The Waves Okay there's a few things we need to get straight before I begin my story... My names Talia I have wavy blonde hair and glittering blue eyes (as my mum says) I'm quite tall. My bestfriend is Tate, she's not my sister, she's just living with me for a while My dad is called Laurence, I'm living with him and Tate of course. we live by the beach. My mum and Tates mum are...missing... "Talia, Tate, wakey wakey, rise and shine" my dad said softly as he opened the grey curtains to my green disgusting room. We'd just moved in to a 'beautiful beach house with a fantastic view of the sea' as my dad calls it. I'd rather call it a house by the sea. After many weird happenings Tate and i's mums have gone missing so Tates living at my new ugly beach house with me and my boring dad. "c'mon girls, I've brought you toast with marmite!" my dad said enthusiastically. I didn't really fancy toast with marmite today but dad would get hurt if I didn't eat it. "mm delicious" I said, forcing on a smile. I was still half asleep. I pinched Tate so that she would wake up. She doesn't wake up any other way. "huh...uh...what?" Tate said as she quickly sat up. "ooh marmite...mm" she said as she bit into her toast. "so girls what's on the agenda today?" my dad asked, sitting on the end of my bed. I shrugged and Tate copied. "How about surf boarding? The waves are great today!" my dad suggested. "why not?" Tate replied all happy. She loved surf boarding. "well I'll leave you girls to get sorted, put your wetsuits on etc and when your ready come downstairs" my dad said as he walked off. "Talia?" "yes Tate" "Do you think our mums are ever going to come back? Do you think maybe there just on holiday?" "oh Tatey I don't know a thing and to be honest I don't even care" I regretted saying that. I did care, of course i cared. I dreamt about my mum every night. I had visions of her all throughout the day. I decided to get ready after that. Dad surprised us and brought us new surfboards, Pink ones! I was happy.

My Not So Prefect #life Cont "have a seat" said Dave as he quickly moved a blanket off the sofa. I didn't want to sit down but I was being polite. It was cold and I wish I was back home by the fire. "would you like anything? Cold pizza, some Doritos? A beer?" asked Dave "Erm no thanks Dave" my dad replied. "so have you come round with my present sorry I forgot to get you girls one. Let me see I've got anything for you" he began to walk out the room "no Dave we ain't mate I've had a hard time at work this year and um we couldn't afford to buy every person in the family one" my dad quickly replied. He was lying because he had a good year at work, he had earned loads this year. "oh okay mate it's fine. No worrys. I got a little something from the church they gave me some soap, new tooth brush, and some food. Great they are up there" Dave doesn't stop talking! "Do you not find it cold in here?" Bella asked. My cheeks flushed red again. "oh no, why is it too cold for you? I have some towels that you could wrap up in" Bella looked puzzled. "no she'll be fine" my dad said as he came to rescue her out of a tricky situation. "we better be off now. See you soon Dave" "see you soon mate, have a good day" We got in the car and my dad drove for a bit. "listen girls I really don't know where I'm going, I'm just driving about really. Who do you wanna go and visit? Any friends?" "I want to visit Grandma Mabel" Bella smiled Grandma Mabel was dads mum, she was one of those old lady's who makes you feel all homely. Her house smells of sweet sugar and cinnamon and she always has cakes and various sweet foods that she's baked freshly. She smells sweet too and is great of cuddling as she's quite plump. "it's quite a long drive but as you say so, I will be your new driver" I giggled with Bella, we both found this really funny. Once we got to grandma mabels she opened the door and the sweet smell that I was waiting for drifted out. "hello girlies" auntie Mabel said joyfully. She gave us each a hug and ushered us in. We went to see Mr Jones, he was Grandma Mabel's new boyfriend. He was nice too but he was very punky. Grandma Mabel told us to come into e sitting room which was decorated really nicely in all warm colours like browns with a few pink things. She told us all to sit in a circle and close our eyes. We did so, even Dad and Mr Jones! I smelt a cinnamony smell then opened my eyes and saw freshly baked cinnamon cookies. My favourite! "everyone tuck in! Baked freshly this morning" Grandma Mabel said joyfully. We spent the rest of the day at Grandma Mabel's playing all sorts of games, we also played them with some of her friends that came round in the afternoon. Then it was time to go home. Dad drove us back to mums but there was one slight problem, Mum had gone out too leaving us locked out. Clever dad hadn't taken any keys. "what should we do then?" dad asked. His worried face was on "maybe we can call at...urm....Janice's next door, see if she has any keys for our house" I suggested. So we went there. Unfortunately grumpy Janice didn't answer the door for us. "you know what she's like girls, maybe we can try the gates officer see if he has any"my dad suggested. We took a long walk through the estate, admiring the pretty Christmas lights and decorations on the way. It was a long walk but it will be worth it. When we reached the gate office we saw a note on the door that read: CLOSED FROM CHRISTMAS DAY-NEW YEARS DAY. SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE. "great, now we are locked out, far away from the house and it's starting to...." my dad didn't finished his sentance. Me and Bella leaped back onto the pavement but dad was unlucky. A big Land Rover had hit him. I began to sob looking at Dad. "what are we going to do now Chels?" "well its snowing so be happy but we're just have to get dads phone and call the ambulance."

