Love At First Fight

Chapter 012

Chapter 012

It's freezing in my house, a pizza box giving me the only warmth to keep me from shivering. James seems perfectly fine though, not shivering, not complaining, just eating his pizza whilst watch the old iCarly episodes. He laughs with his mouth open at Gibby falling from the ceiling and probably bruising his ribs. "When was the last time you watched this?" I ask him.

"I can't remember," he said swallowing a huge bite of pizza.

I scowl, "You're supposed to chew like twenty time before you swallow."

He doesn't remove his eyes from the TV and mumbles, "That's not what my ex did." I almost choke on my pizza. What. The. Heck. He looks at me with sparkling eyes, "Well, I'm not going to lie." We laughed and joked on for a little while, the front door opened and mum came in with Joe, Jodie and Sam.

"Mum, we got pizza." My mum looks over at me and then at James. "This is James, my tutor I was telling you about..." She eyes him up and down, so does my brother, he's still weary of what I do, what he doesn't know about.

They shake hands and the girl's rugby tackle him. "Cassidy, come and help me plate this." I stand up, grabbing the two boxes of pizza. James and I had already eaten one box to ourselves. God, we're pigs. Joe stays in the living room with the twins and James.

She doesn't say much as she grabs plates from the cupboard near the fridge. "I haven't had enough to pay for gas."

I nod in understanding. "We will have enough, I have a job, and Joe has a job. We'll be fine." I say, opening the two boxes revealing one margarita and one Hawaiian. I feel sick looking at them, I'm so full.

My mum sighs and her shoulders drop, "Cassidy, no. I don't want my children to have jobs. I'm the adult here, I'm supposed to be able to take care of my children." She starts tearing up, she quickly wipes her cheeks. Her hands are gripped onto the sink, as if trying to keep herself together.

"You can't do this on your own." I say, rubbing her back.

She shakes her head, "It's not as if your father can help us. He never could." I bite my tongue at that. She looks at me and give me a hug, "I'm sorry, it's just weird. It never felt as if he had actually gone until now." I close my eyes and hold tight onto my mum. I'm just thankful she's here.

We don't need fancy cars with trunks full of cash, that's not what makes a family.

"We can talk over dinner about your job. It's at the shopping centre right?"

I freeze up, did I tell James about my job at the mall, I hope he knows not to tell about the street fighting. "Yeah, it's at the shopping centre." After that we quietly plate the pizza and I start to pour the drinks, James will like the cheap rip off coke right? It's the only drink we have in.

Conversation between my mum and James is light, mainly about my mum's main job, in a café at the other end of town as the chefs 'main' helper. Meaning she gets bossed around by this greasy fat woman. Then the question comes up. James' job. "So James, how long have you worked with kids for?"

He looks at me, a puzzled look in his eyes. "Not long, for about a year now. My uncle's been doing it for a lot longer though, he's taught me everything there is to know."

My mum smiles, "So you have a family business."

James laughs and shakes his head, "As much as I'd love it to become a family business, kids these days are become less interested in education. I mean, kids like Cassidy need to work hard, especially if she's looking towards a scholarship."