Mums The Word
Alessandra Mace

 

Mums The Word

By Alessandra Mace


"Are you ready yet, Sky?" shouted Jack from the bottom of the staircase.

"Give me a chance!" Sky yelled back as she finished packing the last few boxes, of which contain all the 15 years of her life.

"Are you still in a mood?" asked Jack as Sky came slumping down the stairs.

"No… why would I?"

"You seemed so peed off when we broke the news."

"WELL OF COURSE I WOULD BE ‘PEED’ OFF IF MY CAREWORKER GAVE UP ON ME AFTER 15 YEARS!" she yelled as she slammed a box down.

" Now, C’mon Sky…" he put an arm round her.

"I can’t just give up on this promotion in America, can I? Especially if I have a baby boy on the way."

"...Hmm..." she mumbled, cross armed.

"Besides, your new care home sounds great! You’ll be moving out of this old building into a brand-spanking new one!" He tried to lighten the mood.

"EXUSE ME BUT THIS ‘OLD BULDING’ IS, WAS MY HOME! MY ONLY REAL HOME!" she stopped her feet outside.

Jack sighed.

"Is she in another of those ‘Sky wants attention’ moods?" asked Dan. Deep down Dan didn’t blame her. He knew how she felt and sympathised for her.

"Not exactly…" Jack sighed.

Sky, 15 wasn’t exactly the type of girl who took bad news well. She acted asif she was the only girl moving to this new care home, but she wasn’t, she had 4 other teens coming with her. Her mum and dad both died in an accidental car crash when she was just a baby. Dan, 16 was the oldest. Very wise and mature, he was the ‘daddy’ of the bunch. His mum died of breast cancer, and his dad, well, he’s in prison. Rose, 14 was the youngest. Her mother had her when she was 16 and had to give her up. She had never seen her since. Shes the ‘rascal’ out of the bunch. And finally, Mark who’s 15. He’s Sky’s best friend. He has never met his parents. Jack, 26 worked on his own in Hudson House, Cornwall.
"I am making the right decision aren’t I?" Jack asked his wife on the phone.

"Of course. Look, as much as you’ve liked it, you’ve been there far too long, and on your own. We need you, the baby and I." His wife reassured him.

"Yeah, your right." He sighed. "I just hate to leave the kids, you know. Were so close and all."

"Yeah I know, love. But their new care home will have plenty of staff which can look after them 24/7." She said.

"Your right, Holly. Ok, I really better go, were planning to leave in 10 minutes. I’ll be back around 8tish by the time I go to London and back."

"No problem. Love you."

"Ditto, bye."

"Bye."

The last few bags were packed and the house was cheaked over. "This is it." Jack sighed.

"Certainly is." grinned Dan. Jack put his arm round Sky.

"Get off me!" she pushed him away.

"…Lets just go." He sighed. Sky looked at her home. She remembered back in the summer when they hired a swimming pool and Jack made a crappy barbecue. And when she was 4, she even recalled the first time she arrived in Hudson House. Everything seemed to perfect, like nothing could change anything. The thought of leaving never ever even crossed her mind. She was far to busy living her life the way she wanted to.

The car journey seemed ages before they arrived.

Everyone else seemed totally fine with the big move, everyone apart from Sky. She felt invisible, as if Jack didn’t care whether he’d hurt their feelings or not. But at 14, everything’s cool for Rose. Shes carefree. Nothing bothers her.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? ARE WE THERE YET!?" screamed Rose.

"NO!" everyone yelled.

"OK! I was just asking… geese!" Rose frowned.

They laughed. Although, Sky didn’t have the energy to laugh, to her this wasn’t a laughing matter.

"Right, guys and gals! Were here!" smiled Jack as he pulled the breaks.

"You’re kidding? No, really, are were there yet?"

"YES!" laughed the others.

Rose’s faces lit up; "Cool!"

Jack unloaded the stuff. He could see their faces lit up, looking around. All apart from Sky. She sat in the car.

"This is so fookin’ big man!" screamed Rose.

"Err… Rose please don’t swear."

"What!? I said f-o-o-kin, not f*****g."

Jack laughed.

"Sky?"

"Bog off."

Jack opened the door and the fresh air leapt into the car, surrounding the inside.

"Sky, have you ever thought about giving this whole thing a chance?" Jack said, resting his hands on his jaw.

"Have you ever thought about giving us a chance, Jack?" Yelled Sky.

