Catherine Summerby is part NINJA!!! (cate_summerby) wrote in thesocieties, @ 2010-08-01 13:15:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! log, 2023: 08/august, ch: catherine summerby |
RP log - Cate and her dad
Who: Catherine and Stephen Summerby
Setting: Friday afternoon, July 30 at the Olive Branch
What: father/daughter chat
Catherine Summerby was miserable. And of course, in her egocentric teenage mind that meant everyone else had to be miserable as well. Her parents didn't fall for her boycotting them this time, and this she was stuck washing dishes FOR FREE under her dad's watchful eyes all because Katey's mum had mentioned the stupid party when her dad had come to pick her up. And the fact that her mum was too good at Divination for her own good. Otherwise, her plan had been foolproof!
Cate supposed she couldn't expect her parents to understand. After all, they were OLD and TERRIBLY UNCOOL and, Cate was convinced, wanted her to be uncool and have no fun, too. UGH, parents were SO LAME, she thought as she made a giant splash in the sink, getting herself wet more than anything important.
Pausing in the doorway, Stephen regarded his eldest daughter as he wiped his hands. The Olive Branch had closed for the afternoon, the lunch rush over, and now there were a few hours before the dinner guests started to pour in. So aside from Cate, the kitchen was empty as the rest of the staff had left for a well-earned break.
His mouth twisted slightly as she slopped a wave of water over the edge of the sink. He understood why she was upset, he remembered being a teenager and wanting to do things his parents didn't approve of. In fact he'd even done some of those things, he thought with a rueful little smile and mental apology to his deceased parents. It wasn't really Cate going to a party that angered him, although knowing it was the Malfoy boy's party AND unsupervised caused a shudder to run down his spine, it was that she had blatantly lied to him and Marietta as well as assumed that they would just say no automatically.
Still, as much as her punishment was deserved, it still made Stephen unhappy to see her unhappy.
With a small sigh, he tossed the damp towelette he'd been using into the bin and approached Cate. "Trying to flood the kitchen there, princess?" he asked lightly.
"Yes," Cate replied with a pout, splashing again, this time much more on purpose. It was childish, she knew, and she was almost sixteen, but even at her age, there was apparently only so much power she could wield over her parents, so it would have to do. Washing dishes and being babysat by her dad while her mum was out saving the world or whatever was probably not any teenager's idea of a good time.
And really! It's not like she'd done anything near as bad as the criminals her mum helped catch did, so she didn't see why she had to be treated like one! But that was obviously yet another thing parents couldn't understand. Cate made a mental vow that if she ever became one someday, she'd make sure to be a lot cooler.
“AND I'm not cleaning it up, EITHER!” she added defiantly, splashing water a third time.
Unfortunately Stephen had come close enough that the water hit him right on the chest and part of the face. He looked down at his sodden shirt and made a 'hmm' sound, but was still actually more amused than angry. Where had Cate gotten her attitude from? Certainly not Marietta, and Stephen couldn't ever remember being this petulant - perhaps it was a female thing. Still what he had on his hands right now was a teenage girl who was simply working herself up to be a victim in her mind and that wasn't going to teach her anything.
"Better stop then, it would be awkward to have to row to my station this evening," he said mildly, brushing at his shirt. "Come and sit down," he indicated the table at the far end of the kitchen.
One more splash for good measure - like Cate cared about the floor being wet or not, before flouncing over and flopping into the seat her dad had indicated. Truthfully, she was more than glad to get out of the soapy water, pulling off the gloves she'd been wearing and wiping her damp and wrinkled hands on her shirt. Still, if she was due another lecture, she wasn't certain it was worth it.
To be fair, ever since Cate had been old enough to disobey for whatever reason, accidentally or on purpose, her mum made sure she wasn't punished before she knew what she did wrong and WHY it was wrong. In this case, however, Cate didn't agree with her parents' reasoning.
On his way to the table, Stephen stopped by one of the refrigerators and pulled out a couple of slices of a sweet. "Trialling this one soon, a summer special," he said as he laid a plate in front of her. "White chocolate and ginger cheesecake, with a caramel sauce. Tell me what you think," he laid a dessert fork next to the plate.
Stephen sat down opposite her with a plate of his own. "So, why are we so monstrous, Cate? In your opinion should we just shrug and not care when you lie to us?"
"I didn't have a CHOICE," Cate pouted, picking up her fork and poking at the cheesecake, though not yet eating any, "It's not like I could just say 'hey can I go to a party at Scorpius Malfoy's house with no parents?' and if I LEFT OUT the part about his parents not being there, you KNOW mum would have contacted them to make sure it was supervised and since THEY didn't know about the party it would have probably been CANCELED and it would have been MY fault for asking PERMISSION."
SEE? It made perfect sense in Cate's mind.
"If I had kids, I wouldn't care if they LIED to ME," she asserted, not that she knew the first thing about being a parent.
Stephen could see Cate's point, even if he didn't agree with it. He couldn't help smiling slightly at her assertion. How many kids through history had said the same thing or similar? Unfortunately it was the sort of thing that she wasn't going to understand until she had children of her own, he certainly hadn't expected feeling the way he did about certain things until actually becoming a parent.
