"Well, that wasn't exactly the way I saw our first date ending," Matt said as he drove toward my house.

"I'm sorry," I said fidgeting with my hands in my lap.

Matt cocked a brow. "Sorry for what?"

I shrugged. "I tried to ignore Samantha...but I have just put up with way too much from her," I reasoned.

"Why would you apologize for kicking Samantha's ass? She deserved it." He said "Remind me to never piss you off though."

I smiled as he grabbed my hand threading his fingers with mine. "I thought maybe you were mad since you were holding me back," I said explaining my apology.

Matt chuckled. "Actually I was just concerned you would kill her...I figured you should leave the manslaughter charge for our second date," he said shooting me a smirk.

He pulled into the driveway and put the car in park before hopping out and rounding the car to open my door. When we got to the door he looked at his watch. " 7 minutes to spare" he said with a smile.

"Well, in that case," I said rearing up on my tiptoes and throwing my arms around his neck I pressed my lips to his. He grazed my top lip with his tongue attempting to deepen the kiss which I quickly allowed. The kiss was perfect...that was until the front door opened.

"Goodnight Matthew" Nick said his tone sounding upset.

Matt quickly broke the kiss. "'night CeCe," he said giving my hand a squeeze.

I smiled. "Night"

Matt nodded toward Nick before turning and walking to his car.

I turned to Nick. "That was kind of rude," I said upset that Nick had cut my kiss goodnight short.

Nick opened the door wide and stood to the side. "Inside" he said sharply and I cocked a brow in confusion before stepping inside.

I looked at my watch...still 5 minutes to spare. "You ruined my goodnight kiss," I pouted.

"Where is Joe?" Nick asked his tone still firm.

"He told Matt to bring me home, he was helping Kevvy transport some of the kids back to campus that had been drinking." I said.

Nick cocked a brow. "Were you drinking?"

"No! of course not," I said slightly irritated that he would even ask. "What's wrong, you are acting funny."

Nick cocked a brow before crossing his arms across his chest. "I received a call a few minutes ago from Mrs. Chase," He said. "Wanna guess what we talked about?"

I groaned, there was no need to guess, I knew exactly what the discussion entailed. And was fairly certain I knew where my current discussion was leading...again,fuck my life.

"Fighting Cecelia? Seriously?!" Nick said raising his voice "and even worse, Samantha? You two used to be best friends...her mom said you broke her nose."

"USED to be best friends, she has done nothing but bully me for the last three years," I said internally celebrating the news of her broken nose.

"So you think the solution to her bullying is to bully her back is that it?" he questioned cocking a brow.

I shrugged. I had no answer for him; at least not one he would want to hear, because in my opinion that was exactly the solution...I had finally wiped that smug look off her once pretty little face.

My lack of response only fueled Nicks temper. "Fighting is never the answer Cecelia, it never resolves anything, and it only produces more problems."

"It may have not resolved anything but it certainly made me feel better," I muttered. "Maybe she will think twice about picking on me again or stealing my work."

Nick's brow furrowed. "Go to your room, I can't even believe you are trying to justify your bad behavior to me right now." he said pointing up the stairs.

"I can't believe you are mad about me defending myself! Whose side are you on?" I spat.

"I am always on your side, but the way you handled this situation was out of line," he said.

"This is stupid, I guarantee her parents don't even care that she hit me!" I argued not moving from my spot.

Nick's once loud tone quieted, which just seemed to make his words that much more intimidating. "Well, it must suck having parents that don't care. We however DO care and we don't condone fighting, go.to.your.room!" he said emphasizing each word and pointing toward my room again.

I turned without another word and stomped up the stairs in a huff, sure it probably was not helping my situation but it made me feel better at the time. I entered my room and slammed the door behind me before grabbing my phone and calling Matt.

"Dr. Chase called Nick," I said as soon as Matt picked up the phone not even bothering with a greeting.

"Of course she did," Matt said not sounding the least bit surprised. "Her parents don't have the time of day for her but they are the first to point fingers and tell other parents what a shitty job they are doing of raising their unruly children."

"I broke her nose," I said no longer able to hide the smile that overtook my face.

Matt chuckled, "You sound awfully proud of yourself."

"I am, it's a fight that was long overdue," I said walking into my bathroom and wetting a washcloth to wipe some dried blood off the corner of my mouth. "Stupid bitch busted my lip with her cheap shot...who hits a person with their arms pinned? Honestly."

"In her defense it was the only way she could get a shot in," Matt said chuckling. "You are kind of a feisty live wire."

"Yet another thing you learned about me tonight," I said pulling my hair back into a ponytail.

"Is Nick pissed about you fighting?" Matt asked sounding concerned. "Is that why he looked so mad when he opened the door, I thought maybe it was because I was kissing you."

"He is pissed," I said taking off my jeans and pulling on my pink flamingo pajama pants almost killing myself in the process. Putting on pants and talking on the phone at the same time is not an easy task...especially when you are blessed with Jonas balance. "OUCH!"

"What are you doing?" Matt asked chuckling. "Are you alright?"

"I'm putting on my 'mingos...but it's not exactly easy to do one handed so I hopped around like an idiot trying to catch my balance and stubbed my toe." I said giving Matt the play by play.

