Tuesday, July 25th

 Warning: Language and drug references.

Daddy picked me up at 10am yesterday. He drove me out to the fields where he works, and let me play with the chickens! Chickens are my favorite animal, I love going there in the spring when there's loads of baby chicks to play with.

After that, we went to the beachside pool. I remember daddy teaching me to swim, and he kept saying he couldn't believe how grown up I was and how good I'd got at swimming. He used to take me to the pool every Saturday, but I started going with my friends instead when I was ten, so he's not seen me in the pool for a while. After a few hours he told me he had something to tell me, and got out before helping me out (the ladder broke a few years ago. The owner had it removed because of health and safety, but hasn't got round to putting a new one in)

He sat down on one of the loungers, and I kneeled on the foot-rest. He told me that he'd got a new job. In Bridgeport. He said he would be moving there in September. I just stared at him for a while, I didn't know what to say!

"What about me?" Was all I could finally come up with. I could see hearing me say that hurt him, and I could see tears starting in his eyes, but I felt the same way so why shouldn't he?
"You can come and visit me all the time, honey. And I'll still come here and see you when I can, I'll stay with Auntie Lynn. I'll still be there for Christmas at Gramma's." I was silent again for a bit. Christmas at Gramma's was tradition. Every year we all go and squeeze into her little townhouse in Bridgeport for a week. Will my Mum be going this year?
"I'll miss you." I said, trying to hold back tears so I could be strong for my Daddy. I know he wouldn't do this if he didn't have to.

He picked me up and swung me around infront of him, before kneeling on the floor and pulling me close for a tight hug.
"I'll miss you more than you could ever imagine." He said while he kissed my hair and rubbed his hand on my back. "Your Mummy will still be here, and you can phone me up any time and I'll answer. I know these past few weeks have been hard for you, but we can get through this. I love you more than anything, and if you miss me too much I'll move back."
"Why don't you just stay?" I asked.
"April, I'm sorry. Let's try this for a few months. If it doesn't work out by Christmas, I'll move back. I promise." He kissed me again, and I hugged him a little tighter.

We didn't do much else after that. He took me to have lunch and an ice-cream, but it didn't cheer me up much. When we got home, I went straight to my room, and I heard him telling Mummy about it downstairs. She didn't shout or anything, but when he left she came straight upstairs and hugged me while I cried on my bed.

I texted Justin when I first woke up today. Lottie had some horse-riding lessons, and I really needed to get out of the house and talk to someone. He'd replied by the time I was back up from breakfast and a shower, and we met up in the town by the hospital.

He asked me what was wrong straight away, but I didn't want to talk just yet. We walked out of the town centre, through the fields and up the hills before we sat down and I finally felt like talking.

 We sat in a patch of tall flowers under the shade of a willow tree for hours. He barely said a word, and let me say everything that was on my mind. He's a really good listener. I told him all about yesterday with my Daddy, what we usually do at Christmas, how much I missed spending time with him, which I hadn't even realised until yesterday. He asked a few questions, and when I started to cry he'd either move closer and put and arm around me, or just stroke my arm to make me feel better. When I'd been silent for a few minutes, he leaned in, put a hand on my shoulder, and whispered in my ear: "Tag, you're it" before jumping up and running off.

I couldn't help but laugh as I watched him run off, looking over his shoulder with a cheeky grin on his face. I managed to get up and chase after him, though, I think he let me catch him.

We played tag for a while, it must've been about half an hour or so. Until I hurt my ankle. I was 'it' and was just catching up to him when I felt it twist on itself. I grabbed his arm for support.

