Maybe Sorta Kinda Grounded

by Ahana, age 8
Maybe Sorta Kinda Grounded Ahana likes the beach, the snow, and swimming.

““Sometimes, I tell Emilly some of my secrets, and she tells me some of hers, and we both keep them secret.”
“Emilly tells me all of your secrets.”’

Chapter One    

Once there was a girl named Emilly. Her sister’s name was Julie. And they always played. They had nicknames for each other but they were never that mean. One day, Emilly and Julie had a big fight. Emilly had a very mean, mean name to call her little sister Julie. It was “Stinkbreath.” Julie’s name for Emilly was “Meanie.” They kept on calling each other that and they never stopped the fight until their mom came home.

The mom said, “Why is this place is a mess?”

They both said at the same time, “She did it!”

The mom said, “Well, you two are grounded for a whole week! You’re going to pick up all this stuff and clean it up, and tidy my room AND yours. And your dad’s room.”

And then their dad came home. “What is this whole big mess?”

They both said at the same time, “She did it!”

Their dad made another punishment. “You two both have to do ten chores a week until September! Every day I’ll write you a list.”

They both said, We’re sorry,” and got to work. They didn’t have much time to go to school but their mom said, “I want this place tidied up by the time that I get home tomorrow.”

The mom picked up Julie’s stuffed bunny and said “Throw this in the garbage.”

Julie said, “No! That’s my only stuffed bunny!”

“Then why did I find this whole stack of stuffed bunnies in your candy jar?”

She said, “Ummmm….” She was speechless!

Her mom said, “Now! And you can save one if you want, but I want you to throw all of the rest out.”

Julie did as she was told, but secretly she kept all her bunnies in another place… in her lollipop drawer!

Her mom said, “I found these in your lollipop drawer! You’re grounded til November!”

Julie said, “Do you have anything for me to do?”

“No, what did you ever do?”

“Really? Thanks, you guys.” 

“Julie was the one who started the fight, not me,” said Emilly.

The parents believed this, so they called “Julie! Stop watching a show, give the phone to Emilly and start doing this now! No more discussions, now! Go to your room and pack. I’m sending you to your friend’s home to tell her about what you’ve done. Just this once. But I’m not going to pack for you this time.”

“Oh my god. Seriously? I really really have to get to work. Can you please pack for me?”

“Fine. Only because you’re doing work.”

By the time mom was finished, Julie was finished with everything. But secretly, she put it all in the backyard. 

Her dad said, “You cleaned up very quickly! I’m going to go and get my car from the backyard.”

“Julie!! I have a surprise for you!” said Dad.

“What is it?”

“The smashing robot that I made out of all of your very cool and fun things.”

“Dad!! I didn’t think that you’d be so mad at me! I thought only Mom would be, cuz you’re nicer than mom!”

“I am? I mean, yes, I am. Okay, I’m sorry, I’ll take all of the stuff out.”

She cleaned up very quickly, but this time, she actually did it. Julie was a very quick cleaner, so she finished, and her dad took her for a ride. 

“When you said that I was nicer than your mom, I’m going to take you for a little ride, just for fun. But it’s going to be a short ride and it’s going to go very quickly. This is where I go when I pretend to ride my bike. I go to this tractor, and nobody is here right now because it is night time. This is my real work. I used to work in a gas station, so everyone is feeling bad for me. But I’m a racecar driver now, so I get paid a lot of money!”

“You should tell that to the whole family.”

“I don’t know about that.”

Chapter Two

When they reached the tractor, Julie said, “This is the coolest thing ever! I wish Emilly was here!” 

“Well, I don’t really want to bring Emilly. She knows how to drive a car, soo… and then your mom will be the only person who doesn’t know what my job is. So I don’t really want to tell her that I have this. You have to keep my secret though. If you don’t, you’re going to get a humongous punishment,” said their dad.

“Sometimes, I tell Emilly some of my secrets, and she tells me some of hers, and we both keep them secret.”

“Emilly tells me all of your secrets.”

“What!! That’s so mean, I kept all of hers in!”

“That’s so mean.”

“Well, not really, you told me all of yours, too. I told Emilly I read your diary.”

“Emilly didn’t tell me! I don’t want you to drop me off. Emilly actually taught me how to drive a car, so hop on, I’m going to take you back home and tell mom that I want her to drive me.”

