key of B minor: February 2010

Four - Louise

It was weird waking up in new place, I was a lot colder than normal and had a huge duvet over me. It looks like dad and Monique stocked up on essentials; in Monique’s case, nail polish and remover. In dad’s case he brought his glasses. What useful guardians I have.

I climbed out of bed and stepped onto the floor. Wooden, no carpet, great. I had already unpacked, I’d spent all weekend sorting out my stuff. There was nothing out of place, and no boxes. You could call me a neat freak, but you got to no that the only reason I clean it at first is so when it gets messed up later, I’ll know where it really needs to go for special occasions. I grabbed my new uniform which I collected on Saturday. It was mostly navy, with a short checked navy and grey skirt. If I wasn’t cold enough as it is, I now have to wear a skirt everyday with sheer tights. Who wears sheer anymore. I walked down the stairs in my ever faithful pair of “comfortable” shoes. Thanks dad. The witch and dad appeared at the bottom of the stairs; my dads face lit up when he saw me.
“Ohhhhhh, Loui look at you!” My dad was grinning from ear to ear. “Look Monique, go on look at her!”
“Oh believe me I’m looking at her.” She had a grimace on her face, but I made a point of not looking back at her.

“So dad what’s for breakfast?” I pulled out a chair and sat opposite Monique, making sure I gave her the dirtiest look I could manage this early in the morning. His smile faded and he pushed his glasses up his nose.
“Um, sorry love I seemed to have forgotten that you needed breakfast. But I can always stick a few slices of bread in the toaster. We have jam!” He grinned, but the obvious pleasing smile didn’t reach his eyes. He seemed to be hiding something, but I didn’t feel like pestering him right now.
“It’s OK. Actually I’ll skip the breakfast, I’m late anyway,” I said, pushing my chair back.
“Hun, you’ve still got an hour,” exclaimed my dad. “Yeah, but I want to make sure that I’m at school on time. What if I get lost on the way? Can I just have some money for lunch?” as I grabbed my bag, and headed over to dad. “ Sorry love, I’ve only got some coppers at the moment,” he turned his head, he was definitely hiding something, but I was distracted by Monique’s mumbling.
“Oh for goodness sake, I think I have some money,” she fumbled around in her purse and pulled out a £50 note. “Here, take this,” she said shoving it at me. “Cash it for me, and you can take a few quid. Bring me back the change.”
“Of course,” I said as she strutted out the room, giving her a fake smile. “Bye dad,” I bent down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. I turned around and headed for the front door.
“Bye love. Have a nice day. Be safe now,” I only heard a whisper now as I shut the door on his words. My iPod drowned out the noise of the cars; Kings of Leon were one of the best bands ever. Especially sex on fire. Although I would never have sex until I was mature enough.

I walked down the unfamiliar pathway and went out the gate. I’m sure I’d get used to the postman who’d dropped his bike, the couple across the street throwing plates at each other, the old man saying good morning to everyone, and a young girl stopping to talk to a builder, while her boyfriend waited annoyed behind her. That looked quite funny, but they were at the other end of the road so a couldn’t see them that well.

I got to the end of the road and turned right. I hadn’t seen that couple but they were behind me now.
“Oh, come on Evie. He wasn’t even interested. Hurry up, I’m going to the rugby club soon. I have got better things to do,” said the boy. He sounded a little older then me.
“He was, really. And you don’t have to take me to school you know, I don’t need my older brother to watch over me 24/7,” said the girl, in a high pitched voice. I’m guessing they’re not going out then, I thought to myself. I started chuckling hoping they wouldn’t hear me. They sounded Irish, but I wasn’t entirely sure as Scottish sounded similar to me. In fact the only Irish I’d heard was when I watched P.S I love you in Australia. It was so sad!
But anyway, I looked down at my watch to jump back into reality. Oh beep. I wouldn’t actually swear; it’s rude. But I only had 5 minutes to get to school. The clock at home must be wrong. I crossed the road then, in a slight run, and I could still hear a quiet echo of chattering behind me.