While Amber was pondering what to do next, she rationalized that being grounded was just that, loss of access. So if she wanted to fix things, she needed to get access to her phone. But she had at least three different means of going about this. The obvious two choices seemed to be waiting or stealing. However, Amber realized that the punishment wasn't that bad, and that maybe she could be good enough for the next day or two and get it early. Idly she removed her thumb and scratched at her thighs as she thought.
She began rifling her dresser for a more complete ensemble. Her high-school clothes were drab, tight in the wrong places and nearly all pastel. Despite being otherwise quite attractive, once she finished dressing for the evening she just felt frumpy.
Garbed in a purple hoodie and a pair of green pants, she walked to the living room to sit. Feeling hungry, Amber walked to the kitchen and began to rummage the cabinets. Choosing between canned soups and some Nutella sandwiches, she realized there was a note on the fridge with "Amber" underlined in her Mom's handwriting.
"Amber
Grounded chores:
Take out the garbage
Swap my laundry to the drier
Use and clean the bathroom"
More new memories reminded her that she had chores assigned and that her mother would be back by 7 pm, which was (of course) only minutes away. Amber shot up, pulled her thumb out of her mouth and grabbed the note. She ran the garbage out, made a run to the laundry for a quick swap and was on her way to the bathroom.
With an opening of the door, the sound of heels, the opening of the trash, a pause and a sigh, her mother yelled through the door "Amber". Narrowing her eyes in confusion, she jogged to where her Mom was. "Look hun, today was a heavy day. I already changed but you know I hate wearing these as much as I have to. Can you please remember to put a new liner in the trash so I can finally change at the end of the day?"