The House Next Door

Chapter 3

"What are you doing now? Do you need a lift anywhere?" I pause for a moment, as I reflect on what I can do now. I tried to turn a page today and enjoy my summer, I went out to the beach, read a book in the sun, had lunch and a coffee, and most importantly, bought my Frosties, but I hadn't thought of what I could do with the rest of my day, and what I could do with the rest of the summer, for that matter. I mean, I can't go to the beach everyday, can I? And even if I did, that would only take up a small portion of every day. "Emily?" Ash's voice brings me back to Earth from the "my summer's going to be bad" land, as I realise that I still haven't responded.

"I guess I'll probably go home, maybe watch some TV."

"Ok, you sound like you need some more fun in your life, we're going shopping. Wait do you like shopping? Surely you like shopping. But what if you don't? I'll think of something else fun we can do. Please say yes."

I try to stifle a laugh as I say "I love shopping". I knew that I would like this girl from the moment I met her.

***

"I'm literally about to drop," Ash says. Yes, we shopped till we dropped. Late night trading meant we stayed in the mall until the end, walking into a regular shop, trying things on, buying them, walking into a designer store, laughing as we tried on the fancy clothes, pretending to have a high-end life, even walking into a costume shop and spending ages slipping on a fantasy life and acting like princesses, fairies, pirates, and gangsters.

"Tell me about it," I respond as I walk out of the mall. I walk down the steps and stumble as I get to the last one. Am I the only one who sometimes thinks that there's another step and then there isn't and so you land funny?

"Do you want to go grab dinner now?"

"It's getting late, I should probably head home." My parents are home from work tonight and so I'm hoping we'll have some sort of family dinner. Maybe spag bol, my absolute favourite.

"Yeah that's cool, I'll take you home. What's your address?" As I tell her, I see her eyes light. "No way!!! I live just down the road. We are going to become best friends." I laugh as she rambles on, as she did before, saying it's okay if I don't want to be, but she really hopes she will be because she moved here a couple of years ago and never really made friends and the friends she made are away for the summer and she really wanted to find a best friend. This is the perfect situation. I have a friend, and she lives down the road. The summer's only just beginning.

***

"How was your day, sweetie?" Mom asks.

"It was really good!" Today I'm not lying. Today, I got out of the house, I had some me time, I found a friend, I took a risk and replenished my Frosties supply, and now I'm sitting at the table, eating not spag bol, but butter chicken, with my nearly completely reunited family. We spend the night talking about our day, catching up on the past year, strengthening the bond between us and as I get to bed, I feel happy. An early night, the perfect way to wrap up the near perfect day. That's when I hear the music, and remember the colourful conversation from this morning. Goodbye precious sleep, it was good to have known you for one day. Knowing that I can't sleep through this, I grab out my phone and get on Wattpad. I love this app, not for the writing, I swear I am the world's worst writer, but for the reading. Some people just naturally talented. I'm not sure if you could call me talented at anything. No wait, that's a lie. I've always studied really hard, so I guess you could call me smart, but I'm no genius. I'm sort of a jack of all trades. I'm pretty good at sport, I have some kind of musical ability, although I don't do music anymore, I've always been fond of art, and I'm pretty smart. Nothing special, just pretty good at everything, which isn't a bad thing. As I read through my favourite book, I drift into another world, and into another summer, but realise, that right now, I'm perfectly content in my own.