Hi, this is just something else I'm going to try out, so let me know what you think of it x Kind of based on the book called Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen.
(Austin's POV)
It was her. Again. Why couldn't she just leave me alone? Ever since I had moved into this house she had got in the way and pestered me, and I was fed up. It all started 8 years ago, when my family moved into this house.
"Austin, come on, we are already late." My mum, Sophie called from the bottom of the staircase, whilst my dad, Peter was loading the final items into the removal van that we had hired. It was crammed full with all our furniture from the house I had grown up in for the first 7 years of my life. It had been situated in a little village just outside London, and I was sad to see it go. My room had been stripped of any life that was once in it, and now it looked like a storage room, part from nothing was being stored in there.
"Coming mum." I slowly drifted downstairs, clinging onto my Star Wars magazine in one hand, and my scruffy, old teddy in the other. I wandered out to our car, and looked back fondly at our old house, that was going to be somebody's new house only tomorrow.
We drove for about 4 hours down south, through Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset and finally arriving in Devon, where our new house was. Our street was long, the houses quite big with garages all painted different colours. The houses were all made out of sturdy brick, making them all look similar. The front lawns were mainly just a driveway and some grass, although the occasional one had some flowers, or a tree. Just behind our street was some fields that stretched out as far as I could see. In the town centre there were a few high streets that had shops spread along, with cafes appearing here and there. From what I could tell this was going to be nice. This was all before I met Ally Dawson.
We pulled up to the house my parents had bought. It was a decent sized house, with a white garage out the front- there was room for two cars on the driveway next to the little garden, which contained a little pebble patch with a few flowers at one end, the rest just grass- easy to maintain. Dad and I went to the van to start unloading some stuff whilst my mum went to look around the house, when from nowhere this girl appeared in the van as well.
"Do you need any help?" She asked in a sickly sweet voice, that made my dad grimace, and me just shrink back.
"Umm, no, now shouldn't you be getting back- your parents must be worries." My dad politely replied expecting to just go, but this little girl was persistent, and completely obvious to any sort of hint.
"My mum knows where I am, and she said it is fine." And she smiled again, towards us both. She grabbed my hand and before I could object she was already talking again.
"Let's take this box in and then I can help you set up your room." My mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. I looked at my dad asking for help, and before he could say anything she had already gone into the house. I stood there for a moment trying to regain my ability to speak, when my mum appeared in the van doorway.
"Who is the little girl that just invited herself to dinner, claiming that she could be 'very helpful'." Mum raised her eyebrows at us both, whilst we imitated gold fish again for the second time in 5 minutes, because of this irritating, little girl.
Well, she stayed for dinner, talking the entire time about her instruments, and her mum and dad, and her dog, Toby. By the end of it my family were exhausted and could probably write a biography on her life. But the worst part was she didn't seem to take any hints whatsoever. Both my mum and dad had tried.
"Sweetie, shouldn't you be going home now?"
"No, I'm ok Mrs Moon. My mum knows I'm here and I'm helping you so I'll stay."
Finally she went home at 8pm, when her mum came round to retrieve her beloved child. But, being the stubborn little thing she was, she was knocking on our door at 8:30am saying she can stay for the day and help. Each day got worse and worse – she seemed to talk more and more as they days went on, and quite honestly I've never liked her since.
Her birthday came up pretty soon after we arrived and it was there I met her eccentric cousin Dez- he was extremely tall, with red hair and wore outrageous outfits that never seemed to go together but somehow he made them work…kind of. She was the same age as me, although her birthday was a few months before mine, which she never failed to stop mentioning. Dez who was 16 at the time, barely talked to me- he was talking to family and I haven't really heard much about him since, which is surprising because Ally goes on and on about her family.
Years past and nothing really changed including the annoying part- I kind of hoped it was something you could grow out of, but for her it was obviously some sort of permanent characteristic. I cannot express how annoying that was. She would always find some sort of excuse to come round like 'I have some eggs for you' or 'would you like me to help in your garden'. And every day I had to try and find a new way of saying no, because even though she was annoying beyond belief I couldn't bring myself to permanently damage her feelings- that felt slightly harsh. My mum had grown a little bit more of a liking to her, than me and my dad. She once invited her round for dinner again on her own though, not with her family though, and she managed to make 1 story last the whole dinner time- something about a trip to the fair or something.
