Oxygen

Chapter 23 - Back to normal

I wake up in the morning and everything seems to be back to normal. Jordan's Mum Cathy suggested that we go back to school on Monday, since there are a few more weeks left. Unfortunately I wouldn't miss prom and graduation, the two most nerve wracking parts of senior year, but I'm sure Evelyn will be there to help me out with that. I still have no idea what to tell her.

By ten o'clock I'm out of bed, Jordan following me down the stairs to the kitchen. It's almost as if none of the stuff over the past few days ever happened. Cathy and Michael are there when we enter the kitchen, making scrambled eggs and toast for us. Emily and Carol, Jordan's sisters, are sitting on bar stools at the white bench top opposite to them. I take the seat next to Carol, and Jordan drags another chair over next to me.

Carol notices my presence and leans over to me in her chair, hugging me around the waist. I gently hug her back, as she screams my name. "Fern!!!" she says, excited to see me. It must have been a couple of months at least since I've seen her.

"Hey, princess Carol" I greet her, picking her up and setting her on my lap. She holds the hem of my top as I talk to her. "How are you Carol?" I ask, smiling as she blows raspberries. I look to Jordan and he has a heart felt look on his face, showing affection for his younger sister. So cute.

"Hey Jordan, good to see you little bro" Emily finally says, getting up from her seat and leaving her eggs to give Jordan a big hug. Jordan strokes her hair, and whispers a "I've missed you" in her ear as she pulls away. I smile at them as Cathy hands me a plate with eggs and toast. "Thank you" I mouth, not wanting to ruin the moment for anyone.

I help Carol from my lap as she runs to her brother, and hugs him around his leg. He laughs as she jumps up and down, squealing, "Yay! Now we can play mummies and daddies again!". I laugh, and hug Emily. She laughs as she pulls away.

"Nice to finally meet you, Fern" she greets, and I smile. "It's great to meet you too. Jordan's told me all about you". "Oh really?" she asks, cocking an eyebrow and turning to Jordan. He shrugs, and I continue to explain exactly what Jordan has told me.

Emily is a very confident, smiley, and inspiring person. Jordan had told me that when they were little, Jordan was three and Emily was five, they used to play a game on their big trampoline, where Emily would roll Jordan back and forth until he got dizzy. Emily nodded in agreement, and smiled to her brother. He blushed lightly, and turned away to hide his embarrassment. I thought it was adorable.

Just as we started eating our breakfast, Jordan's two brothers, Eric and Jasper, came running down the stairs, with Andrea, Jordan's oldest sister, as she threw tight balls of paper at them. One hit Michael on the head, and he turned around to see his daughter laughing and shaking her shoulders.

"Hey, Fern!" the brothers sang in unison, ducking out of the way of the final ball of paper. "Hey, nice to meet you two" I smiled, and they both brought me in for a hug. I raised from the chair and hugged them back. Andrea joined in, squishing me in the middle of the group hug.

"Well don't kill her or anything Andrea" Jordan said, pulling me away from his three siblings. His family seemed so big, and all I had was my adopted Mother. Speaking of, I'm going to have to come up with an excuse for the reason I up and left for two months.

Jordan took me upstairs to shower and change. I borrowed some of Emily's clothes, since they were close to my size, and put one of Jordan's hoodies on top of the black crop top and grey sweat pants. After a cleansing shower, Jordan and I sat on his bed in silence.

I rolled onto my side and put my head on his bare chest. He stroked my damp hair and kissed my forehead. "We should go to yours today, let your Mum know your okay", Jordan broke the silence, and I sighed as I came to the realization that I'm going to have to lie to her, so that no secrets would be revealed. She can't know what's been happening.

After lunch Jordan drove me home. As we pulled into the drive, I looked down the path at the place I call home. My Mum was inside, sitting at the dinner table wiping tears from her swollen eyes. She looked pained, maybe she's upset that I left. I begin to feel really bad as Jordan turns off the car engine and turns to me.

"I'll go in with you". "Okay" I agree, nodding my head. I open the car door, and head down the short concrete path to the brown shingled house. The place has been my home for a short time, but I couldn't part with it. The green window frames welcomed me as I walked up to the small red deck and knocked on the door.

Jordan caught up with me and stood to my side, holding my hand and squeezing it tightly. Just as I smiled in response, the door opened. An old lady, with wrinkled skin and dark bags under her eyes comes into view, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. Mother.

"Oh my god!" she exclaims, pulling me in for a hug, bawling her eyes out with streams of tears. I pull her into me tightly, crying with her. Jordan stood back quietly and kept to himself until we pulled away from each other.

"Hi, Mum" I smiled through the tears, taking one hand to wipe my eyes clean. She smiled with me and opened the door wider, guesturing for us to come inside. "Come in, and take a seat" she says, speaking to both Jordan and I.

"Is something wrong?" I ask, sitting on the couch in our basic living room. It's good to be home. Jordan plops down next to me, brushing his knee with mine as he gets more comfortable. "Hi, Jordan. Good to see you two again".

I look at Mum confused. What does she know? "Mum, what is it?" I ask. She takes a seat in the armchair across from the TV and takes a drink from her tea. I hope she doesn't know, it would be better for her if she didn't. "I know where you've been" she says.

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Hey everyone!

If you've read this far I just want to say thank you. I'm not sure yet how long this book is going to go for, but I'm aiming for 50 chapters.

I'm also considering doing a second book, so if all goes well look forward to that. What do you think about the hole thing? Does Fern's mother know what's up?

Thank you for reading, please vote and comment and let me know what you think.

Lots of love and chocolate sauce.

Alice xx