Free Rebellion Project by Sara Schoen Page B

could delve further into the dark abyss. Immediately I got up to open it, but I hesitated at the door. My hand was on the cold metal of the door knob, but I couldn’t open it. I wasn’t supposed to answer the door when no one else was home. My other hand balled into a fist as I tried to figure out what to do. Do I open it or not? What if it was someone dangerous, and not someone I knew? I felt a spike of fear surge through me. What if this person knew I was home alone and was going to hurt me like my dad always warned me about? Then I would have to do whatever they wanted in order to stay alive, but they would probably kill me anyway like in the television shows and movies.
    “Lauren, open the door!” Kayden yelled through the door.
    A groan escaped my lips, and all of my fears vanished. I was a little disappointed it was Kayden, but at least it wasn’t someone here to harm me. I opened the door and caught a glance at his choleric expression. He was leaning against the outer glass door with his arms crossed, and when we made eye contact he gave me an over-exaggerated eye roll. Even if I hadn’t seen the facial expression, his body language would be enough to tell me he was irate I made him wait.
    “What took you so long to open the door? I could see you through the window, and you were just standing there as if I was going to open the door for you. Were you debating on whether or not to open the door? Were you afraid I was going to kidnap you or something?” he asked jokingly as he walked into the house.
    I didn’t reply as I shut the door, hoping he’d let it go. When I turned around he was glancing around my house. I shifted uncomfortably when he turned to look at our posed family photos and snapshots from trips we’d taken when I was young. There wasn’t anything recent. I attributed that to Mom knowing she was going to get a divorce soon. She probably didn’t want to carry on the charade.
    “So, what were you thinking while I was waiting for you to open the door?” Kayden asked once again, leaving the family photos behind. I wonder if he found what he was looking for. Whether he was in search of the reason I followed the rules, pictures of a broken family, or he was just curious. I wasn’t sure. I could never be completely sure what Kayden’s intentions were.
    “I didn’t know it was you. Anything was possible,” I said with a shrug as he glared at me with a questioning expression. “Why are you even here again? It’s not to make fun of me, is it?”
    “I’m here to start your rehabilitation program,” Kayden said as he walked up to a picture of Parker and me at the beach. Parker and I had been buried in the sand and sculpted into mermaids by my mom, which included sand shell bikinis covering our bathing suits. There was a faint smile on his lips before he wiped it away.
    “That makes me sound like a drug addict,” I replied. “How about you just call it what you really want to—a forced group project.”
    “Either way,” he said as he moved from one picture to the next. Most of them had turned into Parker and me, and suddenly I felt embarrassed by the photos on the wall. As if he would see something I didn’t want him to. “I’ve figured out what we should to do to get the ball rolling. I want everyone to see you as someone different when we go back to school in January. Then we can work from there.”
    “So how do you want to start?” I prompted, hoping to get him to stop moving around my house. It made me self-conscious since most of the photos on the walls were of me. My dad had taken down all the ones of my mom when she left him, I guess I was still his ‘little girl’ or he didn’t have any photos to replace them. There were photos from my childhood years which meant when I had braces, glasses, unflattering clothing, and poorly done hairstyles. My awkward phase had lasted longer than most, but I still felt as though I wasn’t fully out of it and as a senior in high school, it