Chapter 12

Hello again. Sorry about missing last weekend's chapter, but I finally invested in a new PC, and it took me the whole weekend to build it and connect it to my window, lights and sound system. Unfortunately, after disassembling my old computer, I had to finish my new one before I could get on the internet.

I awoke to find myself once again in my clothes, and was reminded of the events of the previous day. I washed and returned to my bedroom to sit alone.

I couldn't believe that my parents had been so overprotective of me. Why didn't they realize that I couldn't stand him up?

Someone interrupted my self-pity by knocking on my door.

"Charlotte?" It was my father, "We're worried about you."

I said nothing in reply, just waited for him to continue.

"You barely came out of your room yesterday, and Uncle Alvin and Aunt Brittany are coming here soon." He continued, "Why don't you come out and keep your cousins company?"

I was getting extremely bored by this time; there wasn't much that I could do locked away in my room, save for surfing the internet, and I wasn't in the mood.

"Fine." I said reluctantly. I opened the door, and walked to the living room to wait for them to arrive.

It didn't take long, it was only about five minutes before a knock could be heard at the door.

"Coming." My mother walked to the front door. "Hello, everyone." She greeted my cousins and their parents as they piled in.

I had four cousins on the side of my Uncle Alvin and Aunt Brittany. The oldest was a boy a year younger than me named Daniel, and each of the others was three years younger than the one before.

The smallest, James, was only two years old, and preferred to be in his mother's arms most of the time, but the middle two girls always wanted to play with everything I owned. The only one with whom I could usually connect, was Daniel; Isabella and Lacey just wanted to use my toys.

The girls ran past me, playing a game of some sort. Next came Daniel who was followed by Uncle Alvin, and James with Aunt Brittany.

"Hi, Everybody." My father called from the living room.

"And how are you, Charlotte?" My uncle asked, bending down slightly.

"I'm alright." I said quietly, and looked away. He straightened his back.

"Okay." He said, slightly confused, and walked toward my parents.

My father was setting up the Wii U for Isabella and Lacey. My mother and Aunt Brittany were playing with James. Everyone around me was smiling and having a good time. It was frustrating to watch.

"What's up with you today?" Daniel inquired.

"Nothing that concerns you!" I snapped.

"Alright." He held up his hands and backed away. I immediately felt guilty.

"No, I didn't mean that." I sighed, "I've just been having a bad couple of days."

"A miserable couple of days, by the sound of it." He replied.

"Yeah, I suppose." I agreed, "My Mom and Dad didn't let me go to the movies with someone."

"Someone?" He asked, smiling.

"Alright, fine; a boy named Alexander." I explained.

"So it was a date." He said.

"Yes, Daniel, it would have been a date." I replied, remembering the day before.

"So did you go?" He asked curiously.

"I just told you." I stated.

"No, you said that your parents didn't let you." He corrected me.

"I guess for you, there is a difference." I half-smiled.

"I don't know what you could possibly mean." He shifted his eyes suspiciously.

"Now I've told you my problems, what have you been doing this week?" I asked him.

"Getting into trouble, mostly." He replied, grinning, "I pulled the funniest prank on one of my friends at school on Friday. I put Mentos on a string and put it in the cap of his coke bottle."

"Ah, I bet he thanked you for it afterward." I rolled my eyes. He laughed.

"It was epic!" He exclaimed.

I regretted asking him anything; he just went on talking. I never got the chance to interrupt him, only to nod my head and laugh occasionally. By the end, I was beginning to wonder how many of his stories were imaginary. Humility wasn't necessarily encouraged in his family.

Lunch was roasted potatoes with carrots and salad, a dish which my mother had learned from Aunt Ellie. I tried my best to finish my portion, but I couldn't quite bring myself to eat it all. I kept seeing Alexander's disappointed face in my mind and thinking of the date I had missed.

My mother was too busy making strange sounds in front of the baby to notice me. Everyone else was happily distracted, laughing, playing. I wanted to lock myself in my room and sulk, but there was no point; I had tried that for two days, and it hadn't helped.

Soon after lunch, Lacey announced that she needed to go home.

"Mummy, what about dancing lessons?" She looked up at Aunt Brittany.

"Oh, right." She looked at her watch, "We wouldn't want to be late."

"The time seems to have escaped us." My mother smiled understandingly.

"Well, I guess we'll see you again next time." My father stood up, and was followed by everyone else. I walked behind the group to the door.

"Bye guys." Uncle Alvin waved to us as they all walked back to their SUV. I returned to the living room, closing the door behind me.

"See, Charlotte?" My father put his hand on my shoulder, "You had a good time with your family, didn't you?"

"I suppose." I sighed, "Though I still think you should have let me go with Alexander."

"Please Charlotte, don't start this again." He said, "We've already been through it."

"I just don't think it's fair, that's all." I stated, and walked to my room.

As I walked to my door, I noticed my school bag. I hadn't even started on my homework! There was no way I could finish it all in time, but I had to do some of it.

This weekend had to be the worst one I had ever experienced. First I couldn't go out with Alexander, and now I would get in trouble for not finishing my homework.

The rest of my day was filled with maths and English, history and geography. I tried to finish it, but over the week, my homework had accumulated. Eventually, I simply fell asleep in my chair.

So tell me, have you enjoyed the last few chapters, or do you think they're getting boring? I don't know, but I want to hear what you have to say.

I do read every review and message I get, and I respond to a fair few of them, so I'd be really thankful to anyone who leaves a review.

Anyway, thank you very much for getting this far. If you're reading this, I cannot express the magnitude of my gratitude that you actually stuck with it up to now.

Please alert me to any grammatical mistakes I made in this chapter, or any other one, since I may have missed a few.

Also, as a side note, I'm considering making a cover artwork for this story, but I don't want to put Charlotte herself in the picture, lest I destroy your mind-images of her. If you have an idea for what to put on the cover, you can PM me, at your own leisure of course.

As always, Unhello. :)