CHAPTER ONE
Jewel was nervous. Her hands kept anxiously twisting and gripping the hem of her black miniskirt, trying to cover more of her long tan legs and tugging on the top of her matching tube top, where her small but full breasts kept threatening to overflow.
If her mom and step-dad seen her like this she would be in so much trouble. Like, getting put on privilege suspension, (which is a lot like 'getting grounded' but for adults), where she would lose her cellphone, her laptop, she would have a curfew of about 7 PM, (if she was lucky and they didn't restrict her from leaving at all), and she would have to do more housework and report to them before bed every night so they could "grade" her behavior that day and decide if her 'suspension of privileges ' should continue. It was hell and it was total bullshit.
Jewel had turned 18 a whole 5 months ago, she was a damn adult for Pete's sake! But her 'rents had made it clear well before her birthday that if she wished to continue living with them past her 18th birthday then she had to acknowledge and agree that it was still "Their house and their rules." and that yes, she would comply with said rules, however ridiculous and arbitrary they may seem to her. Any failure to do so would result in 'privilege suspension ' and any refusal to adhere to the suspension would result in her immediate eviction from their house.
Jewel had nowhere else to go and no real way of generating a steady income and she had a true fear of being homeless. Homeless people scared her. She had seen them all lining the sidewalks at the community center her whole life, looking scary and dirty and mean. She was terrified of living amongst them or worse, becoming one of them.
So she had been obeying the dumb rules ever since her birthday anyway. Until now.
She was growing increasingly sick of staying at home and playing nice and being good. She hadn't actually been out to do anything fun at all since her 18th birthday.
Tonight however, her friends Maya and Gracie had convinced her to turn her lame life around and go out and have some fun. They were going to come and quietly pick her up within just a few minutes and then the three of them were going to go and find the most exciting nightclub they could fool with their fake IDs. Jewel was super excited about it but also very very nervous. Her mom and dad would totally flip out if they caught her sneaking out at this hour and they would really lose their shit if they seen what she was wearing.