Everyone went dead with silence.

"…Well?"

Jack’s face turned stone cold, and a tear came strolling down his stubbley cheeks. Sky had never seen Jack cry. To them, Jack was always happy and nothing bothered him. Sky sighed and came out of the car and looked at the house. It was tall, huge and had a narrow driveway. It was semi-detached and in a very secluded area. It seemed almost deserted.

"Jack, this is totally wicked!" Rose squeaked as she clung to his arm.

"I’m glad you lot appreciate it."

Sky gave him a nasty look.

"Hello there!"

A joyful voice called. A tall, skinny women stood in the door way waving. She was about 30 and had long black hair.

"That must be the new careworker." Whispered Mark whispered to Sky.

"She looks like a ‘flipen witch!" frowned Sky.

"Maybe she is!" Rose grinned, excitedly.

"Rose! Grow up!" Mark frowned.

"I dunno guys, shes pretty fit." Dan licked his lips.

"Gross!" mumbled Sky.

She then came walking briskly to them. With big blue eyes and a huge grin.

"Hello, I’m Jack Scott … we spoke on the phone." Jack smiled, politely and shook her hand.

"Jack Scott, pleased to meet you. I’m Gwen West." She grinned.

"Let me introduce you to the bunch…" He put his arm round Rose first.

"This is Rose." Gwen kissed her on the cheek.

"Hi Rose."

Rose was a little shy, she gave out a little; "hi…"

"This is Mark." Jack carried on.

"Hello there Mark."

"Hi they’re sexy… I mean, Gwen." Mark went red and shuffled his feet. Gwen just laughed. Jack looked a little miffed.

"This is Dan, the oldest. And finally, this is Sky."

Sky looked straight through Gwen.

"Sky, what a pretty name."

Sky looked away.

"Sky, say something then!" cried Jack.

"…Rose thinks you’re a witch."

"Sky! That’s enough!" yelled Jack. Rose giggled.

"That’s quite all right, I get that a lot." Gwen looked a little fake when she smiled.

"And welcome to West House! Follow me, and I’ll show you around."

They lead on.

The entrance had a huge posh staircase. It was very ostentatiously decorated.

"This is the kitchen, where you must eat there and no where else." Gwen pointed. It was a big kitchen with long counters and a massive dinning table.

"You will also me learning to cook here."

They followed on.

Finally, it came to the favourite bits, their bedrooms. Heaven for a teenager. Hell for the parents.

"I see the whole room covered in half –naked beauties!" Mark grinned looking around.

"Gross"

"What? God sake! If you were 16 and a boy, you’d understand."

Rose didn’t look amused. Gwen gave a long lecture on how the rooms will be ‘tastefully’ decorated, cleaned once a week, and if failure to do so, there will be a punishment involved.

"That’s a little tight, don’t you think?" Mark groaned.

"Well, I think it’s a lot ‘tight’ as you say to not clean your rooms." Gwen replied. Her first impressions were obvious. Almost like a witch. Or, a rich, strict, upper-class teacher working in a boarding school. Whenever you’d spell a word wrong, so much as a missing letter, she’d give you 100 lines of ‘I will spell correctly.’ And all the students would take the Mick out of her, well; ‘boring’ fashion statements. They would talk about her behind her back, or make up juicy rumours that she was a part time topless model… something very unlikely to happen. One word would spring to mind "Perfectionist."

"Ohhh! Whats this!?" Rose was so close to touching an antique vase. Everyone cringed.

"NO! DON’T TOUCH THAT!" yelled Gwen. The noise that came out of her mouth was almost, unbelievable to come out of a woman. Rose stood back; "Sorry." Her voice withered. She wasn’t like usual 14 year olds, she was a little, well, ‘behind.’ Acts like a little kid most of the time, put it that way.

"And that’s your new home."

New home?

Sky pondered. New home? Those two words didn’t fit together, like they did in Hudson house. Jack was perfect father material and, Gwen, she was perfect non-mum martial. It was obvious no one liked her, and she saw that.

Jack was dreading leaving the kids behind. So my history, so much memories. But that was all in the past, he needed to look to the future; his baby. The kids would be selfish if they wanted him to leave, but he’d be selfish leaving.

"Rose. You behave."

"Cant Jack, that’s just not me." She giggled. He picked her up and hugged her.


"Mark. Enjoy the half-naked beauties." Jack laughed.

