Chapter 9 – Enemies
Saturday came quickly. Leto managed to take Sera to the library during the week, but it cost her a day’s homework and catching up. She continued to worry about Ouma, but failed to visit her. By Friday night, she was so over-worked she fell asleep on the couch half-way through her Geography assignment. She woke up temporarily as she was carried to her bed by Pa.
At eight o’clock in the morning, she felt someone tugging her blanket. She turned over, pulling it back over her head to block out the sun. Then the crying started.
“Leeeetoooo. I’m hungry!” moaned Brian.
He wailed directly into her ear, forcing her awake and out of bed. She rubbed sleep out of her eyes as she picked him up and carried him to the front room. She mumbled incoherently about dinosaurs eating pi while she rummaged around for food, unable to remember her strange dream. After ten minutes, she came up with nothing. The fridge only contained a carton of expired milk. She needed to do some shopping on top of everything. Shopping with money she didn’t have. She dug a jar of peanut butter out of the cupboard and found a few slices of brown bread.
“We’re having peanut butter sandwiches,” she yawned. “Where’s Sera?”
“LEEEEEETTTTOOOOO!” The yell was her response. She put down the packet of bread and trudged to the bathroom. Sera was pressed up against the wall, cornered by a stream on ants.
“Sera, they’re just ants. You can step over them.”
“They gonna crawl all over me!”
Sighing, Leto stepped over the line of bugs and heaved the girl up.
“You’re too heavy for me to carry.”
She plonked Sera a few metres away from the ants.
“We’re having breakfast now. Come eat. Is Zahra still coming?”
“Ja, she said so. Can I help you with the breakfast? Did you know you fell asleep on the couch last night? Pa had to carry you. It was so funny; he almost broke his back. Why are you so tired, Leto?”
“Sera, I’m not properly awake yet. Can you keep quiet, please?”
She scowled and pretended to zip her mouth closed. Leto finished off the sandwiches and gave them to her siblings while she went to the room to get done. As she passed Pa’s room, she heard the sound of footsteps. Brian probably woke him up. She found a decent shirt and jeans that was still in wearable condition and pulled them on. For shoes, she pulled out the only pair of pumps she owned and put them on. Her outfit wouldn’t compete with Fen and Karen, but it was better than going in her uniform.
She waited until Zahra arrived before heading to the train station. Warren caught up to her just as she walked through the gates.
“Howzit, Warren?” she called.
“Awhe, where you off to today? Does that school make you work on Saturdays nog?”
“Sadly. There’s nothing I can do about it. It’s a choice between today or during the week after school.”
“Yoh, I actually miss you in class. I didn’t think that I would ‘til this week.”
He leaned against the fence, hooking his fingers through the mesh. The wires split his smirk.
“They really cruel to you if they make you work weekends. When do you have some free time? Or are you too laanie to hang around the likes of us now?”
YOU ARE READING
Rogue
Ficțiune adolescențiLeto’s life is turned upside-down when an excellent performance at a mathematics competition catches the attention of a prestigious school. Given an invitation to the life of the privileged, she is torn between looking after her two young siblings a...
