Second Best to a Blade

Chapter Two

"Yeah mate, Kate and I got two bottles of vodka and some Malibu." I brag.

I'm on the phone to Aaron whilst walking back from college. Kate was off today so my walk home is lonely.

"Cool, I was thinking of bringing some Bulmers, just to get it started." He replies.

"Yeah, I heard Lisa already had shit-loads of alcohol though, her parents know about it too, which is pretty cool."

"Yeah, well I heard there's gonna be weed at the party, and her older brothers supplying it."

I swallow nervously. "Weed..?"

Aaron laughs down the phone. "Yeah mate, you never tried weed before?"

"Of course I have." I lie. "I was just worried for Kate, is all."

"Well, we're not gonna force anyone to try it, especially not Kate." He replies.

"What do you mean: especially not Kate?"

I hear him chuckling down the line. "Well, she's fit mate, don't wanna get on the wrong side of her."

"Oy! Shut it!" I growl, suddenly feeling protective.

"What? You jealous." He taunts.

"No of course not." I grip the mobile tighter. "She's practically my sister Aaron."

He whistles. "If she's practically your sister... You two are gonna commit a lot of incest by the end of year."

"Ew dude, what the hell are you on about?"

"Aw come on Matt." He sighs. "Everyone knows Kate's your girl. You two are so close and you're so protective."

"She's not 'mine' I don't own her. I don't care what Kate does."

"Yeah yeah whatever. Look man, I gotta go. See you tonight yeah?"

I exhale deeply. "Yeah mate, bye." And click off of the call. Well, that was weird.

I'm almost home, and I consider knocking on Kate's to see if she's okay, but decide against and walk up my path instead. I'm surprised to see my mums car in the drive, as she's often home late on Fridays. I unlock the door and kick my shoes off, when I look up, I jump, startled. Mums in the hallway, leaning on the wall with her arms crossed.

Oh god. What have I done?

"Mathew, we need to talk." She says. Her voice is icily cold but her eyes are full of concern.

I remove my bag and swallow, "Er, okay mum."

"Come into the lounge when you're ready, please."

I watch her go, and shakily push my shoes under our shoe rack and tidy my bag away. I stand up and run my fingers through my hair anxiously, then I follow. She's sitting in the leather armchair and I suck in air in surprise when I see the bottles of vodka and rum standing on the coffee table in front of her.

I sit and go to talk, but she cuts me off.

"Hear me out Matt. You know I respect your privacy, and I'd never intentionally go through your stuff. But as I had a day off work today-"

That explains the car in the drive I guess.

"- I decided to do some cleaning. I found your old beach towel in the airing cupboard and as it's autumn I decided to save some space by moving it into your room. When I went in, I looked around for a place to put and noticed the drawers under your bed. I couldn't remember you using them, so I opened it and I... I have to say I'm shocked. When I first saw the bottles I was a little angry, but honey, we can get you help."