A Pair Of Pears (Completed)

Lily

Fast forward an hour and we have finally reached the town of Summermead. Gran parks up her Range Rover, or rather monster fuel guzzler as I like to call it. It wouldn't hurt her to get an eco-friendly car. The town is pretty much the only thing I like about Summermead. It's your average seaside town, everywhere you turn there's at least one VW camper van with a few surfboards visible through its windows or perched on a roof rack.
There's a market at the end of the main street, if you pass through it onto the next street it's my idea of heaven. Full of vintage and new age hippy shops. Even when I was last here at the age of nine I could get lost for hours. I felt happy here, it felt like home, everything I want to be. All I dreamed was that I'd one day have a life like the people here. 
I persuade Gran to let me go off and look by myself, she isn't happy about it at all, she hates that street. She and Mum have always said it's where all the scum of society congregate. The scum being anyone that lives differently to them. 
Grandad is a bit more relaxed, or rather a bit more human, he doesn't seem to judge me like they do.
The pocket money I have been saving all year is burning a hole in my pocket. I haven't told Mum about it, things have been tight since Dad left, and I know she'll have the money off of me in an instant. Not for food or bills either, weed and booze, and whatever else it is she piles into her body. Then knowing her, I'd likely end up with a battering when she realises the bottle is empty.
  
I find a cool T-shirt shop on the corner that sells a lot of band merchandise. I get myself an awesome Ramones wristband and a Green Day beanie. I try the beanie on and look at my reflection in a shop window. It looks pretty Emo, I love it. In a vintage shop, I manage to find an awesome washed out Weezer t-shirt with the lyrics to Pork & Beans on the front. It's one of my favourite songs, I can relate to the lyrics. I know Gran will roll her eyes, and probably Mum too, they don't have to wear it, though. You would think that at the age of fifteen I'd be allowed to express myself a bit more, but no. 
Gran comes and hunts me down shortly after, she has to practically drag me away from the handmade jewellery stall where I'm eyeing up a cord pentagram necklace, she mutters something about me wasting money. 
'Your mother has found herself a job trial already!' she announces proudly as we make our way back onto the main street. Whoopee doo, I think to myself. None of Mum's jobs have lasted longer than her bottles of vodka. 
'It's in the fudge and milkshake emporium. As it's the summer they are extremely short staffed; her shift will be finished soon. We can give her a lift home, with a bit of luck she'll get the job.' 
At least that's something I think to myself. Maybe if this job works out, she'll be a bit happier, distracted from alcohol and me. Maybe we won't have any more incidents like the one last night. 
The outside of the emporium is painted all pink and looks like cotton candy, the windows are filled with fudge, some in jars and some in boxes. the sickly-sweet smell of freshly made fudge hits the pit of my stomach as we walk through the door and it starts to growl. I just manage to catch a glimpse of Mum in the kitchen behind the counter, elbow deep in fudge mix. She doesn't look happy, she has huge heels on surely, she can't be that daft.    
'Hey!' says a cheery girl appearing behind the counter, which is also crammed full of about twenty different kinds of fudge. 
'What can I do for you today?'
She resembles a young Cherie Currie from the seventies band The Runaways, with her naturally blonde hair and rocker image, but her name badge says, Lily. 
'Oh, not for me dear, I'm just alright with my paper.' says Gran, pulling out a chair and sitting at a table by the window. She's acting polite, but I can tell she doesn't approve of the girl's image. Mum doesn't either by the look she shoots her when Lily speaks to me.  
'What do you recommend?' I ask, pulling a menu sheet towards me.
'I'm starving!'
I notice Gran out the corner of my eye, shaking her head as she reads her paper. No doubt I will get a lecture later on how much sugar I'm piling into my body. 
'Well as you're so hungry, I recommend a Shake'N'Fudge combo. Plus, it comes with a Wi-Fi code for the computers over there.'  She says, pointing towards a line of computers by the wall. 
'The look on your face says you need some internet time.'
Not realising that I'm so transparent, I order a Cookie Crunch combo consisting of Oreo flavoured milkshake and plain vanilla fudge. Oreo's being my favourite biscuit. I log onto my social media accounts and find that I have zero messages. Great! so much for good friends! I try to remind myself that I've only been here a day, and I'm unlikely to have missed anything, I'm sure they are thinking of me and will be in touch soon. Although, I'm somewhat doubtful. A group of photos then appear in my news feed for a house party my friends attended the night before, so they are out having fun and I'm stuck here! I suddenly feel a mixture of envy and sadness; my stomach knots and I feel sick. I try to tell myself I'm being over sensitive, just because they are going to house parties doesn't mean they don't miss me. After all, I can't expect them not to continue on with their lives. 
I comment on a few of the photos about how fun the party looked and how I'm missing them already. They don't acknowledge the comments despite it showing them online currently. Maybe they haven't seen them yet, so I send a few messages, explaining the no internet situation and that I lost my phone. I say I will reply as soon as I can. 
Mum finishes her shift and we go back to the farm. The drive home is spent in silence, except for Gran and her sugar rant.