The Girl Next Door.

Part Eleven - Tactics

The Girl Next Door

PART ELEVEN

AUTUMN

The next morning I woke up. I was kind of cold, but that was the case every morning. I guessthat it was due to the Autumn weather settling in. I put on the first hoodie I could find.I trapsed downstairs looking for some food. I felt like some toast. Or a pancake. Or a bowl of chocolatey cereal. But I couldn't find any of that. I pulled open the fridge. I peeked inside, there was a fresh carton of apple juice so I grabbed it. I pulled open the flap,and tipped it up so that I was drinking it. I glugged it down. The juice tasted sweet but kind of crisp. I heard footsteps.

"Don't drink it like that." My mom moaned. I looked at her. I knew she wasn't going to let this go so I just grabbed a straw and thrust it into the carton. Now that I had drank some of the juice I didn't want anybody else to have this. I had claimed it as my own. I raised my eyebrows.

"Happy now?"

"Much better." Mom said sarcastically. I smiled and took my drink up to get changed. I had alook in my wardrobe and opted for jeans and a tee shirt. I brushed my hair letting my natural curls cascade down my shoulder. I only wore a little bit of make up because I don't like to look like a circus clown. I skipped back down stairs to see mom making bacon. I decided to make some sort of diversion in order to get some.

"Hey look mum, it's raining on your laundry!" I called. Immediately she ran outside with a washing basket. I watched her for a couple of seconds as she tried to tug at the bedsheets. How gullible was she? It wasn't even raining. I grabbed the pan of bacon and quickly put it on the plate that was laying on the counter. The bacon was steaming and it was that nice sort of crispy bacon you get when you cook it for just the right time, before it burns. I carried it into the living room just in time for mom to come in. She layed the basket next to the sofa. She looked at my plate, half the bacon had already diseappeared into my mouth, she then looked at the pan that was still sizzling on the stove evaporating any oil.

"Is that my bacon?" She asked

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Give it back." She thrust her hand in front of my face.

"And starve a growing child from the nutrition and food that they need to stay healthy? I am sure I can call the police about that."

"You're impossible you are." She sighed. She went of to the kitchen,I think to make more bacon. I checked the time on my watch. It was about 8:09, about the time that I should be heading off. I said see you to my mother and walked out of the door.

Walking to school is never anything special, it's just a long walk down a couple of roads.There is never anything to look at. There is never a road accident or a cat stuck up atree to make it slightly more exciting, it's just a street with houses and cars. It's just the usual sort of town. I walked down the street, I was kicking a stone that I saw on theground. It scuttled along the floor. And into the road just as a car came. It ran over thepebble. I looked at the road. I was now on a busy main road. There were several cars all humming along at once. Rush hour. The time for all those people working nine to five, like Dolly Parton, to get along to their little office jobs. I had school to get to. So I continued to walk forgetting about my little pebble. When I got to the gates I was greeted by a very smily Tara. She had a huge grin spread across her face

"Did you eat a blue cake?" I asked humourously. "You are buzzing."

"Owen texted me!" She blurted. "He's so nice and charming, he said he didn't mind staying up late or using his credit to talk. How nice is that?" She babbled on and on about the texts.I thought that I was never going to get the end of this topic since he took up most of her thoughts now.