In school she would pester me all the time. She would sit with my at lunch and talk the whole time- she would come and watch me practise basketball after school or if I decided to do some extra revision for my exams she would claim her grades were also going down in that subject, and that she also needed extra revision. My friends started shouting out 'clingy' towards her whenever she passed but none of it seemed to faze her whatsoever, in fact in some ways it made it worse- she obviously thought that it was a good thing. It got the point where she got her friend Sydney to come and talk to me while she giggled in the background, pretending to hide. I mean, seriously. I need a break. I was beginning to get a reputation of being Ally's crush and I was labelled this whenever anybody new came, bringing you up to date.
My dilemma. The new girl, Skye, was gorgeous. She had long blonde curly hair, and she was slim and beautiful in like every way. She was smart and like every guy was drooling over her. Now, over the years I had gained popularity- I wasn't horrible or anything but I was popular, meaning I had first dibs on the new girls, but I have a problem. Ally still won't leave me alone, and Skye has already told me that I was hot but she didn't want to get in the way of Ally and I. I let my jaw drop when she said that- what possibly gave her the impression that I liked Ally? Honestly, I was trying to get away from her 99% of the time? I have to show her that this isn't what it looks like, but with Ally clinging onto me all the time I had no idea how to show Skye that.
Ally came round last night again, without an invitation I might add, and was telling my parents about Skye.
"She is pretty and smart, but I don't mind- I'm still popular and everything…" and on and on she went, about how nice Skye was, but how it didn't affect her. I just sat there staring at the floor, not once looking at her or my parents, to see their expressions- I expect my dad was as bored as I was, but my mum probably attempted to look interested.
Once she was gone my dad turned to me, with his eyebrows raised.
"You guys friends then?" I choked on my water that I was drinking, spitting it out onto the table, as my mum gave me a disapproving stare. I coughed violently for 10 seconds or so before looking back at my dad hoping he had forgotten, but no, of course not. I mustered up the best enthusiastic face I could do, even though I knew I had already blown my cover.
"Umm, sort of…yeah…" My dad laughed, amused at my little scene, but turned it into coughing when my mum turned her disapproving stare onto him, before it fell back onto me again.
"She is a lovely girl, Austin. Very chatty. Why don't you like her?" I stared at her incredulously, before realising that she was being completely serious. My dad sat behind her, still finding it amusing, smirking at me, knowing that I was trying to find some sort of reason that wouldn't get me in trouble with my mum.
"Don't you find her a little pestering, just a little…?" I showed a small amount with my fingers, and then faded out, lowering my hand slowly, when I realised that my mum was about to give me a lecture, because I was being horrible.
"No Austin, I do not, she is a lovely girl, and I think you should talk to her more." What! NO! My mum cannot be suggesting I spend more time with this girl that would not leave me alone- I was trying to get away from her, not get closer. How was I supposed to get to know Skye now? Well done, Austin, you've completely blown your chances.
"No, mum, that's not fair-"
"Well, why not?"
"Because…" But right now I couldn't find an answer that wouldn't result in more trouble, so I just shut my mouth, and slouched back into my seat, a scowl on my face. I heard a knocking on the door, and looked through the window beside the door. I shrunk lower in my seat, when I saw who it was.
"Speak of the devil." My dad muttered
"Peter!" My mum was getting clearly annoyed with both of us, rather quickly. She made her way towards the door and opened it, smiling.
"Ahh dear, what may we do for you?"
"Hi, Mrs Moon. I've been growing my own apple tree and I was wondering if you would like some." My mum looked uncomfortable…none of my family actually eats apples- don't like the taste.
My dad laughed a little, before quickly exiting when my mum gave him a death stare. I just sat there, emotionless.
"Yes, that would be lovely, thank you." She smiled and took the box, and closed the door as Ally walked away from our house.
"Now, mum, what are you going to do with those apples?" I told her sarcastically, while she just gave a pointed look, before walking into the kitchen in silence.
I woke up next morning to a loud noise. Somebody was knocking on the door, at 8am in the morning. Who on earth would knock on our door at this time on a Saturday morning? I sleepily opened the door, my hair a mess, still in my pyjamas, to be met face to face with an eager Ally Dawson. Of course.
"Umm, hi…" I managed to get out. I stared at her drowsily, while trying to think of something sensible to say, but she managed to save me from having to do that, as always, because she was always so talkative, even at this early hour.
"I saw that you loved my apples so much last night, that I brought you some more this morning." She produced a massive cardboard box out in front of her and put them eagerly in my hands before I could protest. I didn't have the heart to tell her that we don't like them, so I just muttered a thanks and shut the door. Plonking the box down in the kitchen I traipsed back upstairs, wondering what on earth I was going to do about Ally Dawson.
Please read and review and tell me what you think and feel free to ask questions. Try out my other story 'Get a grip on the real world'- appreciate it x thanks xx