Chapter 3

I was a little startled and abruptly turned around only to see that the boy who had been swimming moments ago had already made his way out of the pool. He had a towel strawn across his broad shoulders and was in black shorts that reached just above his knees. His hair was tosed every which way probably from having run a towel through it. "My name's Lyra, your new neighbour. I was just looking at the flowers..." I trailed off with a smile on my face that probably looked more like a grimace. I expected him to say something but instead he just stared at me with a blank face. "I didn't get your name," I said trying to clear up the awkwardness that was slowly building up. "I don't remember giving it to you," he answered all too rudely. I opened my mouth about to throw in a comeback of my own when Pauline came over. "Owen that's no way to treat a girl. Where are your manners?" Probably left them in the pool to drown. "Now apologise to her this instant," I stood there all too smugly and waited for his apology that never left his mouth. Instead he stormed away and went inside the house. "I'm so sorry for his behaviour my dear," she apologised with a worrisome look on her face as if not believing what her grandson had just done. "There's no need to apologise. I'm sure I must have taken him off guard. I mean its not everyday you see a stranger in your backyard right?" I laughed a bit awkwardly. I should get out more. ********** I was lounging on the sofa in the living room, in my pyjamas, flipping through channels with the remote in hand in search of an interesting program. I was a little tired from today's events. After mum and I had left Pauline's house we had gone to some of the other neighbouring houses. Then later went to buy some much needed groceries. "Lyra, can you come help me make dinner!" Mum called from the kitchen just as I had settled for watching a rom-com. I resisted the urge to groan loudly and stood up from my resting position. When I walked in the kitchen I found Mum cutting up some veggies. "Can you take care of the rice?" she asked as she took the steak from the fridge and placed it on the counter that was in the middle of the kitchen. "Sure." I took the bag of rice that was placed next to the steak and took enough and poured it in a basin. I took it up to the sink and washed the rice and later placed it in a pot with enough water in it. Then I placed the pot on the stove and turned it on. "How are you liking the neighbourhood?" she asked me whilst placing the marinated steak in the oven. "I don't know. Apart from that Owen guy, the people we met seemed nice," I said "but I think its because there was no one my age in any of the other houses we went to." I could tell that mum was about to say something but a shrill ringing coming from the livingroom made her save her comment. Mum came back in the living room a few minutes later, phone in hand. "That was Bridget. She was just asking how everything went with the moving." "You're not travelling again are you?" "No. Well, not yet but I will have to eventually because it's my job," she said softly. When the food was ready, Mum and I had our dinner making small talk here and there. When we finnished eating, I offered to do the dishes and Mum wished me a goodnight. The plates weren't a lot and I had managed to finnish cleaning them up earlier than I thought. I made sure to turn off the lights in all the rooms before I went to bed. Just as I was about to close my bedroom window, I saw Owen dive into his pool. There was clearly something up with that guy because it was almost mid-night, a time when most people chose to sleep but he decided to swim. If it was hot at the time I would have totally understood him but it was chilly outside. Or maybe he was working out and chose to cool off in the pool. I didn't even know why I cared, the guy had practically embarrassed me today. I drew the curtains close and took a book from the bedside table. I had only read two pages when my eyelids became droopy. I put the book aside and decided to call it a night.