"I will."

They did a handshake that Jack taught him when Mark was 13.

It wasn’t a manly think to hug, but they did it anyway.

"Dan. Keep up the good work, mate."

"Will do jack." Dan grinned.

"And.. Jack…"

"Yeah, mate?"

"Thanks for everything." Dan hugged him.

A blearing smile came across Jacks face.

"Rose." Jack sighed.

"Jack."

"Keep your chin up." Jack hugged her, she let him.

"I will miss you." Sky cried into his ear. Jacks heart was smashed, into little pieces. But his head laughed.

"You’ll be fine, I promise."

"Good luck with the baby. You’ll make a good dad." Sky let a few teeth show.

"Yeah teach him my famous burps."

"… Err… Hopefully not."

Everyone laughed all to hide the tears.

And that was it. Jack had gone.

Jack, gone? It didn’t seem right, and certainly didn’t feel it.

"Right! Who’s up for lunch!?" Gwen bleated.

Didn’t she care Jack had gone? Obviously not. Gwen wasn’t the one to care for feelings. She probley didn’t even get a kiss from her daddy when she was a kid. Shame.

Silenced filled the air at lunch. Normally, back at Hudson house, Rose would be throwing food around, Dan and Mark would be talking about the newest games out and Sky would be chatting to Jack. Instead, everyone just sat there. Stiff. Dead almost.

"C’mon everyone. It’s your favourite."

"AND I SPOSE JACK TOLD YOU THAT!" Sky yelled and ran out into the garden. Rolling his eyes, Dan went after her.

He found her under an oak tree, sobbing.

"You know Jack had no choice to do this." Said Dan, gently.

"I… I… I know." She sobbed.

"He meant a lot to us." Sky looked at Dan. Her streaming eyes were puffy and red. But, to Dan, she still looked stunning as ever. "Dan you’ve been ever so great about this. You’re the only one I can talk to. It feels like… like he’s been giving up on us, after so many years together, you know?"

"I know." And he did, but he didn’t take it so bad. Life was life, and changes was just part of the process.

Unexpectedly, he leant in and kissed her. Why did he do that? Did he feel sorry for her? Sky didn’t care, it felt good.

"Sorry…" Dan briskly walked off, embarrassed. She wished he hadn’t have walked off. Dan, as a boyfriend? Would that actually work? They were best friends and Sky knew all his past girlfriends. Didn’t work out. They thought he was a ‘geek.’ But could Sky be his girlfriend? Was she good enough for Dan? No, it would ruin this stroppy cow’s reputation.

"Is Sky ok?" Gwen said as she gulped down her last few drops of water. Dan briskly walked off, head low and arms crossed.

"Guess not then." Gwen said rolling her eyes. There was a moment’s silence. It was then broken by a squeaky-light voice. Rose.

"They kissed."

"What?" Said Gwen.

Rose sighed; "Did you hear me the first time t-h-e-y –k-i-s-s-e-d." Cheeky little madam.

"Who?"

"Who do you think!? Starsky and Hutch!? Dan and Sky! Duh! Rose solemnly wiped her mouth with her napkin. Gwen wasn’t amused one bit.

"How do you know?" asked Mark.

"It’ll cost you…" Rose crossed her arms and lifted her head and glanced in the opposite direction.

Mark sighed; "Oh for god sake Rose!"

She kept her ‘I know absolutely anything’ look. It was an annoying look. Mark found himself glaring at her.

"Here." He put a fiver in her hand. Mark was the equivalent to a ‘gossip queen.’ He had to know everything and he will know everything. Even if it costed him a huge amount of money. He had to.

"Thankyou." She snootedly put the fiver in her bra.

"Right. I shall continue, before I was rudely interrupted." She pointed at Mark. Mark rolled his eyes.

"Don’t you all think I have known Dan and Sky for so long their feelings for eachother are so obvious and definitely mutual? "

"Oh that’s a shit lot of good that is, Rose!" Mark slammed his plate down and went off to his room.

"ENOUGH!" Yelled Gwen.

Anyone would have thought Mark had feelings for Sky, the way he walked off.

Later that evening everyone was watching telly. They weren’t actually watching it. It was more like staring intensely at the telly and thinking about jack.

"Bed." Said a short and sharp brisk voice.

"What?" cried Mark.

"Go to bed, its getting late." Gwen said sharply.

