Carla was very good at helping with the locks but it was clear to me from her continued absent-mindedness, that her thoughts were very much on other things namely, the meeting to discuss a settlement with her case. Her promised surprise for the weekend never materialised but I didn't push it. I was there for her whenever she might need me.

Charlie crosses the line.

Cherry gets some ice cream :D

A few moments after I was seated in history again, Chloe, who sat to my right reached over and tapped me when the teacher wasn't looking.

"What did Felicity want?" She asked me in a hushed voice.

I leaned over "apparently I can't use the girl's bathroom. I have to use the staff's" I responded.

"What?!" She exclaimed louder than I'd have liked. The entire class turned to us including the teacher who looked annoyed.

"Sorry" Chloe apologised shyly.

Asher follows behind Mouse as she enters the townhouse. He follows her into the kitchen and watches as she puts the donuts she was carrying down on the counter. He’s surprised when a young teenage girl comes rushing in and over to Mouse.

Mouse had just put the box of donuts on the counter when she is hugged from behind. She turns around in the person's arms and saw it was Zoey. She was still wearing her pajamas.

“Well, good morning to you as well.” Mouse hugs Zoey.

CHAPTER 98
I sat basking in my smug satisfaction in seeing two girls, who had arrived at the House so utterly broken, now standing up and making the world their own, along with a future. Charlie then dropped a bombshell to match Marlene’s.

“Got my own news, as well! Got a letter on Friday, from the clinic. All sort of fits together with last night”

I had noticed some of her own smugness that day, even though it had almost evaporated in the heat of her time with Seb. Unfortunately, she then started spraying tea as she struggled with laughter,

[Late Saturday]
“Which way are we going?” asked Carla.

I’d brought Roxy to a standstill where the Macclesfield Canal leaves the Trent and Mersey Canal near Kidsgrove.

“It depends on you.”

“Me? Why?”

“How many locks do you want to go through between here and Manchester?”

This is a direct continuation to What It Takes To Survive. If you haven't, please read that story first!

=^_^=

"... And that's the weather you can expect today. Now back to Alan in the studio who has updates on the story that has gripped our nation and the world"

I didn't remember when the radio had come on. Maybe it was back when the car did. I hadn't been listening then due to Mikey making small talk but it now had my attention.

2

“In the end, it was a cruise ship called Bastion of the Seas that picked up our faint distress signal during one of their trips and made the decision to go off course and investigate after calling it in.

They'd lost the signal soon after and considered it may have just been a misread but the captain made the decision to keep heading for the last known location.

The flare had given them all the confirmation they needed. The last flare, though faint, led them straight to us.

Roxy and I reached the end of the ‘Coventry Canal’ just before midday. Sadly, the meal I’d eaten at the pub the previous night had run right through me. The result was that my toilet needed pumping out. It was either that or declare my cabin a no-go area for another few days. Luckily for me, there was a set of discharge facilities close to the end of the canal.

Mouse was the first one up. She looks over at Lilly, who had slept with her last night. She was lucky the covers covering the bed were huge because both had curled up under them. She manages to get out of bed without waking Lilly.

She had gone to bed in her favorite nightshirt and the lace panties she had worn. She steps into the master bathroom and takes a quick shower. She comes out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body.

CHAPTER 96
It felt odd to be home, as always, partly because after weeks sleeping on a campong mat any bed felt as if it would swallow me in softness. There was also the simple fact that I was now arranging my calendar around things other than the girls and my delivery roster.

Those ‘things’ were a real novelty, because they meant spending nights away from the House, because I kept to my rule about overnighting men. Sharing space with another person was another steep and worrying set of lessons.