Chapter 14: Chloe

“Hey Mom” I say as I come through the door. She’s sat on the couch reading something.

“Hey. I thought you said you were doing your homework here?” She asks.

“Oh. I started to do it but then Selena phoned and asked for help on her homework so I went round to hers”

“Oh, ok”

“Do we have any leftovers?”

“Yeah, there’s Chinese in the fridge”

“Ok” I walk into the kitchen and look for the food. I’m starving. Mum comes up behind me.

“So, kiss any good boys lately?” How does she know?

“Who…?”

“Miss Patty” She says.

“Of course” Once Miss Patty knows, everyone in town will know.

“So he’s cute?” Mom asks.

“Yeah”

“Can he spell?”

“He can spell and read” I say. Does she think I’ll go out with an idiot? “How long have you known?”

“Since this morning” So that’s why she was going on about the whole kissing thing at Luke’s.

“You’ve known all day”

“Yeah, you should’ve known you wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret especially not in this town”

“Well you could’ve said something” I say.

“Funny I was going to say the same thing”

“So what now?” I ask after a long silence. I was expecting her to give me a lecture.

“Nothing”

“Are you not going to give me a lecture on kissing boys?”

“No. I actually I think it’s great”

“No you don’t” There is no way she doesn’t feel weird about this.

“Yeah I do”

“So you’re fine with it?” I ask.

“Absolutely”

“Ok then” She’s freaking out. I sit down and eat my Chinese take away.

 

“We have to hurry up because the video-store is going to close in a minute so we go in and get the sweets as quick as possible” Mum says. We’re stood outside the grocery store. She can’t be serious? I’m not going in there.

“Chloe?”

“You know I think we’ve got enough stuff at home” I say.

“Really, because the house I left just now had nothing?”

“How about we just get pizza?”

“Are you crazy? You can’t watch Willy Wonka without massive amounts of chocolate. It’s not right. I won’t allow it we’re going in” I stay where I am.

“Chloe. It’s fine, and I’m going to have to meet him eventually”

“Ok, how about next year?” I say.

“I am going to be so cool in there”

“There will be no interrogation” She has to think about that one.

“I swear”

“No kissing noises, embarrassing stories and no Nancy Walker impressions”

“Oh come on”

“You promise?”

“I well and truly promise” I think she means it. “Now can we go into the shop, please?”

“Ok”

“Thank you” I walk in and mum follows. James is nowhere to be seen.

“I don’t see him”

“Ok, well maybe he’s on a break” She says grabbing a basket.

“Yeah, maybe he’s on a break”

“Yeah”

“Ok, so we can shop?”

“Yeah” I say.“So do we want marshmallows?”

“Mmm, and jelly beans, chocolate, peanut butter, cookie dough we have at home…” The store isn’t going to have any stuff left after we’re done shopping. “Do you think they have that thing they have were there’s sugar on one side of the stick but then you dip it in sugar on the other side and then you eat it?” She says grabbing more sweets.

“We are going to be so sick. It’s amazing we still function” I say.

We move onto the next aisle where you can see the tills.

“There he is” I say. He’s helping people bag their groceries.

“Wow, he quite tall” Mom says. I know what‘s coming next so I decide to get her out of here now.

“Come on lets go” I start to pull her towards the till.

“He’s got great eyes, you’ve got love a guy with great eyes”

“Yeah” I say.

“With a nice smile”

“Yeah”

“Hey, do you think we can get him to turn around?”

“It’s nice too”

“Really”

“Trust me” Mom gives the basket to the woman at the till.

“So you girls having another movie night?” She asks.

“Yeah”

“Yeah it Willy Wonka this time” Mom says.

“Erm, Mom this is James. James this is my mom” Mom holds her hand out.  “Nice to meet you James”

James shakes it. “Nice to meet you too”

“$41.83” The woman says.

“Oh wow. It’s expensive to slowly rot your insides isn’t it?” Mom says. The woman nods. Mom hands her the money. James picks up the bag, takes it to the side and hands it to me.

“Thank you” I say.

“You’re welcome” Mom comes up behind me.

“So James, I hope I’ll see you again” She says.

“Yeah” Someone came up behind him and taps him on the shoulder. “See you later” He says and walks off after the person that tapped him.

“See that wasn’t so bad” Mom says.

“Your right”

“I said nothing embarrassing, nothing stupid”

“I know thank you” We go outside. Mom stops and says “I need coffee”

“Mom, the video store closes in ten minutes”

“Well you run to the store and I’ll meet you a t Luke’s” I start running. I can’t believe she didn’t say anything embarrassing. Hopefully she won’t do anything next time.