Boy Meets Girl - One

*****

The silver wrap shone very bright in the morning sun and with as much regret as anticipation she slowly removed it to unveil the brown prize within. Her eyes widened as she looked beyond her fingers and saw the gang.

"Oh shite"

"Oh shite" the first was a slip but the second summarized the entire situation.

"Don't even think about it Andy" Their leader said stopping before her while the others blocked the teacher's view. This time Sean was ready to gag her if she tried to scream but he wasn't prepared for her bite.

"Arrrgh!" He yelled and the children paused all around the playground to watch him jump ten feet in the air. Mrs. McClean dropped her phone and ran towards them.

*****

Today... (20 years later)****

She swept the clothes off the couch with one hand and they narrowly missed the puddle of fresh dog pee beside it. Ed Sheeran's Drunk was still playing but the phone wasn't on the ugly orange couch. Hearing a growl, "Oh shite" she muttered and bent on all fours to spy beneath the furniture.

"Bad dog Baby" She said opening a palm, "Come give mama the phone"

The Bull Terrier retreated even further beneath it and she nearly cried. "Don't do this right now honey, mama has a bad day"

"Stop talking to the animal like it can understand you for goodness sake!" Sandy cried clanging her peep toes on the tiles as she cat walked into the room. "Please shut that damn music off will you!"

Andy rolled her eyes as the music stopped and started again, whoever was calling really wanted to talk to her, "I will mum as soon as I get the phone from him and the animal has a name, okay?"

"Stop with the 'mumming', you know it makes me feel old" She said collapsing on the overly pricey and extremely ugly couch. Her legs perfectly crossed she didn't look a day over twenty and liked to rub it in Andy's face.

The call stopped again this time mid-song and she gave up trying to convince the pet to hand it over, moving backwards till she could climb back to her feet. With her hands on her hips she surveyed the mess laying around the room. Not just the room, the whole house.

"One room at a time" She muttered and turned to fetch a rag for the wet spot the green rug was soaking up fast. A wet nose nudged her ankle and she paused looking down at him, wagging his tail he dropped the phone and sat on his hunches waiting for a pat. Bending down she swiped it up before he changed his mind and cleaned the drool on the screen as she swiped it to unlock.

"Three missed calls from Sean?"

"Three?! What does he want now? A kidney?"

Mentioning the name of her good-for-nothing ex always got her mum worked up and she shook her head before Sandy could even start her tirade. "I'll be in the kitchen, Mum. Need to see what he wants, could be Alex"

The mention of her Granddaughter's name made her pause as she opened her mouth and she lifted the glass of champagne to take a delicate sip, "Don't forget to bring a rag when you are done, whole house smells of demented dog piss" She and the animal sat at opposite ends of the room eyeing each other with intense dislike.

Chuckling at the scenario Andy speed dialled and he picked the call at the first ring, "Hello?"

"I've been trying to reach you" Nothing had changed about his voice even with a weary tone it was still sexy and as deep as ever and it seemed as if he was right in the room next to her. She killed the shiver that crept up her spine.

"And so you have, what do you want?"

"There's no need for hostility Andy, Alex needs you-"

"Why? What happened?" Every other thing ran out of her mind as maternal instinct took over, "Where's she?"

He dragged a long breath, "At school, there was an incident with some boy"

****

She was once again looking at the same shiny wrap when someone knocked on the door and from the sound of her shoes she already knew who had come. Better mom than her father she thought crossing two fingers hidden in the folds of her long green top.

"Come in please, Mrs. Hart" Principal Sanders called out unfolding his glasses and looked up as he wore them. Andy always thought he looked like an Owl whenever he did.

"Hey baby" Her mum had said sitting next to her and stretched out a hand to shake the short man seated across the huge desk. "Good afternoon, I came as fast as I could. What happened?"

Andy saw him visibly drag in a deep breath and just knew it was going to take a while before they could leave so she tuned them out. Even at that age she knew the man loved to talk like her Aunt Becca.

For the next hour she sat in the chair twisting the silver wrap as it caught the light, wondering what her punishment would be because from how stiff her mother sat beside her, she knew it was only a matter of time and this time she'd done something huge.

She hadn't met to hurt him. Okay that was a lie, maybe she had but it was only a small bite and she was defending her dessert. Why was she the one in the Principal's office?

Argh!

She hated Sean so much. It probably didn't hurt at all and he made such a huge fuss over it.

"Let's go" Her mother said and she slid out of her chair, following behind the bright orange sun dress and black heels with her head hanging low. At the carpark their truck sat under the afternoon sun, the blue paint scraped off in a lot of places.

It was never locked because no one would dare steal it, besides who in Harmony would want it?

Her mother opened the door for her and with a huge leap she jumped into the front seat, placing her school bag beside her and when with a loud bang the truck started, they drove off leaving a cloud of smoke trailing after them and she let the shiny wrap fly, wondering if she'd ever go back to that school or see her friends there again.

Argh!

Sean.

It was all his fault after all.

*****