My body seemed to move all on its own.

One moment I was standing in the middle of the street, like a deer caught in the headlights, the next my body was flying through the air and landing roughly on the concrete sidewalk. I had moved from almost the center of the street, all the way back to the sidewalk I had just stepped off of.

“What…” I muttered.

I stood back up and took a quick look around. That truck that nearly ran me over had already driven several blocks away, seemingly unconcerned with its near collision with me.

Seriously though, he must have seen me.

But no.

No stopping.

No ‘brief hey you alright’.

Nothing.

“What an a-hole.” I declared.

Quickly I did a check over of my person to see if everything was still in its proper place.

It didn’t seem like there were any rips anywhere, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t hurt myself either.

“Frick, did I drop anything.” I said, panicking a little.

I quickly checked my back pocket for my cell phone. It and the attached card holder were still right where I left them.

“Oh thank God.” I exclaimed

Mom would’ve killed me if I lost or broke my phone. It was barely even a month old. My parents had gotten it for me as a gift before starting my senior year of high school. Plus, losing my student ID and debit card would’ve been a pain in the butt to replace.

Having slightly calmed down now after realizing I and my things were all perfectly fine, I couldn’t help but reflect on the near miss with that truck.

It all happened so fast, but one moment there was a speeding truck not but a few feet away and coming right towards me. And then in the next moment I was landing safely back on the sidewalk and out of danger.

My body must’ve reacted on instinct or something, and leapt to safety.

Not to say I’m completely unathletic, but the speed of my reaction and my jump was at best weird. It wasn’t so crazy that I couldn’t explain it away as instincts and adrenaline, but it was right on the border of what’s plausible.

“What a weird and strange day.” I said to myself.

Closing my eyes I took in a deep breath, exhaled, and then took another tentative step out into the street. Only after looking both ways though.

************************************************************************

Thankfully the rest of my trip back home turned out to be completely uneventful and free of any speeding and reckless vehicles.

Having reached our family home I opened it only to hear the loud sounds of explosions and gunfire coming from the living room.

I let out a sigh.

My little brother must be in the living room playing one of his loud shooting games with the volume turned up super high.

If my mom was home she would definitely be yelling at him to ‘turn that racket down’.

While I did have to agree with Mom in this case, I decided to try and be a bit more diplomatic with my dear baby brother.

“Hey Elliot.” I said standing behind Elliot who was curled up on the coach completely focused on his game.

“Elliot.” I tried again.

No response except for more loud gunfire from the game being projected out from Dad’s very expensive surround sound system.

“Elliot!” I yelled a bit louder this time.

“...” Was the silent reply I got back from him.

Annoyance was starting to creep into my expression and mood. I wasn’t even a foot away from him. There was no way he didn’t hear me. If that was the case, the only explanation was the little brat was ignoring me.

I flicked the back of his head with my finger.

Zero response.

“Elliot, I know you can hear me.”

More rat-tat-tats emanated from the speakers.

“Well, clearly the sheer volume of your game has deafened you at this point.” I tried goading him a little, but no reaction.

“Clearly I can say whatever I want right now and you can’t hear me.” I continued raising the volume of my voice as I was speaking. “So I guess if I said I was going to tell my Mom about you playing your games at max volume instead of studying for your Math test, you would have no way of knowing about it until it was way too late.”

The game paused suddenly, and the loud sound of gunfire and explosions ceased.

“You wouldn’t.” Elliot said to me as he turned around.

“No, probably not, but it got you to pause your game didn’t it.” I smiled at him.

He squinted his eyes at me in irritation before scoffing.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Ugh, I was almost done with that level anyways, you didn’t need to rush me.”

“Regardless of how close you were to beating it, the volume you have your game set on is ridiculous.” I told him.

“What?” He said with a cheeky smile. “Dad spent all that money on his sound system, it’d be a waste to not use it.”

“For deafening explosions and gunfire…”

“Exactly.” He said with a big smile.

I rolled my eyes.

“You’re such a boy Elliot.”

“Yeah that’s definitely true, I can see why you get such high grades on your report cards.”

Elliot was about four or so years younger than me. He was in his last year of middle school and a lot less interested in doing his school work than I was at his age. In retrospect I might’ve spoiled my parents a bit with my diligent and overall boring behavior.

“So I take it you don’t plan to do any studying for your Math test?” I asked.

“Nah, I mean, I guess I might look over things tomorrow before the actual test, but it seems like such a pain to spend my free time studying for something I’ll only have to worry about tomorrow.”

“That is such a terrible way to think about things, and is probably the reason why your grades suck so much.” I chided.

“They’re not that bad.” Elliot retorted. “Hey, what do you call a medical student who finished last in their class?”

“A doctor. Yeah I’ve heard that one before, but that's just an excuse and you know it.”

“C’mon sis’ I’m already nagged and hassled all the time by Mom about this stuff. I really don’t need you piling on.” Elliot said with a mixture of annoyance and exasperation.

He was right…

Even if I didn’t agree with his disregard for school and his grades, the last thing I wanted was to start emulating Mom’s overbearing helicopter parent tendencies.

“You’re right, but even if you don’t care about your grades that much I can still help you study some time. If you want.”

“Um, thanks I appreciate the offer I guess.” Elliot said.

“Also, even if you don’t mind going deaf at the ripe old age of 13, the other people living here would prefer to retain functioning auditory systems.”

Elliot gave me a smirk at that.

“Well if it’s for you dear sister I guess I can turn it down a teeny-tiny bit.”

“My sincerest thanks brother dearest.” I bowed dramatically at him before turning away and leaving the living room.

