After I shut the door, I turn to my mom and pout.
"Really mom? I can't even go to a school event?"
"We don't know those boys!" She says, defending herself. "So why in the world would I trust you alone with them?"
"Mom!" I exclaim, crossing my arms. "We wouldn't even be alone- the whole senior grade would be there."
"I don't care! Go upstairs."
"Ugh!"
I turn around and run up the stairs into my room, locking the door behind me. I sniffle as hot tears run down my face; Why can't she just let me do what everybody else does? I wipe my tears and take a deep breath, trying not to let my mom get to me. I hear laughter and decide to walk over to my balcony. I see Kaden and Levi skating up and down the street, and I wave as they pass by my house. I've always wanted to learn how to skate, but my mom said skating is dangerous and that it's only for boys.
I stand on my balcony for another 5 minutes watching the boys skate before I head back in. Sometimes I wonder what life could've been like if my mom wasn't so strict. Would I have been a party animal? Maybe I'd have a lot more friends than I do right now. When I lived in Cali I had only one close friend, my best friend. Her name was Aura and she had the best sense of humor. She's the only one my mom trusts me with... well used to trust me with. A couple of months before our move, Aura had invited me over for a sleepover and when I got there, there were two boys from our grade also in her room. Now I know what you're thinking: something awful must have happened. Not at all. In fact, we all just watched movies together and the boys left afterward and me and Aura had our sleepover as planned. It only went downhill the next day when my mom came to pick me up. When my mom pulled into the driveway, she was greeted by Aura's mom who made the mistake of mentioning the boys to my mom. I already knew what trouble I was in when I heard their conversation from the open window.
"Hey Tina, good morning," my mom said. "Are the girls up?"
"Good morning Deja," Aura's mom replied. "Yeah they're up, they had so much fun with their friends yesterday."
"Their friends? I didn't know they were having other girls over for the sleepover."
"Oh, no, it was two boys from their class that came over," She replied. "But they left after an hour or two."
"Wow, I mean, Maggie never mentioned any boys coming over," My mom said surprised. "I'm going to go ahead and go call her."
"Okay! I'll be on my way to go run some errands then!"
My mom came up the stairs and knocked on the door.
"Come in!"
"Hey girls, good morning," my mom says. "How was your night?"
"It was fun," I replied nervously. "I'll just grab my bag so we can go."
"Thanks for spending the night!" Aura says as she hugs me goodbye.
When my mom and I got back to the car she didn't say anything for the whole ride home. When we got home she told me how disappointed she was that I lied to her, even though I tried to explain that I didn't even know the boys were coming over. Plus, they were like the sweetest guys in our grade and would never hurt a fly, so I felt safe. She told me I could never sleepover at Aura's again, and grounded me for a month. After I told Aura what had happened at school the next week it kind of became awkward between us, and we just talked less and less. I was heartbroken. And to this day, my mom still doesn't trust me. Enough of the sob story though, I need to forget the past and just move on. I'm determined to make new friends here, even if it's just Kaden and Levi.
Around 9 p.m., two hours later, I decide to scroll through insta to look at some of the style pages I follow. I see a notification that I have two new followers, and I click on it. Omg, Kaden, and Levi? They must've looked me up after dinner. I click on Kaden's profile and scroll through his posts. Of course, it's just the typical skater boy posts with half photos and half videos of him doing tricks. I click on Levi's profile and it's the same thing, except he has a bunch of pictures with a girl. I'm assuming it's his girlfriend, and I see why too, she's gorgeous.
I follow both Kaden and Levi back, then go back to looking at the style pages. I'm not even sure what my style is right now. I'd say it's a mix between girly and basic. While scrolling through the page, I see a couple of skater girl outfits and I click on one. I click on the tagged page and scroll through their feed too. Ooh, the outfits are so cute. I feel like asking for a second opinion, but I know my mom would disapprove so I can't ask her. I contemplate DM-ing Kaden. What if he doesn't respond? After five minutes pass, I decide to add Kaden to my close-friends story, and I post the outfit with a poll saying if I should get it or not. After I post it, I quickly lock my phone and close my eyes waiting to see if I get a notification.