The Chain (A Catherine Diary) - Stamfield. Complete

Chapter 75

75

'Is that your mum calling you?', I could hear her, as though she was at the top of the stairs yelling.

Gemma jumped up, ran over to the chest of drawers and starting pulling them away from the door. I went over and helped her.

'What's she saying?', I asked

'Don't know, hope she not warning us about a fire', she joked.

I saw the funny side of it, but also became slightly more anxious about moving the drawers.

Eventually, we managed to open the door, only to find out her mum was yelling at her cousins.

'Get inside, this minute, and clean off that mud you been rolling in', she yelled from the landing window, into the back garden, 'on second thoughts wait there, don't want you traipsing mud through the house. I'm coming down'.

She turned away from the window and spotted us, looking over at her, 'Oh hi girls, need any more cookies'

'No thank-you Mrs Fredericks'

'Okay, excuse me, I have to sort out these boys, get them in the shower', she glided down the stairs.

Gemma and I looked at each other and then burst out in laughter. I knew she was laughing at the same thing I was, we always seemed to know what each other was thinking. That time it was how foolish the both of us felt rushing out of the room, only to discover Gemma's mum wasn't even talking to us.

'Shall we go back in'

'Yeah, but this time we won't block the door'

'Okay', she said chuckling.

We were about to go back in, when Mrs Fredericks came back up the stairs.

'Oh, I almost forgot Catherine, your mum rang, asked if you were here. She asked if I could tell you not to be long'.

'Thanks Mrs Fredericks '

I watched her rush back down the stairs to sort the boys out. I was deep in thought wondering whether dad had phoned mum to say that I had terminated our meal or was it just that mum was keen to see how our meeting went.

'You Okay?', Gemma placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, from behind me.

'Yes, I'm fine', I replied, breaking out of my thinking, 'but I think I should go'

Gemma nodded, although I could see she was disappointed. I stepped back into her room and retrieved my bag.

'What will you tell her.....your mum?'

'I'm not sure yet', I replied.

'Well, it couldn't be much worse than you streaking on the pitch, on Saturday', she teased, attempting to lighten the mood.

'I guess not', I chuckled at the memory. 'Mind you, I can't help thinking that if it wasn't for that moment, I wouldn't have had the strength to tell dad I wanted to leave. The old me would have sat there biting my tongue'

'Well, let's hope he never finds out what triggered it'

'True', I said laughing.

Outside in the corridor, Mrs Fredericks was ordering the boys around. 'Both of you get undressed and in the shower. You can shower at the same time, I don't want you wasting my hot water. Now hurry.'

'Yes Mrs Frederick's', they both said in chorus.

Peter spotted us in Gemma's doorway and snarled at us. Idiot!

Once they stepped into the bathroom and shut the door, Mrs Fredericks turned to me, 'You're leaving, give my love to your mother', she came over and gave me a hug. What a mum!

'I'll walk her to the door', Gemma said, ushering me along.

'Okay dear. I better go and find these boys something to put on after they finish in the shower', Mrs Fredericks said heading towards the spare bedroom.

As we approached the stairs, I had a thought. I pulled out my mobile phone.