Storms - 3. Julie

‘I’m home,’ I said, tossing the front door key in the bowl on the dresser.

‘How was school?’ Mum called from the kitchen. I could smell something cooking. The scent of rosemary filled the flat.

‘Fine,’ I said. ‘Just a normal school day, really.’ Which was a total lie, of course. Today, my heart had been broken into a million pieces. School had decidedly not been fine.

Mum appeared in the doorway from the kitchen, wearing a flowery apron. ‘Would you be a dear and pop next door to borrow a cup of flour from Aunt Moira, please?’

‘Of course.’ I set down my school bag and hung up my coat before picking up my keys again and putting them in my pocket.

I stepped out onto the landing and knocked on Aunt Moira and Uncle Jon’s door. Aunt Moira opened and smiled when she saw me.

‘Julie! What a pleasant surprise!’

‘Hi, Aunt Moira. Mum was wondering if she could borrow a cup of flour, please?’

‘Of course! Come in!’

I walked inside. Their flat was the exact mirror image of ours. Mum and Aunt Moira are sisters, but it had been pure coincidence that they had ended up moving in next door to each other. I always found that kind of funny.

I followed Aunt Moira through to the kitchen. She told me to sit and offered me a biscuit while she rummaged through the cupboards for flour.

‘You’re such a good girl, Julie,’ she said conversationally. ‘Always so helpful. And punctual. Our Jason still isn’t home from school . . .’

‘I’m sure he’ll turn up soon,’ I said. I wasn’t sure of anything of the sort, of course. With Jason, one was rarely sure of anything.

Aunt Moira shook her head. ‘I don’t know what that boy gets up to these days, I really don’t.’

Drinking and bullying other kids, mostly, I thought glumly, but didn’t say anything.

As if on cue, the front door opened, and I heard Jason’s voice in the hall.

‘Mum, I’m home, but I’m going to Alec’s place to do homework!’

‘Make sure you actually do your homework!’ Aunt Moira called to him. She handed me a cup of flour. ‘There you are, dear.’ She walked me out into the hall, where Jason stood with his mobile out, typing a text. ‘Did you hear me, Jason?’ she asked.

‘Yeah, yeah. We really are doing homework, promise. Science project.’ He looked up and saw me. ‘Hey, Jules.’

‘Hey.’ I turned to Aunt Moira. ‘Thanks for the flour.’

‘Any time, dear!’ Aunt Moira patted my cheek. ‘Tell your mother I’ll stop by later.’

Jason put his phone in his pocket and opened the front door again. I said goodbye to his mother and stepped out onto the landing after him.

‘So, what are you and Alec really doing?’ I asked airily. ‘Because I sure as hell don’t remember any science project being due any time soon.’

‘Mind your own business, nerd,’ Jason grumbled.

I held up my free hand in a gesture of surrender. ‘No need to get testy. I didn’t say anything inside, did I?’

‘Yeah, and you better keep it that way. Don’t think I wouldn’t hit you just because you’re a girl.’

I laughed at his half-arsed threat. ‘If you wanted to guarantee that I tell your mum about all the shit you get up to, hitting me would be exactly the way to do it. I’ll leave you alone if you do me the same courtesy.’

He made no real reply, but shrugged his shoulders and headed for the staircase. I watched him disappear before going back inside my own flat.

I brought the flour into the kitchen to Mum.

‘Thank you, darling.’ She kissed my cheek. ‘How was Moira?’

I shrugged. ‘Fine. She said she’d drop by later for a chat.’

‘Was your cousin in?’

‘Briefly. He left to do homework with a friend.’

‘Good,’ said Mum. ‘That boy’s always getting in trouble . . . It’s time he starts taking things a bit more seriously.’

I hesitated. ‘Mum?’

‘Yes?’

‘My friend Laura’s having a party in a couple of weeks . . . She’s invited the whole year.’

Mum looked at me with a sad smile. ‘I don’t think so, sweetheart.’

I wasn’t exactly surprised, but her outright refusal still caused me to deflate. ‘You never let me do anything.’

‘That’s not true. You went to the cinema just this weekend.’

‘In the middle of the day, yeah.’

She sighed. ‘Julie . . . We’ve been over this. I just want to protect you. When you turn sixteen, you’ll have more freedom, I promise. But for now, these are the rules. I want you to be safe.’

‘Jason gets to do whatever he wants.’

‘If you ask me, Moira gives that boy far too much freedom. If he were my child, I would expect him to follow the exact same rules as you.’

‘Even though he’s a boy?’

She turned to me with a curious look on her face. ‘Of course. Sweetheart, this has nothing to do with you being a girl. This is about keeping you safe and teaching you to be responsible. When Luke gets to be your age, he’ll be in exactly the same boat as you are now.’

I knew that she meant it, but it didn’t really make me feel any better. Still, I couldn’t hate her for it. She’d been like this ever since Dad died. It didn’t really make sense. Dad died of an aneurism, not of an accident or anything like that. But I guess to her that didn’t matter. She wanted to protect us from everything, from germs and dangerous chemicals, to people who might want to do us harm. Her rules were not imposed under threats of violence, but with infinite patience and kindness. It was hard to hold a grudge against her for that, even if her overprotectiveness sometimes drove me up the wall.

‘Would you go check on your brother, please?’ she said. ‘Tea’s almost ready.’

* * *

Luke was being especially bratty about food lately, to the extent where Mum was about to let him leave the table just to keep the peace, but I managed to get him to sit down and finish what was on his plate. Mum had never let me off easy. I wasn’t about to watch her let Luke off the hook.