Then dad says, “Whee! Emilly sure knows how to drive.”

“I’m not Emilly.”

“I know, but I’m just saying that Emilly really knows how to drive.”

“But I’m better than her, right?”

“Ummm… no.”

“Now I especially don’t want you take me. You’re being very un-good at parenting right now. But Mom is nicer, and you are not nicer than mom! You are the meanest dad in the whole entire world!”

“Well then why did I pack you rice krispies for all of this?”

“You did?”

“Well, not anymore.”

“Uh oh, let’s go back to the tractor. I’ll drive.”

So then dad says, “Who’s nicer now, me or Mom?”

“Ummm… you.”

“Really? Am I actually, or are you pretending?”

“No, you are, actually, for real! Now can I have the rice krispies?”

“No, you get to share your rice krispies with your friends. Let’s go there. Mom’s probably wondering where you are and probably so is my friend.”

Chapter Three

They finally reached Coco’s house. 

“Coco! I’m so happy to see you!”

“Me too,” said Coco. 

Julie said, “I’m starving! I should have ate them before?”

“What?”

“The yummy yummy dumplings. At least I have some in my bag.”

“Julie? You have dumplings in your bag?”

“No.”

“Let me check your bag.”

“Oh, no dumplings.”

“Bye, dad!”

“Bye! Hope you have a good time!” 

At the sleepover, Julie’s like, “So, I started a fight with my sister Emilly, and I lied to my parents about not starting the fight, but then Emilly told them and they believed Emilly, and then I told the truth, and then they felt bad for me so they told me that I could come to your house just for one time. And she said it like this: just for ONCE! And I was like ahh, and then I said, okay, deal.”

They had lots of yummy rice krispies and the yummy yummy dumplings, which Julie hid in her bag, and they slept. 

Her dad was there to pick her up.

“Dad, can we go to your tractor, please?”

“Okay, we can go to the tractor. But just this once. And I mean just this once!”

“Okay. Yippee! Bye, Coco!” She gave Coco a big hug.

Coco gave Julie a big hug too. “Woohee!”

Chapter Four

They went to the tractor. They finally got there. “Whee! This is so much fun,” said Julie. And then they left. “Already, dad? Please can we get just one more?”

“Okay, but just one more.”

“Wheee! This is so much fun,” said Julie. 

Then they left. “Emilly, it was so much fun at the tractor!”

“What tractor?”

“Dad’s job tractor!”

“Julie!” said the Dad. “I told you not to tell them!”

“Tell us what?”

“Julie, stop. Be quiet and get to your chores. Otherwise you’re never going to go there again.”

“Okay, I’m just going to talk to her for one second.”

“Julie, you cannot do that ever again. It’s so, so, so bad. And then they’re going to know what my job is.”

“Why don’t you tell them what your job is?”

“Because your mom hates racecar drivers. The only one she likes is Derek.” And Derek is the dad’s name. “And I am Derek, the one that she likes.”

“Then why don’t you tell her?”

“I suppose so.”

Then they came out.

“Dad has something to say!” said Julie.

“What is it, Dad?” said Emilly.

“Go on, dad, tell them!”

“Ummmm… I sort of have a new job that’s a racecar driver and I’m Derek the driver!”

“You are? Is that why when you go the bathroom when we all see racecar drivers and you are Derek?”

“Yes.”

“Well now we know, so you can always get prepared earlier. Why wouldn’t you tell us that before?”

“Well… so I took Julie to the tractor and we raced so much and it was so much fun, because Emilly taught Julie how to drive a car. So we raced and raced and raced, and then we left. Julie was like really? Do we have to leave already? And I was having so much fun so I said maybe not already, and then I probably should not have taken the grounded girl to the tractor, but I really wanted to go there myself, and I didn’t want to get in trouble by anybody, so I always had to keep it secret.”

“Emilly knows about this!”

“Dad! You lied to me?”

“Maybe sorta kinda…” Then her dad said, “Yes.”

“But Emilly and you would have kept it a secret, but then I had to tell the whole family. And now I’m happy that I told the whole family.”

The mom made the decision that “You both do not have to be grounded. Your dad and I will clean all of this up.”

“We’ll help! Do we have to do the chores until November?”

“No!”

“Yay!! Let’s get to cleaning!”

The End. 


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