28 Jun 2013

Sunday, July 23rd

Daddy rang me today. (On the house phone, Mum bought a new one last week, and I'm not telling them about the phone Justin gave me.) He's going to take me out tomorrow. Hopefully we'll get some ice cream if the weather is nice. It should be, it's always nice in summer here.

I texted Justin when I first got up today, seeing if he wanted to go out somewhere, but he hadn't replied by the time Mum wanted to go to the store, so I went with her shopping.

We were wandering around the aisles, picking stuff off the shelves and joking around like we always do when we're shopping. Shopping for food can be boring, so we always find something to make it more entertaining. Anyway, so suddenly Mum taps me on the shoulder and points to the end of the aisle. Justin! He was carrying a basket past, heading to another aisle, and I ran up and tapped him, making him jump.

"Oh! Hi, April." He looked uncomfortable. Like he'd been doing something he shouldn't have, even though he was just shopping like us.
"Hi!" I grinned. "Where's your Mum? I want to meet her." I asked. A sudden look of desperation or worry or guilt or something flash across his face before he could hide it.
"Oh, she's... Somewhere..." He answered quickly. "What are you doing here?" I could tell he was just trying to change the subject, but I went with it anyway. I don't know much about his Mum, but I know he doesn't get on with her that well.
"Shopping, silly! Same as you! This is the only place in town to buy food, so where else would I be?" I smiled at him, and he looked like he was trying to smile back, but he didn't look that happy.

"Ok." He replied, looking around us for something else to say. "Well, I have to go find my Mum, I guess." He said after a while as he started to bend down to pick up his basket.
"Ok. Do you want to hang out later?"
"I dunno, I'll see if I can." Just then, Mum came up behind me.

"Justin, would you like to come for dinner tonight?" I beamed at the suggestion. Justin has only been inside my house once, and I'd love for him to come over more.
"Uh..." He looked really uncomfortable. "Maybe another time. Thanks for the offer though, Mrs. Matthews." And with that he walked off.

"Is he ok?" Mum asked me.
"I don't know." I shrugged. He's never been lost for words, never looked so uncomfortable the whole two weeks I've known him. And we've spent pretty much every waking minute together. "I don't think he gets on with his Mum. Maybe they just had an argument?" I suggested as we moved on to the next aisle.

We carried on shopping as normal. We tried to laugh and joke like normal, but I couldn't help being worried about Justin. We got to the end of one aisle, nearly finished with our weekly shop, when I turned to the checkouts.

I saw Justin. Alone. Paying for a few bags of shopping before carrying them out the shop. They looked heavy, and I couldn't work out why he was alone.
"Mummy?" I asked in a small voice. Mum turned to where I was looking and saw him too. "Where's his Mum?" I asked, know she'd have no idea either, but hoped she could say something comforting. She couldn't.
"Honey, lets finish this shopping then you can ask him where she was?" She suggested. I knew he wouldn't tell me though. I know he was alone at the supermarket, but I don't know why.

He wouldn't tell me, either. He still hadn't replied to the text I'd sent when I got home, and I tried ringing him but he didn't pick up.

I played outside on my own all afternoon, and when I got up to bed then he'd text me back finally.
Sorry abt 2day. May B C U 2moro?
I stared at the message for a while, wondering what to reply.
I'm seeing my dad tomorrow. I'll tell you when i'm back.
He didn't reply, and I don't know whether to ask about his Mum or not. If he wanted me to know, he would have told me, wouldn't he?






Thank you to Valpre for sending me the supermarket. It arrived decorated as if it were a house... (See here and here) But I didn't have to build anything :p

12 comments:

  1. Alright, that supermarket was amazingly well done Gemma! I can't imagine how much time you spent decorating and organizing it all! Wow! Even if you didn't build it, you did great there!

