Chapter 5
Seeing Greta’s defiance, Phillip became even angrier. He looked at her with a mix of frustration and disappointment, muttering, “Greta, come and apologize to your mom, and then we’ll let this matter go.”
Greta glanced at me, a trace of panic flicking in her eyes, and quickly hid her gaming console under her pillow. “What are you talking about? My mom signed an agreement. How can you go back on your words?”
Rose chimed in, pretending to be concerned for Greta’s good, “Good girl, don’t upset your mom. You’ve been playing all day. Your eyes must be tired. Stop playing it, or she will get angry.”
Even Frank tried to persuade Greta. “Be good. Your mom won’t really give you up.” He rubbed his temples, seemingly out of concern for Greta, but in fact, the noise from her gaming was giving him a headache.
They knew right from wrong, but they didn’t want to be the bad guys when it came to disciplining Greta.
Seeing them side with me, Greta was upset. Her rebellious streak kicked in instantly. With a bang, she slammed the door shut and locked it.
Outside the room, I could hear her shouting, “I’ll keep playing. None of you can stop me!”
Rose glanced at me as if waiting for me to lose my temper and start a big argument with Greta like I used to.
Instead of getting angry, I smiled and hung the charger on the doorknob. “Experts are right. Kids at your age need plenty of playtime. Here’s the charger. If the gaming console runs out of power, get it yourself.”
With that, I turned and saw Phillip and the others looking restless. Ignoring them, I walked to the bedroom. This was the result of their actions, so they had to taste the consequences.
A couple of weeks passed, and Greta had her mid–term exams. Not surprisingly, her grades plummeted.
Her previous grades used to be close to the admission line for the prestigious middle school, but now they were nowhere near it.
Phillip deliberately sent me the exam report card, and Rose made offhand comments about how quickly Greta’s grades had dropped.
They were all waiting for me to lose my patience first and tear up the agreement out of frustration, but they were in for disappointment.
