Since The Day I Saw You

Chapter 8

Isabelle's P.O.V

I would love to say that I woke up to the sounds of birds chirping, but that would be a lie. Instead, I woke up to my dad screaming that I needed to get up and help mow the lawn. I grabbed my phone and looked at the time to find it was 8:30am. "Mr. Lapel isn't going to be happy if we do that! It will scare the birds away!" I screamed downstairs. 

Our next door neighbor was passionate about birds. Every morning he would get up and sit on his front porch and feed the birds. Last time my dad mowed the lawn this early Mr. Lapel lectured him on the bylaws of mowing one's lawn. "Screw him! I have things to do today, and I'm not waiting on that old man." My dad screamed up and told me I had ten minutes to get my ass down here. I stared up at my stucco ceiling and wondered what crawled up his ass. I reluctantly got out of bed and began getting ready. 

I walked outside to hear Mr. Lapel giving my dad yet another lecture, to which my dad responded by starting up the lawn mower. My dad gave Mr.Lapel a defiant look, but Mr.Lapel seemed unfazed by the added noise and continued on with a role of his eyes. I shook my head and gave an apologetic smile to Mr. Lapel. I took over the lawn mower and began doing my half of the lawn. I wasn't waiting on my dad and Mr. Lapel to stop their bickering. Thirty minutes later, my mother had somehow convinced me to weed the gardens, while she went to the next town over.

After about two hours in the heat, I was dripping sweat and in dire need of a drink. I went inside and decided to check my messages. I looked at my phone to find twenty messages from the girls group chat. Most of the texts consisting of what everyone was wearing tonight. I cursed under my breath. I had completely forgotten about the summer carnival that was in town. Thankfully, I hadn't made any plans for tonight but I still needed to find something to wear. I sent a quick text asking what time we were meeting at and went back outside to finish weeding.

***

By 2:00 I was finally finished weeding. Anna had texted saying all the girls were meeting at her place for 7:30pm. I smiled to myself when I realized I enough time to take a nap. I walked in the house to find my parent's eating lunch. I looked over at my dad who seemed oblivious to the fact someone had come in, he was eating like he hadn't had a meal in weeks. "All done?" My mom asked as she munched on her sandwich. "Yeah, only took me two hours." I sighed. "Well, I appreciate it. Are you going to the carnival tonight?" My mom asked and handed me a sandwich. 

"Thanks, yeah I am with my friends." I sat down at the table across from my dad. "Oh, will that new boy be there?" She gave me a wink and I groaned. At the mention of a boy my dad's head shot up. "What boy?" My dad said with a mouth full of food, which caused small pieces of bread to fall out of his mouth. "Ugh, gross dad. It's no one, just some town gossip mom heard. You know how Sandy Bay gossip is, nothing but rumors." I waved my hand and gave my mom a subtle look to be quiet. My mom laughed and shook her head. "Right sorry sweetheart." My mom said and winked.

My dad was still staring at me, as my mom got up and left the table. "You remember what I said about boys." My dad put down his sandwich and looked me dead in the eyes. "Yes dad, they only want one thing and then they leave you. Although, I don't see how that's true, considering you have been with mom for like what nineteen years now?" I said and buckled down for a lecture on the importance of a man respecting you. Don't get me wrong, all of that stuff is true but, when you've heard the same one since you were twelve it begins to get a little tedious. "Twenty years but whose counting." My mom quickly cut in saying me.