    Hmmmm. See? Now I'm even more suspicious than ever of Justin. At this rate I'm kind of wondering if Justin's daddy didn't kill his mum and bury her in the backyard and he just doesn't want to tell anyone. O_o. Gemma! I'm all on pins and needles wanting to know what is up with Justin! Sad, creepy, kid that he is. Just so April doesn't get hurt by him.

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    1. All credit to Valpre and ATS. Really. I just chucked some shelves in with some tills and chucked some deco food on the shelves.

      Haha, there are three characters that keep popping up on the creep list: Justin, Scott (Dahlia's dad) and Lottie. Nobody seems to trust any of them. We'll have to wait and see if everyone is right.
      I can assure you there was no burying in the backyard... As he said before, his dad left before he was born. (I know why that was on your mind, though. LOL!)
      Yes, he is a little creepy, I'll give you that. Not an accessory to murder, though... And he wont hurt April physically.... (dun-dun-DUNNNN!)

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  2. Wow, interesting story! And I love the fact that it's told from a girl's point of view: I think it goes very well with the story.

    I imagine that Justin must have gone through some traumatic experience or something, but for now he just freaks me out.

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    1. Thank you :) It gets better in her teen years, but I need to do some scene setting in her childhood years so we can see why she is how she is when she's older.

      Yes, Justin has had a very hard life up til now, and he is a little creepy. I have a feeling everyones opinion of him will change when the secret's out...

      Thank you for reading :)

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  3. So, Daddy finally shows his mug, at least in a phone call.

    Uh oh, Justin, What are you up to?
    I think he might be shopping alone and embarrassed about it.
    Yup. Poor thing. I wonder why.

    Wha? This was too short. :P

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    1. Yes, finally! Neither parent is being very parenty right now, are they?

      At least you're not calling him creepy for shopping alone! I'm sure we'll find out why.

      I know, sorry :( I'll aim to have the next (longer) one out sooner than I got this out :|

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  4. So what's up with Justin's mom. Is she sick or something possibly? There is certainly something off about that situation for sure.

    I agree with Mypal, why was this so short?

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    1. Yes, that could be a possibility. For whatever reason, he was doing the food shopping and pretended he wasn't alone, so we can guess he doesn't want to talk about it.

      I'm sorry, ok! I need to rush through the rest of the child years, because the teen ones are a lot longer and more interesting, but I keep thinking 'Oh, I can do a time jump after this one' and then realise there are a few more things I need to shove in there.

      Am making the next one longer by shoving two days into one. After that I can at least jump until they're at school, and then hopefully do a huge jump til next summer after a few chapters(I may do christmas, even though I'll have to make Gramma Matthews, and her house in Bridgeport), where she (and everyone else) will age up and teenage drama can happen.
      Sound good?

      I also won't have to constantly make poses when she's a teen, because there are a LOT more adult poses than there are child poses. Phew!

      Delete
  5. I'm not suspicious of Justin now as much as I am worried for him. Is his mother sick, or is he alone?
    I know, you aren't telling us now, but I feel bad for a kid who has to do the shopping alone, whatever the reason.

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    1. Well, I can tell you he isn't alone. He does infact have a mother, but all will be (sort-of) revealed next chapter. It was going to be the chapter after, but everyone moaned how short this one was ;)
      Basically, all the pieces will be there for us to know, but April being young and innocent probably won't work it out herself... You'll see!

      But, yeah, Justin isn't creepy, he's just guarded.

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  6. Hmmm... at first I thought maybe he was stealing. Then wondered if maybe he was embarrassed of his mother... now I am wondering if he even really has one... maybe he lives with an older sibling or completely alone.... so sad, see where my imagination runs off to?

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    1. Hehe, I have an active imagination too, don't worry. A lot of stories that I read run away in my head and I forget what has actually happened ;)

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Thank you for reading! Now let me know what you think. Any tips on what I could improve on? Anything you particularly liked? Or maybe you just want to comment, I'll read it and reply whatever you write :)