"What's wrong?" He asked. He looked really worried. I didn't reply for a minute, I was trying not to cry. I didn't want him to think I was a baby, which is silly, because I was crying infront of him not much earlier.
"I think I broke my ankle." I replied after a bit.
"Broke it?" He raised his eyebrow and did a little half-smile. "April, if you broke it you'd be screaming on the floor."
"How do you know? Maybe I'm really good with pain?" I sort-of snapped at him, which I felt bad about. "I don't think I can walk." I said more calmly.
"Well, it's a long way home, and I don't think you can fly..." He joked. I jerked his arm down a bit, and he laughed.
"What about your house? Where do you live?" His face immediately fell.
"No, you don't want to go there." He said quickly, shaking his head.
"Justin, please! If it's closer can't we just go there to rest up and get a drink?" I was really thirsty from running around in the sun, and I looked up at him pleadingly. He looked kind of panicked, like he was having some kind of internal battle.
"We can go there for ten minutes, if you promise to never tell anyone you've been to my house. Don't even tell anyone where I live." He was staring deep into my eyes the whole time he spoke, and he sounded pretty worried. I nodded in agreement.
"I promise. Not even Lottie. Where do you live?"

"Down there, behind those trees" He said, pointing down the hill towards the school and the park.
"Are you sure?" I asked, confused. "I've never seen any houses around there..."
"I know where I live, April!" He snapped, before putting his arm around my waist, pulling my arm around his neck, and helping me hop down the hill a bit.

"Can you go any faster?" He asked. He looked like he was in a rush for whatever reason.
"No, Justin! I've hurt my ankle, haven't I?" I felt like crying. I wished I'd never asked to go to his house. He was so sweet until I suggested it, and I was starting to worry about what was at his house by this point.
"April." He sighed, before he stopped and bent over infront of me. "Jump on."
I just stared at his back a minute, before climbing on as he'd asked.

He took a minute to rearrage my legs before starting to walk quickly down the hill.
"Justin, you can put me down if you want?" I offered once we reached the main road again.
"No, you don't weigh anything anyway." I'm not sure I believe him. I must weigh about the same as him, he's just strong obviously.

He took us down the streets leading to the school, before ducking into an alley by the park, and walking through a thick row of trees.

He put me down when we reached the other side.
"I didn't even know this was here..." I said stupidly, looking around. There were three trailers in this top bit, and I could see a couple more down the hill behind the others. There was litter and broken things everywhere, right in the entranceway was a pile of something that looked like it had been burnt before it was abandoned three feet from the bins. I could hear a dog barking nearby, but I couldn't see it, and there was a radio on loud in one of the trailers. It didn't look like the kind of place people choose to live, especially not if they have children.
"This way." Justin said, leading me down the slope towards the steps to the big cabin in front, I tried putting a little weight on my foot as we walked. It still hurt, but I realised Justin was right about it not being broken.

We reached the front door, and he took in a deep breath, and let it out before opening it.

He stepped just inside the door, and I looked over his shoulder. There was last nights pizza box still sat on the table, with dirty glasses and empty bottles over the table and the counters behind. The once-white paint was starting to peel off the counters and appliances, revealing the rusting metal underneath.
"Fuck sake." Justin whispered under his breath, before stepping properly in, pulling me behind him, and closing the door.

The room stank of stale smoke, grease, and mould. There was a purple-haired woman on the couch, who I assumed to be Justin's mum, although she looked young enough to be his sister. She lay there, staring blankly at the ceiling, surrounded by empty glass bottles, cigarette packets and old take-away wrappers. Her skirt was even shorter than anything my cousin Amelia would wear, and she gets told off for dressing like that all the time. The TV was on quietly, and she was whisper-singing along to a rock song.
"Where's your gaville, your jury, what's my offence this time? You're not a judge but if you're gunna judge me, then sentance me to another..."
"Mum." Justin said, and finally she turned her head and noticed us there.
"Oh, hey baby! Did you have fun?" Her speech was slurred, her voice hoarse as if she'd been screaming all morning, her eyes kept rolling in her head, her jaw was chewing, but I couldn't see any gum, and she looked like she was about to throw up.
"You said you were going to bed." Justin looked angry at her.
"Yeah, I think I did say that... I guess I got caught up." Justin moved closer to her, picking up a bottle of pills from the table and giving it a gentle shake, before turning to me.
"April, my bedroom is behind you. I'll be there in a minute." I nodded, and started walking towards the room behind me. "You know I can't get your prescription again until next week." I heard him scold his mum.

