The Time Bubble by Jason Ayres

Author:Jason Ayres [Ayres, Jason]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chapel Street Press
Published: 2014-06-16T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve – 25th October 2018 (10.30pm)

Lauren was lying on her bed watching the TV when she heard the landline go downstairs. It was a rare occurrence to hear it ring these days and even less so at this time of night.

Her mother would be fretting no doubt that some elderly relative had been taken ill due to the lateness of the call, and she heard her answer the phone after only two rings.

She turned the volume down on the TV and listened.

“No – she left here about two hours ago”, she heard her mother saying.

“Shit!” she exclaimed. If Kaylee wasn’t home yet, that meant she must still be at Charlie’s house. And if she was still at Charlie’s house that meant they might be doing something. If Kaylee got caught in a compromising position now, it could mess things up. She might even be forbidden to see Charlie.

She raced downstairs hoping to come up with a convincing story to cover for her best friend, but it was too late. There was no point saying she was staying the night here now as Kaylee had done for her the previous evening. She’d have to think of something else.

“I think she’s gone to the pictures with Charlie”, she blurted out to her mother, who was still on the phone.

“Lauren’s here”, said her mother, handing her the landline.

Lauren took the phone and tried to explain the situation as best as she could, but Cathy wasn’t happy. She hadn’t seen Kaylee since she’d stormed out earlier and apparently her phone was switched off. It was also late - too late for her to be out on a school night, especially with a boy.

Lauren assured her that Kaylee would be home soon, managed to get her off the phone, and then turned to her mother.

“You know you’ve dropped Kaylee right in it, don’t you?” she said. “You should have said she was staying here. She’s round at Charlie’s house”.

“You mean like you were staying at hers last night?” replied her mother. “Is that what you two do? Perhaps I should ring Kaylee’s mother back to see if you really were there last night”.

This made Lauren feel extremely uncomfortable. How much did her mother know? They never talked about such things, though she was pretty sure her mother suspected what she got up to. It would be best to just bluff her way out of the situation.

“Of course I was. Look, I’m sorry if I was abrupt before. Kaylee really likes Charlie and I just don’t want her to get into trouble. Don’t worry about it. I’ll ring her and tell her to get herself home before her mother starts to panic”.

Lauren’s mother appeared to accept this, so Lauren took herself back off to the privacy of her bedroom and got onto her phone straightaway. First she tried to phone Kaylee but it went straight to voicemail. So she sent her a text, but after a few minutes there was no reply.

Should she push it further, she wondered.

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