He loves me; He loves me not *Currently Editing*

Chapter 17

When we go inside Catherine's house, my mom goes to talk to her mom while we go to Catherine's room. I put my luggage down.

"Thanks for letting us stay tonight. I was worried about how my mom would take the confrontation with my father," I say.

"What kinda friend would I be if I let y'all have to face him." We hug then go back downstairs.

"We can all eat dinner in the living room tonight," Catherine's mom, Anne, tells us. She had just finished cooking so we all get some food. We finish up then play "Uno" where Catherine's dad, Dave, wins. It ends up being a fun night considering the reason we were there.

At about 9:58, my father calls Mom's cell. She looks like she's about to cry, so I get the phone from her.

"I'll talk to him, Mom." I go outside to the porch.

"Where are you??"

"Hi Father."

"Emma Where are you & your mother??" I take a deep breathe.

"We're staying somewhere else. She knows you cheated."

"How the hell does she know?? Since when does she believe you over me?? Put her on the phone."

"She doesn't want to talk to you."

"Where are you??" He asks, sounding pissed.

"Hotel," I lie. "But don't come. She's upset enough without seeing your face," I hang up the phone & look behind me, seeing Mom stand there.

"It's going to get better, I promise." I hug her. We go back inside to see Catherine & Dave looking at a laptop. Anne is looking through a newspaper.

"We're looking for an apartment," Catherine says looking up at us.

"Can't wait to get rid of us huh" I laugh.

"That's not it. You're gonna get sick of us soon, trust me," Cathering chuckles. Mom goes & sits next to Dave, & they start talking about what kind of apartment we want & the price. I sit by Anne & help her look through newspapers for a good apartment.

"That one seems nice," I hear my mom say. I walk over to see. It's in a nice looking 3 story building. The apartment for rent has a bathroom, a kitchen, a small living room, & a bedroom with a closet. It has a couch & a fridge, too.

"1 bedroom??" I ask.

"The couch pulls out into a bed, I figured I'd take that while you have the room." I nod. It does look like a nice apartment. The living room is white while the couch is a dark blue. There isn't a wall to separate that with the kitchen, but the kitchen has nice dark blue tiles on the floor, & a baby blue wall. $700 a month.

"Where's it at??" I ask, afraid it'll be far so I have to change schools.

"It's still in this very county," she smiles at me.

"We should go look at it tomorrow!" I say excitedly.

"Sounds like a plan," Mom says. We all talk for a little while more, then go to bed. Tomorrow's going to be a big day.

The next day, Mom & I are the first ones up so we make everyone breakfast. They're all surprized but delighted.

"Alright, we're going to go check out the apartment," Mom announces when we're both done.

We all say goodbye to each other, then we leave.

We get to the apartment building in about 13 minutes. It is a 3 story building, with a parking lot next to it. There is a little playground behind it, with plenty of tree surrounding. Overall a nice place. We meet the manager inside, & take the elevator to the 3rd floor where the room is at. We walk in, & I see the kitchen to the left & the living room to the right. Straight ahead is a window where you can see the parking lot. Next to the kitchen is a door, & in the living room is another door. I go in that door & see a fair sized room. There's a window, where outside of it is a fire escape. Stairs all the way to the ground, while making stops stops at other windows. I see the playground from here too, & woods for as far as my eye can see. I turn around & observe my room. The walls are white, & it has a king sized bed included. I see an open closet.

"How do you like it??" My mom asks standing in the doorway.

"It's great," I say.

"I'm thinking this is the place," she says. I smile, indicating my approval. I go look at the bathroom. It has a tub so I can shower or bath, yay. A sink with a big round mirror, then, the toilet. I walk out to meet Mom & the manager in the living room.

"Love it," I say. They both smile.

"When's the soonest we can move in??" Mom asks.

"Anytime you want," he says. He looks about the same age as my mom. He has ruffled brown hair & brown eyes, & is wearing a beige suit. & if I didn't know any better, i'd say my mom was checking him out.

"Alright this is the place," she says happily.

"Ok if you will come downstairs & you can sign some paperwork, then it's yours."

We went downstairs & she signed the papers. He gave us a key, we went & bought more boxes, then we went to our house. I think we both were hoping Dad wasn't there. & luckily, he wasn't. I went upstairs & packed as quickly as I could. It was 11 pm so there was plenty of time. After I finished I went to help my mom.

"We gonna bring the microwave & tv??" I ask.

"Let's take the microwave, leave the tv." Darn I knew she'd say that. We finally get everything over to the apartment by 4 pm. Now we have to unload.