Chapter 17

"Oliver, would you mind raking up some leaves for me dear?" An old voice came from the doorway, yet abruptly stopped when the eyes were locked on me. "Oh my you have a lady friend over."

I blushed deeply. A lady friend?

Oliver shook his head and smiled. "Gran, this is Cece. She's new in town."

"Oh of course. So it is your stepfather who is a writer?"

I nodded.

"Of course, of course. Well since you are a friend of Oliver's ...you can help him rake the leaves."

"Gran! She's a guest."

"And she's from the city. It wouldn't harm her to learn a bit of a farmer's life."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "Sorry." He said giving me an apologetic look.

I smiled. "It's okay, it will be my pleasure to help."

"That's the spirit." Oliver's grandmother enthused. "Why can't you be more like that when I ask you to do something?"

"Because I am a moody teenage boy." He said cheekily.

"Moody is sure right."  o liver's grandmother said as she shook her head and walked away.

Oliver and I stood. He walked outside to the shed and I followed him. He handed me a rake and grabbed one for himself.

SO we got to work.

Oliver's grandparents house lay on the edge near the forest and close to Lake Gloria. Lake Gloria glistened in the afternoon sun.

Of course it was Autumn here, you can feel the cool air starting to come in. The sun was setting earlier and rising later. It did snow in Lake Gloria, but in summer the trees were never green. They always stayed there mixture of orange, red and yellow. I knew this because my own father had come from here and he died here right after my mom gave birth to me.

Mum kept all the photo's, letters and journals of my dad. She kept them to keep her memories of him and yet she got completely mad at me when I found them.

But it was from his journals that I knew about this place. It was one of the main reasons why I loathed coming here, in fear of being reminded of him. But this was only the first time.

Crunchy stuff was shoved at the back of my shirt, I wiggled around to try and get it out. "Oliver you jerk! Why did you put leaves down my shirt?"

He started laughing heuristically. "That's what you get for zoning out."

I glared at him and dropped my rake. I slowly crouched down and picked up some leaves.

"Don't you dare," he warned.

I walked over to him and covered his whole head full of leaves.

"Oh, it's on now."

My eyes went wide and I giggled, running away from him. He chased me over towards the lake and started to tickle me. 

"Stop." I giggled.

"Never."

"Stop." I giggled again.

"Say please."

"I will never say p-p-p-pleease." I stuttered between giggles.

I pushed him off behind me and hid behind the tree. He came up from the left and I slowly backed away from him.

"Come here."

"No." I replied still backing away, then my foot slipped and I fell into the shallow end of the lake. I pouted and looked down at my drenched pants. When I looked up at Oliver he started laughing."It's not funny."

At this point Oliver was in hysterics. He held up a hand to help me up, still laughing. Instead of getting up, I pulled him into the water with me.

He fell face first into the water. When he rose his head, his face was covered in mud. He slowly wiped it off and smeared it on me.

"Jerk." I muttered.

He grinned through the mud. We both got up and walked towards the house.

Oliver's grandmother took one look at us and said,"Kids."

When Oliver tried to walk into the house first, she shooed us out and said we must hose ourselves off first.

Oliver walked me over to the side of the house and picked up the hose pipe, he hosed himself off and then turned it off.

I stood there still dripping in mud and I frowned at him.

He started to walk off towards the house. "You are not funny."

He stopped and walked back towards me. "I thought it was."

I poked my tongue out at him.

He turned on the hose on and shot it straight for my face for ten seconds before turning it off again.

"Thanks for that." I said sarcastically.

"You're welcome." After that he properly started helping me to rinse off.

Oliver's grandmother had lay some towels out so we can dry off before going into the house.

I glanced at the clock near the wall of the kitchen. "S**t." I muttered.

"What?" Oliver asked me.

"It's past six...Rick get's pissed when I get home after six."

"Rick is your stepfather?"

I nodded in reply.

Oliver ran off and returned with his keys. "I'll take you home."

I closed Oliver's car door and thanked him for having me over and for giving me a ride home.

"Cecelia, it's after six." I heard Rick's voice calling out to me from the kitchen and then from beside me. "How many times do I need to tell you to be home before six?"

"Sorry I forgot. I was busy helping a friend rake some leaves at his grandparents farm."

"Excuses, excuses!" He started to curse.

"Rick, calm down." I mumbled.

"Calm down! Calm down! This is my house, so it's my rules and you better come home when I say you do!"

"Well I'm home now!"

"I see that! But you should have been home long ago."

"Okay, it won't happen again."

"If it does, I will make you pay."

"What are you going to do?"

"Perhaps a good beating will do the trick."

"Is that a threat?"

He smiled. "Who are you going to tell?"

I continued to glare at him. He was right. Who was I going to tell? Who would trust my word over his? And what would they care in Lake Gloria?

I turned on my heel and made my way to my room, slamming the door behind me.

I collapsed on the bed and cried myself to sleep, not caring about eating dinner.