"Its only nine!" Protested Mark. Everyone agreed.

"BED!" she yelled, and with that everyone jumped up onto their feet and headed straight for their rooms.

That night Sky lay awake. Tossing and turning she kept re-playing the kiss her and Dan shared. She admitted to herself it felt really good and she considered him as a good kisser. She was just dosing off when she heard a creak, which startled her. She gasped into the darkness. "Who’s there?" she trembled. Silence. And nothing but. She waited for something to happen…

Curling up in her bedcover she expected something to make her jump, or scream even. Then she felt something or someone sit down on her bed. Her bedside light came on.

"Dan?"

"Yeah." He smiled embarrassingly.

"What are you doing here? If Gwen catches me with a boy in…" He covered her mouth. "Shh…"

She felt a warm kiss on her lips. It was longer than last time and Dan touched her face very gently. Sky rubbed her hands through his black wispy hair. Their lips broke apart for air.

…"She’d kill me." They laughed, a little too loud.

"Sky?"

"Its Gwen! Hide in the wardrobe! Quick!" Sky said in a heavy whisper.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!" Dan said running lightly to the wardrobe. Sky was laughing as she lay down in the cover.

"Are you ok?" Asked Gwen as she came in.

Sky sat up, and looked asif she was half-asleep.
"I heard something." Gwen always kept an eye on the residents like a hawk.

"Huh?" she pretended to be confused.

"Oh, nevermind. Go back to sleep." Gwen slowly closed the door.

Dan popped out as soon as there was no sign of light in her room.

They were giggling in a whisper.
"The other day when I kissed you, I wanted to do that for long enough." He ran his fingers through her long darkbrown hair.

"You did?" she smiled. "I never thought of you in that way before, I mean, until now. "

He grinned.

"If we told anyone, they’d kill us…"

"I know." He sharply replied. "I know."

"So… we’ll keep this as quiet as we can. Yeah?"

"Yep. Mums the word Dan."

They laughed. He crept out the window into his room next-door. Sky felt as if a serenade of cellos filling the air, like in the old films. They both felt pretty sure about this, but they knew one day someone will know. But it wasn’t like it was illegal. Is love illegal?

A sharp ringing noise startled Sky out of her sleep. Blurry eyed she look at the clock; 7:30! Ugh! She turned round o see Gwen standing the the hallway shouting, "Get up! Breakfast must be made!" How could that woman be up so early? And most of all how can she expect us to make breakfast, afterall shes meant to be looking after us, sky thought to herself.

"Stupid cow." She muttered under her breath.

When she arrived downstairs everyone was already making his or her own breakfasts. She looked out for Dan, but he wasn’t there. She coughed, slightly, and cleared her throat.

"Where’s Dan?"

"No talking at the breakfast table." Gwen sharply replied.

Stupid cow.

"But…"

…"Uh! I said no talking, sky." She had a ‘miss know it all’ tone in her voice, it was the most annoying thing on gods earth.

After breakfast they were ordered to clean their rooms. This was a typical day for the residents. Even if they had clean their rooms out the day before, they were ordered to do it again. Gwen was a perfectionist. To them, perfectionists ‘sucked, big time.’ Those 3 words practically every teenager said.

Standing in mid sunlight, Sky couldn’t be bothered to do her room. Dan was a heck of a lot more important. She crept into his room, out of her window. It was like their secret passage every since he came into her room that night. She peered through the window. Dan had his personal stereo plugged in and he was jumping on his bed, doing an air guitar in mid air. She could read the words he mouthed to the song; ‘Smells like teen spirit’ by Nirvana, their favourite band.

"Kurt Cobain really knows how to sing, eh?" Sky yelled above the music. Dan jumped.

"Hell yeah!" he laughed as he turned down the music. He gave a little smile and put his hands round her waists and gently kissed her.

"Where were you this morning?" she whispered softly. It was like they were on a mission and no one could catch them. It was, indeed, very much like that. Dan was the only person Sky could go to. You’d think with a temper like that Sky would hate everyone. Maybe tables could turn.

"I just needed a bit of space."

"Why?"

"It’s all happening so quickly..." Sky’s face sunk and her sparkling blue eyes turned away.

"…But I like it." Her sparkling blue eyes turned back, followed by a gleaming smile. Sky hardly ever smiled around the others, but when with Dan, she could never stop. Her smile was the one thing he looked forward to when he saw her.

