The Boy across the Street

I woke up to the sound of my mom shouting my name from downstairs. I checked the time on my bedside clock.

Why the hell would she wake me up at 9am on a Saturday morning?!

When I got downstairs, she was setting the table for breakfast and the aroma of the food hit me immediately. I literally almost drooled. I could smell eggs and sausages.

“Morning Mom”

“Morning Kay. How are you feeling today?”

“Much much much better than yesterday.”

“Oh, that's nice. I'll be going to work in the afternoon today so I made breakfast, English breakfast. Freshen up quickly and come down, so we can eat.”

“Smells good Mom. I'll be down in five.”

And just on cue, my stomach rumbled, reminding me that the only thing I ate yesterday was coffee, and some leftover noodles.

After brushing my teeth, I changed out of my pyjamas and joined my family at the dining table.

The food was delicious. There was juice, toast, bacon, sausages, eggs, baked beans and everything a proper English breakfast could consist of.

The toast was delicious and I savoured every bite. I'm sure I mentioned this earlier, my mom is an excellent cook. Honestly speaking, she should have been a chef instead of a nurse.

“Mom”, I moaned, "This is really good. You should do this often."

“She's right, sweetie. This is amazing", my dad said.

“Thank you”, she smiled. “Maybe I'll cook more when I'm free.”

“You should”, I responded before I took a sip of my orange juice.

“So, Kay, how are you coping with school?” My dad asked.

Why is he asking that? I've never complained to anyone about school, have I? Or did my teacher call him? Wait a minute, are my grades going downhill?

Relax Kay. It's just a question. He just wants to find out how school is. It's called creating conversation.

I hope so

“Um, school is fine, dad. I'm coping really well. The topics aren't so difficult.”

“You sure?”

Why is he asking? My parents almost never go deep into my school life, so why today?

“Yes, Dad, why do you ask?”

“Oh it's nothing. I realized your mother and I aren't involved in your school life and because of your schooling and our work, we don't get to sit together like this often.”

“I guess you're right, honey. I think we should plan a picnic or a getaway sometime”, my mom chipped in.

Okay what's happening to my parents? Well, they have a point. I can't remember the last time we sat together as a family for breakfast. It's either my mom is at the hospital or my dad has some work in the office, or neither of them are around. I'm glad they see this can come in the way of our family bond. I do love some family bonding time. We used to have that a lot when I was little.

“What about you guys, how's work?” I asked when it seemed there was silence.

“Good, good. Nothing new”, they both said almost the same thing.

“Okay”, I smiled.

We had the rest of our breakfast in silence after that with just a few questions from my father which I answered briefly.

After breakfast, I took my bath and wore a t-shirt with shorts. I'm in my house, I need to be comfortable. I heard the sound of a starting motorcycle outside, and I looked through the window. It was Jayson Bradshaw. Did I mention he lived right across the street? Yes, just opposite my house. I'm sure you're wondering how it's possible he hasn't seen me before like I said earlier if he lives just opposite to me. Trust me, I don't know either. And to be honest, I'm just hoping that's the case. No one from my school knows too, except Stephanie, of course. I guess it's just my luck, as she would say.

After watching him speed off with his black jacket, I sat cross-legged on my bed with my laptop watching movies, as usual.

Steph called and we spoke for about two hours before she hanged up.

After a while, I was bored, so I decided to do my chemistry homework and I think I fell asleep. Don't blame me if chemistry is so boring. Plus, I didn't get to sleep to my satisfaction this morning.

***

“Help!” I screamed before I broke off into a cough.

“Help me! Help!” I continued to scream as the smoke engulfed me.

Suddenly, I woke up and I could smell smoke coming from downstairs. I rushed down and there was smoke coming out from the kitchen. My dad was wearing baking gloves, and he was trying to get the smoke which I noticed was coming out of the oven out with a napkin.

“What happened in here?” I asked, using my hand to drive away the smoke.

“Kayra!” he exclaimed as if he was surprised to see me, "What are you doing here?”

“I could smell the smoke from my room. Dad, what were you trying to do?”

Wait, was he trying to bake pizza at home again? I facepalmed myself. He never learns.

“I was just giving a shot at the pizza again”, he confessed, and I don't know why I laughed. Maybe, it was because of his desperation, even though we both know he'll probably never get it right. Some things just have to be bought, I don't know why he always bothers himself trying to make it at home.

“Okay Dad, you can go to the living room or your bedroom, I'll clean this up.”

“Thanks dear.”

“No worries. Oh, and please leave some money down, I'll just order a pizza.”

He scratched his head. “Alright”, he said before he left. "Kayra?"

"Yeah?" I looked up at him

" Don't tell your mother", he warned and I laughed.

" Don't worry,I wasn't planning to. Your secret is safe with me"

When the pizza delivery guy came, I collected our order and paid.

“You can keep the change”, I tipped him with a smile.

He muttered a thanks before leaving.

On days like these, I'm grateful my dad decided to embark on one of his “misadventures” because I get to eat pizza without asking or without using my own money. My mom almost always never orders pizza because she says it's junk food so it's bad for our health. She's not wrong, but come on, who doesn't love those round shaped foods put in square boxes and eaten in triangles. You know what I'm saying?

I put my share of the pizza on a plate and took it up to my room, then sat cross-legged on my bed ready to watch some more movies on my laptop and placed my plate of pizza in front of me.

Like I always say, there's nothing better than eating two or three hot slices of pizza while sitting cross-legged on your bed, engrossed in a good Netflix movie.