Not So Perfect #life Con. "Erm because it is" dad replied Unlike my dad, Dave didn't get successful with his job and he got fired he hasn't been able to get a job since. We knocked on the door and Dave answered. He was wearing baggy track suit bottoms and a grey tshirt that looked like it had once been white, it had a few stains down it too. "John, welcome in. How come you've turned up today?" Dave asked. I could smell his breath from here. "Ahh had a fight with my lady. Thought I'd take my girls here to see you and say merry Christmas" my dad replied. "Christmas?" Dave asked puzzled. "yes it's Christmas mate" my dad replied. Dave took us in to his dirty living room. The coffee table was full of empty Christ packets and McDonald's boxes

Not So Perfect #life Cont. "so what should we do now then girls, I doubt your mum will let me back inside the house so how about we go and...look at some stables? Find a good house for old horsey here eh? What do you think about that?" Me and Bella just shrugged at the idea. "dad it's Christmas day no where is going to be open we'll just have to keep it here" I replied giving my dad some useful information My dad looked embarrassed "oh yes well let's put the horse back in its trailer and think of some names for it. Actually let's go and visit your uncle, my brother, Dave." I thought for a second and remembered Dave, mum didn't like him so we hadn't seen him for ages, dad didn't really either but we had no where else to go. We jumped in the range rover and sped off down the road to the gates of our estate. It took a while to get to uncle Dave's, I nearly fell asleep in the car! When we got there Bella wrinkled her nose. "daddy what's that smell and why is uncle Dave's house so dirty?" Bella asked I flushed red and covered my mouth to stop the giggles from coming out.

My Not So Perfect #life Cont. He led a horse out!!! He had got us a horse. I had never asked for one but he got us one was he mad? I looked over at mum and she looked angry. "John you got a horse? What the hell are we going to do with this, where are we going to put it?" my mum shouted angrily. "it will stay in its trailer darling" "trailer? Are you mad it needs a proper stable it can't stay inside that. And you know what I'm like with horses." It then made me think back to when my mum had told me a story about her and her house, lucky. My mum had said that Lucky was her favourite horse (she had a few horses) she always used to ride him and he had never kicked anyone. He was a lucky horse she said. Until one day he bolted out of his stable and kicked by mum in the stomach. She was in pain and broke 3 of her ribs. Her mum,my grandma, was very angry and would never let her near a horse again she hasn't been near one since. I looked over at my mum again, this time she was bubbling up with anger I could tell she was going to explode any second. "you've ruined my Christmas John, get rid of that horrid creature right this minute" she stormed inside and my dad just shrugged.