Chapter 2
I run in the door, only 2 minutes late. I rush to behind the counter and put Kira on a nearby table.
"Sorry, I'm late." I say to my boss Mrs S. who walks through to the front from the back. She is the best employer you could have, she gave me the job back when Mum was still around and I only needed a few hours a day work to keep up with what Mum could't pay. She even offered to have us move in with her when mum left. I could never do that to her.
"Love, you are always kinda late."
"And I'm always kinda sorry." She smiles at me as she makes her way over to Kira.
"How has my girl been today?"
"She has been an angel because things with Kira never change. Alison had a bit of an issue at the School so I had to go down."
"Poor thing, what happened?" She now has Kira in her arms and is smiling down at the little angel.
"Mothers came in to talk about what they do for work and some kids kept asking her where her mum was and why she wasn't there. She took the note for it out of her bag to hide it from me, like really. She has to hide stuff from me." I rant as I get everything ready for the lunch rush.
"Look sweetie, she is handling this the best way that she knows how. It took you a bit to get everything figured out to tell people." S says while she gets a bottle for Kira. Best Boss Ever.
"Yeah, I just had no friends." I mumble under my breath and continue to prep the stuff for lunch.
"Oh, that's not true. You had some friends, what was that girl's name? Shay." I couldn't hold back the loud snot bursting from me.
"So Shay, yeah such a good friend. Dated me for 6 months then broke my heart after I told her about my home life. Great Friend, tots." My mumbling was lost on S who had walked into the office where she spent my shift with Kira. I decide to focus on my work and not on the day that has been. I get so focused on the customers that I didn't notice my shift was nearly over. The number of customers slowly dwindled to one customer every 10 minutes or so. Mrs. S brought Kira out carrying her capsule with her on her shoulder. "Alright, Love time for you to go get the other little one and go home" S said as she passed Kira over.
"I hope she was okay for the rest of the day." I said as I put Kira into her capsule and made my way to the door, waving as I left.
I arrived at the school to see Alison sitting on the steps where she always sat but today she had company. The person who was sitting with her was the science teacher Ms Cormier. I pull up to where Alison is sitting, she looks up at the notice of the car and moves to get up as does Ms Cormier. I hop out of the car and walk over to join the two.
"Hey Ali, Hello Ms Cormier. Have some company to wait with you today?" I say and look at Ms Cormier questioningly and back to Alison.
"My drama class was canceled but I didn't have a way to call you so I waited in the library until it closed and came out here."
"I saw her on my way to the car and thought I would come sit with her until you showed up. It was only 10 minutes." Ms Cormier said, smiling sweetly at me. I looked back, my cheeks burning with the force of blush from embarrassment.
"Thank you for staying with her, Ali did you try the office, to get them to call me?" Alison was looking at the ground, I put a hand under her chin to lift it
"No, I didn't. I didn't want to go back in there today." I bent down to her level
"Alison, I get that, totally but what if were to happen to you? I wouldn't know where you were or if you were safe." Alison looked back at me with defiance.
"I was fine, okay. Nothing happened to me, I'm fine!" Alison pulled her face away and went to sit in the car. I stood shocked for a few seconds before getting back into reality. I turned and nodded to Ms Cormier and thanked her again. I got in the car before she could respond and drove home, no sound was heard except the motor and Kira babbling at Alison trying to get some attention.
We arrived home, Alison leaping from the car the second it had stopped. She was inside the house before I had Kira out of the car. I walked inside just in time to hear the door to her bedroom slam shut. I looked down at Kira in my arms and asked the little one if she had any ideas about Ali, of course as babies do, Kira smiled and cooed at me. I put Kira on the mat and started to make dinner for all of us. The routine of coming home and making dinner is not the same without Alison sitting at the table recounting the events of the day. I finish dinner and leave it warming in the oven, I check Kira is fine and make my way to Alison's room. I knock before opening the door and slowly peeking my head in. The soft sound of some show tune is playing quietly on Alison CD player.
"Can I come in?" I ask tentatively
"Sure" Alison mumbles from the bed. I walk in and join her, lying down next to her.
"So what happened today after I left?" I say quietly, nudging Alison with my shoulder.
"I hung out with Ms Cormier until the bell rang and then I went to Drama Club but it wasn't on so I went to the library but they closed early too. So I sat on the steps and Ms Cormier saw me and came and talked to me." She told me with a carefree tone but I can sense that something is wrong.
"Ali, you know that you can tell me anything, right?" I ask her hoping that this will coax her into divulging what is wrong.
"I know, everything is fine." Alison said matter-of-factly. She look at me and smiled as if to reinforce that she is okay.
"Okay then, if you say so. I know that I had a hard day today." I say knowing that this is bound to get her talking.
"Today was a hard day but today is almost over and tomorrow is a new day." Alison said and smiled again, something happened today. This is not Alison's typical response to a bad day. I think that I will leave this for now. I pat Alison on the leg and tell her to wash up for dinner, dragging myself into the kitchen to serve dinner. I put Kira into her chair so that she can be apart of dinner even if she doesn't eat, as I am putting out the plates on the table, Alison sits down and digs into her dinner and I follow suit.
Alison still hadn't said anything by the time she went to bed. I gave her a quick reminder that I am always here if she wants to talk and say goodnight. I am sitting in bed giving Kira her bottle and I find myself daydreaming about the mysterious Ms Cormier. Her voice replays in my head as I sit there and feed Kira, her little eyes drooping as she sucks down the milk. She soon will be asleep, she finishes her bottle, I burp her and put into her cradle. I shower and change for bed, getting into bed, I fall asleep with the sounds of a french woman still sounding in my head.