- 'Branning, ….yo Robs Mitchell whatever!' Whitney was calling for her friend as she saw her walking over to the salon.
- 'Whit, hey' Robbie said smiling as Whitney came walking up to her.
- 'You're feeling better then?' Whitney asked as she tapped Robbie on her shoulder.
- 'Yeah much, mum and Jack just let me stay home today, they came home last night you know' Robbie said.
- 'Yeah heard Ronnie and Jack got home, Jack called Carol last night, so where are you of to then?' Whitney said.
- 'Need to have a talk with my warden' Robbie said pointing at the salon meaning Roxy.
- 'Oh really, you're under her management then, Ronnie let you off?' Whitney asked smiling.
- 'Sort of, she let's Roxy handle me, think she caught some French virus, nutter, so where are you heading to, you're done with school already then?' Robbie asked.
- 'Yeah, Miss Bell fell out and didn't want to wait for one hour of McKindale so i told them I wasn't feeling well, but ehm I'm heading over to The Arches, Ricky's working a little extra time so I'm bringing him some sandwiches, Bianca will be at the café later on so I have to hurry to get back to the kids' Whitney said showing the bag with food.
- 'Alright, I'll probably see you tomorrow then, we're busy moving stuff to the apartment and all, probably moving tomorrow or the day after that' Robbie said.
The girls both said goodbye and Robbie walked over to the salon, just before she wanted to walk in, she saw Phil walking up to her. A rush of nerves ran through her body again, Phil was her cousin and ever since the girls had moved to the square he had always been very protective of them, a Mitchell thing. But since all his drinking and drugs problems had come up he changed, became more grumpy and all, short tempered. She had seen it with Ben how Phil really lost Ben along the way. Phil wasn't as bad as Archie but she still had grown a dislike towards him, and now that she found out about Roxy's money she didn't trust him anymore. In his whole grumpiness he took Shirley down with him, she wasn't as fun anymore as she used to be when she still worked at the Vic when the girls were still living upstairs there.
- 'Hey Robbie, heard Ronnie and Jack are home already?' Phil said, as he stopped his young cousin from going inside the salon.
- 'Yeah last night' Robbie said being on her toes not to mention anything she and Glenda talked about.
- 'Why?' Phil asked.
- 'Why what?' Robbie asked not understanding if he meant about Jack and Ronnie coming home earlier or why she thought he'd stole Roxy's money, Robbie felt that Phil knew she was on to him, the way he talked, waiting for her to let something slip.
- 'Jack and Ronnie, why did they come home earlier' Phil asked, wanting to really know if it was maybe because of him, that Robbie and Glenda had told them and they came home straight away, although if so, knowing Ronnie ánd Jack they would have been banging on his door last night already.
- 'Mum..ehm well she got a little homesick' Robbie forced a smile, as if it was silly of her mum to be homesick at her age.
- 'Ahh right, so your helping out Rox then?' Phil asked pointing at the salon.
- 'Ehm..no not for a while, got myself in bit of trouble over the weekend, but ehm I better get in before she gives me an earful, I'm grounded but have to ask her if I can go with mum and dad to Ikea, get some stuff for when we move to the apartment' Robbie said.
- 'Right…yeah heard you broke in to the club, Roxy had to pick you up?' Phil smiled.
- 'Yeah, she went all psycho on me' Robbie said trying to make a joke of it.
- 'Yeah well you deserved that, what were you thinking ey, so ehm when is this move then?' Phil asked.
- ' Yes I know Phil, I already had that alright, they wanna move tomorrow or day after that' Robbie said 'Mum and Roxy already have moved most of it to the new apartment so I think they will move tomorrow too , so then Tanya can move in this weekend.
While Robbie and Phil were talking outside, Roxy had seen both of them and walked up to the door.
- 'Ah ok' Phil said 'ehm there's Rox, better get yourself inside before you get yourself into more trouble'.
- 'Ehm…say hi to Shirley yeah' Robbie said and quickly walked into the salon waving at Phil.
Phil looked at his cousin walking into the salon, waved to Roxy and grabbed his phone in the meantime.
- 'What are you doing here, what were you talking to Phil for?' Robbie snapped out of her daydreaming by hearing her sisters loud voice standing at the door.
- 'Nothing important, now you gotta have a word with mum Rox, she's completely acting stupid, she's doing my head in' Robbie said.
- 'Not again Robbie I'm too busy for this alright, mum is mum, look, I got a business to run' Roxy said.
Robbie looked around and there were 2 customers in the salon.
- 'Yeah i can see that, but I managed to worm myself in through the crowd Rox, but ehm I meant Ronnie you dope, not Posh' Robbie said sitting down on the Salon-sofa. Roxy sat down next to her younger sister.
- 'Ronnie?, alright, what then, what has she done?' Roxy asked.
- 'She wants me to ask for your permission for practically everything, if she goes on like this I have to ask you if I can wipe my own ass ' Robbie said laying back on the sofa.
