A/N: I haven't updated in a long time because I was on holiday, and I sprained my ankle whilst shuffling to party rock anthem with my sister :/
- -
Chapter 5
"Dinner's ready!" a voice called, in a sing-song tone.
"Coming Mom!" I yelled back, and I gently put down my violin promising that I would practice more later.
I rushed down the stairs, not looking where I was going and BAM! I tripped over something, and fell the rest of the way. Luckily, I was nearly at the bottom and there was a thick rug at the foot of the staircase.
Something landed with a thud next to me as I lifted myself off the ground.
I crept over to see what it was. A large white book was sitting with it's front facing the floor. I picked it up and turned it over.
'STEREOTYPE CASE FILES' was stamped in red print. I curiously brought my fingers to the edge to open it...
"Poppy! I need you to clear the table, your books are all over the place. Where are you?" I jumped, and scrambled to get up. I could hear my Mom shuffling towards me from behind the door.
I shoved the book underneath the umbrella stand, grabbed the door handle and yanked it open.
"I'm...fine, I was just sorting out my sheet music before I forgot," I babbled. I cringed; the way I said that sounded much too much like the lie it was.
My Mom was standing there, frozen, a look of surprise on her face. Her hand was held out in front of her like it was going for the door handle. The one which was the opposite side of the door handle I had grabbed mere seconds before.
"Uhh...okay then. Well, it's chicken pasta today. And it's your turn to clear the table and handle the dishwasher."
I accepted it without a protest, which probably made my Mom even more suspicious.
What was that book for? Why was it here? Why was it on the stairs? Who owned it?
A jumble of questions flew through my mind. I was so distracted that I poured both Luke and I some milk, when he was lactose intolerant.
"Uhh...Poppy...you do know I can't have milk, right?" he questioned me curiously.
I just stared at him.
"Huh?"
Quick as lightning, he snapped his fingers in front of my face. I flinched, and stepped back.
"Aaaand, you're back in the room!" he grinned.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Okay, maybe not." he mumbled nervously. He shrank back into his seat.
I didn't bother to answer him.
We ate our pasta in silence. I was far too spaced out to make any conversation.
Once we were finished, I cleared up the plates and shoved them into the dishwasher. I waited until they were finished, then wiped them down and put them away.
I meandered up the stairs.
Then I remembered about the book, (how could I have forgotten?) and ran down again. I was about to lift the umbrella stand up, when Luke popped his head around the doorframe of the living room.
"Poop?" he said, "What're you doing?" I cursed myself for not checking if the coast was clear.
"I'm going to clean the umbrella stand." I lied smoothly. "It's really dusty and it makes me sneeze every time I walk past."
He gave me an odd look. "Okay then...I'll help if you want. I havent anything better to do, and I want to tell you my list of possible birthday presents. Hint hint." He stood up, and started to head for the kitchen to find a bucket.
I blanched, horror settling within me. "No! Nonono! I should do it; you go back to drawing. Or homework. Or stealing cookies from the cookie jar." I said, a little desperately.
"What?!" my dad choked. He had been sitting on the sofa just inside the living room, watching TV and reading a newspaper at the same time. "Luke? It was YOU who took the cookies?! You said it was next door's budgie! No wonder why we didn't have any left, your mother always has to go buy more when the isn't any left for guests!"
"Uhh..." Luke had come back, with a surprised guilty expression on his face.
"You two! BOTH of you can clean the umbrella stand, no choice now!"
"But-" Luke tried to reason.
"No ifs, no buts. And it's high time someone cleaned it too."
I groaned, and collapsed on the floor. My idea of reading the mysterious book did not go to plan.
**
Two hours later, we were done. I had snuck the book upstairs to my room, whilst Luke was getting the bucket and cloth.
Now, the umbrella stand was clean and shiny inside and out, devoid of all dust and mud.
"How long did that take?" my brother moaned.
"I don't know. I don't care. As long as we don't have to do that again." I mumbled.
We were flopped on the rug at the bottom of the stairs. Dust was on our clothes, in our hair, as well as crusty mud splatters.
It was eight o'clock, and I hadn't showered, or washed my hair, or done anything (in my point of view) productive. Which is why I decided to have a long soak in the bath and mull things over. There was always a chance I might drop the book in the water, so I decided to leave it stuffed under my pillow.
I discovered that it fell out of the open attic door above the stairs (from some hard detective work...well, a few seconds to glance up. And see the open hatch and the ladder poking out. But it sounded so much better).
I sprinkled some crystals into my bath, and swilled the water around with my hand. I quickly stripped, and climbed into the bath.
I sighed happily, and leant back.
I closed my eyes, more to smell the scent of bath crystals wafting around in the steamy air than to relax.
I felt myself drifting off...
"POOP! Get out now! Someone's calling you and you've been in there for ages!"
I jumped, and banged my head on the side of the bathtub splashing cold water onto the bathroom floor as Luke pounded on the door.
"Okay, I'm coming, hang on a second," I yelled. I wrapped a towel around myself, unplugged the plughole of the bathtub, grabbed my clothes, unlocked the door and ran out of the bathroom.
All in the timespan of about two seconds. A world record, I'd say!
I stumbled past Luke who was looking rather disgruntled and fell into my bedroom.
My phone had shuffled it's way across my cupboard desk, incessantly ringing "Party Rock Anthem". I changed the ringtone when my mum had started singing to it, last night. I grabbed it, and pressed the answer button.
"Hello?"
"Finally! I've been trying to get through to you for donkey's years!"
I checked the time. I'd wasted a whole hour asleep in the bathtub.
"Ahh. Yeah, I fell asleep in the bath...I'm guessing this is Hazel?"
"Yeah, it's me. And...you fell asleep in the bath? Is that possible? You didn't die from constriction or something?"
"Awesome. Yep. Apparently so. And nope, I didn't die."
"Evidently."
I grinned. "You could take that evidence into a court case, it's so good!"
"Huh?"
"Well, I'm the evidence, and I'm alive, so...yeah...you could go into a court trial with that, and win...y'know what I mean?"
Hazel paused for a moment to speculate. "...You're crazy, you know that?"
I laughed. "If I'm crazy, what are you?"
She broke into chuckles. "True."
Ten minutes passed in which Hazel and I discussed what we would do the day after next.
I yawned, and clicked off my light. I snuggled deeper into the duvet, and faintly remembered something about...a book?
But before I could delve deeper into the memory, I fell into the oblivion of sleep.