I closed the door behind me, but the walls weren't very thick.
"I know that, baby. Just chill out, I know a guy, don't worry."
"Mum," I heard Justin shout." "You wonder why I never bring anyone over? Do you even know how embarrassing you are? How much of a state you look? Look around you! You need to wake up before it's too late." I heard something hit the wall, I assume it was Justin throwing the pill bottle, before he burst through the door, slamming it behind him.

He jumped onto his bed, before tapping the mattress beside him, indicating for me to join him. I sat next to him, massaging my ankle. He didn't say anything, so I looked around his room. It was small, even smaller than mine, with fresh cream paint covering the walls. He had nothing in there besides his bed and a rather dirty-looking rug. There were a few posters on his walls of some band I'd never heard of. 'K-Infinity' or something. They looked like the kind of band Amelia might listen to.
"Sorry about her." Justin muttered after a few minutes.
"It's ok." I had no idea what to say, but I knew it wasn't ok. "What's wrong with her?" I was sure I already knew.
"She's drunk. Or high. Or both. She always is these days." He sighed, and leaned back, stretching his legs out infront of him. "That's why I don't want you to tell anyone you've been here."

"I understand." I lied. Well, I understand why he doesn't want anyone to know, but I don't understand how someone like her can still have their kid around. I don't know anything about drugs really, but I know from TV and movies that you need money for that kind of life, and I don't think she has a job, but I didn't want to ask.
"Is your leg better now? I want to get out of here." I looked up and he was looking at me. He had this desperate look in his eye. I rubbed my ankle while I tried to think of something we could do now.

We heard a smash from the other room, followed by Justin's mum laughing. Justin jumped off the bed and pulled my arm.
"Come on. You're too young for this, I'll carry you." I had no idea what he meant by too young, because we're the same age, so that made no sense, but he did carry me to the park, and we stayed there for most of the rest of the day. We didn't even mention his house or his mum, which he seemed thankful for.

Now I'm really worried, though. Clearly his mum can't take care of him, she didn't even ask who I was and I could have been a criminal or something! My mum always asks who people are when I bring them in, and she would never let our house get into that state. I wish I could ask someone what to do, but I know Justin would probably never speak to me again if I did.




Justins Mum was singing Ignorance, by Paramore, if anyone was wondering.
The band K-Infinity is from one of Valpre's stories, Krisis.
To avoid confusion, I feel I should point out that this is two days of diary entries in one. The last chapter was too short, and if I split this in two the problem would repeat itself. :)

This is her, for anyone who wanted to see. She purty! 

I might do a 'meet these characters' bonus chapter for her and Justin. There's a lot of backstory there, so I'm now taking votes.

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

Saturday, July 22nd

Authors note: Sorry guys, maybe I died or something, I dunno, but I've had this written since before I posted the last chapter (all those months ago...), I just got a bit wrapped up in my legacy to go shoot for this. Sorry!



 

I've spent almost every day the past two weeks with Justin. He's loads of fun, and he's really helped take my mind off my parents. It helps that he's been through it all too, I think.
Daddy, I mean Dad (hehe), came by to get more clothes a few times, but he still hasn't got all his stuff. He's sleeping at his sisters (aunt Lynn, across the street), and Emily says he hasn't looked at any houses, but he applied for a new job the other day! I thought he liked working on the farm. I know he moans about it, but that's what adults do! They moan about stuff even though they like it.

Justin met Lottie for the first time yesterday, we hung out at the park for a bit, Lottie was telling us all about her holiday. She said it rained most days, and me and Justin laughed at that because it's been boiling here! She invited me to spend the night, and she asked if Justin could as well, but her Mum said she wasn't allowed boys to sleep over 'at our age'. I said I'd ask my Mum, she's letting me get away with anything at the moment, but Justin said his Mum probably wouldn't let him stop out anyway.

