poison - lrh

one

"See you later."

The curly haired boy smiles and lets go of her hand, his blue and red colourblock backpack slipping of his small shoulders.

Cameron Rodriguez turns around and waves a final goodbye to her brother, before walking down the sunny downtown street. Her lace up boots clack against the sidewalk, and unusual sound for mid June. Checking her phone she heads down Broden Avenue, the wind pulling a curl out of her short ponytail.

"Hey Mom, call me when you get this."

Her brown bag bounces on her hip and she ponders whether to stop of at the grocery store to get milk or to head home and get it later. She decides to buy the milk, and the cool air feels good as she walks through the automatic doors.

She finds the milk and a few other essentials, as well as some bananas that looked good. The cashier smiles at Cameron, a familiar smile that comes from weekly shops and spontaneous purchases from the same store. 

"Weather's got warm hasn't it?"

"Yeah, they said a storm's coming," she smiles, handing over some bills.

"How's the kid?"

"Good."

Cameron walked down the street aimlessly, knowing that there was no point in getting home fast, because firstly, the load of laundry wasn't going to do itself, and secondly, and the assignment due tomorrow was the only thing she had to do. Neither of them were particularly interesting but she knew that she would find herself starting the latter and then making herself a cheese sandwich, like every Monday morning.

Cameron lived in a moderately sized third floor flat and she spent most of her time in her somewhat messy bedroom eating cheetos and procrastinating. She walked up the stairs, the bag in her hand feeling twice as heavy as it did when she first left the store, and fumbled around in her pocket for her keys. They fell on the floor in the process, and she muttered 'fuck' before opening her door.

Walking into the living area she sighed. Her fixed phone was blinking madly which only meant one thing - Aggie had called. She always seemed to call the home phone, and probably had some made up philosophical reason behind it.

Clicking on the first contact on her mobile, Cameron listened for the familiar sound of her best friend's voice through the phone.

"Charlie's Cheesery, you want cheese, we aim to please."

"Agatha?"

"Oh it's you. Could've said."

Cameron sighed once more, setting the bag down, and placing the milk in the fridge.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of-" she checked the house phone, "21 voice messages."

"So you got them. I did phone," Agatha said on the other end of the call.

"Listen, as much as I'd love to chat all I day I got stuff to do so just say whatever you were so desperate to tell me."

"Well, I'm in a bit of a... situation."

Cameron collapsed onto the sofa, the edges of her lips forming a smile.

"What kind? Let me guess, your parents."

"Oui oui. Anyway so I need a place to stay, basically."

Walking over to the kitchen, she put the call on loudspeaker and started rooting around in the cupboard for peanut butter.

"No."

"What do you mean, no?"

"Ace stays with me way more now, because his mom's shifts changed. Plus, you're his art teacher."