This Girl

Chapter 16: She looks like a frog

I hear a smash from downstairs while I'm emailing Adele. Its so loud I hear it through my ear phones. I rush downstairs. The boys' mouths are hanging open and they're staring at shards of broken glass splayed over the ground.

"Guys! What did you do?" I yell at Lucas and Paul. "IS THAT MUM'S VASE?"

Lucas and Paul nod, closing their mouths and hanging their heads in shame. "We didn't mean to! I banged the wall and it fell off the dresser!"

"Yeah! It was his fault," Paul says after his brother. Lucas turns to him and glares.

"You pushed me into it!"

"You bit me!"

"That was AFTER you punched me!"

"I did not punch you!"

"All because I won the game! You're such a sore loser, Paul!"

"You were cheating!"

"I won!"

"You cheated!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"NONONONONONONO!"

"YESYESYESYESYES!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"BOYS!" I scream, glaring at them.

"Yeah?" they ask me in sync.

"Stay where you are, I'll go get the dust pan, don't move," I walk off to the kitchen and retrieve the appliances.

"Knock, knock!" someone calls from the door. Dammit, the Collins' are here.

"Shoot!" I rush back to the living room, but I'm running so fast that I don't stop in time before the glass. A million shards poke into my feet and I yell out in pain. Gosh, I'm stupid.

"Nat? Are you alright?" Lucas asks.

"No! Of course I'm not ALRIGHT!" I snap at him. I try to cool down, breathing in and out.

"Paul, go get the door, take the Collins' outside, not in here and tell them where Mum and Dad are," I say, trying to keep calm, refraining from yelling out in pain. "Lucas, go call Mum and Dad, tell them what happened, and say they need to get back from the shops ASAP!"

I can feel the blood dripping from my feet. I stay where I am, I know there'll only be more shards around me if I move. WHY AM I SO STUPID?

I bend down and crouch on my feet. I swipe up the other broken pieces with the dust pan and brush. I stand up again and try to move but the shards press deeper into my skin. I groan in pain and lower myself to the ground, placing the dust pan beside me.

I hear Paul talking to the Collins at the front door. I then hear footsteps that walk onto the patio.

"Where's Nat?" Patricia asks.

"Oh, um, she'll be out in a minute..." Paul says. The chairs are pulled in and I hear them scrape along the ground. I sigh with relief. Thank God they're not here to see me like this.

My eyes open when I hear footsteps walking towards me in the corridor. I look around in panic. It can't be Mum or Dad, I can still hear Lucas talking on the phone to them. I turn towards the figure approaching me.