{Juliana's POV}
Eric brought out a piece of paper and wrote his number on it. When he was done, he gave it to me. I collected it and stuffed it in my front pocket.
"That's my number." He said. "I'm thinking of taking you out. Where would you like to go?. The cinema... I mean the movie theater." He was so straight forward and it made me flabbergasted.
I gasped surprised. "Are you sure?."
"Yes."
My phone ranged in the middle of our conversation and it pissed me off. I screened through my phone only to see that it was my mom calling. I was frustrated to the bone.
Did she have to call right now?. Bad timing. Can't they leave me be?. They are always watching over me like a baby. I thought. "It's my mom calling. I gotta go." I stood up to leave.
My dad drove us home. I was so exhausted that I settled on a chair. Just then my mom came to me.
"Your dad wishes to speak with you." She flashed a faint smile.
"Why?."
"He is in his room." She replied ignoring my question.
I walked the stairs which were covered in white tiles and golden handrails. I went up to the door and knocked
"Come in." I heard his gentle voice. I entered and settled on the chair in front of my dad. I just stared blankly at him. Then an awkward silence followed.
"Where were you earlier?." He finally talked.
"I went to get some aerobics training." I was confused. Why is he asking such a weird question or am I in trouble?. I thought.
"We did not find you there."
"I ran into a friend of mine and when we were done with the aerobics training, we went to a quiet location to discuss. He is one of the new students at my school.''
"He?." My dad set a very confusing look at me. "He." He repeated. "A girl doesn't keep a "he" as a friend."
You say what now?. Lucy changes boyfriends like clothes and she is just fourteen years old. How am I not allowed to have one?. Hello, am going to be seventeen in a couple of months. I thought furiously.
"I'm sixteen for heaven's sake. In a couple of months, I'll be seventeen. So what is wrong with me having a male friend?. You just make me sick in my tummy. Am going to be an adult soon." I lashed out at dad. I felt sorry for what I said but I was too furious to retract.
"I don't want you to get hurt." My dad simply said.
Hurt what does that mean?. How can having a male friend be dangerous?. I don't get it. I pondered. "No one is going to hurt me, dad. Besides, I'm not a kid anymore. You can't tell me how to conduct my life." I said with smoke shooting out of my ear. " Can I go now?." I gave a fake smile.
"Yes."
"Good night Dad." I pecked dad's cheek and left the room relieved that my conversation with him was over. I couldn't bear it one more second.
When I entered my room. I dialed Eric's number. " Hello," I said.
"Hi. Are you going to the cinema with me or not?. I have two tickets and I hope you say yes."
"Of course."
"I'll text you the location."
"Ok."
"Sweet dreams."I
"Good night."
"Bye." He hanged the call. I looked beside me only to find Lucy. I was frightened.
"Geez, you scared the hell out of me. Why did you sneak up on me like that?. My room is my privacy, which means you have to knock. Say the magic word." I said fuming in anger.
"Abrakadabra." She smirked.
"Out!." I yelled pointing at the door. Lucy hurriedly snatched my phone. "Give that back!." I snarled.
"Never."
I kept tossing pillows at her but she deflected them. She was behind the door. All of a sudden the door flung open hitting Lucy and making her fall to the ground. My phone also fell and it shattered into unrepairable bits. My jaw dropped as I raged in anger. I was pissed!.
"I heard some noise so I came to check what..." Rick who opened the door abruptly came to halt in the middle of his sentence because blood was streaming from Lucy's nose. Her eyes were boiling red. Right now she looked like freaking Frankenstein. Mark stood still with his mouth wide open.
"I never k...kn...knew...that... that...y...yo...you were at the back of the door." Rick was terrified knowing she had a bad temper. Lucy pounced on Mark and began to slam him with a barrage of searing strikes. I was dumbfounded. My mom came to check what was going on, she was surprised to find Lucy pouncing on Rick. She tried to stop Lucy from hurting Rick any further but Lucy inadvertently hurt my mom. My mom collapsed bleeding from her nose. That was when I knew that Lucy had crossed the line so I slapped her and hauled her out of my room. I took a first aid box and treated mom and Rick.
Can you believe that my father sent Lucy to invade my privacy and learn more about Eric?. Lucy agreed because of her bad experience with Greg so she hates boys now. Dad was planning to sabotage my chance of getting a boyfriend. What was he thinking?.
"Dad, I can't believe you could do such a thing. I'm so disappointed in you." I glared fiercely at Lucy. My dad gave me some money to buy myself a phone. I just stood up and stormed to my room.
The next day, I went to buy myself a phone then I saw that Eric had already texted the location of the cinema to me and I took a bus straight to the cinema. Eric was already waiting for me with two popcorns in his hand. One for me and the other for himself. I had a nice time at the cinema. To me, this was the beginning of a love story or so I thought.