Time

Chapter 5 - 2015

I'm lying awake in what seems to be my fabulously, temporary, 2015 bedroom in London. The morning light is already bouncing into the room through the cracks between the grid-print curtains, and I can hear the clashing of plates and cutlery downstairs. A little clock beside my bed reads 8:50, therefore I take a quick stretch before rolling out of bed.

Liv's room is the furthest bedroom from mine, which means I have quite a trek if I don't want to encounter her parents on the way. As quiet as a mouse, I slip down the attic stairs and onto the landing. There doesn't seem to be any movement, so I make a run for it and dash up to Liv's door. To my relief, nobody seems to be about and I make it safely to Liv's room without being spotted.

"Morning sunshine" she yawns as I wonder in. She is still tucked up in bed with her duvet and blankets draped over her, along with her many pillows surrounding her.
"Good day Liv, isn't it a beautiful morning" I reply. She glares at me.
"You seriously need to get rid of your victorian voice and change your grammar if you want to convince my parents that you're anyone but a Victorian" warns Liv.
"Dammit" I answer, remembering Liv mention the word 'dammit' last night.
She immediately applauses me!
"Yes! That's good, just try and pick up on things that I say okay?"
"Okay"

Liv and I spend the whole morning preparing a little cover story to hide who I really am, whilst her parents busy themselves off to work. Once they're safely gone, Liv hurries me downstairs for breakfast as she says it's the most important meal of the day.

"What would you like? You name it, we've probably got it?" she asks me.
"Some bread would be great please!" I tell her, eyeing the loaf of crumbly brown bread on the kitchen counter. Liv snorts.
"Just because you're a victorian, doesn't mean you have to eat like one! Here try this" she orders, sliding a bowl of golden sphere shapes in my direction. I take it and examine the strange looking food, mixing them around with my spoon.
"What are these Liv?" I question.
"Golden nuggets, they're my favourite cereal! Now go on, eat!"
I scoop up a spoonful of nuggets and slip them into my mouth. They're crunchier than I expected, but a burst of delicious flavour explodes into my mouth as I snap them between my teeth. They're delicious!

❋❋❋

As the evening draws closer, I start to feel nerves building up inside me. Liv seems pretty relaxed as she sits at her dressing table and plays with her messy, blonde hair. The faint sound of music comes from the 'headphones' that are tucked into her ears, and I can smell the fresh new nail vanish that I helped to apply to her nails a little earlier on.
Just as I'm going through the storyline we've prepared, I hear the arrival of her parents downstairs, and I freeze. Liv must of somehow heard them over her music, because she suddenly frees herself from the headphones and sprints towards the door.
"Okay Clara, this is it, let's go!"

I anxiously join Liv as she cascades down the stairs and into the kitchen to meet her parents. Her mum seems to be unpacking shopping bags, whilst her dad is helping himself to a glass of wine at the other end of the room.
"Hi mum, hi dad" Liv chimes. They both glance towards her and smile, before continuing on with what they were doing, as if Liv doesn't matter much to them. Despite this, Liv sticks straight to our plan and briskly guides me over to her mum.
"Guess what mum? It's Clara!" she shrieks. Her mum looks up at Liv, and then to me.
"Sorry, have we met? I don't recognise you, are you a friend from school?" she says, offering me a carrot stick from the bag she's just opened. I politely decline.
"No mum! Oh my gosh how can you not remember Clara?" Liv yells, faking a disappointed tone in her voice. Still, her mum apologises for not knowing who I am.
"Sorry darling, I..."
"Mum! Remember when I met her on our holiday in Australia?" Liv tries to remind her.
"What two years ago? Yes I...hang on, I thought the girl you met there was called Chloe?"
"No mum, you're getting confused! Her name is Clara, not chloe!"
"My memory of that holiday must be getting a little hazy! Hello Clara, it's lovely to see you again! What brings you to the UK?"
I nervously prepare myself for the explanation we planned, until Liv butts in for me.
"Well mum, this is the good part! She's come to stay with us! Because remember you said that Chlo - I mean Clara could stay with us whenever she visits the UK?"
I can't stand this, I feel too sick to stay. "So sorry but I better just go to the bathroom" I apologise, before leaving the room in a hurry. I can't bear the thought of lying and risk being caught out - it sickens me. Liv's parents are bound to find out! Maybe I should just leave now while nobody's watching?
Maybe I should just go back to 1896? I don't belong here.