Falling for Summer by Bridget Essex Page B

know you wanted to go out with your friends tonight, Mandy, but there will be plenty of other nights for that.  I mean, my God, you have the whole summer stretching in front of you.”  She sighed happily, thrusting another bobby pin into her updo.  She pinned me to the spot with her reflection in the vanity mirror.  “We don't ask much of you,” she reminded me, one brow up.  “Just promise me that you'll stay around and watch the kids and make sure they don't get up to any mischief.”
    “Yeah, Mom, God,” I'd said, blowing another bubble with my bubble gum, not because I was trying to be one of those teenagers in the eighties who thinks they're too cool for life (but I did kind of think that about myself), but because I was trying to hide my nervousness.
    Tiffany had been planning that slumber party all week, fully aware that the parents weren't going to be home to watch her or her friends and that, technically, she might get away with it without supervision.  My little sister had some crazy ideas about what passed for fun, including going to the corner store, buying her weight in candy and then eating it while watching VHSes of cartoons.  It wasn't too crazy, and the cartoon-watching is something my parents would have agreed with, but my mother would have objected to the candy.  I was also pretty certain that Tiffany had some other plans up her sleeve, but what they were I wasn't sure of.
    The problem is that I didn't mind watching my little sister.  I loved her, even though she annoyed me to death, and her friends were all equally annoying, but they were good kids...  It's just that I'd had something planned for that Friday night, too.  And it certainly wasn't “going out with my friends,” though that's what I'd told my parents.
    I'd...just started seeing a girl.
    Well, “seeing a girl” is kind of strong wording for two teenaged girls (who really had no idea what they were doing) trying their best to date each other when being gay was something that really wasn't done, or remotely acceptable, especially out in a middle-of-nowhere town like Lake George.  And especially if you were still considered kids, being seventeen. 
    So far, so good, though.  No one knew that Monica and I had a thing for each other, because we were very, very, very careful about never getting caught.  Monica was my best friend, and everyone expected us to spend a lot of time together, anyway, because of that.  So when we went places in Monica's beat-up old car, handed down to her from her older brother, we could find spots to park and make out and do other things, and no one ever suspected, not even a little bit.  It was the perfect setup, and though it was nerve-wracking and often scary, we tried our best to be together whenever we could be.
    That Friday, Monica and I were supposed to go out, park alongside the lake and have fun again.  We'd promised each other we would, because this past week, we hadn't had that much time with each other because Monica's extended family was in town for their family reunion. 
    So when my mother told me that I had to stay with the kids for the slumber party...that really didn't fit into my plans.
    “Mom, they're all ten ,” I told her for the umpteenth time, following her into the bathroom, where she grabbed her gold brooch off of the vanity and affixed it to her lace collar.  I knew I was sounding petulant, the unfairness of the situation making my tone all squeaky, but I really needed to get out of this.  I was desperate.  “They can totally take care of themselves!  You left me alone when I was ten.  And I had really good plans tonight.  This is pretty unfair,” I told her, all in a rush.
    My desperation was starting to become apparent.
    “We left you alone because you were responsible,” my mother told me firmly.  “And that's something your sister is not.  And you can just do whatever it is you were going to do tomorrow.  I'm sure your friends will wait to see