Disclaimer: I don't own Skins, but I wouldn't say no to doing so.
Author Note: Thanks everyone for your reviews and votes, they really mean a lot. The options for this vote were really close - Emily's had a clear winner with option 1, but Katie's was very close with just 1 vote in it, option 2 won by the skin of it's teeth.
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Let It Go
Chapter Four
Katie
Dinner at home was usually an eventful affair. For once Katie just wished her mother would treat it as a meal and not a special event. She'd never eaten in front of the television, except when her mum wasn't home. She'd never even eaten a microwave meal. If Jenna couldn't cook, she'd make sure a meal was already frozen beforehand. Even when she got ill she managed to whip something up or get her own mother to bring something over.
"I can't believe we're eating dinner in the kitchen," Katie gasped, watching Naomi drop a handful of knives and forks into the middle of the table.
"And that's so unbelievable because?" Naomi asked.
"Let's just say my mum's a dinner party kind of person."
Naomi just smiled, "Do you want to grab a couple of glasses?"
The meal was simple; Spaghetti Bolognese, just a typical meal that didn't have anything fancy in it. Katie tried to remember the name of the last meal she'd eaten, she couldn't even pronounce it let alone know what it was.
"Tuck in," Naomi's mum, Gina, announced, grabbing salt and pepper from the cupboard before sitting down.
The informality was strange, she'd never been told to just tuck in before. She'd always had to wait until everyone was seated and usually her mum wanted to say grace. It was like the eating process was prolonged as long as possible.
"So Katie," Gina smiled, "Naomi says you do history like her, do you like history?"
Katie shrugged, "It's alright. It's a shame we're not in the same class, but I do it when Naomi does politics."
"Oh yes, that is a shame."
Conversation was light, comfortable and easy to maintain. There were a number of people Jenna invited over to Katie's house that were difficult to talk to, not least her grandparents and her mum's boss.
"Naomi hasn't told me anything about your family, do you live with your mum and dad?"
Naomi rolled her eyes, "Mum, I haven't even asked her that!"
Katie couldn't help but laugh, "It's okay. I live with just my mum."
"Like us," Gina grinned. "Do you see much of your dad?"
The question knocked Katie for six though there was no reason why it should. Why shouldn't someone ask if she sees her dad? It was hardly a strange question. But if she really thought about it, Katie could barely remember thinking about him at all in the last ten years. She'd asked her mum a number of times about him when she started school, since then she'd not bothered. It was strange that she'd never wanted to know, strange that she cared little about the man who gave her half of her genes.
"Erm, no," she replied, busying herself with the meal. "This tastes wonderful Mrs Campbell."
"It's Miss," Gina announced, "And please, call me Gina."
"Mum it's six thirty," Naomi interrupted.
Gina jumped to her feet, finishing off the last bite of her food, "Oh yes, I'd best be off, got a date."
The roll of Naomi's eyes suggested that she didn't really care much about her mum's love life, it made Katie smile. Her mum was so scheduled, regimented and in control she didn't even have time for men. Gina was a bit more scatterbrained and she liked that about her. If Katie could have chosen anyone else to be her mother, she'd have thought Gina would have been a nice one to have.
*
Emily
There was someone else in the kitchen when Emily went to get breakfast. She was blonde, pretty in a non-conventional kind of way and middle aged. It wasn't difficult to figure out who she was or what she was doing there. It would have made it easier if Rob had been in the room to introduce them. Emily hovered in the doorway, not wanting to enter her own kitchen. Thankfully her dad appeared behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder.
"Come and meet Gigi," he announced, forcing her into the room as he announced their arrival. "This is my daughter Gi."
The woman turned away from the newspaper in her hands, a grin on her face that looked too genuine to be authentic.
"Good morning! It's so lovely to finally meet you."
"Likewise," Emily mumbled, less enthused by the meeting. She took a seat at the kitchen table after retrieving her cereal and a bowl.
"Your dad tells me you go to college."
"Yeah," Emily replied, more interested in pouring her cereal than making small talk with the woman her dad was sleeping with.