I made my way to the room and tossed my bag onto my bed and sat down roughly on the chair at my desk.

“What a weird day.” I reflected out loud to myself again.

“Let’s see.” I said, refocusing my thoughts. “What do I need to do?”

There was a bit of homework I could work on, but nothing that was due tomorrow. Also we did probably have that Biology quiz Mrs. Albrecht was giving not so subtle hints about. I should do fine on it, but a little bit of studying wouldn't go amiss.

As I was rifling through my school bag I considered what else I might need to work on tonight, when I felt a sudden chill run up my spine.

“The party…”

A feeling of dread and anxiety swept through me as I realized I actually agreed to go to this party tonight, on such short notice too.

“Gah, what was I thinking?” I scolded myself.

Really, I knew what I was thinking, it was a chance for me to hang out with Scott…outside of school…at a party.

“Gah, stupid hormones.” I yelled down at my body.

Really though, we were just friends, and nothing was going to happen tonight anyways.

But what if something did happen though…

“Guh, go away stupid horny thoughts.” I yelled at my empty room.

Alright, I'd be better off focusing on something I was more comfortable with, homework.

************************************************************************

Dinner time rolled around and Mom called me down to eat.

“Dinner’s ready!” She yelled

“Coming!” I yelled back.

Putting down my biology text book I made my way downstairs and sat down in my chair next to Elliot and across from Mom.

Elliot and Dad were already digging into the food she'd prepared, but she was patiently waiting for me to sit down before she got started.

“Hello there Jenni, how was your day at school.” My mother asked me innocuously.

“Um fine, pretty normal I guess.” I responded

“Just fine? Your classes are going alright? Did you have any tests today?”

“No mom, no tests, and yes everything in my classes was fine.” I lied.

I considered for a moment telling them about my nightmare, but that would have required admitting falling asleep in class. If I did that there were better than even odds I would get at least a medium sized lecture from Mom about it.

Better to just forget about it and move on honestly.

I could also tell them about the crazy guy driving that white truck that almost hit me, but then she would definitely go into her overly worried super protective mom mode. If I wanted any chance of her letting me go to a “party” tonight, I couldn’t risk it.

“Well if you say so sweetie, Elliot how about you?” She turned her attention to my brother who was currently stuffing his face with mashed potatoes.

“Huh?” He muttered, spitting out bits of potato in the process.

“School dear, how are things going?” She clarified.

“Oh, fine.” Elliot responded simply, promptly going back to devouring his plate of mashed potatoes and Salisbury steak.

Mom looked up at the ceiling in a gesture of exasperation.

“Children I’m trying to have a good and open discussion with you about your lives and your schoolwork, but you’re making it awfully difficult. You really really are.”

Elliot and I gave each other awkward and confused looks.

“Honey, why don’t we just let them eat their food before we start any interrogations.” Dad interjected “After all, you put so much work into making such a good meal. It’d be a waste not to enjoy it right?”

“I suppose.” Mom conceded.

I gave Dad an appreciative smile when we caught each other's eye and he smiled back at me with a wink.

He was always the peacemaker in the family, whenever one of us was in a tiff or there was fighting or yelling, he would calm things down for whoever was involved.

Dad was also key in mitigating Mom’s more…overbearing tendencies. I don’t want to speak for Elliot, but I for one appreciated it enormously.

So in essence, Mom was the strict disciplinarian of the family, and Dad was the mediator and glue that kept us all together.

Riding high on my feelings of affection and love for my Dad I decided to risk it all and ask them both about what I hoped to do tonight.

“So…” I opened strongly.

Mom’s eagle-eyed attention focused on me.

“What is it, is everything alright, did something happen at school?” The words blitzed out of her mouth.

“No, no, school is fine I just…”

I was struggling trying to decide how best to ask to be allowed to go to what is probably a party with lots of underage drinking, and very likely a decent amount of sex happening behind closed doors.

“There's this party tonight I was hoping to go to. I figured I’d ask if it was okay for me to go.”

“A party.” Mom said bluntly. “One where I assume alcohol will be offered?”

“Maybe.” I said meekly not making eye contact.

“A party where both young men and women will probably be engaging in sexual activity, likely without proper protection.”

“I don’t really know about any of that…”

“Well of course you can go honey.” Mom said.

“Really?”

“No of course not, who do you think I am.” She told me. Cutting me down, just as quickly she lifted my spirits up.

Elliot beside me laughed mid chew and spit out even more potato onto his plate.

“Mom, I won’t be doing any bad stuff like that, I just want to hang out with my friends.” I implored her.

“Hang out drinking and having sex you mean.”

“Mom, I just said I wasn’t going to be doing any of that stuff.”

“Uh-huh.” She said unconvinced.

“I just…it’s my senior year. I want to spend whatever time I can with them.”

I decided to switch gears.

“Look, all my grades are and have been good if not great.”

Truthfully my grades were amazing, but I didn’t want to boast.

“Isn’t it okay to relax and spend some time with friends doing normal everyday teenage things.”

“Relax and have fun, yes. Drink and have sex, no. I was your age once, I know exactly what goes on at parties like this.” My mother responded ruthlessly. “You have such a bright future ahead of you, I can’t sit by and let you waste it by going to a party like this.”

“But Mom…”

“No means no Jennifer. I’ve said my piece and you will not be going to this party.”

An awkward silence descended on the dinner table. No one spoke up for what seemed like a whole minute.

Elliot did keep eating though.

Eventually I just got up from my chair and said,

“I still have some homework I’d like to work on. Good night then.”

Turning around, I left the room.

Not for anything like schoolwork of course, but to prepare.