"Is Ella in?" I heard a small voice say. I finished pulling a hoody over my head and picked up the smoothie I'd just made.
"It's fine," I said to Mum, walking over to the door. "Give me two minutes?"
"Okay," she said. She walked off upstairs and I sat on the step outside the house with Oscar.
"How've you been?" he asked, bumping his knee against mine gently. "I haven't seen you around for a week or so."
"I haven't been out," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "I'm not allowed. Mum wants me to stay with her as much as possible."
"You've gone through with it then?" he asked, looking quite surprised.
"Yeah," I said. "It's so difficult. I just want a drag of a blunt all the time. I've had about three hours sleep in the last five days. I've got a constant headache. I've got to keep on going though. According to research, the first week is the hardest."
"Does this mean that we can't hang out together any more?"
"Probably," I said, giving him a sad look. "Not until I'm better anyway. I've got to go, I'm freezing. I will see you soon, yeah? Come and visit me. I miss human interaction."
"Brooklyn was worried about you," Oscar said, after walking away a few steps. "I didn't tell him anything though. It's up to you whether you want to do that. He asked me to tell you that his video messenger is the same and he's always there if you want to talk. He left LA two days ago."
"Thanks Osc," I said, smiling at him. "See you soon."
I closed the door behind me and went to the living room where Tyler was sitting, doing some school work. Mum had decided that I would do my exams in January instead of June and had sorted it all out with someone so I didn't have to worry about them at the moment.
"How are you feeling?" Tyler asked me, glancing up at me. "You look like you're going to faint."
"I feel like shit," I said, sitting down next to him. "Where's Mum?"
"Right here," she said, from behind me. "Did Oscar have anything interesting to say?"
"He just wanted to know how I was doing," I said, shrugging my shoulders. I grabbed my head in agony for a few seconds before the wave of pain relieved itself. "I think I'm going to go upstairs to see if I can sleep again."
"I thought you could come out with me later," Mum said. "Just to do some shopping."
"Yeah," I said, smiling at her. "I'd like that."
I put my laptop on my lap as I snuggled under my covers to try and get comfortable. I opened up my video messenger app which had stayed closed for the last two months or so. I debated with myself for a good five minutes before clicking on the call button.
"I'm sorry if this is at a bad time or you're busy but I just wanted you to know that Oscar told me what you said and I really appreciate it," I said after a minute or two.
"I'm not busy," he said quickly. "I'm not doing anything. You look ill, are you okay?"
"No," I said honestly. "I'm doing a detox, cold turkey thing."
"What do you mean?"
Tyler came bursting into my room before I could stop him.
"Can I have some privacy please Tyls? I won't be long," I said quietly.
"I just came to tell you that Mum and I are popping out for twenty minutes. She's saying phone if anything happens and you need to take these," he said. He handed me two tablets and a bottle of water. "Love you."
