Courtney's POV – Chapter 4
"And it costs absolutely nothing?" my mom says, her eyebrows rising. "They're just blowing all this cash?" She looks at the note in her hands, and reads through it again unsurely.
"Uh, yeah. They want to teach us about culture and you know, we're doing this really big project in Geography about Tanzania, so the school thought it would be nice if we were taken to some countries and continents to learn about the cultures," I stutter nervously, making it up as I go along.
"And you're going for four weeks?" she looks at me, with both her eyebrows covered by her brunette fringe. That's how much she's surprised. Now thinking about it, it really does seem highly unlikely that they'd fly us off to a lot of countries, free of charge for four weeks, including accommodation and food. I've got to thank McLame for this sometime in the future.
"Yes," I instantly say. "Yes. Four weeks on the dot." And then, as if I wasn't expecting it at all, she bursts into a crying fit, and she cries and cries for ages, hugging me.
"But that's nearly a whole month! I won't see you for a whole month! No…" she sniffles, in that kind of way that mothers do when their child has just grown up, or had their sixteenth birthday, or even, to go as far, are just about to have their first day at school. "I'm not sure if I could let you go…"
Of course. "Yea – I mean, yes, but you see I'll be learning about different cultures and important things I need to know for when I grow up." And just to make sure, I add in the classic, "And all my friends are going."
She looks surprised at this, "Really? Is Duncan going?"
I feel like I've just been slapped in the face. "Um, no, but, you see, uh, he's got to work with his um grandparents to um build them a house."
"Really? I wish you would do that for my parents. You never have built them a house. I wish you were more like Duncan, darling," my mom answers, putting down the note and picking up her newspaper as I try not to break out in laughter. It takes me a minute or two to recover, with her looking at me nervously.
"Can I go?" I ask, picking up the note, and looking at her.
"We'll see," she replies dully, reading the newspaper. "Oh, do you look at that! Chris McLean has got himself another award! What is this one for…oh! His work to Education! And it says…wow! He's been helping out at your school! Teaching Spanish, it says. I wonder if you've seen him about. Have you, Courtney?"
"No, I haven't seen him. But I'll keep a look out for him, if you want," I groan.
"Oh, yes. You don't see a star like him working for children every day," she laughs.
Yeah, I think, you really don't see him every day.
I don't know exactly how desperate I must have come off as being, but I worked every second to try and go on that trip. The thought of finding Duncan took over absolutely anything. He'd been gone for so long I was starting to forget how exactly he spoke, and that was starting to bother me. I'm pretty sure I probably would have built a house for my grandparents, because I was that desperate to come on this trip. I genuinely knew that my mom would come round to it sooner or later, because I'm smart like that, but just in case she was unsure, I kept helping her. I've worked for two days straight, and I'm just hoping she'll sign it today. I'm washing the dishes in the kitchen when she comes in. I never really liked the kitchen – it was painted this lemony yellow, which I never really liked that much because it had kept tearing off, and I was just waiting to be asked to paint it.
"I've decided," she started, looking at me and smiling, "that you can go on your school trip. But. You have to send me postcards every place you go, and I expect you to phone me occasionally." I'm not sure if she's expecting for me to jump on her and hug her and thank her for ages, and say she's the best, but I'm still kind of depressed that he hasn't turned up yet, and I never really feel like it. He was Duncan, and if Duncan was here, I would, but I just can't, because Duncan isn't here.
"Are you okay?" she asks, looking at me nervously. "Aren't you excited for this big trip?"
"Yeah. I am. I really am. It's just, um, one of my friend's moms isn't letting them go and I just feel bad for them," I say, nearly at the stage I'm questioning what I'm saying to myself.
"Oh. That's terrible, darling. Maybe I could telephone them and ask if they could go? Do you have their number?"
"Uh, no," I say stuttering. "But thanks for letting me go on the trip. I'll telephone you every three nights or so, and I'll send you some postcards."
There's an awkward silence between us as she signs the note – I can't be bothered to say anything, and I think she's lacking anything to say.
"You should invite Duncan over one of these days," my mom tells me as she hands the note over to me. "He's such a nice boy. And he's such a great influence on you too. He hasn't come over for such a long time I'm worrying he's missing!" She laughs at the top of her voice for this as I laugh shakily at her 'joke'.
"Yeah…nice joke. Missing, huh?" I say, muttering and stuttering, not managing to let the words come out.
"Of course not! Wouldn't it be difficult to go missing with police as parents, Courtney? And even if he managed to go missing, they'd be right on his case as quickly as lightning. They seem like such nice parents, I bet they wouldn't let a case that their son is involved in slip."
Sometimes I wonder if my mom really does get the full picture of things.