Jean gripped the steering wheel of her Volkswagon Jetta tightly on the drive home, lips pursed tightly. She'd never been so embarrassed, sitting there in the courtroom as her daughter, Allie, was arraigned. She still remembered the phone call from the local precinct, letting her know that Allie had been picked up stealing from a store in the mall. Jean knew it was certainly not her first time, not with all the shit the girl owned somehow - she was either stealing from stores or stealing from Jean... or likely both. Jean blamed herself, knowing she'd selected the human equivalent of garbage for the girl's father.. who was rotting away like the terrible sociopath he was in an ultramax prison upstate.<br/><br/>Allie hadn't shown the same kind of violent outbursts as Hal had... but she could still see him in the girl, evidenced by how she'd dropped out of high school and was just working as a receptionist for a trucking company. Jean was highly successful, owning her own auditing firm, allowing her to work her own hours out of her home office. But it was nothing she felt she could pass off to Allie, especially not now.<br/><br/>The ride home was awkwardly silent, Jean's cheeks pulsing as she replayed the court hearing. The looks from the judge towards her, just reading on the man's face that he was calling her a failure as a mother as her daughter was prosecuted for such a stupid crime. Jean would have bought her the sweater or whatever the hell it was she felt she needed to steal... Jean knew Allie just wanted the rush, which was dangerous. Now this was going to be in the papers and on the web, just waiting to be found by simple Google searches, a continuous humiliation that would be on the back of her mind with each new client she took on.<br/><br/>She pulled into the garage of their modest home, plenty of space for them without being too much to maintain. Jean slammed the car into park and stomped out, on a mission as she walked in and straight back to Allie's room. She yanked the laptop from its charger on her desk and pulled Allie's phone charger from the outlet, winding the cords up and heading back down the hallway towards her bedroom. "No laptop, no phone, and thanks to your new jewelry, no leaving the house without my consent or to go to work" she called out, seething as she nodded down at the house arrest ankle monitor her daughter now sported. "Honestly Allie, I just don't know what to do with you."<br/><br/>She was at the end of her rope. She'd read books telling her to give Allie space, others telling her to try to connect. Some books told her to be the tough, authoritative parent, others to let her realize her own mistakes. It was impossible. Besides, how do you connect with a girl who leaves every chance she gets? Well, now that wouldn't be an option. She wasn't the in-your-face or disciplinarian type, but something had to give. She figured this would be a good first step, taking away the escapes that Allie had from her, forcing her to either talk to Jean over these next three months or just sit in silence.<br/><br/><a class="username" data-user-id="1190" data-username="@Chrystal Dark" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" href="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/members/1190/">@Chrystal Dark</a>