"What the hell are 'mingos?" He asked now sounding thoroughly confused.

"My pink flamingo pajama pants," I stated proudly admiring the pattern as I sat on my bed cradling my injured toe.

Matt chuckled "You are too cute...and apparently tragically balanced" he teased.

"That's me in a nutshell, a musically inclined, peanut butter addicted, tragically balanced, feisty live wire wrapped in pink flamingo jammie pants."

Matt let out a loud laugh. "You forgot hot," he said, I could hear his smirk through the phone.

"I give myself a mildly cute at best" I said correcting him.

"I beg to differ Cee," Matt said "there is nothing mild about how beautiful you are."

I blushed unsure of how to respond and my bedroom door opened.

"Off the phone," Nick instructed walking in and shutting the door.

"I have to go," I said internally cursing Nick for intruding in on my moment for the second time that evening.

"Nick?" Matt questioned knowingly.

"Yea..." I replied as Nick made his way over to me and held out his hand.

"Ok," Matt said "call me later if you can."

"K...bye," I said hanging up the phone and handing it over to Nick who slipped it into his pocket.

"When I send you to your room it's to think about why you are in trouble, not to come up here and talk on the phone." Nick said sounding annoyed.

I rolled my eyes. "I've already thought about it...and I still think it's stupid"

Wow...not nearly as stupid as saying that thought out loud...THAT was stupid.

Nick's eyes narrowed. "This backtalk and new attitude of yours...is it because of Matt?" Nick questioned. "I can remedy that real fast," he threatened.

"No" I answered dropping my head.

"Fighting is not allowed CeCe, you know better. I'm sorry that Samantha has been bullying you, this is the first I have heard of it, but bullying her back is not the way to handle it," He said. I nodded still looking at the floor.

"You're grounded," he added.

"Grounded for how long?" I said immediately cursing the fact that Nick had received the call from Dr. Chase and not Joe, Nick tended to handle punishments with grounding, something I absolutely despised.

"A week," he replied. "No phone, no tv, no computer, no friends over, you go nowhere," he clarified.

I sighed. The thought of being banned from all contact with civilization for an entire week seemed more like a form of torture; give me the belt any day. I am much more of an instant gratification type girl, get the punishment over with and let it be done....why prolong the punishment for an entire week? The loss of human contact alone would have me in the corner rocking back and forth eating my own hair by day three.

"I'd rather take the belt," I mumbled.

The belt was not a punishment Nick liked to deal out if he could avoid it, not that he didn't have skills in the art of beating someone's ass, 'cause he most definitely did. The boys favored form of discipline was very much like their personalities. Joe was like me, a very social, fly by the seat of your pants type person, he preferred to just get punishments over with...to make the actual pain of the punishment remind you to not do it again. Whereas Nick was a thinker...very methodical in almost everything he did, he preferred grounding, giving a person time to reflect and think about what they did wrong and to deprive them of luxuries as they did so.

Nick cocked a brow. "Excuse me?"

"I HATE being grounded" I said placing extra emphasis on the word hate. It's not like this was some secret...truth be told I'm sure grounding me was just as much torture for my brothers...because then they were stuck with me for long periods of time in a foul mood...a mood that usually just landed me in more trouble.

Nick shook his head. "I know you hate it...that's the point, it is called punishment for a reason."

I scrunched my nose and let out a whine, I was seriously hoping he would just forget about the whole grounding idea and give me the belt....no such luck. I guess I wouldn't be calling Matt back tonight. I could literally feel my attitude go foul as I slumped back onto my bed.

It was nearly 12:30 when there was a knock on my door, I was sitting in bed writing in my journal about how unfair my life was and how much I currently hated Nick...I'm a teen girl, who is currently stripped of her phone, computer, friends and boyfriend...there's not much else left other than pure unadulterated loathing for my elders...and don't pretend that I'm not speaking truth.

"Hey Monkey" Joe said as he stuck his head in. "Can I come in?"

I shrugged and did my best angry teen impression, "it's your house."

Joe walked in and shut the door behind him before coming to sit beside me on the bed. "Grounded huh?" Joe asked taking my journal and closing it before setting it on the bedside table.

"Mmmhmm" I muttered leaning my head against the headboard with a sigh. "Grounded a whole freaking week because I finally stuck up to Samantha, who I am sure didn't get into trouble for hitting me!"

Joe brought his finger up to examine my fattened lip. "It's not our job to parent Samantha, it's our job to parent you," he said.

I pushed Joe's finger away from my lip and sunk down into my bed turning my back to him. "Going to bed," I said making the mental note to tell my journal just how much I hated Joe as well.

Joe sighed. "I was really proud of you tonight Monkey...that's what I came in here to tell you, you and Matt were the only kids at that party that hadn't been drinking."

I decided to simply not acknowledge his words unless he planned to follow that statement with "so, as a reward I am ungrounding you" which didn't happen.

Joe sighed and leaned down giving me a kiss on the head. "Goodnight, love you."

I groaned internally cursing my inability to give him the silent treatment. "Love you too."

Joe got up and turned out the light before walking out and shutting the door. I made a second mental note to disregard the first mental note about Joe...I guess I didn't hate him after all.

Chapter End Notes:

comments make me happy and happy people often post chappies...just sayin :P