"Hm, well you're quite right that your mother would have been concerned about there not being any parental supervision, on the other hand there were kids of age there and also if we'd known Katey's mother had given permission, and you promised to take care, not drink alcohol, and look out for Katey and vice versa, I would have been inclined to say yes, and persuade your mother to trust that you were old enough to go to a party," Stephen said calmly, eating a piece of the cheesecake. "However, since you didn't even try, but simply assumed and then lied... well, it's hard to trust you are responsible enough."
It was annoying that Cate's parents could be so...calm. Not that she wanted them screaming at her, mind (she wasn't even sure they could scream), but it was irritating for them to be rational. It just made her feel even MORE irrational. Or...something.
"You won't let me DRIVE or take a ROAD TRIP and I had to BOYCOTT you because you didn't like me kissing BOYS, so why would I even THINK you'd say YES to a GROWN-UP party??? It's ALWAYS 'when you're older'."
She finally scooped up a bite of cheesecake herself, still frowning as she chewed.
"It's not me or your mother not letting you drive, it's the law. If you want to protest that, you'll have to take it up with the government. If we break the law... well, you could find yourself in a worse situation," Stephen said firmly, not about to take the fall for her not being able to drive. He was fully in favour of her waiting anyway, since if she was driving now he was sure she would end up in an accident. "And don't harp on about America, Cate, because you are not a citizen of that country. As for the road trip, do you honestly want to be on a road trip with your brother?" he raised his eyebrows.
"Life isn't fair, Cate, and you don't always get what you want. Not even your mother and I get that," he said, leaning back in his chair. "And the more you pout and whine and stomp and act like a five year old, the more you'll be treated like a child. Not just by us, but others too."
"As for the boys thing... I accept that I overreact," Stephen smiled wryly. "Fathers don't like it when their little girls grow up. The moment I sent that first owl I knew I wasn't being fair and your brother confirmed it..." he stopped then, remember that he had told Louis he wouldn't let on that Louis had flowned to ask Stephen to rescind Cate's punishment for the kissing booth.
Cate would have told her dad she'd very much like to be on a road trip with her brother (he'd be easy enough to ignore anyway) when that last bit came out.
"You TALKED about it with LOUIS?" she asked incredulously, "UGH, you don't respect my PRIVACY at ALL!" This would, of course, be the perfect moment to stomp off to her room and slam the door, if she were at home, but as she wasn't, she had to settle for pushing her plate of cheesecake away from her.
And Louis thought he wasn't perfect. Cate's parents never talked to HER about the trouble HE got into.
Stephen sighed. "No Cate, I didn't 'talk about it' with Louis, he only flowned to plead your case and he thought you would take it the wrong way so he ask me not to say anything about it," he pinched the bridge of his nose and found himself hoping that Jeannie wouldn't be this self-absorbed and wilful when she reached Cate's age. He felt guilty for the thought because for all her wilful, egocentric behaviour he did love Cate.
He leaned forward and reached out for Cate's hand. "Princess, I don't want you to be unhappy and I certainly don’t want you to feel that I’m trying to invade your privacy."
Cate didn't tend to think of herself as willful and egocentric - probably because she was too busy being willful and egocentric to think about it.
She pouted at the thought that Louis had flowned their dad, especially since she'd sworn Michaela Boot to secrecy and she didn't like to think the Head Girl had betrayed her.
"Well I AM unhappy," she said, "You don't care what Louis does and it's not FAIR."
Stephen's eyebrows went up again. He wasn't too surprised that Cate would think that they favoured Louis, not that it was true. Louis didn't get into as many scrapes like Cate or Ed did and therefore was rarely scolded. Privately Stephen was a little worried that his eldest child was too responsible and not really letting himself live. "Of course we care what Louis does, Cate, and if he'd lied to us about a party when he was your age then he would be right where you are now," he paused, considering whether to tell Cate something she probably didn't remember about Louis or not. Finally Stephen decided it wouldn't do Louis any harm. "In fact when he was thirteen he was in your position - grounded and washing dishes here - for a few days for something he did that was wrong."
Cate found this a bit hard to believe, seeing as she was pretty sure Louis could do no wrong in her parents' eyes (and sometimes worried they wished she was more like him and didn't like her as she was). She certainly didn't remember any such incidents, though when Louis was thirteen she was ten and still busy dressing Jeannie up like a doll.
"What did he do?" she asked sceptically. If her dad told her she'd likely be able to suss out from the answer whether he was telling the truth or not.
"You'll have to ask him," Stephen said firmly. "It's his story to tell, not mine, and if I tell you then I'll be doing to him exactly what you objected to me doing to you - discussing something that is Louis' business. But I think he'll tell you, just asking what it was he did that got him grounded the Christmas he was thirteen."
His cheesecake finished, Stephen got to his feet. "I have to start prepping for tonight. Since this is your last day here," by which he meant it was her last day being grounded, although there was still a curfew on post. "If you just clean up the water you sloshed on the floor then you don’t have to wash this dishes and can go - as long as you promise to be home by dinner time."
He didn't see any point in keeping her on the dishes since aside from slopping water about, she'd washed well and not done anything ridiculous during the whole week, so Stephen was happy to let Cate have the afternoon to herself. Marietta would probably sigh at him though.
Sneaky, and she wasn't certain she believed him, or that Louis would tell her anything if she asked, but she supposed she shouldn't look a gift Abraxan in the mouth, especially if she was getting a free afternoon out of this.
And with that, she went to go clean up the water and finally enjoy some freedom.