Justin walked us to my house so we could pick up some things, and then walked us both to Lotties house too! It's at the top of a really steep hill, so we told him he didn't need to, and he said "You can never be too careful."? How weird is that? I remember about two years ago, someone stole an apple from the market, and it was the talk of the town for months. What were we being careful of? I suppose Justin has always lived in a city, and so being careful is something he's used to. We had the 'stranger danger' talk in school, and my parents have told me not to talk to strangers, but there are no strangers in Winchester. There's about 100 people, most of them are young people still at school. I know everyone at school, and you can work out who's each persons parents because there isn't a lot of choice. I guess it was sweet of him to worry, though.

And then something weird happened when we got to Lottie's, Justin asked if he could talk to me alone a minute, so Lottie took our stuff inside. He stared after her, making sure she'd gone all the way in before he turned back to me.
"I've got you a present." He was grinning his usual 'I'm planning something' grin, and I couldn't help but shoot a worried smile back.
"What is it?" I asked, imagining that he'd picked up a slug or something disgusting like that on the walk up there.

 He pulled a gift-wrapped box from behind his back. He actually planned this, and didn't just pick something off the floor? "What is it?" I repeated, excited this time.
"Well, if you open it you'll know." I hesitated. "Go on! Open it!" He pushed, and so I did.
"A phone?!" I was shocked. He got me a phone?! My parents won't even get me one, they say I can't have one until I can afford to pay the bill myself. Even though they won't let me take a paper-round, because it's not safe apparently. "How did you get this? Why did you get this?" I wasn't even sure I wanted to know. Justin is twelve, like me, he doesn't have a job, like me, and I've never met his Mum, but I assume she wouldn't buy phones for her sons friends.
"It was just an old one my Mum wasn't using anymore, and I got you it so I have a way to contact you. It's a long walk from my house to yours, and if you can't or don't want to come out then I have to walk all the way back. Much easier to just ring you." I didn't know what to say, but he was still beaming at me, his eyes twinkling after his good deed.

"Thank you!" I said after a while, and threw my arms around him. I've never hugged a boy before, except Lottie's brother and my Dad, but they don't count. It was weird and I wasn't sure how long I was supposed to hug him for. He didn't seem to mind, so it probably wasn't too long, but he didn't hug me back. Maybe he was as shocked as I was. After I pulled away, he said he'd send me a text later so I had his number, and then I'd have to send him one back so he had mine. ("If I could work out how". He actually said that!)

We had dinner with Lottie's parents and brother. I love her family, they're always so happy, and they were all extra nice to me and gave me extra dessert because of my parents. They let us sit at the breakfast bar instead of the dining table. I like sitting at the breakfast bar, I know it sounds weird, but it's fun! Maybe it's because it's high up? I don't know.

Ellis helped us set up Lottie's room for me to sleep, and he told me all about his holiday too. I know it was the same holiday, but Ellis and Lottie have very different ideas of fun, so I like hearing what they did from both sides.

After Ellis left us, I told Lottie about the phone. She was as shocked as I was, but gave me her number immediately so we could see if it worked. It did.
"What will you say to your parents?" She asked me after we'd stopped squealing about me sending my first text from my own phone.
"Oh, I dunno. I didn't think of that." I really hadn't. What if they would take it off me? "I guess I'll keep it a secret because they might not let me keep it." Lottie nodded.
"But what about the bill?"
"I don't know." I shrugged. "I'll have to ask Justin about it, I guess."

Time flew by, there was so much to talk about, and then at about nine Justin text.
Gess hu?  Was all it said. I'm not good at text speak, because I've never used it, but Lottie told me that it meant 'Guess who?'. I think I'll pick it up quickly, she said if there's something I don't understand then I should just say it out loud, because it will probably sound the same as the word it replaces.

 The boogeyman?  I sent back as a joke. Lottie and I had eaten a lot of sugary snacks by this point, and it seemed really funny. It isn't now I'm reading it back not-hyper.
Boo!  He replied, which sent us into fits of giggles, causing me to nearly fall off the bed, and making Lottie's Mum come in and tell us to start to wind down or we wouldn't sleep. She wasn't angry, she's never angry, but her bedroom is next to Lotties, and Ellis' is on the other side so we can't ever be too noisy when I sleep round.

