Page 18 of Betting on Lizzie

“Maya, honey. Sit down.”

“This doesn’t sound good,” Maya mumbled. He shot her the “dad” look, and she shut up and sat.

“I had an interesting conversation about what happened Saturday night with your friend Bella today.”

Maya’s eyebrows jumped to her forehead. “What? Why?”

“I needed to ask her some questions about her cousin, whose bar burned down that night.”

“Oh, yeah, I heard about Lizzie’s bar.”

“You know Lizzie?”

“I mean, not really. But she seems cool.”

“Bella told me about the drinking.”

“Dad, I’m sorry. I was going to tell you,” Maya said. “I just didn’t know how. And I was worried if too many people found out, I’d get kicked off the team.”

“We’ve talked about this. You said drinking was dumb. Did Bella talk you into it?”

“What? No. Bella’s a bigger goody two-shoes than I am. If anything, it was my fault.” She sighed. “Drinking is dumb. I got really sick. I swear, I’ll never do it again.”

Ben was quiet for a second. “It kind of hurt worse that you didn’t think you could tell me.”

“Dad. It’s not like that. Didn’t you ever keep things from your parents when you were a teenager?” He considered that a rhetorical question because she already knew he had. “I may not be old enough to legally drink, but I am almost an adult.”

“Maybe in the eyes of the law. You’ve still got a lot of growing up to do.” He hesitated before bringing up the other thing. “What about this guy?”

Embarrassment washed over her. “It was so stupid. I was so stupid. I shouldn’t have let myself get into that situation. I mean, it wasn’t so bad I had to fight him off or anything. I just didn’t want to cause a scene or make it a big deal.”

“It could have easily turned into a big deal, Maya. Drunk boys don’t make good decisions. Neither do drunk girls.”

“I know, I know. Believe me, I know. You should have seen Lizzie, Dad. She’s like a foot and a half shorter and half this guy’s weight, and she still scared the crap out of him. She was fierce.”

“She didn’t think telling your parent would be a good idea?”

“Honestly, Dad, we barely talked. We were all exhausted during the car ride that night, and I left before she came back in the morning. Lizzie told Bella to tell me that I should talk to you, and I said I would.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Gonna add lying to your list of sins, I see.”

“I would have told you.” She looked away. “Someday.”

Ben sighed. “Look, I’m glad she was there. But that doesn’t change the fact that you shouldn’t have been. At the party, in a room, alone with a boy.”

“What’s my punishment?”

“You’re grounded for a month. School and basketball only. Understood?”

“A month?” she exclaimed. “That’s way too long.”

“I could take your phone away.”

“No. No.” She held up her hands in surrender. “A month sounds fair.”

“That’s what I thought. You ready to eat?”

Maya was abnormally quiet over dinner. He figured she was mad at him about the grounding, but he soon discovered she had something else on her mind.

---