Her mother was still asleep when she arrived back in her room. After placing the Styrofoam container of coffee on the nightstand beside her snoring mother, she tried calling the slumbering woman to wakefulness. It wasn't working. She finally yanked the pillow out from her mother's head, earning her a couple of cusswords and a threat of being grounded. Cassie just rolled her eyes as she moved over to perch on the dresser. Her mother was always threatening to ground her for one thing or another.
As her mother swung her legs over the side of the bed, forcing herself into a sitting position, she raked her hand through her bedhead, her tired eyes absorbing Cassie's appearance. “And just where have you been that you're so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed?"
Cassie turned her face away from her moth
