Snow

The next morning, I was rudely awoken by an alarm I didn’t know I had which startled me from my 3 hours of sleep. Gutted. The cherry on top was that my bed was toasty warm and the freezing cold air on my face felt extremely unwelcoming. As the high pitched drone started to irritate the small hairs in my cochleas, I grabbed my phone from underneath my pillow and threw it with force in the direction of the threatening sound. I groaned as I realised I’d missed my target and the bleep-bleeping continued.

It was definitely time to get up. There really wasn’t anyway I was going to avoid it so I reluctantly slid out of the covers and into the icy thin air, hitting the off button on the clock. My bare feet aching as they slapped down onto the worn out wooden floorboards. Every movement felt like it took far more effort than it really needed. I snatched Yesterday’s faded blue baggy jeans with an old battered studded belt through the belt loops and I made the effort to pull them up my short legs. After scouting around suitcases that had yet to be unpacked and piles of clothes that had, I found the bright red Rancid T-shirt I was looking for and got myself ready for the day.

As I made my way downstairs, I saw Kai’s door ajar, and took a sneaky peek to find it Kai-less. Pushing away the pang of disappointment, I continued on my way to the kitchen where I found his Dad.

“Morning!” I chimed, putting on the best cheerful voice I could muster. He turned to smile at me with a steaming cup that flooded the air with the scent of coffee.

“Morning!” He repeated. “I’m surprised you made it up!” We exchanged a joking smile as he changed the mood of our morning conversation. “I’ve put together this piece of paper so you know where you have to be and what to do and when. You have half an hour to get breakfast. I’ll wake the girls up for you and Kai is in the shower. I hope you don’t mind driving them into town for me.” Wow! Information overload!

“Okay.” I sighed, forcing a smile in Tom's direction. Let my very first day of work commence!

The Morning went off really well considering I had to get everyone ready and out of the house before driving Kai to College and the girls to School in a town I was unfamiliar of. Tayeport seemed like a lovely Victorian seaside town. There was me with no idea we were so close to the sea. I say close, its roughly Twenty minutes drive on a dual carriageway. I had come a couple of hundred miles away in Kirkston which was rural town in the middle of nowhere. Tayeport seemed like a nice change.

Gwen and Mai seemed to be getting used to me as far as I could tell but I’m not an expert on child behaviour. Kai seemed to be annoyed by their presence in the car as they discussed what they felt like doing at play time. He leaned against the window and sighed to himself. School was on a busy hillside near the centre of town and there was no car park so I had to park up the street and walk the girls through the gates. When I got back into the car, I saw that Kai had all my CDs out and had one held by the CD drive ready for when I switched on the ignition.

“Smashing Pumpkins.” He explained, shrugging his shoulders. I nodded at his choice and turned The key as I fastened my seatbelt.

“Will I be driving you every day then?” I asked, wondering how long it would take for e settle into a morning routine.

“Nope, probably not.” He mumbled, changing the tracks and playing with the volume. I pulled off in the direct I was told the College was in. “I’ve got a bike but I bailed on my way home on Friday. ‘Think I broke a finger but I’m not sure. It should be okay. It was kind of fun, I tore a load of skin off!” I took a quick peak at him and he was grinning as he rubbed his arm through his jacket as he took his attention to his phone as the text tone sounded.

“That is a strange idea of fun you have there” I told him, knitting my eyebrows together at his odd sense of enjoyment in his injuries. The roads were hellish at this time of the morning. The streets were narrow and winding and at rush hour; extremely busy. However, I found Kai’s College easily and pulled up in front of the campus cafe. I turned the engine off and noticed a group of students leaving the cafe and a girl stood nearby. She began to walk towards my car staring intently on Kai’s side of the vehicle before peering at me though eyes dripping with concern. “See you later. What time?” I asked as he left the car.

“Half four,” He rushed. “Later.” I couldn't reverse out yet due to someone dropping a couple of students off behind me so I sat and watched as the girl who had dyed black hair with blonde roots glowing through and a Rolling Stones hoody ran to Kai and attack hugged him, taking glances at me like I’d kept him captive in a basement for three years. Kai seemed a bit confused about her smothering with the way he leaned away from her and pulled a face that could only mean shock. When she pulled away he gave her a weak smile and the girl turned to give me one last bitter smile before they turned and walked in the direction of a building named ‘D Block’ taking quick steps.

An over jealous friend perhaps?

I shook my head trying to shake any chance that I might over-think the matter out and turned on the ignition and pulled out of the car park and back in the direction of what was to be home. I congratulated myself on my ability to not think or talk about last night until Todays duties were done. However, my mind now had the warning lights on about Kai’s College friend no matter how much I tried to push the thought away, she kept returning with her death stare.