Hi again! Heaps of thanks to all my reviewers, of course, please keep it up!
onlyme1: I wrote Charlie how I always saw him, but since his character wasn't particularly prominent in the books, I'm not surprised you saw him differently. Really, I only wrote in that bit because I needed to get their mother's suspicions started. But thanks for the comment anyway. :o)
Anyway, here's chapter 7. Hope you all like it!
Chapter 7.
They weren't expecting that. Me, coming downstairs slowly, I mean. I usually run, and they yell at me to slow down. So I expect they thought that until they heard that they could say whatever they liked, without fear of me overhearing. But I overheard. And what, exactly, I overheard, I did not like the sound of one little bit.
"I don't know, Watson, just something."
"Well, you're going to have to be more specific. I don't know what you mean." Someone was cooking. I'm going to guess Watson, because Mum hates cooking, and if it were Nannie it would be accompanied by shouts of 'get out of my kitchen!' Also, I detected a familiar clacking sound that I couldn't quite put my finger on.
"Just SOMETHING! Something is definitely not right with her, I can tell. And I don't like it. She's never like this."
"Elizabeth, it's probably nothing. Maybe she's got a big idea brewing. You know how she gets then." Nannie's voice. So she was here. Oh, well. In that case, I don't have a clue who was cooking.
"This seems... different."
"Well, tell us different how, and we might be able to help work out what it is." Watson couldn't keep the smile out of his voice. Obviously, he thought she was making too big a deal out of this. Well, good. I tried to send him a telepathic message; 'keep it up, convince her, please'.
"Well, she's acting all... flighty. Like she's up in the air. Not really seeing or hearing anything around her. And she had that same dopey smile on her face as last night."
"Sounds to me like she's in love. Aha!" exclaimed Nannie, and the clacking sound stopped. Seconds later, Frank Sinatra came onto the stereo loud and clear. I had to grin. Frank Sinatra is Nannie's answer to everything. And Mum can't stand him.
"She said she went out with Abby last night, Liz, and we don't have any reason not to trust her." Watson, the voice of reason. Considering some of the awful men my Mum dated before she met Watson, I feel very lucky to have wound up with him as a stepfather. He's unbelievably naive when it comes to teenagers. Not that I've ever taken advantage of that. It's just that it wouldn't be hard to.
"She was over an hour late home! Are you forgetting how worried we were?" I couldn't help feeling a little bit guilty. I mean, I'd been out having a great time and my parents had apparently been sitting up worrying about me.
"Liz, if that bothered you so much, you should have said something last night. We can't very well punish her now for something we've forgiven her for already!"
"I'm not saying we should punish her. I'm saying we shouldn't be so lenient if it happens again, and also that maybe we should all talk to her. Find out if she really was telling the truth last night."
"Well, if you want to do that," spoke up Nannie, "why not just phone Rachel Stevenson and ask her about Abby's whereabouts last night?"
"Because Kristy is bound to find out that way, and besides, I'd rather hear it from her."
"Well then," Watson said in his most decisive voice, "you'll just have to ask her. Again. Which she is not going to like."
"I know. But if everyone does it, separately and cautiously, we might actually get somewhere. Mum, will you help?"
"If you really think it's necessary," sighed Nannie, "but I don't like it. And if she tells me anything in confidence I'm not about to pass it on you know." The grin returned to my face. Okay, so I had to watch my step for a little while. But at least if anything slipped out to Nannie I could trust her to keep quiet. I crept back up the stairs and then thundered down them as usual. By the time I got back to the kitchen, I was greeted with nothing but silent smiles.