You Won't Admit It, But You're Just Like Me

Charlotte quietly sucked on the straw in her Starbucks Frappuccino while her three girlfriends stared at her in horror:

“Sheffield? Out of all the cities your dad could have picked to work in he picked the tiniest, remotest and crappiest one in the whole of England!”

Tanya’s shrieks echoed around the open plan coffee shop that sat neatly in the centre of their favourite building: the mall. Charlotte’s other friends – Katherine and Rose nodded violently in agreement. Charlotte however, remained completely silent, sucking on her straw.

“Hello? Charlotte can you hear me? Charlotte!”

Charlotte slowly looked up from her drink, her gaze sweeping over each of the girls sat across from her – her eyes naturally wide and bright – dropping the straw from her mouth she frowned slightly as she spoke,

“To be honest, Dad had no choice where he built this centre thing; and it’s still paying the same as all his work over here so I’m not missing out there. Plus I’ve been researching Sheffield on my laptop and it doesn’t seem that bad, I might even enjoy myself over there.”

Although her voice had remained quiet and at a calm pace the tone of authority screamed across the coffee shop and silenced the other girls instantly. Charlotte fell back into quiet thought again before deciding to speak again.

“Anyway, doomsday aside – I need to change my entire wardrobe to cope with England and I’ve only got a week to do it in.”

She gracefully pushed herself out of the small, metal chair and set off towards the heart of the mall – a few seconds later she heard the sound of chairs scraping along the stone floor and hurried clicks as the other girls rushed to catch up with their Queen Bee. Suddenly a loud beeping started to emit from Charlotte’s tiny bag – with lightening reflexes she swiped the phone out of her bag and flipped the face open to reveal a new message from her dad;

Hurry up with the shopping Prin. Date moved 2 Fri and we need to pack leftovers plus ur new stuff x

Charlotte gasped and almost dropped her phone before spinning on her heel to face the three stood behind her – the look of horror plastered on her face was quickly mirror on her friends’ faces.

“That was my Dad. I’m leaving for England on Friday! I’ve only got 4 days to get all my new stuff and then pack it all plus our other stuff!”

Katherine, Rose and Tanya gasped in unison and shot towards Charlotte, grabbed her arms and dragged her off on an ultra fast shopping spree.

***

Around four hours later Charlotte staggered through her front door and dropped the armfuls of bags she was carrying at her feet – physically unable to remain totally upright anymore. She began calling out for her dad as she drifted between all the rooms; all looking very empty now that their stuff was being packed up – a loud string of swear words lead her upstairs and into her dad’s study, where she found him sat cross-legged in the middle of the floor surrounded by brown cardboard boxes and packing tape – sucking his right index finger.

“Are you ok Dad?”

He glanced up at his daughter before mumbling a response from behind his finger. Charlotte rolled her eyes before dropping to the floor across from him and gently forcing his hand away from his mouth in order to examine the damage. She couldn’t help raising an eyebrow when she saw that the only problem was a slightly deep paper cut – she looked up at Daniel and sighed.

“This is what all the shouting was about? A paper cut?”

Daniel looked down, somewhat embarrassed, and nodded as Charlotte began rummaging through one of the drawers in his large oak desk until she found a small tube of superglue. She then returned to sitting across from him, pushed the skin together to close the gash and squeezed a tiny amount over it and held it in place for a few moments. Glancing up at her dad she noticed that he was staring at her, dumbfounded,

“What? I figured that since it works on leather in my shoes, which is obviously cow skin, it’d work on human skin – it doesn’t say anything about not getting it in open cuts so why not.”

Her dad’s expression didn’t change as his gaze fell to the end of his finger; examining his finger’s repair intently. Charlotte sat and watched him, amused, until she realised why she’d rushed home in the first place – she nudged his leg to get his attention;

“So Dad, what happened with the moving date? Why have I suddenly only got four days instead of 9?”

His eyes flicked to meet his daughters’, temporarily unsure of what she was talking about; then after a few seconds his mind switched back on properly and the events of the last four hours came flowing back into his head. Daniel frowned slightly in thought,

“Oh right, yes, the moving date. Erm well, yes it’s awkward, but the funding came through earlier than expected and Sheffield’s council decided it would be best if building work started as far away from the summer holidays as possible. I think they said they expected work to affect the use of the Peace and Winter Gardens somewhat.”

Charlotte watched Daniel intently, slowly nodding while she allowed herself time to process the details her dad had just thrown at her. The next thought that entered her head caused her to frown and pout slightly: the instant Daniel saw this look his heart jumped – suddenly worried that his daughter was going to change her mind about it all.
“Dad, if we’re leaving in four days, how much of the last year am I going to have to do in Sheffield?”

His heart slowly dropped out of his throat in relief that Charlotte wasn’t having any problems and he paused to think for a few seconds to find her an answer;

“Erm, this is slightly confusing so bear with me. The week after we arrive in England, all the students that are your age will be halfway through sitting their GCSEs – the equivalent to the major exams you completed a couple of weeks ago, because the school year over here is ahead of theirs by about a month.”

Charlotte frowned slightly – still confused as to what would happen when she moved,

“So when were get there I won’t have to go to school because I’ve already done it all, and then after a week or two all the people that are in the same year as me will finish for the summer and that’s when they’ll have caught up with me? What happens after the summer?”

Her dad nodded slightly while he searched through the open box closest to him until he pulled out a black, leather A4 organiser and started flicking through the numerous, pale yellow pages until he found one with a small, yellow post-it note stuck to it and began reading over what was underneath it.

“Yes that’s right Princess, after the summer holiday you’ll go to college or ‘6th form’ to do your A-levels for two years and then you’ll go to University if that’s what you want to do.”

At this point he looked up at Charlotte and smiled encouragingly; hoping she would quickly adapt to the changes in everyday life that would occur with their move to England. When she returned his broad smile and shuffled over to hug him a reassuring wave washed over him and his good feeling about the move was reinforced. Daniel’s only concern was for the people he had left in England seventeen years ago.