After we had finished eating, I helped Mum clear the table before going to my room to do homework. As it happened, I had finished most of my work in class, but I still had some geography I needed to finish reading.

My eyes seemed to just slide off the page, though. After having read the same paragraph five times without taking in a word, I closed the book with a sigh. How was I supposed to focus on Pacific island groups when all I could think about was Michael Storm?

Our conversation from earlier was still fresh in my mind. He had rejected me, but then he had invited me to hang out with him and his friends. How was I supposed to feel about that? Did it mean that there was hope?

I got up from my desk and crossed the room to my bed, sinking down onto it in defeat. It was all too much. Being the perfect student, the perfect daughter, trying to uphold a social life under my mum’s ridiculous rules, and on top of that getting a crush on a guy whose intentions I had no hope of reading . . . How was I ever supposed to keep up with everything?

Leigh would know. She knew everything. But she no longer lived in the flat below ours. I couldn’t just run downstairs and knock on the door to get her opinion on whatever I was struggling with. Not anymore. Although . . .

I glanced at my mobile phone, lying on my desk. It had been a while since we’d spoken. Just as I stood up, however, the phone began to buzz. I rushed over to get it, only to see Leigh’s name flashing across the screen.

I picked up.

‘Hey! How’s my favourite Jules?’

‘Hey Leigh,’ I said, sitting back down on my bed. ‘I was just thinking about calling you.’

‘What, really?’ Leigh’s voice was the same as always. I could hear her smile, picture her warm brown eyes dancing with amusement. ‘That’s so funny! Any particular reason.’

I hesitated. ‘Yeah, but we’ll get to that. How’s Leeds?’

‘Ugh. Bleak. Especially this time of year. School’s good, though. So that’s something. How are things with you?’

‘The usual,’ I said. ‘Working my arse off at school, and Mum hardly ever lets me out of the house. I went to the movies this weekend, though.’

‘Ooh, who with?’

‘Just some kids from the year above me.’ I paused, unsure of how to proceed. ‘I, er . . . One of the people I went with, this boy named Michael Storm . . . Do you remember him?’

‘Hm . . . Tall, brown hair? Very green eyes?’

‘Yeah, that’s him.’ I looked down at my free hand in my lap, picked at my thumb nail with my index finger. ‘Well, he’s the one who asked me. He’s nice. I thought maybe he liked me, but . . .’

‘But?’

I sighed. ‘Well, I talked to him today, and he made it pretty clear that he wasn’t interested in me like that. But then he was all, “Come and sit with me and my friends at dinner if you like,” and everything’s just really confusing now.’

Leigh was silent for a little while. ‘Well,’ she said at last, ‘it’s my experience that if a boy’s interested and he knows you’re interested he’ll be pretty clear. But I don’t know Michael. From what I remember, though, he didn’t seem like the kind to string people along.’

‘He’s not,’ I said. ‘At least, I don’t think so. He kind of indicated that there was someone else he liked. So I thought, maybe if that doesn’t work out—’

‘Let me stop you right there,’ said Leigh. ‘You don’t want to be anyone’s second choice, Jules. You’re far too good for that. Now, if hanging out with you will make him see you differently, that’s another matter. But waiting for someone to fall in love with you, well, that’s kind of setting yourself up for disappointment.’

‘Yeah, I get that . . .’

‘How much do you like this guy?’ Leigh asked. ‘I mean, are we talking crush, full blown love with tiny violins, or just kind of like?’

‘I don’t even know,’ I said. ‘I’ve never really liked anyone before . . . It’s kind of hard to tell.’

‘Well, try to figure that out first. Once you’re more certain about how you actually feel, you can think about what to do. Whether to hang out with him more or whatever. If being just friends is something you think you can be comfortable with, then definitely, go for it. If you’re gonna be pining for him, though, it might be kinder to yourself not to.’

‘Yeah. Yeah, I see what you mean. Thanks, Leigh.’

‘Any time, sweets!’ she said. ‘Now, let me tell you about this girl Monica. You are not going to believe what she said to me the other day!’

We talked for a good half hour, exchanging stories about things going on in our lives and with people around us. I told her about the latest goings on with Jason, and she told me about her older sister’s new boyfriend. It was nice just chatting with her, but it made me realise how much I missed her. How much I missed having a best friend.

‘Oh!’ I exclaimed, just as we were getting ready to hang up. ‘Did I tell you about the new kid?’

‘New kid? No.’

‘His name’s Daniel. He’s in my year. He’s super quiet and gets bullied a lot. I don’t know much about him, but here’s the thing. Today, when I was talking to Michael, suddenly he started asking about him. He seemed really interested in finding out more about who he was.’

‘Maybe he’s gay.’ Leigh laughed. I laughed as well.

‘Might explain why he never seems to have girlfriends,’ I said. ‘But seriously, though. When I told him how Daniel gets bullied and doesn’t really seem to have any friends, Michael just seemed to get so sad for him.’

Leigh gave another, softer laugh. ‘I can see why you like Michael,’ she said. ‘Boys with empathy are totally cute. What about this Daniel kid, though?’

‘He’s . . . Not really my type. He’s kind of short and skinny and looks about twelve. Cute in his own way, I guess, but . . .’

‘No, I mean, it might be fun to get to know him. You could do with more friends, right? Long as he doesn’t get the wrong idea.’

‘Hm . . . Yeah, I’ll think about it.’ I glanced at the desk where my geography homework still lay unfinished. ‘I should probably go. Need to finish my homework.’

‘All right, I’ll talk to you later. Take care!’

‘You too. Bye!’

I hung up and sat back down at my desk. I had been right. Leigh really did know what to do. Still, I had so many things left to think about. First, though, Pacific island groups.