Living the Life of Riley | ✔

Chapter Seventeen

“Yeah.”  She repeated but with a more… depressed tone.  She wasn’t as happy.

“How were things back in Dalla?  Quiet?  Nice?”  I was curious.  What was it like without me?  I mean, I know I was barely ever in the house but I was always about, always making some sort of trouble.

Kaya thought for a moment, and I got off her to give her some space.  Sitting against the backrest, I sat cross-legged.  “Honestly?  It was weird.  I missed having you.  I missed having to wake up at three to let you in through my window.  I missed hearing Mum bitch about you to her friends.  It’s not the same.”

“Really?”  I asked, feeling loved.

“Yeah.  It’s odd.  Even at school it’s weird.  People aren’t so scared.”  She paused, looked as if she was thinking for a moment and then started talking again.  “No, they’re still terrified of the group.  I think they’re just less worried about being punched.  Or slammed against a wall.”

I was guilty of smiling at that point.  I loved how fearful people were of me.  I don’t know why.  I knew that it was something I shouldn’t have been proud of, but I was.  Having people fear you meant they’d be more likely to leave you alone which meant that I wouldn’t have to deal with the Pauls of the world.

“How’s scaring people here then?”  Kaya asked.  I just shrugged in response.

“They’re not.”

“No?”  There was a mixture of shock and surprise on her face.

“No.  I just… I thought I’d try and get along with people,” she started to laugh (which didn’t surprise me), “but I don’t know.  I miss the crew.  I miss having people eyeing me.  I even miss the teachers.”  If I had to admit to anyone that I was homesick, it’d be to Kaya.  But then, shouldn’t I have been homesick a few months ago?  Not three months after I’d moved?

“You look like you’re doing fine here.  You’ve got a boyfriend-“

“He’s not my boyfriend.  No-where near that.”  I interrupted Kaya, making it clear that I was not dating Tristan.  He had the mind of a dog in heat sometimes.

“Fine.  You’ve got a friends-with-benefits thing then.  Anyway, you’ve got a whole new group of friends, you might actually pass your GCSEs and you’re taking care of yourself.  You’re becoming an adult.”

“An adult?  I’m only sixteen.”

“Okay.  So you’re becoming more responsible.”  She corrected herself and I nodded.

“Sounds way better.”  I smiled.  “Any gossip from Dalla?”

“Did Dylan not tell you everything?”

“He told me bits.  Nothing of interest.  Stuff about Jo, his new job, his mum’s new boyfriend, the drugs the group had been doing.  Nothing really juicy.”  I shrugged.

“Well, lucky I’m here then!”  Kaya laughed before we gossiped like old biddies getting their hair done.

                                                     ~ * ~

‘Awkward’ wasn’t the right word for this family reunion.  In fact, it was a complete understatement.

My former mother (I refused to acknowledge she was still my mother; I’d rather have no mother) was sat opposite me at the dining table.  Something that I was sure Liam had planned all by himself.  I know he wanted me to make up with her because she was my mother but I didn’t want to.  The woman had hated me because I’d always looked (and apparently been more like) my father.  And she despised my father.