THE STORY OF ME AND MY LIFE ENTRY NINE - PART TWO

6TH MARCH, 1999

11:00 PM

Hello, again,

We have all gone to bed and it's supposed to be lights out, but I'm talking to you by torchlight. I don't have a bedside lamp, well I do, but the bulb ran out just now, so I'm making do with a stupid dim torchlight.

Anyway, Chantelle and I arrived at her house after twenty minutes of walking. My feet were so sore, I got a cramp. Anyway, Chantelle tried to open the door but it was locked. She searched for the key, thinking that her parents had gone out. Then the door flew open. Chantelle's dad - I'm guessing it was her dad at that moment - said hi to Chantelle, and then smiled cheerily and said hi to me, as though I came round to Chantelle's house for dinner every day. He showed us in, and explained he heard Chantelle trying the door, and that's how he knew we were there.
"Why was the door locked?" Chantelle asked.
"Because your mum's gone shopping with Amber and Tracy, and left me here, and you know how much I hate being here on my own. So, Chan, tell me who your new mate is."
"This is Ali, she's staying here with her grandparents. Ali, this is my dad."
"Hi," both Chantelle's dad and I said at the same time.
We all stood in the living-room, an awkward silence present.
"Did you know, I had a baby daughter called Ali?"
"Yeah?" I answered, trying to look interested.
"Really, Dad? I never knew that."
"Haven't I mentioned it before? It was a long time ago, things never really worked out between her mum and I. She'd be around your age, Ali."

Abi, this is the part where I found something out, but I didn't work it out, for two hours. I was so silly!

Chantelle took me up to her bedroom, which I liked as soon as I stepped in. It wasn't all Gothic and witchy, but it had a nice summary feel to it. The sun was poking through the window, which made the room bright.
Anyway, Chantelle invited me to sit on her bed, and she pulled out a photo album from a wardrobe door. She opened it up, and leafed through it with me. There were recent photos, like the family sitting at the dining-room table, smiling cheerily because it was Christmas. There were some old ones as well. Chantelle showed me a photo of her as a baby. She was at the beach with her mum and dad, building a sandcastle. She was dressed in a black babygro. Goth Baby.
Suddenly, we heard the front door slamming downstaiirs, and a load of voices came running upstairs. Two girls, one blonde, one with red hair, came into Chantelle's room.
"Hi, Chants! Who's your new mate."
Chantelle introduced us. The blonde one was Amber, and the redhead was the baby of the family was Tracy. Amber was thirteen, and Tracy was eleven. They went back downstairs, hollaring for their mum to come up and meet me.
Chantele's mum was a grown-up version of Chantelle herself. She had liquorice black hair, pulled back prettily into a ponytail, with dashes of blue streaks. She was wearing a purple t-shirt with black leggings, which made her look more like Chantelle's older sister, and not her mum.
"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Mrs Welky asked.
That was already the arrangement between Chantelle and I, but I thought it would be polite to say: "Yes, Mrs Welky, I'd love to."
Mrs Welky went down to the kitchen to get started on dinner. Chantelle said she had to nip to the bathroom for a bit. I leafed through her photo album while she was in there, til I got to the back. I was just about to close it when a piece of paper fell out. It was tucked in a little hidden compartment at the back, like some little secret.
I wondered if Chantelle knew about it.
I picked it up; it was another photo. I looked at it. It was a photo of a man who looked like Chantelle's dad. He was beaming at the camera, with a woman who stangely looked like my mum. She was sitting up in a hospital bed; she'd given birth. In her arms was a cute, little baby who's eyes were still open.
Because the photo was in a hidden compartment, I didn't know if Chantelle knew about it or not, so I decided to put it back. Chantelle came back from the bathroom before I could, so I showed it to her.
"Where did this come from?" She asked. I told her.
"I had no idea it was there. I've never seen it before. Hey look, it's got something written at the bottom." She read it out:
"Liam Welky and Jade Shobby, with baby Ali Shobby, who was born February the 9th, 1987."
"That's my dad!" Exclaimed Chantelle.
"I thought it was, I thought he looked like your dad. Who's the woman he's with?"
"He was telling us about his daughter, Ali, earlier, wasn't he? Well, this must be her and her mum!"
"Shall we tell him we've found this?"
"No. We'll keep it in the album, and forget about it."
I was so silly. I didn't work it out when Chantelle's mum called out dinner and we all sat down to eat. I stayed for an extra hour before I had to head back into town to meet Nanna, who was picking me up, and even then, I didn't work it out. It wasn't til I got home, and Nanna cooked a second dinner for me, (I'd neglected to tell her I'd already eaten a cooked meal) that I worked it out. Do you want to know what I worked out? Okay, here goes:

Oh-oh. I can hear movement coming from Nannas and Grandad's bedroom. If they spot the light, I'm in trouble. Goodnight, Abi.

Find out what happens next in Chapter Ten...