Note: I thought it best to get back on schedule…yeah cos we need us our Minx & MirCh fixes. Chum on!…Muse what are the chances of you thinking in normal sentences?….bout the same as you having a date with me…not that again, it's never going to happen….then leave my sentences alone and get with the programme give me Minx and MirCh and give me them now!…fine if it will keep you quiet! Folks thanks for those great reviews this be chapter 14 please enjoy. :-)
Chapter Fourteen
Lydia Montgomery had had enough of painting and enough of sitting at the kitchen table too. It was Saturday and that meant play day with her sisters.
"Need to go pee pee Mom."
Bianca lifted her gaze from the rather curious combination of blobs on her daughter's page to smile into little chocolate eyes.
"I can't figure out what that is you've been painting."
Lydia's little face scrunched up in displeasure.
"It's the Telletubbies."
Bianca was surprised, Lydia had never mentioned the Telletubbies before she was sure they were a thing of the past at least Stateside anyway.
"And where did you see the Teletubbies?"
Lydia set her paintbrush in the beaker of water and slid from her chair determined to make her escape from the kitchen.
"Josh Hawison's Gamma got him them from Lowdown."
"From Lowdown?"
Lydia nodded at her mother.
"It's weya people talk funny and say gawridge not gawage."
Bianca choked back a laugh.
"You mean London and garage?"
Lydia nodded and looked towards the door, beyond which her big sisters and fun would be.
"Gotta go pee pee Mom."
Bianca chuckled.
"You went pee pee fifteen minutes ago buttercup."
Lydia give her mother the cutest of frowns.
"But Mom…"
"If you want to go play with your sisters then you should say so."
Lydia give a half shrug.
"I wanna go play with my sistas."
Bianca laughed.
"Go on then you little rascal."
"You a wascal too Mom."
Lydia was giggling as she ran from the room.
/
Chloe knew that she needed to breathe, that not breathing was making her too hot and beginning to burn her lungs a little but breathing would mean removing her lips from Miranda's and right now that was the very last thing Chloe wanted to do.
Miranda couldn't believe that this was really happening, that she was really kissing Chloe Maguire. The brunette kept her eyes tight shut afraid that if she opened them then she would come awake and this beautiful incredible dream would come to an end. But air was becoming a major issue and the wide awake part of Miranda's brain told her she needed to breathe. Loathing reality Miranda pulled away slowly and gasped in air.
Chloe's eyes opened when warm gloriously soft lips left hers. Miranda was breathing deep, her cheeks rosy, her lips smiling and her eyes still very much closed; Chloe felt her stomach do a somersault at the sight.
"M open your eyes."
Browns opened very slowly, the dazed expression in them giving way to one of amazement.
"Not a dream."
Chloe giggled softly and shook her head.
"No not a dream, I can prove it if you want."
Miranda very much wanted and moved back towards her friend, her girlfriend, to show how much she wanted.
/
Gabrielle Montgomery moved from Marissa's arms and sat across from her so that she could look into her mother's eyes when she was talking. Gabrielle had been taught that making eye contact showed two important things, that you wanted to talk and that the person you were talking to wanted to listen. Gabrielle's parents always made eye contact with her, even when she wanted to hide from it like she had been for the last week. But hiding was hard.
"Mr Weaver doesn't like me Ma, I don't know why but he just doesn't like me."
Marissa pursed her lips trying to determine the right way to respond, she didn't want Gabrielle to feel that she was in some way responsible for her teacher's reaction.
"What makes you think he doesn't like you honey?"
Gabrielle frowned.
"Because he doesn't let me answer in class, if I put up my hand he never picks me. And every time I ask him something he puts me in the Naughty Corner."
The lawyer hated the idea of this naughty corner, as a discipline technique it might work for younger children but Gabrielle was ten now and she knew right from wrong; using a naughty corner on her for something as innocuous as asking questions seemed wholly inappropriate.
"And yesterday when Mom was there he shouted at me for swinging my bag."
Marissa had already heard about that from Bianca.
"And he's been like this from Monday?"
Gabrielle nodded.
"Like from the very start Ma. I wasn't bad, I didn't do anything wrong and he just started to pick on me. Ms Meriwether isn't like that, she always says that it is the spleen art of the teacher to wake up joy in creative expresso and knowledge."
Marissa wondered if Albert Einstein might see the humour in the innocent reworking of his words.
"I think she might have said that it is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."
Gabrielle grinned.
"I always get it wrong, it makes Ms Meriwether laugh."
Marissa wished that poor Ms Meriwether hadn't gotten ill because in Gabrielle Montgomery's eyes all teachers would pale in comparison to her.
"Gabby does Mr Weaver put anyone else in the Naughty Corner like he does you?"
Gabrielle nodded.
"He puts Marcus Blanc there a lot and Pia Devi too. Us three the most out of everyone else."
Marissa was familiar with both names and thought she might just see a pattern to Mr Weaver's behaviour.
"And does he pick Marcus or Pia to answer questions?"
Gabrielle thought about it for a little before finally shaking her head.
"No Ma."
/
Lydia reached for the handle of the door, one hand turning it while the other give the knock that was a house rule.
"Mimo! Is you coming schwimming?"
Lydia's voice poured over Chloe like Nigeria falls in the height of winter, the blonde pulled away from Miranda and scurried beneath the duvet like someone suffering hypothermia. Miranda was too shocked by the sudden change to do much more than look at her little sister in wide eyed wonder.
"Oh yowa boo boo is all bwown and puple."
