What I Hate About You (#1 What I Hate About You)

Chapter 6

The clock in the lounge room is starting to irritate me with the ticking. It’s only seven o’clock and Mum still hasn’t returned home. I know she is somewhere with Dereck. She does this almost every night now, go out with him and spend half of the night with him. One night she came home at midnight and I wonder what she was up to with him. I still don’t like the idea of her cheating on Dad. She was going to regret it when Dad does return home. I don’t want to imagine the hurt on his face when he finds out that Mum left her for another man.

I sit beside the windowsill, peeking through the white curtains to see when Mum’s car is going to pull into the driveway. I have been sitting here since five o’clock, watching out for her, making sure she will return home safely. I have skipped dinner where Mum had left some frozen meals for Lindsay and me, but I’m not interested in eating. Even when my sister came downstairs to eat, I didn’t move from my seat. I have nothing better to do anyway. Each time a passing car comes, I get my hopes up that it will be her, but then my heart crushes when I find that it isn’t hers.

I could call her, find out how much longer she is going to be with that creep. She won’t like me calling her if she is on her lousy date with him. If she is driving then she wouldn’t answer at all.

A car soon pulls up alongside the kerb at the front of our house. A part of me is hoping its Mum, but I know it isn’t her. It’s dark out so I can’t really see the car at all. If it was Mum she would have pulled into the driveway. I stare at the vehicle, watching as a dark figure emerges from it, making their way up the front lawn to the front door. As the figure gets closer, the light from the veranda reveals who the person is. It’s someone I’m not looking forward to see. If I had magical powers, I will use them and vanished Simon McGuire for good. Lindsay always seems to invite him when Mum isn’t home.

He can’t see me through the window, but if he did, I’m pretty sure he would turn and get back into his car from the death stare I am giving him.

Simon rings the doorbell. I ignore him, continuing to stare at him through the window. There is no way in hell was I going to open the door and allow him inside. Lindsay should come down soon. She can answer it since it’s her guest. She will probably kill me for not answering it, but I don’t need to let Simon in.

I hear my sister running down the stairs. I turn to her as she appears at the bottom. She is dressed in her usual outfit – a blue denim mini-skirt and a pink camisole. Her feet are bare so I guess she isn’t planning on going out with Simon tonight. They are probably going to sit in her room and who knows what they will get up to. I better not hear any moans. If I do, I’m going to make sure this guy never steps foot in this house or come anywhere near my house again.

I roll my eyes at her outfit. What a slut.

Simon continues to ring the bell impatiently. God, I’m going to rip the bell out in a second. I don’t know why it was even installed in the first place. All it does is annoy the hell out of you.

“You know you could have let Simon in,” Lindsay says when she spots me sitting on the window sill once she reaches the bottom.

“Whatever,” I say. “He’s your boyfriend.”

Lindsay ignores me and walks over to the door, opening it. Simon greets her and then immediately throws himself at her. I watch them make out, feeling disgusted as Simon’s hands run under her skirt, cupping them around her ass while Lindsay’s hands go under his shirt. If I wasn’t here, they will probably end up having sex right there.

 “Hello? You aren’t the only people that are in this house,” I point out to them.

Simon and Lindsay turn to me, both annoyed with me for interrupting their make out session.

 “Well no one said you have to watch,” Lindsay snaps back at me. “Besides, it’s none of your business what Simon and I do.”

I stand up, walking over to them. “Linds, it is my business. Especially if something happens to you or if you do something you would regret. And since Mum isn’t here, I’m in charge. So therefore, I say that Simon has to leave.”

Lindsay doesn’t like what I said. She rolls her eyes at me. “Oh, go get yourself a life, bitch. You aren’t the boss of me.”

She grabs Simon’s hand and then drags him up the stairs to her room. Simon looks back at me, flipping his middle finger at me. I return the finger.

I watch them until they disappear to my sister’s room. I walk back to the windowsill. I know I should have done more to stop Lindsay for having her idiotic boyfriend over. I could fight him, throw him out of here, but there is no way I could win against him. I have seen him get into a fist fight with a guy once. He won it. He is a black belt in karate. He is stronger than me. There is no way I could push him out the door on my own.

Everything is quiet again once they are gone. The only sound I can hear is the clock ticking. I rest my head against the window, looking out for Mum. It seems like hours before she finally returns home at eight thirty. Now that she is home safely, I can leave. I don’t wait for her to come in because she will ask me how I am, and I know if she asks me that I will probably end up yelling at her for being with Dereck. Sometimes I wonder would she leave Lindsay and me to be with that creep, abandon us like Dad did.

I run up the stairs quickly before she comes in. I hear Simon and Lindsay giggling about something as I pass her room. I don’t bother to check to see what they are doing or to tell my sister that Mum is home. She wouldn’t even care if she is home or not.

I heard to my room where I can be alone for the rest of the night. Hopefully no one will bother me in here.

I sit on my bed, reaching for my sketch book from under my pillow. I open it to a clean page and begin sketching. I get lost into the drawing when I suddenly hear Lindsay in the bathroom next to me. She is talking to someone. She is probably talking to Emilynn about something. I hate how you can hear everything in the bathroom. Why do they make them echo? It’s a room for privacy. It’s not so private if people can hear your business in there.

“Oh my gosh! Are you serious?” I hear my sister say. “You actually saw him in there?”

I roll my eyes and let out a sigh. Emilynn is on the other end of the phone. She must have said something about Nathan. Don’t they have anything else to talk about?

 “I can’t believe he is actually getting me flowers,” Lindsay continues.

I laugh to myself when I heard her say that. Flowers? Really? Did she really think Nathan will buy her flowers?

I get up, not wanting to hear my sister talk about some idiot from school. I need to use the bathroom. I hear silence and I wonder what she is doing in there. She is probably daydreaming about Nathan. I still don’t understand why she needs to flirt with other guys when she is going out with Simon. What a two-timing slut.

I bang on the door. “Hey, hurry up in there! Other people want to use the bathroom too.”

I hear her fiddling with the door as she unlocks it and then she opens it. She glares at me for interrupting her phone call.

“Who were you talking to?” I ask her.

“None of your damn business,” she answers.

She pushes pass me and head back to her room.