"I’ve got a plan…"

"What?" Sky said excitedly, it was like they were two little school kids messing around.

"Come to my room at exactly midnight." He grinned.

"And, whys that may I ask?" Sky laughed. She knew what was on the mind of a 16-year-old boy.

Dan laughed. "Not that … you’ll see."

Sky went to bed that night with a heavy heart. Still only 10pm, she wished the 2 hours would pass. But really, it lasted asif it were a lifetime. She woke up with a startle. She fell asleep? 5 past 12!

"5 minutes late!?" she rushed out of bed and scurried to her wardrobe. She put on her favourite black top and jeans. Looking out of the window, she saw Dan holding a torch to her window. The only thing she could see was the outline of his body.

"Psst! Hey!"

Dan was jumping up and down on the spot, waving his arms.

"You look like a right wolly!" laughed Sky.

"Oh cheers… you call me Wolly, and I’ve been waiting her for like, an hour?"

"An hour?" Dan nodded. Sky, giggling crept into his room. Candles were gently lit around the room, and Nirvana was playing low in the background.

Meanwhile, Gwen awoke by the sound of the low guitar spilling from Dan’s room.

"Dan?" she said curiously. She walked up to Dan’s door.

"This is great" grinned Sky.

"Your great." Dan replied as he kissed her. They fell asleep on Dan’s bed.

Gwen was still at Dan’s doorway, looking through the keyhole. She opened it with pure, raging, burning fury.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU TWO THINK YOUR’E DOING?" Dan and Sky woke with a startle. Sky, gasping and Dan, sitting up quickly in bed, there was a dead silence.

"WELL?" Gwen stood there. Hands on hips. Eyes open wide. And with the face of death. Did she have no heart?

"I’M WAITING." The other guys rushed to the room.

"Whats going on?" Rose mumbles, rubbing her tired eyes.

"Yeah, man I’m trying to sleep here!" Mark crossed his arms.

"Go to bed… ALL OF YOU." Sky rushed out of bed.

"Except you two. We need to talk."

"Don’t you dare hurt her!" Dan yelled.

"If you think I’d hurt her you got another thing coming to you Dan!"

Dan slowly watched Gwen and Sky walk out of the room, into the kitchen. The long walk down the narrow corridor left Sky feeling empty, lost and in shock. Gwen long, thin fingers switched don the kitchen light, it gave a short sharp flash. Gwen looked asif she was going to explode with fury.

"Sit."

Sky sat.

"What do you think you were doing? How dare you have sex in under my roof?" Her eyes spoke danger and she was shaking with anger. This was bad.

"We didn’t have sex!" Sky managed to pull out the anger inside of her.

"And I really believe you…"

"You should do." Sky looked down and shuffled her feet. She was telling the truth.

Meanwhile Dan was outside the kitchen door, listening intensely.

"Dan was the only one who spoke to me when Jack had left, he understood my feeling, my emotions, my thoughts. Yeah, he was just a friend in the past, but he’s not now." Sky looked mature and spoke well. Gwen had never seen her like this, and was rather impressed.

"And this I what you want?"

"More than anything I’ve ever known. Look, I’m 16 now, I am entitled to my own choices, right?" She was right and Gwen saw that.

"Your right." Gwen hung her head.

"I was only looking after you, Sky. Ever since I first met you, I knew there was this little spark inside of you, and although took a while to burn up, you got there." It was strange, but kind of cool for Sky. She’d never seen Gwen like this so, so nice.

Even Dan was shocked.

"I know I seem so strict and so nasty, I’m just looking after you. It’s in your best interest."

"I know." Sky gave Gwen an emotional, desperate hug. Gwen breathed a sigh of relief.

"Dan you are welcome to come in you know…"

Sky turned round to see Dan looking bashful.

He stepped in.

"I guess you agree." Gwen smiled.

"Yeah I do. Theres more to you than meets the eye, Gwen."

"Well, you never gave me a chance."

"Wait…" Dan smirked.

"There are some more people that can come in too…"

Rose and Mark stepped in smirking.

"I knew you two where there!" Laughed Gwen.

A phone call broke their laughter. Phones call, at 2am?

Gwen answered it.

A sniffling voice spoke…

"Gwen … tell the guys it’s a boy. I’ve got a son."

 

 

Copyright © 2004 Alessandra Mace
Published on the World Wide Web by "www.storymania.com"