The Exchange Student, the Pop Prince and the Raffle Tickets

Chapter Twenty One: "Honey, you're home!"

Eden's back in England!! What will happen next??

Enjoy! 

Lauren =D 

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• Chapter Twenty One

No one was there when I got off my ten hour flight. No one greeted me outside and no one was in as I finally walked into my small box-like house. 

I showered, changed before walking down to Kristin's house. Kristin's mum was more than surprised when she opened the door to a tanned with a slight American accent me. I answered her normal questions about the trip but all the time edged myself near the stairs so I could see Kristin.  

 She screamed loudly when she saw me. She practically double took me for someone else. 

I gave a little smile saying hello, now I could really hear the American accent that I had developed. 

"Happy to see me?"

*

Going back to college was far easier than I expected. Everyone was friendlier and I didn't feel like the English outsider. I was back to my normal classroom with blue swinging chairs, slow computers and the busy chat about last night's Eastenders. None of it used to irritate me like before, now it felt like home. 

People asked me about the trip and I told them everything I could about my five and a half months there. Obviously, sex with an American boy, the pregnancy, miscarriage, and the so called incident were not mentioned. Which meant my story telling was boring.  

I had only realised that I was only going to be there for six months so I had spared myself a month of awkward hell in that house. As soon as I got through my first day back at college, giving a presentation about my trip in my English class - that I had done the night before - I walked into my house with the same small smile I had had since I came back. It dropped suddenly when I saw a suitcase in the living room. 

This couldn't be happening. Not again. 

I slowly walked to where I could hear voices feeling my heart drop. 

"Honey! You're home!" 

Oh crap. Here she is, my mum. I'm not my mother's daughter and I'm not my father's daughter either. Sometimes I am more than convinced I was adopted until I see the video among the DVDs on the shelf called 'Eden's birth.' Why they bothered to video my 'birth' was beyond me. It should have been called 'Theresa's Vagina' because that's all it was. I cringed quickly remembering when she made me watch it. I had to wretch into the sink because it disturbed me that much. But even then Mum made me watch until the end so I had a bucket by my side in case I puked everywhere.  

Mum, or Theresa, gave me a tight hug congratulating me on surviving alone in another country. She didn't really listen to a word I had said when I declared I had entered a competition to be an exchange student in another country and won. All she seemed to hear was the fact that I wasn't going to be in the country for six months. Not that it mattered anyway, she was in Spain with Matt, the new toy-boy. 

"Great to see you mum. What are you doing here?" 

"Just transferring some money over to my account in Spain. Babe, you've gotta visit us one day." 

"Yeah, well, I really doubt that Mum." 

"You've got an accent." 

"That's what five and a bit months in America will do to you." 

"Yeah, sure. So, we need to catch up..." 

"Dad... You're sober..." Actually looking at my father for the first time. The normal signs of his usual behaviour had been replaced with a composed father in actual ironed clothes. 

"Yeah, and I have been for five months." 

I rushed over to hug him. "What made you... What happened?" 

"Just... Stuff..." He held me back arms length looking at me with serious eyes. Serious sober eyes which were filling with tears. 

"Ede, I will never put you through that again, I promise." 

I nodded. 

My Mum rolled her eyes. "He's got a new girlfriend." 

I stared eyes wide open at my father. A girlfriend, really? 

Wow. 

It all seemed a bit too much. I leant back on the kitchen counter for support. My parents didn't end their relationship on the best of terms but when Mum needed a place to stay, she always stayed at home. 

I thought for a couple of minutes trying for all of this to sink in. Mum was back, Dad was sober, Dad had a girlfriend and I wanted to meet her. 

I told Dad I wanted to meet his girlfriend and he cried more tears. 

When I met, Lily, she was amazingly nice. She had been a drunk too and had a son around my age. He was a little older as he was twenty but in no time, Joe was constantly round the house. 

Joe wasn't quite easy on the eye too, blonde like his mum, really tall with deep blue eyes. He was in university and whenever I saw him, he was looking more and more handsome. I never flirted but I couldn't help check him out every time he came near. He had a gorgeous girlfriend, Rebecca. She was helping me revise for the exams I had at the end of June.

Not much happened after that. Mostly, I revised for my exams, hung out with Ben and Kristin and even started to date again. They never really worked out but I was completely fine with it. I did think it was too soon anyway. 

After everything that had happened I wanted to take things slow. Kristin would constantly ask me about everything that happened even though she knew most of the details but I wouldn't talk about it. 

It was the past and I going to focus on living for the future. I was going to focus on my friends, my studies and me. 

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