"Is this your first year? My daughter is,"
Emily didn't care to interrupt Gigi when she tried to pour milk from the carton, "Did you finish this?"
"Oh yes, sorry."
"It was full last night," Emily moaned. "I can't drink cows milk, you shouldn't have used this one."
Gigi looked apprehensive, a glance between her and Rob signalling for him to help her out.
"Now now Ems, Gigi is a vegan, she doesn't drink cows milk either."
"It wouldn't kill her though, would it?" Emily snapped at her dad, blanking Gigi entirely.
"I'm sorry. It was a mistake. All I can do is apologise," she tried.
The pleas fell on deaf ears as Emily stood up and turned to her dad, "I'm going to college."
The hallway was like heaven compared to the kitchen. Until Rob appeared behind her.
"You need to stop being so rude Emily. I love her, can you at least make an effort?"
"She drank my milk!" Emily snapped, as if that was reason enough to be rude.
"She wasn't to know it was the last carton."
Emily rolled her eyes, "If you'd do the shopping on the weekend like everyone else, maybe she wouldn't make a fucking mistake."
"That is out of line Emily. You are going too far."
"No dad, you are. I tell you I want to meet her and you bring her home? I thought we agreed that you don't bring girls home."
"When you've spent a bit of time with her this will be her home too. I don't see what the problem is."
"You wouldn't," Emily snapped, picking up her bag and opening the front door. "You never do."
*
Katie
It had been just over eight days since the kiss with JJ. Seven days since she'd met him on the first day and another twelve hours, sixteen minutes since they kissed. In that time she'd had approximately eleven lessons with him and three more tutorials. But in that time she'd spoken to him for barely a minute. Every time she tried to after lessons he'd already left the room. It was like he was invisible, or a superhero who could transport from one place to another just by thinking about it. The early morning psychology lesson had ended and JJ was sat at the table in front. He'd arrived late and it was the only seat left. Katie packed her book back into her bag, keeping an eye on him at all times. She glanced away for merely a second to pick up her pen which had rolled onto the floor and when she'd looked up, he was gone.
"Jonah?" she called, grabbing for the rest of her things as she sprinted from the room. She wasn't going to let him hide from her again.
The corridor was busy; students were everywhere, in and out of classrooms, standing by lockers, talking in groups. It was the busiest time of the day when smokers attempted to smoke a whole cigarette in the minute they had before the next lesson. It was entertaining to watch, especially for someone who's next lesson was in the room next door. The week before she'd stood in the corridor watching the hair and beauty girls getting flustered about a stray hair or broken nail. On this occasion Katie was too busy chasing after the mop of brown hair that belonged to JJ.
"Jonah!" she shouted, her attempt to capture his attention fading into the crowd of noise. "JJ!"
Eventually the bell rang and the crowds cleared, leaving JJ and a few others in the corridor. It was a choice between talking to JJ and being on time for her lesson. As much as she wanted to speak to him, she couldn't be late. She turned around and rushed back down the corridor to her sociology room.
*
Emily
Emily was in a bad mood before she'd even set foot in college. Meeting Gigi hadn't gone how she'd expected, the whole thing had taken her by surprise and she'd let her default reaction control the situation. She didn't know why she disliked her so much, she actually seemed quite nice and interested in her life.
"Finally," Naomi snapped, holding out a printed sheet to Emily.
"I'm on time," Emily snapped.
"Not to meet me fifteen minutes early you're not."
Cursing under her breath Emily snatched the paper from Naomi. "I'm here, get over it."
"I had to change the part we couldn't figure out. I did some research last night and realised what we needed to put in."
"I hope that's your bit," Emily sighed, flicking through the pages.
"Actually it's yours. Sorry but it was needed. We'll lose marks otherwise."
"Thanks a lot," Emily rolled her eyes.
"What is wrong with you?" Naomi snapped. "This is our first assignment, don't you care?"
"It's not counting to our final mark, so not really," she admitted, nerves hitting her harder than she expected.
"Great, that's bloody great," Naomi moaned, pushing the classroom door open and walking inside.
