Judith trailed behind her parents as they marched back to the car. No one said a word until they were in the car and Edward had pulled out of the parking lot.
"Well, what do you have to say for yourself, young lady?"
Judith sighed. She should have known she would get caught sooner or later. Before she could confess, her father continued.
"You know what the rules are regarding dating and you blatantly disregarded them and went behind our backs. I can't believe you would be so disrespectful to us. Although with the way your mother has been behaving of late, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised."
Both Alma and Judith were shocked by his outburst. Judith sunk back in her seat, not wanting to get in the middle of this one.
"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Alma snapped.
"Oh, I saw the way you were acting tonight. Is that the way you always behave at school? Quite frankly, it was embarrassing."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Alma crossed her arms and stared out the window. She pursed her lips tightly together, willing herself not to say something she might regret.
"We can talk about that later," he said through clenched teeth. Edward looked up to glance at Judith in the rear view mirror. "How long has this been going on?"
Alma bristled at the question, but when she realized Edward was speaking to their daughter, she turned back to the window.
"Not long, a few weeks," Judith answered. "But it's not like we were dating dating. I didn't think it would matter since we were just hanging out at school."
"Of course, at school," Edward scoffed. He looked at Alma. "You're at the school all day. Why weren't you aware this was going on?"
"I'm not there to keep tabs on our children," Alma spoke through clenched teeth. "I was working. I was there to do a job. But that is beside the point. You know our rules, Judith. You must have known that we wouldn't approve."
Judith couldn't argue with that point. "I didn't think it would be such a big deal. It's not like we were going to sneak out anywhere without permission and you know, it's really awkward being the only person I know to have these kind of dating rules. Everyone else I know can date if they want to, even Maura and Jeremy. It's kind of unfair."
"We aren't the parents of everyone you know," Edward responded. "And it's not up to you to decide which rules you want to follow and which ones you don't. We had the same rules for Jeremy. He wasn't allowed to date until he was sixteen either."
"Even if your father and I didn't agree that children under sixteen do not need to date, we still wouldn't have approved of this relationship, Judith."
"But why?" she protested.
"First of all, there's a big age difference between the two of you. You are barely fifteen and a freshman in high school. He's a senior and practically an adult."
"We're only two and a half years apart. There's a way bigger age difference between you and dad."
"When you're our age it won't matter, but now it does matter and more than you realize. A boy Vince's age is going to be interested in a different sort of relationship than a girl your age would be."
As Edward voiced his agreement, Judith slumped back into her seat and rolled her eyes. She gave up. There was no reasoning with them. She was just going to have to accept that her fake relationship, that had probably gone on long enough anyway, was over and accept whatever punishment they were going to give her.
* * * * *
Mr. Gregory looked at Lucy expectantly as she hung up the phone. He had heard enough from Lucy's side of the conversation with her daughter to gather that Vince wasn't at home.
"No luck?"
"Maura hasn't seen him, but she did say those 'friends' of his have been hanging around." Lucy sighed in defeat. "I don't understand. He was so looking forward to the art show tonight and I really thought he had left his bad influences behind for good. He seemed to be doing so well."
"He was," Mr. Gregory assured her. "It's not easy being a kid his age and saying no to people who seem to accept you. I was mixed up with a really bad crowd when I was in high school. Even when I knew they weren't good for me and I wanted to move on to something better, it wasn't easy for me to break away from them. I backslid into old habits so many times. I'm embarrassed to think back on it now, but I got to a better place eventually and I think Vince will too. He's already on his way there and he has an advantage I didn't have. He has you."
Lucy scoffed. "I wish that meant as much as you think it does." If someone had asked her twenty years ago what her life would be like, she never would have thought she would be a single parent of two children, neither having their fathers in their lives. That was a life for someone else, not for her who had grown up in a wealthy, well-respected family. Where did it all go wrong? Maybe she should have tried harder with Craig. Maybe she shouldn't have gotten involved with him in the first place. Maybe she should have given up her dreams and switched to a less demanding career once her children were born. She didn't know what the answers were, but she couldn't help feeling that she should have done something differently and all of their lives would have been better. "I must have let him down."
Mr. Gregory set a hand firmly on her shoulder and waited until she looked him in the eye. "No, you didn't." He could tell she wasn't convinced. "Vince is going to turn up eventually, either here or at home. Maura or Mr. Clark will call us when he does. In the meantime, do you want to go for a ride?"
"I couldn't ask you to leave the show," Lucy protested.
"You didn't," he insisted as he walked over to his car and opened the passenger door for Lucy.
* * * * *
Vince dragged himself along behind Scot and the gang. He knew he should just turn and walk away without looking back, but he doubted they would just let him go. "Listen, I'm late for something and I really have to go. Good luck with whatever you have going on, but I - I have somewhere else I need to be."
Scot grabbed him by the arm and pulled him forward. "Hey, man, you were in on this with us from the beginning and you're staying with it til the end. This won't take long and then you can go, but we've got to see this through."
Vince could feel his blood pressure starting to rise as he tried not to panic. "We agreed we were done."
"We are. We just have to tie up a few loose ends." He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and looked up at the building in front of them with a smirk. "All that's left is to get rid of any evidence."
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