High Tide

Chapter 22 [Bad Day]

Chapter 22

Bad Day

Halloween came and went without too much excitement, even for Charlie who was stuck patrolling the streets all night. Lydia joined a few other moms and went trick or treating with Marissa, Andrea and the Lindsay twins.

Despite her unwillingness to dress up and look like a total dork, Avery decided to get into the spirit and joined Lily, who was volunteering at the community center, handing out candy to little kids. She didn't really feel like going to the Halloween party that Asher, Brandon, Kelsey and pretty much the rest of the school were attending.

Her history with parties wasn't all that great.

On Sunday, the first day of November, Marissa was still on an intense sugar high and it was incredibly annoying, especially for Avery who was studying for an important test taking place in second period the next day.

"Can you please do something about Marissa? She's driving me crazy," Avery pleaded to Lydia when she came down to the kitchen for a snack. "Take her candy stash or something," she added with a playful smile.

The weather outside was atrocious so it wasn't like they could just chuck Marissa outside and let her burn off all of that excess energy. Rain was pounding against the windows and the steady thunder was making Klondike restless.

"There's not much I can do," Lydia laughed softly. "We'll just have to wait until December," she shrugged.

"Oh boy," Avery chuckled.

Lydia was peeling potatoes and chopping up vegetables for dinner later. Avery automatically grabbed a knife and started to help.

"How's your studying coming along?" Lydia wondered.

"Fine I guess," Avery replied just as a lightning strike lit up the sky. A few seconds later the accompanying thunder made it feel like the whole house was shaking. "My motivation is at like, zero right now though. I want it to be summer again," she sighed.

"You might want to start with Christmas," Lydia laughed. "You'll at least get two weeks then," she added, tossing a pile of chopped vegetables into boiling water on the stove.

She swept up another pile of vegetables when her phone started to vibrate on the island counter behind her. "That might be Charlie, can you check for me?" she asked as she strolled over to the stove.

Avery wiped her hands on her jeans and picked up Lydia's phone. Upon checking the caller I.D. she let out a noise halfway between a laugh and a snort.

"Who's the bitch from hell? Your boss?" she giggled.

"My mother-in-law; Charlie's mom," Lydia said quickly, looking a little embarrassed as she took the phone back. "I should just let it go to voicemail," she added with a small smile, hesitating for a moment on the green 'answer' button.

"That's nice," Avery shook her head.

Thinking back on the last few months, she couldn't remember ever hearing Charlie and Lydia talk about Charlie's parents and she'd never met them before either. She had the chance to meet Lydia's parents and her brother, as well as Charlie's brother – he was her teacher so she got to see him a lot – but Charlie and Austin's parents were still an enigma.

At the last second, Lydia decided to answer. She realized it could very well be urgent.

"Hello Martha," Lydia said and for the first time ever, Avery heard what her foster mother, usually a very sweet and composed person, sounded like when she obviously didn't like somebody. It was way too entertaining.