Kendally (5)Ally ~Ally's POV~ As I was pulling into the driveway of my house, I realized how so very dark it had become. It was after all going on 9:30, so I didn’t know why I had seemed to be so surprised…but the darkness had fallen rather quickly. I shut the engine off, and the headlights that had shone through the pitch black drifted off, leaving the night to surround me. There was one light shining through the living room window in the house, and I automatically figured it was Dad. Who else would it be? After Mom had passed away, all that was left was Dad and me. I locked the car and grabbed my bag, then began to walk up the icy steps leading to the house. There were still a lot of things I had to do before turning in, tonight. There was the laundry that I kept putting off, I had to clean up the kitchen, finish up a paper on what I did during winter break, and a few other chores. “Ally?” a voice that could only belong to my dad called. “Yeah, it’s me, Dad,” I said, shivering as I walked into the warm living room. I kicked my boots off and set them on a mat by the door. “Do you know what time it is?” he asked, sounding slightly frustrated. “Yeah Dad…it’s 9:30,” I said, nodding at him, not sure where he was getting at. He stared me down, as if I were forgetting something. It was then that I realized what he had been fishing at. “Oh no! 9:30! You told me to be home by my curfew, 90!” I slapped my forehead. “Yup…” he said. “What were you thinking, Ally? You could have at least called. I was worried sick about you.” “I know! I’m really sorry, I lost complete track of time!” I said, frowning. “I had to take Levi home, and then help him bring his things inside—“That’s no excuse!” Dad interrupted. “You are 16 now, Ally! You need to learn to start acting your age!” I looked down at the ground, not saying anything more. Lately, Dad had become much more…strict. I don’t know why, but I had to listen to him; he was my dad. “To make sure that you really see how irresponsible your actions were, as of right now, you’re on restriction,” he continued, and immediately as he said this, I looked right at his overly-angry face. “Restriction?!” I asked in protest. “For being thirty minutes late?” “Ally,” my father said angrily. “If I let you get away with this, you’ll think that it’s ok to do this every time. So, you are grounded for a week. No friends, television or phone use, nothing.” I stared at him in complete shock. My father had definitely dished out some pretty harsh punishments…but really? A week of restriction for showing up thirty minutes past my curfew? Before I could say anything else, a tall, slender woman was striding toward us, making her way from the hall. “Mark…?” she asked quietly. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me. Who was this stranger? I had never seen her in my #life…but she obviously seemed to know my father. She was very beautiful. Her wavy, long, light brown hair fell to the middle section of her back. She had gorgeous green eyes with thin eyebrows above them. But as I thought about, it seemed to me that she looked almost too beautiful. My dad looked very uncomfortable with me seeing this woman. But what he was feeling could not compare with what I felt. “Who is his?” I asked angrily. “Ally…this is Angie,” Dad said with hardly any breath. “We’re…seeing each other.” I stared at her, almost forgetting to breathe. “That explains the skimpy clothing,” I finally blurted out, to all of our surprise. Dad looked very upset, now. “What did you just say?!” I shook my head, and rushed past his stupid girlfriend, trying to get to my room as quickly as I could. I didn’t even try to stop the tears. I slammed my bedroom door shut and fell in a heap onto my bed. I couldn’t believe this. It had only been a couple of months since Mom had passed…and Dad was already dating? Today had been a good day for me…until I got home, that is. Both Dad and I had been dealing with Mom’s death differently…and it seemed to have especially changed him. I noticed how much more angry he had gotten lately…so every little mistake that I made…I would get it big time. I guess I had always been more close to my mother than to Dad…but it seemed like, after she had died from that stupid lung cancer…I lost both of my parents. I pushed my face into my pillow and just let the tears come, not trying at all to stop them.