HUNTED ~ STEVE ROGERS [2]

Chapter Fourteen

Here are a few things I learned about family life during my time at Greenwood  Avenue:

1. If you didnt do the dishes at least once a week, you were a failure of a human.

2. Apparently, mothers had the right to spontaneously burst into your room and inspect it, and if it wasnt clean enough, you were a failure of a human.

3. You take it, you eat it.

4. If you were caught coming home after 10pm, you were a failure of a human and would also get jandal slapped all the way to hell and back.

5. If you didnt know how to duck, you soon learned how when Grandma Whoo was in the room.

6. You went to church on Sundays, even if you had to be jandal slapped and dragged out of bed for it to happen. If you didnt, you were a failure of a human.

It was a Sunday, and that exact thing had happened to me because I didnt realise church was something families did. Ill admit, I fell asleep during the sermon but at least I was seated at the back, so Robyn didnt notice.

Steve still hadnt called me back, and it had been more than a week. To say it kept me up at night was an understatement.

After half an hour of being introduced to people whose names I had already forgotten, we finally left the church and headed back. Robyn drove a mini van with the kids, and Taly drove Tasha and I in the truck, who was fondly referred to as Trev.

We were headed to the mall, because Robyn had repeatedly told us we needed more clothes than just ripped jeans and leather. The mall we arrived at was small, tiny in comparison to the malls in America, but I rather liked it. It wasnt too crowded, and the shops were quaint and cute. Taly insisted we visit Kmart, the NZ version of Walmart, but finding nothing there we moved on Farmers (which isnt actually a store for farmers, I found out).

It was a small department store, at least, small compared to the ones in America. We wandered through the clothes section, passing in and out of the womens and mens sections.

Tasha leaned in close to me as Taly wandered off somewhere.

"Try and avoid the cameras." Her breath tickled my neck and she smelled like cinnamon and spices.

"Uh, are you two a couple?" A disgusted voice behind me said. I turned and saw an older woman, her hands filled with clothes and her thin lips pursed in an angry line. She was looking at Tasha and I like we were garbage.

If there was one thing I hated, it was discrimination.

"Yeah, we are," I pulled Tasha closer to me and curled my arm around her waist. At first, she tensed at my touch, and then relaxed and draped her arm over my shoulder.

The womans face contorted in disgust.

"The people theyll let into shops these days," She muttered angrily. I stared in disbelief at her, and slowly my face hardened. I was about to say something snappy when a shop assistant popped out from around the corner. She had choppy bob cut hair, pretty blue eyes and a wide smile.

"Is everything ok here?" she said sweetly, with undertones of a threat. The womans face went red, and she held her head up high.

"No not at all," She dumped her pile of clothes in the assistants arms and strode away.

We watched her go and the assistant smiled grimly.

"Sorry about that. Is there anything you want help with?" she asked politely. We shook our heads and thanked her, and she wandered off into the store.

"Well that was an experience," Tasha muttered, her arm still around my shoulder.

I was mad as hell, and I didnt think it could get any worse.