Okay guys, so here's a new chapter to read. I worked hard on it. So I hope you like it.
Over the next few weeks, Alessa and Colin got to know each other. Whenever Alessa's mom was late to pick her up, Alessa would accompany her new found friend as he cleaned some rooms near the main office. All the while, Colin would whistle a little tune to himself whenever Alessa wasn't talking to him. One afternoon she got curious about it.
"What's that song?" she asked.
"It's called Closing Time. It's by Green Day".
"Green Day?"
"You've never heard of Green Day?"
"No" Alessa shook her head.
"They're a band from Oakland, California".
"Colin, can you tell me about California?"
"Well at the moment, I kinda can't. I got a ton of stuff here to do. I'm off on weekends, so maybe if your mom lets you come see me, I'll have plenty of time to tell you all about it".
Alessa smiled big. "You'd love mommy. She's really nice and very pretty".
"I'll bet" Colin replied, still cleaning the chalkboard in Alessa's classroom.
Alessa was quiet for a moment and then spoke up after a little while.
"I've told her about you, you know. I've told her how nice you are to me".
Colin stopped for a moment and then looked at her.
"Did you tell her I'm an adult?"
"No…Oh no, was I supposed to?" Alessa stressed.
"Hey don't worry about it" Colin said, but it still looked like she was about to cry. So he put a nice hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, don't worry about it. I'll explain everything to your mom".
"You're not mad?"
"No of course not. Why would I be?"
"Because I didn't tell her the whole truth".
"But you didn't lie to her did you?"
"I'd never lie to mommy!" Alessa said defensively.
"Then you have nothing to be upset about" Colin smiled.
Alessa smiled back, her face lightening up a little bit.
"Colin, is your job hard?"
He shrugged and continued on with the board. "Eh…it can be at times, but I can cope".
"Can I help you?"
Colin stopped dead again. "You wanna help?"
"Yeah. Friends help each other don't they?"
"Very true"
Alessa climbed off the desk she was sitting on. She took up the extra rag, dipped it in the water bucket and began to help her friend. Colin smiled to himself. The girl reminded him so much of Sabia.
He was pulled away from his thoughts when he felt cold water flick on to his face. Colin looked at Alessa, who smiled slyly and looked away. He raised an eyebrow suspiciously. Colin rung out his rag and flicked some of the excess water at Alessa.
"Hey!" Alessa yelled in mock surprise, "What was that for?"
"Oh like you don't know…" Colin laughed a little.
Alessa didn't stand for it. She put her rag down and quickly dipped her little hand in the bucket. She flicked water off her hands at Colin's face, careful not to hit his eyes. Colin laughed.
"Why you little-"
Alessa flicked more water, stopping him. Colin stopped laughing, smiled, and dipped his hands into the water and flicked her back. Soon enough, they were chasing each other around the room, moving around the desks, which were a pain to Colin, and served as an advantage to the younger, more energetic Alessa.
Alessa laughed from one side of the room. "You can get me!"
"Oh I bet I can!" Colin blocked her when she moved again. He caught her and then actually started tickling her playfully, like he used to do with his daughter.
"Okay…stop…I surrender, Colin!" Alessa managed between laughing fits.
At this time, Colin heard the door open. He looked over at the door to see a most lovely light red haired woman looking strangely at him and Alessa. Colin immediately released the girl and she ran over to the woman, hugging her waist tightly.
"Who are you?" the woman asked him.
"Mommy…that's Colin".
"Wait…you're Colin?"
"Yes ma'am. You must be Miss Gillepsie" Colin dried off his hand and extended it to her to shake.
The woman shook it, but a little cautiously. "Yes. I'm Cassandra. Cassandra Dahlia Gillepsie, but you can just call me Dahlia".
"Dahlia…beautiful. Well I gotta say" Colin released her hand, "That you have a really sweet little girl".
"Thank you. Are you new here?"
"Kinda. I moved here from San Francisco".
"Oh wow…long drive".
"Yeah, you're telling me".
"I can't even begin to thank you enough for being so nice to Alessa".
"Well she's a good kid. She doesn't deserve to be treated like this".
"Is there anything I can do for you? I mean, we can go out for coffee or something one day".
Colin smiled. "I'd like that very much, Dahlia".
"So when are you off?"
"Uh…I'm off Friday afternoons and on weekends".
Dahlia smiled pleasantly."Alright, it's a date".
"So it is".
With that settled, Dahlia and Alessa left, all three of them smiling.
Not sure if that chapter's longer than the rest, but it was a pain to finish typing…I hope you liked it.
