Excerpt: ~Muse Lover~ Book 1 - Part II

“Bye, mom,” called Amilee. Rider’s mom had just pulled up in her sky blue (with fake wood paneling) station wagon. Amilee and Drakon had just made it to the door when Leesah caught them.
“Just where do you think you’re going?” she asked. Amilee slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. Of course this had to happen now.
“Miss Skylar,” Began Drakon, “Amilee and I asked you this morning if we could go to the Mall with our friends from AP class today.”
“And we asked you if we could go Friday after school,” said Amilee in a hopeless voice. “I suppose you don’t remember us asking at dinner yesterday either . . .” Leesah frowned menacingly.
“I suppose you don’t remember me asking you to clean your room before dinner yesterday.” She said, mimicking Amilee’s tone.
“Oh-mi-god, mom, you haven’t even been up there! It’s spotless!” said Amilee rolling her eyes and sighing heavily.
“Oh really? What about the laundry?”
“Mom, you told me to stop running up and down the stairs!” At that moment, the doorbell rang. Drakon went to open it.
“Hello Rider, hello Mrs. Hailey, won’t you come in?” he said cordially. “I am afraid we are having some disagreement about chores. I could have sworn we did them all, but Miss Skylar seems to disagree.” Mrs. Hailey raised an eyebrow and walked over to Leesah.
“Hello, Leesah, I’m _______ Hailey, Riders mom? I believe we spoke on the phone a few hours ago. The clouds of anger that had formed on Leesah’s brow broke like a ray of sunlight had come though them.
“Oh yes, ________, how nice of you to stop by,” said Leesah. She still seemed oblivious.
“When we spoke on the phone, I recall you said you were relieved you didn’t have to give Amilee and Drakon a ride to the mall today. You thanked me for being willing to take them and said you and your younger daughter Jeannette were going to a Horse Rescue to sort a shipment of feed that came though last minute. I was under the impression this meant Amilee and Drakon would be aloud to come with us.” Leesah’s smile froze on her face. She strode over to the bulletin board and quickly found the note she had scrawled this morning about the feed shipment.
“Damn,” she said, then turning, she yelled down the hall, “Jeannette! Get your boots and coat and get in the car! We have to go to The Rescue!”
“About time! yelled Jeannette, and she ran down the hall and to the side door already coated and booted. “I was wondering when you were gonna remember!” she complained. Then she wrenched the door open and ran out to the car, slamming the door behind her.
“I am very sorry ________, I guess I got today and tomorrow mixed up,” apologized Leesah.
“It’s alright,” said _________, “I once forced Rider to go to soccer practice when the season was over. This -in comparison- is relatively small, I hope you get there in time.”
“Thank you,” said Leesah, “Please be good you two,” she told Amilee and Drakon. Amilee turned to go, rolling her eyes as she did so. Drakon smiled and said,
“We will, Miss Skylar.”

“You lied to her you know,” said Amilee, as they drove to meet up with the rest of the class.
“What?” asked Drakon, a worried look on his face, “what do you mean I lied to her?”
“We may not be going to break any laws, but we aren’t exactly going to be ‘good’ . . . at least, not by her standards.” Mrs. Hailey laughed.
“While I doubt dumpster diving is on anyone’s ‘good’ list, you are doing it to save your homes and those of your neighbors. I do believe this is one case where you are adhering to a higher code of ethics.” Amilee turned to Rider, shocked.
“You told your mom what we’re planning?!” she cried. Mrs. Hailey laughed and Rider shrugged.
“More like dragged it out of me,” he said. “I don’t usually go to the mall except with girls, and mom knew something was up. She bagged and badgered till she cracked me. She was mad at first but I explained the circumstances. She made me promise to take a hot shower and to take my clothes off in the garage before coming in.”
“Even Avi-whosits can stink.” Mrs. Hailey said still laughing.
“Avatars mom,” reminded Rider gently, “Avatars.”