DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY.
THEY ARE THE MASTERPIECES OF SOPHIE KINSELLA. BUT, THE PLOT IS ALL MY IDEA.
PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! :D

CHAPTER 4-SHOPAHOLIC VS SHOPAHOLIC

Okay, I'm at her door now. I knock carefully on the door. "Minnie?" I hear a muffled response that I can't make out.

"Darling, I can hear an apologetic hushed response and I know how you feel. It's okay. I feel the same way." No response.

"Minnie?" I repeat and knock again three times just to make sure. The muffled response gets clearer.

"I said 'Fuck off mum!'"

That was embarrassing. I just told my daughter I feel the same way as her when she said 'fuck off'. But no, I'm not gonna let that faze me. I open the door and find Minnie engrossed in her mini computer.

"Minnie, I know you are angry and I understand that. I was angry too. Honey, we shouldn't fight like this. Maybe we should talk about our spending addictions and –er-do our accounts probably…"

I cannot believe I just said 'do our accounts'. That's the kind of thing Jess would say.

Minnie looks at me angrily, not the least bit fazed by my little speech.

"Mum, stop trying to be smooth and motherly, okay? Can you just leave me at peace here?"

I gape at her. Okay, now that has got to be Elinor inside her. I was never like that with my mum, ever.

"Minnie, can you please just remove your face from your mini-computer and talk to me like an adult—"

"It's a laptop." She rolls her eyes. "Ha! Mini Computer."

Oh my God, I am so uncool. But anyway, I shouldn't let this stop me.

"Minnie—"

"Mum, fuck off!" she screams loudly.

That did it! I move a couple of steps toward her.

"Did you just tell me to fuck off?" I ask her incredulously. She gives me a look that says, "Duh?" I move closer to her and close her damn laptop. "Where did you even learn the word 'fuck'? Your friends are all bad influences on you! Can't you choose friends who are appropriate—"

"Oh so now you're picking on my friends? Mum, can't you just let me live my life?" she asks me angrily as she opens her laptop again.

I consider telling her that she's grounded for life. But, she might think I am a total cow. "I'm gonna let you live your life. But do you think you can survive without this?" I point at her laptop. I'm sorry, I just can't resist it. I need to punish her otherwise she won't learn anything.

I take her laptop and slam the door hard. I walk down the stairs and stare at the pink laptop. How the fuck do I shut this down? I'm not used with these little computers, only those PCs. Anyway, I'll just ask Luke to handle it for me.

"How'd it go, sweetheart?" Luke asks me, reading his files from work. He owns his own company, Brandon Communications. I find his work interesting actually. But some of them are really boring.

"Ugh!" I scream. "It was difficult! She kept saying the word 'fuck'! Then I told her that maybe her friends were bad influences and then she screamed—" I pause and sigh. The aspirin I took did not seem to work.

"I can't do this!" I look at Luke hopelessly. "It's really hard, Luke. I don't know how Suze does it! She's a really good mum and I can't even—"

"Becky, calm down." Luke sits beside me and he puts his files in separate folders and into his briefcase. "I know this must be hard for you. Because it is to me, too. Minnie's at a difficult stage. She's at her teens and she needs to go where the others are. You know how it is, Becky B, don't you?"

I stare at him, wondering what to say. Actually, I don't know how it is. I was never like that with my mum. Neither was Luke, his stepmum Annabel is a saint.

"Yeah, I guess I do. Oh, I took her laptop, can you shut it down for me?"

Luke examines the laptop and faces me again with a look of confusion on his face.

"Don't ask. And don't return that to her!" I say to him, hands under my chin. Luke shrugs and shuts it down and closes it."

"Becky, I think you need to talk to Suze." Luke suggests.

I brighten up with the idea. That's right! Suze would know what to do. She's an expert and she has four kids: Ernie, Clementine, Wilfrid and Trudy. I speed dial Suze's number and wait as it rings.

"Hello? Bex? How was the dinner?" Suze asks as Luke disappears to the living room. I butter a piece of toast furiously and sigh.

"Suze, it was terrible! The boy was nice but he was the grandson of the food I ordered!" I reply, munching on the toast.

"Bex!" she laughs. "I can't believe that! Anyway, I'm sorry! I should've recommended a better caterer. Probably an old Indian woman miles away. Minnie wouldn't date an Indian, would she?"

"Suze! Don't be stupid, of course she won't. And anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk about."

"Oh, right. Trudy, darling, please turn the TV off for a moment. So what did you want to talk about?"

"Er, Suze. I wanted to ask you about Minnie. She's been spending a lot lately. And, I wanted to talk to her about it but she made a few remarks and we ended up having a huge row. What should I do, Suze? It's really hard and I feel hopeless. I don't know how you do it. And you've got four children." I say breathlessly. This is really hard.

"Bex, come on. It can't be that bad. And anyway, I'm not that good with children. I started off worse than you. You just have to listen to them, Bex. Really understand how they feel. And, what remarks did she say to you anyway?" Suze asks and I don't quite know how to put it.

"Well, the kind of remarks…" I lower my voice to make sure Luke won't listen to a thing. "…Elinor would make."

Suze gasps. "No! Elinor as in your cow-of-a-mother-in-law? Is she that bitchy? Oops, sorry. I didn't mean that."

"Don't worry, Suze. I'll try talking to her later. But, I doubt that it will make her understand anything. I just confiscated her laptop." I inform her, eating the last of my toast.

"Oh, okay. But Bex, don't give up! Never! You're good at this, aren't you? You helped me with Ernie when he was born so you can do this!"

"Thanks, Suze. You're a star."

"Thanks, Becky. And look for something that could cheer you up!" Suze says and the phone went dead.

Oh shit. I forgot to charge it yesterday. Oh, well.

I look around the room and digested everything Suze just told me. And anyway, she's right. I should look for something to cheer me up. I scan the room again, looking for something.

Something that can distract me.

Something I love.

Ooh! Shopping!