Flipped (L.T.)

Chapter 17: Stronghold

My eyes flutter open to the morning sun beaming down on my face. Instead of waking up with the usual disinterest of leaving my bed, I feel well rested and gladly remove myself from the covers. I have this unexplained feeling of peace in mind as I venture to the bathroom to take a shower and ready myself for the day. After the rain last night, it just seems a little brighter, more sunnier than the usual cloudy English day.

When done in the bathroom, I follow my nose to the scrumptious smells coming from the kitchen. My mum is up, making breakfast for the family as she usually did on Saturday mornings; granted, I've never been up early enough to witness it since I was younger so I'll be able to sneak in while shes cooking. I tip toe through the doorway, quietly slipping on a stool at the bar and watch as she continues to cook. She has sausages sizzling on a skillet, porridge boiling in a pot, and a mysterious item in the oven; probably crumpets.

The oven beeps and like I presumed, my mum pulls out a tray of crumpets, setting them aside on the other end of the stove. I can feel my stomach start to gurgle with anticipation. I place my hand over it, trying to suppress the beastly sound and stifle my laugh as it continues to make noise. Its only a matter of time until I'm caught.

My mum goes into our fridge, pulling out a stick of butter and spreads some of it on the crumpets. When she turns around to throw the wrapper away, I'm spotted.

"Jesus, Louis." She hisses, holding a hand over her heart. "What are you tryin' to do, give me a bloody heart attack!" She breathes, trying to calm down from the scare.

"If I did that, who would make me food?" I snicker. My mum shoots me a playful glare, tossing the wrapper my way. "Glad to see you appreciate your mother." She says sarcastically, returning to the food.

I hop down from the stool and join her by the mini buffet. The food looks amazing, still smoking from being straight off the pan of pot.

"What, no eggs?"

My mum pops me with a spatula and ignores my comment, moving to wash some dishes occupying the sink that she used in the process.

I take the liberty of taking out plates for the family and grab mine to start piling on the food. Let's see, four sausages should do, two spoonfuls of porridge, and one- maybe two crumpets.

"Do we have any jam?"

"Check the fridge." My mum says over her shoulder. Just as she said, the jam lay hidden at the top, waiting to be used. I break open my crumpets, spreading it on either half before sticking them back together again. I put it back, trading it for some orange juice and pour myself a glass. Now that my assemble of breakfast was complete, I grab some silverware and a napkin and plop down on my seat at the table to lavish in the meal. Its still hot and burns a little while I try to devour it, but taking a swig of the juice soothes my mouth.

"So.. You gonna tell me why're in such a good mood?" My mum inquires.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean, is that you're up early for once, taking out plates, and humming to yourself while eating,"

I was humming? I know I was singing in the shower earlier; I didn't know I had restarted it again.

"Either your date went betta than I thought or you took the wrong pills again. Which is it?"

"Well actually, my date couldn't have gone worse." I say, munching on another sausage. "It just went down hill the moment Eli.. everyone, um, got bored." I recover quickly, sucking down juice next.

"Ahh, thats too bad." She says sympathetically.

"Mum please, you didn't even like her."