They were third to present which didn't make Emily feel very good. She remembered back to her English oral piece for her GCSEs; she'd tried to do it on homosexuality and the effects of homophobia. It had been a great idea her teacher had said, one that she knew Emily could do with the passion needed to get a good mark. But the moment she'd stood in front of the class, the moment she'd spoken the word homosexuality and her stomach had begun doing back flips, her words came out in small, rasps that she knew were barely audible.
"Emily," Naomi was whispering through gritted teeth, her eyes staring her down.
The memory had taken over her attention, sent her into a daydream at the worst possible moment. Naomi's voice was like an alarm, waking her from a really good dream, but leaving her stood in a nightmare. There were several eyes staring at her, really staring her down, waiting for her to speak. Naomi's were the worst, they were like acid. The pressure was horrible. Emily knew she had to speak, to start presenting the part of the assignment that she had said she'd talk about. She'd practiced it for an hour in front of the mirror. The information was in her head, she didn't need the paper in front of her. Except that now the words that had previously been so clear were now a jumbled mess and her fingers were clutching so tightly to the sheet in front of her.
"I, err," she stumbled, trying to read the words on the page.
Twenty-twenty vision the optician had said at an eye test barely three months earlier, but the words on the sheet were just as jumbled as the words memorised. She couldn't breath, her lungs filling with something, perhaps her vocal cords. Naomi was beside her mumbling words of encouragement.
"I know you don't care about our marks but I do. Please Emily. It's not that hard."
It really wasn't that hard, or at least shouldn't have been. For Emily it was. Her hands were getting clammy and as much as she tried there really wasn't any hope of getting her voice to work. Shame, regret and every past attempt at doing a presentation filled her thoughts and she was moving. Her feet walking down the small walkway between the tables, the sheets of paper falling to the floor and Naomi's voice shouting after her.
*
Katie
"Did I ever apologise for my mum last night?" Naomi asked, standing beside Katie as she exchanged contents of her locker.
"It's fine really, I like her," Katie replied, turning to face the blonde.
"You like my mum?" Naomi questioned sceptically.
"Compared to mine she's brilliant," Katie admitted. "She did make me think about my dad though."
"Sorry about that, she seems to think that everyone wants to talk about their family. Hope she didn't overstep the mark, she never knows when to shut up."
The truth was, in the hours since the meal Katie hadn't been able to stop thinking about her dad, hadn't been able to stop questioning herself on why she didn't know more about him. He was half of her existence and she didn't even know what he looked like or what his name was.
"It's fine really."
"I know she's a flake," Naomi sighed, pulling her bag higher on her shoulder.
"You should try living with a control freak," Katie laughed.
Cook and Freddie walked past capturing Katie's attention as she searched for JJ in the crowd around them. He wasn't there. She couldn't believe she'd missed her only chance to speak to him.
"He always goes home early on a Wednesday," Naomi muttered.
"What?"
"I heard Cook say that JJ goes home early on Wednesdays, something to do with Autism."
"Oh."
Disappointed. That was what she felt. It had been strange at first, unfamiliar, but then she realised that she was disappointed. He was different, he was shy, but she'd hoped he wouldn't be the kind of guy to get what he wanted then ignore her. She wished he wasn't. The longer it went without talking to him, she doubted her hopes could be fulfilled.
"Guess he's still not spoken to you?" Naomi asked, Katie just shrugged.
She didn't really want to talk about it anymore, was sick of thinking about boys. If she could fall in love with one without needing to spend any time with him, she'd have been happy, but it wasn't possible.
"Have you seen Emily this afternoon?" Naomi whispered.
Katie frowned, "Why?"
"She walked out on our presentation, she just seemed to freeze up."
It shouldn't have made Katie roll her eyes, but it did. Naomi and her had formed a friendship after joining forces against Emily. Yes they'd had to work on an assignment together, but she didn't like the thought of Naomi feeling sorry for her.
"What does it matter?"
Naomi shrugged, "I dunno, she just seemed upset."
"I'm sure she's laughing about it with Effy Stonem," Katie mumbled, closing her locker.
Naomi laughed, "Yeah, sure you're probably right."
