Toast

  Chapter 7

  Boys, are they human?

  I sit down with Ash and Flick in the Stadium. We're waiting for the boys to show up. Nathan and Josh have to get cleaned up before they can sit with us and we have absolutely no idea where Sam and Mike are.

  "Guys can be such big pains!" Ash says.

  "You're telling me! My two older brothers really like getting on my nerves!" Flick says.

  "I only have one older brother. He's not too bad. He was spying on me last night!" I totally agree with them – guys can get so annoying!

  "I've got a younger brother. He likes videoing every embarrassing thing I do. But I have my ways of stopping that," Ash looks so evil; it's really funny. She pulls off evil really easily, but when I do it, my brother says it's like watching a small child trying to act like a grown up. It just doesn't work!

  "My brother caught me talking on the phone to my friend Nat, and then he saw me dancing and yelling to a Linkin Park song. It was really embarrassing!"

  "Yeah, I bet! My older brother, Adam, he finished school last year. He would show his friends the videos he had taken on his phone of me dancing or pictures of what I look like when I do facials! I did an avocado one once and he took a picture and showed all his friends. For a whole week they called me a little frog!" she looks really annoyed at the memory.

  "That's nasty! My brother, Mitch hands out my home and mobile numbers to anyone that asks, and he never tells me! So I get strange calls from people I don't know. In your case it was fine with me, but some other cases were pretty bad!" The girls nod their heads in agreement.

  "Hey, Kaila, I'm not strange for calling you?" the voice is very familiar and I think whoever is talking is standing behind me. I whirl around to face them. Of course it's Josh and Nathan.

  "Nathan, you're not strange, just interesting!" he's smiling at me.

  "I'll give you that one, but, seriously, didn't you know we were calling? So really there was no need to pretend that you didn't know it was us on the phone!"

  "Actually, my brother didn't tell me you were going to call until after I got off the phone. His exact words were, ‘I wonder how he got your number?’ This actually means in Mitch language, I'm going to take credit for this but I'm going to keep my distance so she won't hurt me. I love it how I can do that to him!"

  "Do what, exactly? I want to know exactly what evil we're up against!"

  "I used to do kick boxing, karate and self-defence classes, so I'm pretty well armed!"

  "WOW! That's so cool. I wish I could take those classes to arm myself against my brothers!" Flick says.

  "Would you harm someone if they went to kiss you?"

  "Why would I do that Josh? I wouldn't unless he is a) creepy, b) doesn't respect my wishes, c) is one of my friends, and this is an optional, d) if he's a really bad kisser! Does that answer your question?"

  "Not really, but we'll talk some more on this later."

  "Wow, Josh, relax! Why does it mean so much to you? Kaila wouldn't hit you!" Ash says looking at me questioningly I nod in response. Josh doesn't fall under any of my rules! He would be the type I would let kiss me easily with no questions asked!

  "Hey, Ash, can you organise something for next weekend?" Josh asks.

  "Sure! Why? What do you want to get out of, Josh?"

  "Well, Kaila is sentenced to spending that weekend with her mum!"

  "Why's that so bad?" Nathan asks.

  "My parents are divorced, my mum acts really posh and she's a major clean freak. Plus, I don't feel like picking up young men for her!" I roll my eyes like this is the most typical things mothers do. I know it’s not normal, but I have got to try to make everything seem alright. Mothers can be super bad. Especially when they're trying to pretend they're eighteen.

  "That doesn't sound too bad! How easily can you pick them up?" Nathan winks at me.

  "My mum gives me really showy clothes and goes out with me, and then she introduces herself to the guys who mill around me as my older sister! It's so embarrassing!"

  "You need saving, girl! I'll see what I can do. I'll try to hijack you for the whole weekend!"

  "Thanks, Ash that would be great! I'm sick of going to my mum's house!"