Miranda blinked rapidly trying to bring her mind back to rational thoughts that did not involve soft sensuous lips or shaking blondes. Lydia climbed onto the bed, her eyes moving from her sister's bruised face to the huddled form beneath the duvet.
"Is you playing hide and seek?"
Miranda shook her head.
"No Lydia we can't, Chloe's got to go soon. Her Mom's coming for her, right Chloe?"
A blonde head surfaced from beneath the duvet blue eyes finding Miranda's, the embarrassment and dismay obvious in them. Miranda shrugged if off and turned back to her little sister.
"Maybe you and I can play later."
Lydia ignored her sister and grinned at the blonde who was trying to sit up in the bed.
"Is yowa Mom nice like you?"
Chloe's cheeks were flushed red, her eyes still looking Miranda's way but she turned to the little girl offering her a full beaming smile.
"I think so."
Lydia scuttled off the bed.
"I'll go see."
The little girl raced from the room leaving a strange silence behind her. Miranda made to get up but Chloe caught her.
"M I'm sorry."
The brunette turned to her with a small smile.
"It's fine you need to get dressed your Mom will be here any minute."
Chloe did not look reassured by the words.
"We need to talk about this M, please."
Miranda agreed.
"Yeah we do but it's going to have to wait. You said your Mom was already on her way."
Chloe sighed, she'd just ruined the perfect moment by being scared.
/
Lydia rushed by Gabrielle on the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"Chloe's Mom's coming and I wana see hewa."
Lydia was doing the one step shuffle at a speed that usually ended in her toppling over.
"Lyd slow down, you'll fall."
The toddler caught the stair rail determined not to let that happen. Gabrielle watched until her little sister was safely at the bottom before she turned and made her way on upstairs. She was passing Miranda's room en-route to her own when she heard Chloe's voice.
"I just…M…it's just I need to…there's so much I want to say…this is major and great and stuff but….I'm scared."
Gabrielle came to an abrupt stop at those last words. Why would Chloe be scared? The teenager had seemed so brave and sure and happy last night. What had happened to change that?
/
Bianca had finished tidying away her daughter's paint set and was hanging the latest collection of artwork on the fridge when Marissa entered the kitchen. The redhead slid her hands around her partner's waist and settled a kiss in the curve where neck met shoulder. Bianca shivered at the touch.
"Good morning."
Marissa littered a series of kisses along her partner's neck and throat until Bianca had turned in her arms to meet those kisses with her lips. Hazel eyes were shining with happiness when the couple pulled apart.
"Good morning."
Bianca grinned.
"So you got your three."
Marissa smirked.
"My three what?"
The brunette rolled her eyes at the innuendo in Marissa's tone.
"You said you wanted three, I was assuming you meant three hours sleep."
There was a momentary flash of alarm in hazel eyes, it was so quick that Bianca might have thought it her imagination had her lover not suddenly changed the conversation.
"I had a talk with Gabby."
Marissa kissed Bianca's cheek then moved away to pour herself some coffee. The brunette was left to wonder what else on top of her last day at work Marissa was avoiding.
"And how did that go?"
"Well the upside is that I've talked her out of starting school in Paris…."
"What? Paris? When did that…."
Bianca's alarm would have continued to increase had the redhead not come back to settle another kiss upon her lips.
"Let me finish."
"I'm listening."
"She didn't want to worry us so she thought changing school might be a way around it."
"And that wouldn't worry us…."
Another kiss that had the brunette wondering when Marissa had become so adept at using kisses to distract her
"Okay okay I'm listening."
An auburn brow rose teasingly and Bianca smiled.
"I am listening, sorry I just get so scared that…."
"I know you do because I do too but it's okay, Gabby is okay. She didn't want to tell us about this teacher because she didn't want us to worry or be sad. Gabby thinks we've been sad enough this year already."
Tears began to glisten in brown eyes; Gabrielle was too young to think that way. Marissa moved in to kiss trembling lips tenderly.
"She's all you baby, they all are they just want to protect the people they love the same way you do…."
"But she's ten Marissa that's too young…."
"It is and it isn't, Gabby is a good kid and she's going to care and worry regardless of how much we don't want her to. So we pay a little more attention to the signs baby, we get her talking before she starts worrying that way we stop worrying too."
"I should have known that teacher was…."
Bianca was silenced with another kiss that had her smiling when Marissa pulled away.
"I'm getting the impression that all I need do to get a little loving is get wound up."
Marissa shook her head.
"You don't need to do anything to get a little loving just being you is enough."
Bianca might have lost herself in the look that Marissa was giving her had their youngest daughter not come roaring into the kitchen.
"Chloe's Mom is heya."
/
Miranda could see tears begin to glisten in her friend's eyes and it made something in her chest tighten almost painfully. She stepped across to the blonde and pulled her into a one armed hug.
"You don't need to be scared Chloe, it's going to be okay."
Chloe buried her face into a silky mane of hair and wished she could be as sure as Miranda was. There was a vast difference between having a secret crush on a female friend and having the world know that you are gay.
"Will it?"
Miranda, who had been enthralled with the feel of her friend so close, took a moment before pulling away to look into scared blue eyes.
"Yes but only if you believe it will be."
The blonde pouted.
"And how do I do that?"
Miranda wanted to kiss those pouting lips so bad.
"By trusting me."
Chloe smiled.
"I do trust you."
"Then problem solved, I believe it's going to be okay and you trust me so you've got to believe it will be okay too."
"That's a weak hypothesis."
"Science nerd."
Miranda's smile was teasing and oh so cute that Chloe's lips gravitated towards it of their own volition.
"Chloe your Mom's here."
Bianca's voice startled both teens apart.