We weren't tired, probably because of all the sugar, so we changed into our PJs and went downstairs to watch TV. If we're downstairs we can be noisier too, so it was better all round. We stayed up past midnight! We've never stayed up that late before! Justin stopped texting about half eleven, so that must've been when he went to sleep.

We didn't wake up until nearly midday, and so we had lunch for breakfast!

And then I spent the whole afternoon at the park with my two best friends. I wish summer holidays would last forever, we're nearly halfway through already, and I really don't want to go back to school.

Monday, July 10th

I managed to avoid Mummy for the rest of the day Saturday, but I had to break my vow of silence yesterday. I didn't say much, but she asked what I wanted for dinner because she was going food shopping.

She called me down this morning, about 10am. I was just moping around.
"April, you have a visitor!" At first, I thought it must be Daddy. I still haven't seen him since Friday night. My mood lifted when I saw Justin standing in the doorway. He found my house! I pulled him out the door, telling Mummy we were going out. I didn't want to talk to her properly, but she didn't seem to mind me going out. She had this weird look on her face, like she knew something, and she couldn't stop smiling.

"You found where I lived." I stated. I wasn't really sure what to say.
"Yeah, it wasn't that hard, this town is tiny." He replied. "Where do you want to go?" I thought for a moment.
"We could go to the beach?"
"Sure! You better go get your swim stuff, I want to play in the sea." I hadn't thought of that, and sighed as I realised I'd have to go back inside. But, it was a hot day, and I knew I'd hate it if I couldn't go in the sea.

We got to the beach, and changed in the beach hut. I guess Justin already had his trunks. As we made our way down to the shoreline, I noticed Emily was here with Travis, Dahlia and a man, who I thought must be her Daddy. Dahlia's parents broke up when she was a baby, and she lives with her Mummy and Step-Dad. She has an older sister, Kaitlyn who shares her Daddy, so I assumed she must be on the beach somewhere.
"April! Come here!" She shouted to me. I looked at Justin, and he seemed happy to meet more people, so we went over. I introduced them, Emily and Travis are a couple now. They have been for about a month. It's a bit yucky, we're still too young for boyfriends, I think, but they seem happy. They're never far apart anymore.

Justin started talking to Travis, leaving me alone while Emily told Dahlia something. Dahlia's Daddy strolled over to me.
"You must be April." He smiled. "I'm Scott."
"Mummy say's it's rude to call grown-ups by their first names." I said, confused about why he was talking to me. I guess news travels fast around this small town, and he'd heard about my parents. Either that, or Emily told Dahlia, who told him.
"Well, you can call me Scott, if you want." He smiled again. Infact, he just kept smiling at me while I squirmed a little. I'm not really shy, I just get a little uncomfortable around people I don't know very well. Especially grown-ups. I remember Daddy telling me never to talk to strangers, but I don't think this counts because I know who he is.

Suddenly, Justin was next to me again.
"Lets play in the sea now." He almost demanded, looking at Scott as if he had been about to grab me or something. I nodded, and let Justin pull me gently towards the shore. "I don't like him. He looked at you funny." He said, angrily, when we were out of earshot. I glanced back, trying to see what he meant, but Scott had gone back to talking to Dahlia.
"He's just being nice." I replied. Justin stopped pulling me, and turned to look at me.
"Why would he be nice?" He looked confused. Maybe he hadn't heard yet.
"My parents split up Friday night. That's why I was crying the other day. I think Scott was just checking I was ok." Justin's face dropped.
"Oh, I'm sorry." He started staring at me the same as he did at the park the other day. "I didn't know. Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine, I guess." I lied. I'm far from ok. I just want to go back in time. He started pulling me towards the sea again, and once we were in the water, he glanced back to see if anyone else was coming in.

"I know how you feel." He started. He looked sad.
"Did your parents split up too?" I asked when he didn't continue.
"Yes. My real Dad left before I was born, so I never met him, but my Mum had a boyfriend who raised me like his own. I called him Dad, but they split at Christmas. I never really got on with my Mum, but now I owe her." He grinned at me, which I thought odd as he'd just told me a sad story.
"Why?"
"Because she moved me out here to the backside of nowhere, and I met you!" He grinned even more, which I hadn't thought possible. I blushed a little, not used to compliments. We stood there a moment, just looking at each other. I didn't know what to say.

