FRIDAY Afternoon
On the way back out to the car, walking through the building felt strange. We were walking through a museum rather than a school, old paintings hung up on all the walls, painted murals on the ceilings, old oak doors and brass handrails were everywhere.
"Well, what do you think Em? Excited?" A beam of joy lit up her face.
A grin pulled at the side of my lips "Oh yeah, all these rules and head bowing I need to learn, and don't forget about my preppy babysitter"
"Emma" she scolded.
"Yeah, can't wait" I sneered as we opened the car doors.
We drove around for what felt like forever trying to find a little cafe, we eventually found a little village that was only a 10 minute drive from base, we sat down, ordered some food and coffee and watched the people around.
We must have sat there in comfortable silence for a good 20minutes eating and people watching, just watching the world go by.
"Ready to go honey? Ive got somewhere I want to take you" she cooed.
After paying the bill we walked back to the car and headed up more sets of windy dirt roads.
We drove only for a short while, before parking up just across from the beach.
"No freaking way!" I practically lept out of the car, running towards the water.
The beach was my favourite place in the whole world! The salty smell, the sand between my toes, I loved it all. The rain had eased but it was still bleak and windy.
I took my shoes and socks off and darted for the sea, there was no one around other than a couple of dog walkers on the other side and I couldn't help but giggle, the water was freezing but still, I loved it.
I looked back and mom was standing next to the car, laughing, watching me. I ran back to her and hugged her "thank you" my voice barely above a whisper, squeezing her tight.
After some time, although this was my favourite place here, I was cold, freezing, on the verge of hyperthermia I suspect. "Let's head home" mom chuckled, watching me shivering uncontrollably.
I practically burst through the front door, heading up the stairs two at a time with one thing on my mind.. a steaming hot bath.
"Emma!" Dad exclaimed from the kitchen, he ran up the stairs behind me.
He came to a stop just outside my bedroom door "What's wrong kiddo?" Concern etched on his face.
I came out of the bathroom, and stared at him from inside the room "It's..C..C..C..cold!" I shivered.
A roar of laughter exploded from his chest, he stepped in, relief filling his face "I thought something was wrong!" He continued laughing.
I scowled at his amusement of my suffering, "Okay..okay" he held his hands up "how was your day?" He laughed but seemed genuinely curious.
Strange, he was never a neglectful father but there was no hiding that mom was my favourite, dad was always away and even when he was home, he was much more an authoritative figure than Mom."Yeah.. I mean, good thank you. Mom took me to the beach".
I was still standing there cold but I didn't have the heart to ask him to leave, considering this was the most conversation we had recently without arguing.
"Oh yeah? Did she mention that you can access the beach from the base?" He was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"No!" I beamed and I could hear mom laughing from downstairs, clearly eavesdropping.
"Im glad you like it kiddo, I'm making food tonight, Greek!" He smiled proudly.
"Now, go for your bath..before it spills all over the floors. I'll have food ready by 7pm" He turns on his heels and I run into the bathroom to check on the water.
Sure enough, it was very close to the top, I had to let some water out so that I could get in without sloshing water all over the floor. With how cold I was, I was tempted to jump right in fully clothed, but, I threw my hair in a messy bun and quickly started peeling the layers off.
The lavender smelling bubbles splashed against my skin as I clumsily climbed in, the hot water stinging my skin and I could feel the tension melt and my muscles relax.
I took my time, staying in the water until it started to turn cold, clambered out and wrapped a warm fluffy towel around me, heading into the bedroom I started to look for the warmest pyjamas I own in my suitcases.
Unfortunately being from Florida, the warmest things I had was just a long sleeve top.
"It'll have to do" I sighed, making a mental note to ask mom if we could go shopping for warm clothes as soon as.
"Mmmm" the familiar smell of moussaka filled my nostrils as I rounded the corner into the kitchen, my father rarely cooked but this was the one thing he cooked perfectly.
"Its been a while since we've had this".
Mom was already sat at the table as dad was dishing. "Smells so good" I took a deep breath, this dish is known as 'the greek lasagne' but it was heavenly, dad made it with aubergine, beef, tomato and béchamel sauce all layered perfectly. As soon as he sat down, we all dug in.
"Thanks dad that was amazing" I had eaten way too much, my pyjama bottoms felt way too tight and I was extremely tired.
After saying goodnight to mom and dad I headed up the stairs to snuggle into bed, mom had added several more blankets on my bed during my bath.
My phone buzzed with an Instagram message request, it was a picture of a blonde woman in black skimpy lingerie on all fours, smiling sweetly at the camera, in the background I could see Jacob shirtless, also smiling at the camera.
"Damn" A wave of anger crashed over me.
I quickly blocked the account and enabled the option to block any new account requests made by that person. What struck me the most about that image was, that this wasn't the same girl I had caught him in the back of the car with. My mind spiralled, had he been cheating on me the whole time? I closed instagram and opened Youtube, scrolling through the short videos until I fell asleep
The rest of the weekend passed rather smoothly, by Sunday, I was mostly preparing for school, getting my books in order, making sure my bag was packed and mom was making sure my uniform was ready to go.
She had been shopping early Saturday picking up my school shoes, heated blankets and a few warm clothes for us all.
Even though we both found the uniform thing weird, I secretly enjoyed it, not having to worry about the pressures of keeping up with the latest fashion trends, making sure you don't wear anything that can be remotely related to gang activity and—you could easily spot an intruder, although here in Wales, those precautions weren't strictly necessary as they were back home. We were lucky in my school district, a lot weren't. I shake that dark thought and get settled into bed again, the last thing I need is to sleep in on my first day.