Miss Braxton: Home and Away Fanfic

Chapter 17

The early morning sun sifted through the canopy of leaves above me and poured in patterned rivers into the garden, bathing it in a golden glow of light. I was propped back against one of the trees that I always saw Kyle sitting under. It's where he usually went to play guitar and sing in the fresh air, out of earshot of the rest of the family.

I loved listening to him when he played music. I often admired him from the porch with Phoebe, or sometimes went to join him. I was getting really good at the guitar due to his coaching. It'd ignited an interest in the music lessons at school, though usually we just played on keyboards there and were taught by a rather dismal old lady who only took an interest in classical stuff.

At the moment, the garden was entirely empty except for me. Everyone else was inside the house. They'd left me in peace so that I could make a phone call to my mum before going to school. We'd been talking for longer than we usually did, and I was loving every second of hearing her talk. I missed her so much, and there was a dull ache in my chest at the thought of having to eventually put the phone down.

"Oh, Sweetie," She cooed warmly for the hundredth time. "I just can't believe it. My baby, all grown up."

Smiling, I rolled my eyes. "Mum, stop."

In truth, I didn't want her to.

"Sixteen already." She sighed softly, voice weak. "I remember the first time I ever held you in my arms. I knew I'd love you forever. My little girl."

I laughed and batted away the tears collecting in my eyes as I ran my fingers over my school dress.

"There's no need to get all soppy about it, Mum." I tried to sound light and upbeat. I didn't want her knowing that she'd almost managed to move me to tears in the space of a few seconds. Only mum could do that to me. "It's just my birthday. I've had fifteen others before this, you know."

My mum's fragile voice fell even quieter than it had been before and every syllable was heavy with sadness. "...I didn't properly celebrate them with you though, did I?"

"Sure you did." I protested, but thinking back, I realised I didn't remember doing anything on my previous birthdays. When I was really young, and mum was still at work, she used to bake me cakes. One year she had been cripplingly drunk and ended up falling asleep and setting the cooker on fire. Last year, I'd spent my afternoon on the beach with Flynn, after my boss had begrudgingly allowed me to leave the café early.

"I didn't do enough for you, Alex. You always deserved better than I could give you. I've been an awful mother. And you've been nothing short of the best daughter I could ever have asked for."

"That's not true." I argued defensively. "You've been a great mum!"

Between wheezing breaths, mum's voice was full of tenderness. "I'm so proud of the person you're becoming, Alex. Sixteen and already so hardworking, clever, beautiful and compassionate. You've got a big heart, my darling, and I hope you have a great birthday. I'm sorry I won't be there for you."

"Thanks mum, but you really don't need to be sorry about anything." I told her.

"Have you got much planned today? Besides school?" She asked.

I shrugged and frowned up at the emerald leaves. "Not really, but the rest of the family have been acting super weird lately. I think their planning something for me."

"Weird how?" Mum rasped, between coughs.

"Well," I started. "The other day I saw Ricky and Bianca picking up a load of boxes from the Diner, but when I went over to talk everyone was acting really shifty and they were trying to hide the boxes from me. Then Olivia stopped me from going into the storage cupboard at Angelo's, which is pretty suspicious. I found confetti on the floor yesterday, which Kyle quickly swept away with his foot, thinking I hadn't seen. On top of that, Darcy's been giving me this really strange excited kind of look all week, as if she's been dying to tell me something, but has only just been holding back."