Emily popped up next to me, and a wave of water hit me in the face. I giggled and splashed her back, before turning back to Justin to splash him so he could join in. I stopped when I noticed he was scowling. He was glaring at Emily like he might hit her or something, and then he just stormed out of the sea and up the beach.
"What's with him?" Emily asked, stepping closer to me.
"I don't know." I replied, and wondered about going after him. My mind was made up when Dahlia appeared next to Emily. She smiled at me. Actually smiled, like she wanted to be my friend. She usually fakes a smile when Emily is near, but this was real, and creepy. "I'll go see what's up." I said, trying to ignore Dahlia's obvious attempt at pitying me, and chased after Justin. I had to run because he'd been stomping off quite fast.

"What's wrong?" I called when I was close enough to him for him to hear. He stopped and turned to face me. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were wide with anger. "What's wrong?" I repeated, quieter now I was next to him, he was breathing funny, panting almost.
"Why do you let her treat you like that?!" His tone of voice was as if he was shouting, but he kept his volume at a normal talking level.
"Who? Treat me like what?" I honestly had no idea what he was on about.
"That Emily!" He waved his hand, gesturing towards Emily who was still in the sea. "Why do you let her push you around?"
"She doesn't push me around." I replied. Even more confused.
"Yes, she does." He accused, "She just comes up to you and throws water at you. That's pushing you around."
"No it isn't, she's just playing." I doubted myself now. Does Emily push me around? I hadn't noticed anything before, but we do always play games that she picks out. I thought it was because I'm bad at choosing games, and usually just tell her to pick one out because I struggle to make that final decision. Justin sighed and started staring at me again. I can't place the look in his eyes, it's kind of thoughtful, but there's something else in that stare too. I don't know if I like it. It makes me uncomfortable to have someone stare at me, but I can't help but look back at his eyes.

When I got too uncomfortable under his stare, I looked back to where Emily, Travis and Dahlia were playing in the sea.
"Shall we go back and play with them, or do you want to do something else?" I wanted to play in the sea, it was hot, but I know Justin has no other friends, and didn't want to leave him on his own. He shrugged.
"What else is there to do?"
"Not much, really. There's the park... That's about it."

We decided to head to the park, and after we'd got changed back into our normal clothes, we dropped our swimwear at my house and walked across town to the park. We didn't talk about what happened at the beach again, and Justin's mood seemed to have lifted by the time we'd left my house. I found out loads about him, though. He told me that up until he moved here two weeks ago, he'd lived in Bridgeport all his life. His Gramma still lives there, like mine does, and he misses her. He said he doesn't like his Mummy, but loves his Gramma and wished he could live with her. I told him about life in Winchester, about the school and teachers, and about Lottie. I can't wait for him to meet Lottie, I think they'll get on really well.

We stayed in the park until the sun started to set, and I said I needed to go home for dinner so my Mummy didn't worry.
"Why do you say 'Mummy' and 'Daddy'?" I was a bit confused about the question.
"Because that's what I call them." I replied, simply.
"Don't you think your old enough to say 'Mum' and 'Dad' now?" I know he didn't mean it to sound hurtful, but it did. All my friends call their parents 'Mum' and 'Dad', and I've thought about changing what I call my own parents before, I just never knew a good time to do it. I shrugged. "It's not a bad thing, I just wondered."
"Well, I better go..." I said slowly.
"I don't want to go home." He rushed out. I didn't know what to do.
"Well, I have to go, my Mum- my Mum will worry." I smiled at him as I said 'Mum' instead of 'Mummy'. He smiled a little back, but he didn't seem like he felt like smiling.
"Ok, see you tomorrow?" I nodded, and headed home.

I like Justin. I feel bad for him because he's had a hard life, but I think he's a fun boy to be around. I wonder what we'll do tomorrow? And I wonder how I'd feel right now if I hadn't met him? I still can't wait until Lottie is home, she always knows what to say, but there's still over a week until that.