*
Emily
The was empty when Emily arrived home, she took a bar of chocolate from the fridge and sat down in front of the television. There wasn't anything on so she left on a kids show she used to watch. It was rubbish, but it made her feel a little better. Mascara stained her cheeks, she knew she looked more like a panda. Though the tears had dried up they were still hovering dangerously close to her eyelids. The chocolate brought a smile to her face as it melted on her tongue, her dad liked to make her feel guilty for comfort eating, which was why her chocolate was hidden underneath the beetroot. It was the one food Rob didn't eat, so the only thing she could disguise her weakness with.
"You better watch out or we'll be acting out this movie," Rob laughed.
Emily turned in her seat, her father's voice appearing out of nowhere followed by giggles of his girlfriend. It was the last thing Emily wanted, to be joined by the sickly couple.
"Oh good day love, didn't realise you were home," Rob greeted her.
It didn't escape Emily's notice that Rob's hand was resting on Gigi's lower back, his other hand holding a bag of popcorn. They looked in love, they looked happy. It should have made Emily happy, she should have greeted them with a smile and told them about her day.
"I'll leave you to it," Emily snapped, her mood anything but suitable to spend time with the two of them.
"Is everything alright love?" Rob asked, grabbing her arm before she could leave the room.
Emily shrugged him off, "I'm fine."
On the way upstairs the doorbell rang. Emily waited on the middle step, hoping someone else would answer it, but when Rob and Gigi's laughter came from the lounge she realised she would have to.
"Naomi?" Emily gasped, taken aback by the blonde's presence.
"Emily?"
Emily wiped at her eyes hastily. "Look about earlier I just wasn't feeling very well, you didn't need to turn up at my house."
Naomi looked just as confused, a hint of anger in her voice, "I'm not here to see you Emily, don't think I care that you walked out. I did fine on my own."
"Oh, then what are you doing here?"
"I must have got the wrong house," Naomi informed her, "I'm looking for my mum."
"And your mum would be here why?"
"Naomi!" a voice squealed. Gigi appeared, pushing past Emily and wrapping her arms around Naomi.
"Gigi is your mum?" Emily gasped.
A million thoughts came to mind, many questions she wanted to ask as her father's girlfriend's identity processed in her head. Naomi was her daughter, Naomi was Gigi's daughter. It couldn't be possible, there had to be a mistake. Naomi's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Gigi? What sort of nickname is that?" Naomi raised an eyebrow.
"Oh it's Robert dear, he likes to call me Gigi," Gina grinned.
"Wait," Emily demanded, "She's your mum? Tell me she's not your mum."
"No," Naomi snapped, realisation hitting her. "Mum! He's Emily's dad? Are you serious?"
"You two know each other?" Gina questioned, a huge smile on her face.
"Fucking hell!" Emily snapped, "Is this some kind of fucking joke because it's not funny."
"Think I'm laughing?" Naomi retorted.
"What's taking so long?" Rob asked, joining the three of them on the doorstep. "Oh hello Naomi, nice to see you again."
They knew each other. Of course they knew each other. Naomi's mum, Gigi, Gina, whatever her name, didn't seem like the type to keep her partner a secret. Not like Emily's dad. It was too much, too many things were going around in her head. It wasn't right, it wasn't. Emily was already in a bad enough mood, she couldn't deal with anything else, didn't want to deal with anything more.
"I'm going out," she whispered, her voice breaking with tears. She didn't want to cry, didn't want to give any of them the satisfaction. But sometimes tears were in control and as she ran down the street away from her dad, from the people who were forcing their way into her family, she wished she was back in London where she knew everyone and nothing ever surprised her.
If anyone has any thoughts on where they're interested for this story to go feel free to let me know!
Just so you're all clear, you can choose one Katie Option AND one Emily option, so 2 choices altogether.
Katie Option 1: Katie finally tracks JJ down and they discuss their friendship.
Katie Option 2: Katie asks her mum about her dad with interesting consequences.
Emily Option 1: Emily goes to a party and gets completely wasted.
Emily Option 2: Emily returns home and doesn't speak to anyone.
TO HAVE YOUR SAY, REVIEW WITH YOUR CHOICES!