Morph.

Chapter 11

7.15am. The alarm goes off. I'm not complaining, though. In actuality, I feel pretty good, excited to be getting up. It's a new day and it's gonna' be great. I'm sure, I'm sure. Hop out of bed and in I go for a shower.

"Morning, everyone!", I announce as I approach the dining table.

"Morning, darling.". "Morning, Stephie!". "Hey, Steph!". Mum, Dad and Lisa call out.

"So, what's everyone having this morning? Pancakes? Cereals?", I ask as I poke my head around the table. You're acting like you're running on a cocktail of Red Bull and coffee, Steph. Stop it.

"Erm. Honey, are you OK?", Mum asks.

"Yeah, you look like you've had a shot of sugar in the arm.", adds Lisa.

"Me? I'm fine! Perfectly fine. Just happy, that's all!", I chirp.

"Not even three days ago, she overslept and missed dinner and feeling down. Now she's all, hyper and stuff. I think we need to take her to a shrink.", Dad whispers the last bit with the shrink, not softly enough.

"Hey! I'm fine, OK? Just had a...", I pause trying to find a way to phrase the next few words. "...a good day hanging out yesterday.", I said. Mum, being the ultimate mind reader that she is, picks up on it.

"No one acts like this after hanging out with her friends, darling. Not even if it's an epic night.", she looks across the table to me, with an I-got-you-this-time face written all over.

"Mum!! Ugh, it was...I mean, it was cool.", I improvised.

"Sure, it was. So, what's his name?". Sometimes my mother can take things a little too far.

"Mum!! Why?!".

Dad and Lisa follow on with the catcalls. There's no need for hiding now, the blush gives it away.

"You guys, I'm not even sure if we're...official.".

"Well, something must've happened for you to be smiling like a complete idiot, right?", Lisa teases.

"C'mon, darling. Spare us the drama, all the details. Now.", Dad chimes in, trying to sound commanding and all. I chuckle.

"Well, it was just last night. Look, I'm sorry. I should have told you that I was-".

"Sneaking out?", Mum says.

My jaw drops open ever so slightly. How in the world does she know? Even if she did, why didn't she try to stop me.

"Wha-? How did you know?", I asked.

"Darling, we could hear you climbing down the awning at the back.", Mum smiles.

"Then, why didn't you try to stop me?".

"Honey...". Dad grabs my hand and leans in. "...we know you won't let yourself get into too much trouble. We totally would have stopped you if we knew you weren't capable of handling yourself.".

I pull back slightly, genuinely taken aback by the amount of freedom my parents actually afford me.

"Wow. Uhm....thanks?".

"So, we trust you didn't do anything that you will regret, right?", Mum checks.

"If it makes you feel any better, Mum, all we did was kiss.". Wow, Steph. I almost catch myself brushing my lips as I said that. My smile didn't help, though.

Lisa squeals in joy. "Hahah! Wow! Bring him home to meet us, Steph! We could do a double date, you and....".

"Tobias. Tobias Hopper.", I fill in.