a punishment for the boys, too, not just you, then. Just, Ryder's nearly sixteen, and Dex is only eleven. It's a young age, he's still a stranger to the world, he's had no experiences. I'll start to ground him when he's a teenager, like you."

"But dad, that isn't fair!" I protest. "You always give me the worst punishments!"

"Now look here, Leccy," dad starts to get defensive. "You know what you did was wrong, so don't try the sob story on me."

"Fine, but you know I'm right. You give the boys such an easy life compared to me."

"No, Leccy, it isn't that we give the boys an easy life; it's that you give me and your mother a hard one."

"Well, at least I don't go around, taking drugs, getting pregnant, drinking and smoking and getting in relationships, do I? No, but I know other people that do that, some younger than me!"

"I'm fairly sure you know no-one that does those things."

"You'd be surprised daddy. Some people have barely hit puberty, and they're already getting boyfriends and girlfriends."

"You're not saying you have a boyfriend, are you? Cos if you are--"

"No, dad. No, not at all. But what if Sydney and I ended up together after prom, huh? Then what would you have done?"

"Well, that's different. I knew about him, so it was ok. If I didn't know one of my children had a boyfriend.. or girlfriend.." he gives me a curious look. "Then I'd be more upset by that."

Crap, it's like he knows about Dexter and Ally! I need to change the subject, sharpish.

"Point is.. daddy... that I am such a good actress, remember?"

"I'll hand it to you, you're a sneaky one."

"Which is good, right?"

"It can be. Anyway, you better "get some rest" now, I'm gonna go back down to your mother, see her for a while, I'll come back in a bit."

"Alright, dad."

Dad kisses my forehead once more, then leaves the room. I've gotta go see how Dex is doing. I know it's a complete invasion of privacy, but I wanna see what kinda thing they're getting up to.

I creep out of my room, and to Dexter's room. I force down the handle silently, and peep through the gap I've made. Dexter and Ally are on the floor, leaning their backs against the bed, and looking at one another, talking.

"Y'know, Electra said we were too young for each other, but love has no bounds, right?" Dex asks.

"Of course not.. but what do your parents think?" Ally replies.

"They don't know you're my girlfriend yet. They just think you're a friend."

"Really, Dexxy? Just a friend? Wow, how come you haven't told them yet?"

"Electra said they'd go mad, I don't wanna risk my life.. well, I might if it's for you, baby."

"You're so sweet," Ally smiles.

She props herself up by leaning her hand on the carpet, and Dexter places his hand over hers. Aww, this is so cute! Young love!

"Well, it's hard not to be sweet to a girl like you."

They're looking into each other's eyes so deeply now. If it wasn't so unbelievably cute, I would be asking for someone to pass me a bucket right now, no joke.

Dexter jerks his head forward ever so slightly, but then stops again, and pulls it back. He looks back at Ally, who is smiling. She nods, giving Dexter reassurance, and Dexter gradually leans closer to Ally, until they both tilt their heads the opposite way to each other, and their lips touch.

This is so cute, Dexter's first kiss! Aww! Ally places her hands on Dex's shoulders, and Dex places his on her waist gently. This really is cute.

I'm not gonna interrupt, this is one of those things you only ever experience once, y'know, the first kiss, so I'm gonna let him enjoy it. I've not even had my first kiss yet.

He pulls away from her slowly, both of them with smiles on their faces. I'm gonna walk in now. I open the door, and they immediately pull apart from each other.

"Hey, Electra!" Dex greets me, a hyper tone in his voice.

"Hi, little bro," I chuckle. "Having fun with your little "friend" here?"

"Yeah, having a great time."

"Good. Just checking to make sure you weren't causing any trouble. I know what you're like, Mister."

"No trouble here," Dexter says. "Just me and Ally."

"Alright. I'll see you round, little bro," I walk towards the door, and open it slowly, still looking behind me at the two love birds.

They're so cute, heehee..

I take a step backwards, bumping into something in the process. I turn around to find..

"Hey, mum," I smile.

Mum doesn't look so happy.

"Well, you're really unwell, aren't you? So unwell that your father had to ground you for it. That, and the stolen credit card at the shopping center yesterday."

"I'm sorry, Leccy.." dad comes up behind mum.

"Michael, let me and Electra talk now."

Dad looks hurt that mum would order him to do that. He looks at me, unsure on how his facial expression should look.

"Electra, I didn't tell her, I swear. She went upstairs to give Dex and Ally the cookies, and came down and told me she knew."

I know what's happened. Dexter's told her. I'll kill him! And the deal's off.

It's my turn to get revenge.

Author's note: ooh, a little drama, heehee... I'm beginning to like the new parts of this story a little more, now. But I kinda miss the Jax-related stuff. I'll bring that back later ☺