Sleep because of the opium extracted from them, and
~~~
~ hell
"Taylor - Jade are you up?"
"I'm up father."
I rush out of the room quickly, taking care not to catch my blazer on the door knob as I escape. God knows why he is up so early. I smell alcohol lingering in the kitchen as I make my way through the house making as little noise as possible.
He doesn't say another word, to my relief. I shrug my bag onto my shoulder and I make my way down my road. Instead of making my usual route down my avenue and then down Triton road I decide to go through De Wint instead, to see if I'll catch Andy asleep or something, at the risk of sounding a little creepy. I might throw a rock at his window or something.
No, of course I won't do that. That's a stupid idea.
I toy with it.
I approach his house but the curtains are closed so I can't see in. Even if I could it would be awkward to try as he sleeps on the top floor. I stand outside and I swear I see the curtains open a crack. Then I turn and I walk to the end of the road.
"Tay!"
I turn around to see Andy hurtling along the path towards me, shirt undone, shoes unlaced and his tie barely clinging to his neck.
He hastens to button his shirt and I help him with his tie. He flashes me a smile. "How are you today?"
"I'm good. You?"
"Not bad myself. Hey, you want to chill at mine until it's time for school? I'll get my dad to drop you off."
"No, I'll be fine walking."
"I'll walk with you then," he says. I scowl at him and he grins. "I haven't had breakfast yet though, so you have to come back to mine anyway. Would you like to dine with me?"
"I've already eaten, sorry," I say, cautiously walking with him to his front door.
His house is a lot bigger than mine, but then everyone knows that Mr Pilkington owns half of one of the biggest building firms in Little Lincoln. I don't know what Mrs Pilkington does for a living but when I enter the house she is not there.
"Pass us the milk," says Andy, tearing a bite out of a piece of buttered toast. I stare at it hungrily and he swaps it for the milk. "Take it."
I eat it greedily and he pours his cereal. He stares at a spot on the wall behind me. I glance around at the empty walls. "Your house is quiet," I comment.
He nods. "Dad is already preparing for his shift today. Mum is away in Asia or somewhere, I don't know. Haven't seen her in a few months."
"Do you miss her?" I ask. He shrugs but I can see that he does really. I look down at my empty hands.
"I don't miss her really," he says. "I don't miss anyone. I'll be glad when I get out of this house -"
"Andrew?"
Andy swallows his hatred and wanders to the drawers to get a spoon. His dad enters the kitchen, his eyes trailing over me, his son, and then me again. He ignores me.
"I'm leaving now."
"Dad, it's like half an hour before we need to go..."
"I don't care. I have work. You either get in the car or you walk. Or get the bus. Whatever, I don't care, just as long as I'm not late for work. Okay?" I watch him pick his keys up from the counter. Andy puts his cereal down and comes to me to take my plate off of me. Then he loads the dishwasher and we follow his dad into the shiny Porsche.
~~~
