Handprints ( #2 BOOK IN SERIES )

September (Part Three)

My friends and I walk away in separate directions, deciding that we will see enough of each other over the next few weeks now that school has officially started once again.

"Oh, you're home early," my mum says as soon as I walk through the door with Cory just behind me.

"Like you said, it was only an introductory session," I reply back, reaching my arms out to take Erin off of her. "How has she been?" I ask, hoping to change the conversation.

"Fine, she's been asleep since you left and has only just begun to stir. I think she will want feeding soon. It has been a few hours since her last bottle," she tells me.

"I'll start warming one up," Cory says and makes his way into the kitchen, leaving just my mum and I in the living room, along with the baby.

There isn't a chance for us to start talking because as soon as we sit down, Erin bursts into a fit of tears, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"You save this just for mummy, don't you?" I say to her, holding her close to my chest, trying to calm her down.

I keep changing the positions that I am holding her in, from having her close to my chest, to laying her in my arms, to balancing her on my hips. Nothing seems to work. Little tears roll down her face as her face turns red with frustration and her little hands ball into a fist.

"You would think that we starve her," Cory says as he walks into the room with a bottle in his hand.

I take it from him and place it into her mouth which she gladly accepts and begins to suck on straight away. The house falls silent for a few minutes while we all watch the baby drink her milk.

"You haven't actually told me what you did today," my mum breaks the silence and brings the topic of school back up again.

"There isn't that much too talk about other than we had an assembly and then a briefing with our tutors. That was it." I tell her.

"You did get your time tables though, didn't you?"

"Yes, that was the only thing worth going in for," I say to my mum.

"Can I see them?"

"Sure," I say sounding slightly confused. "Mine is in my coat pocket though," I tell her.

"I'll get it for you," Cory says so I thank him.

He brings my mum the time table, along with his own, and she sits and studies them for a minute.

"Well this isn't too bad. It means you only need a child minder for the afternoons. Maybe from about midday to four? Most evenings, Cory should be able to pick her up," she comments so I nod along at her. "Do you want me to phone my friend Mary-Anne? She has been child minding for quite some time now and she doesn't live that faraway."

"Yeah, we need to get that sorted," I tell my mum and see Cory nod with agreement.

A few hours later, all the arrangements are made meaning that I will be dropping Erin off at the child minders house for half past twelve which still gives me plenty of time to then get to school. Cory will pick her up probably around half past three as he finishes school at three instead of four like I do. He does start earlier though.

***

Two weeks go by and sixth form turns out to be a lot different than what I expected it to be. People always say that there is a big jump from your GCSE's to your A Levels in terms of difficulty and work load.

I never believed it.

I was wrong.

Everything seems to have gone up another notch. The books that we have to read for English Literature are a lot harder to read than the ones that we did for our GCSE. They're older for a start off. At least it is an easier subject to catch up on by myself though. Performing art and dance are a lot harder.