Roxy started laughing and gave Robbie a playfull little slap.
- 'I wiped that tiny bum way too many times already when you were a wee baby babes, but ehm, is she on about me grounding you' Roxy asked still smiling.
- 'Yeah, think she's doing a Roxy' Robbie said being a little cheeky.
- 'And what is that?' Roxy raised an eyebrow.
- 'Choosing the easy way out of course' Robbie said putting her arms around Roxy's neck just in case Roxy would slap her again.
- 'You doughnut' Roxy said' so what's up then, I mean what do you need permission for?' Roxy asked blinking with her eyes, liking the fact she was in control instead of Ronnie.
- 'They're going to Ikea to buy some stuff for the apartment, for my new room, and for Amy upstairs in the apartment' Robbie said' so can I go with them?'
Roxy waited a minute pretending to be thinking very hard.
- 'Rox!' Robbie knew her sister was doing this on purpose.
- 'Alright then, go on, bring me something back yeah, I also got a new room upstairs' Roxy winked at her babysister.
- 'Thanks sis' Robbie said giving Roxy a kiss on the cheek.
- 'You're still grounded Pix, remember!' Roxy yelled after her little sister leaving the salon 'I'm still in charge of you!'
Robbie smiled and went home.
xxx
After Ikea, Ronnie, Jack and Robbie went over to the Vic to get a little drink and say hello to Kat and Alfie. After a while Robbie got a little bored without any of her friends there which Ronnie had noticed. Robbie was playing with her glass out of boredom. Ronnie warned her couple of times to leave it but then finally it slipped out of her hands and smashed onto the floor.
- 'I'm sorry!' Robbie said looking at her mums face who was not amused.
- 'Why don't you go and pick up mum from the bookies, she must be done by now and then get us some fish and chips for tea yeah, your dad and me will have another drink and then head home too' Ronnie said getting money out of her purse 'alright?'
- 'Yeah alright, you sure you don't want me to ask Roxy first?' Robbie said with a cheeky smile.
- 'Go or you can just sit here with your boring parents, you choose, hmm!' Ronnie said winking at Jack and holding the money in front of Robbie's face.
- 'Give it' Robbie said grabbing the money out of her mums hands, she put her jacket on, said goodbye to Kat and Alfie and walked outside.
Before walking straight to the Bookies she looked around maybe she saw Peter or Lauren, or just anyone to talk too first. Then before she knew it her eyes were drawn across the square where she heard Bianca call for Liam. She laughed for Bianca's recognizable loud tone of voice, kinda screeching like nails on a blackboard, it could easily give you chills.
Then she saw movement out of the right side of her eye and turned her head from Pat's house to nr 29, was that Mr Masood coming out of the apartment? What had he been doing there, with her parents still at the Vic, her mum Glenda at the bookies and Roxy surely was still at the salon? Mr Masood locked the door and he gave the square a quick look. With Mr Masood looking around, a bit nervous to Robbie's opinion, she looked where his eyes were going, he looked over to nr 55 where she saw Phil standing outside. It looked as if he was doing something with his car but kept looking at Mr Masood. Then Robbie's eyes were wide open, did she see Phil nod at Mr Masood. She had to think fast and quickly she turned into Bridgestreet, she had to tell Glenda what she just saw.
As Robbie arrived at the bookies, Glenda was just coming out.
- 'Mum!' Robbie said quickly walking up to her.
- 'Hiya darling, aren't you suppose to be at home, being on house-arrest hmm?' Glenda said looking a little serious to her youngest daughter, raising her eyebrow.
- 'Mum listen to me…' Robbie, still a little anxious from what she just had seen, said.
- 'No you listen to me, I asked you something Robin, common' Glenda not ready for any excuses from Robbie, grabbed her by the arm and wanted to walk her home.
Robbie stood still and pushed Glenda's hand of her arm.
- 'Mum, stop will you listen to me please, I got money from mum to by us fish and chips for tonight yeah, alright, I'm allowed, but you gotta listen to me first, I saw Mr Masood coming out of the apartment and Phil was outside too, and they made eyecontact and…?' Robbie was rattling as fast as she could to not let Glenda interrupt her again.
- 'What, wait wait a minute, what are you saying?' Glenda stopped and started listening to Robbie.
- 'I just saw Mr Masood coming out of nr 29, he locked the door, looked around and there was Phil, pretending to be doing something to his car or something and they made eye contact mum and Phil nodded at Mr Masood, something's going on mum, why was Mr Masood in our apartment, we got to tell mum and dad' Robbie said hoping Glenda would agree on finding it all a bit too strange too.
- 'Shhh, wait wait hyper, we got to think this one through first, ehm…let's get our dinner first and then go home yeah, we'll see how it goes' Glenda said not really knowing what to say, better yet what to do, why would Masood had been at their apartment anyway, and then there was Phil?