Ardenstone - Day 2 - Page 1a
From Create Your Own Story
Rays of sunlight broke through familiar curtains in a familiar room, and Kas woke to the feel of her own familiar bed. The warmth of the morning stirred her from a dream. Her stomach rumbled, and settled again as she lay there thinking for some time. Her head ached slightly and her mouth was dry, as though she had slept with cotton wool in her mouth. All she needed was a drink of water, but for that moment she didn't feel like moving. Her thoughts turned to David, and the things he had said to her the night before. He was nice, in her opinion, caring and considerate. She even thought of him as fairly good looking in some ways. Kas had never thought to consider a romantic attachment to anyone until Jade and Kim had talked about it. The concept of love seemed a bit beyond her, but she liked the idea that David loved her, but he was still her cousin. Thinking on a question Jade had asked, Kas considered the other boys she had known in the past. Not one came to mind that she had any sort of romantic feelings for. She loved her father of course, and her brother, they were the two closest men in her life. But she couldn't kiss them the way David had kissed her. The honest answer was that David wanted to be her boyfriend, and she was starting to like the thought of it.
Kas was still thinking about the kiss she had shared with David when, at last, she dragged herself out of bed and made her way downstairs. It was almost nine, later than she normally got up, but not so late that breakfast would be delayed. Her father and brother would be at work already, which meant that they would be sat at their respective computers. Wes worked from his bedroom, while her father had his own study downstairs, yet hey spent much of the day talking to each other. Dressed in her nightie and pyjama trousers, Kas padded into the kitchen, collected a frying pan from the cupboard and a selection of bacon, eggs and black pudding from the refrigerator before drinking a glass of water. Since her mother had passed away, Kas had taken over most of her mother's duties. Breakfast and lunch were her responsibility, while their evening meals were cooked by either her father or brother in turns. This quite often meant takeaway, for neither of them were particularly skilled chiefs, but it was considered too much for Kas to cook three meals a day at her age. Even so, her father had started giving Kas a decent allowance in return for her efforts. She also done a lot of the cleaning around their new house since they moved in.
While Kas was filling the toaster, Esme wandered into the kitchen, having smelled the food cooking. She sat at the table and helped her self to cereal, which was always set out ready. Kas greeted her with a smile and they talked about trivial things until Kas was ready to serve the hot food. While Kas was out with David, Esme had been allowed to stay up until ten, and she told Kas eagerly about it. Breakfast was soon ready, and she served it onto two plates, buttered the toast, and delivered them with cutlery. She found her father precisely where she expected to, sat in the study working on designs for a new website. He smiled when she walked in, and gave her a kiss on the forehead as she placed his breakfast on the desk. Kas blushed at his kiss, while her father asked how her evening had been. She nodded and simply told him that it was good, hopeful that he was too busy to press her for more information. This turned out to be the case, and his only response was to request that Kas should wake her brother up, as there was a lot to do. Indeed, she found Wes still lying on his bed, as she walked it. He looked startled for a moment, pulling the covers further over himself as though he had something to hide. He commented on the virtues of knocking, as he often did, but Kas only repeated her father's message, placed the plate down and left again. She had barely made it downstairs again when there was a knock at the door.
"See who that is, Kas." Her father called. She opened the door to find David standing there in a set of overalls. His quad bike could be seen at the end of the driveway, and he grinned at her."
"Morning." He said. "Was passing and thought I would stop and see you. Hows the head?"
"Erm, fine." Kas replied, "You?"
"Alright I guess." David started. He told her that he had been up at six to milk the cattle, but he clearly had something else on his mind. Kas didn't have long to wait. He brushed a stray hair from her face and leant in, kissing her most tenderly. Kas let her eyes close, and although it was just a short peck upon the lips, it actually made her feel much better.
"I'll be up at The Range again later." He continued. "Jade finishes at one, so we are starting early today. Do you want me to collect you on the way?" Kas agreed, as was just looking forward to a kiss goodbye when Esme appeared behind her.
"David." She cried, beaming from ear to ear. She ran out and wrapped herself around his waist. "I stayed up until ten o'clock. Daddy let me watch Trek Wars." She told him.
"Don't you mean Star Wars, Squirt?" David asked. Kas nodded, but she wasn't sure herself. She often annoyed her brother by getting his favourite films confused. She clawed Esme from David, and said that she would see him later, before closing the door. Even though he had just left, Kas found that she was already looking forward to seeing David again.
"Thanks for breakfast, Kas," Wes said, patting her shoulder as he passed. "My plate is in the dishwasher. I'm going into town. Is there anything we need?" Kas paused to think, as Wes opened the front door again.
"Bacon." She replied, remembering that she had just used the last of it. "And some more toilet rolls." And with that Wes had gone. Kas sighed, hopeful that the morning would pass quickly. Going back to the kitchen, she washed up the frying pan and put the rest of the dirty washing up into the dishwasher. Then she went through the list of jobs that needed to be done. She had a board her mother had used, where she wrote all the outstanding tasks. With only a few days left until school started, Kas had a lot to get through, especially if she wanted to spend as much time as possible with David and her new friends. There were three urgent jobs on the list which needed to be done by the end of the week. The question was, where to start. Kas pondered the problem, trying to prioritise her tasks, each would take the majority of her day, so she could only do one.
Which should Kas choose?
Cousins
The relationship between members of the same family can often be difficult to work out. Cousins are particularly tricky, as there are different levels. A first cousin is the child belonging to either your mother or father's brother or sister. A second cousin is the grandchild of your grandmother or grandfather's brother or sister. A third cousin is the great grandchild of your great grandparent's siblings, and so on. However, because children of the same generation are not always born at the same time, there can be great age differences between cousins. In most countries it is illegal to marry anyone who is your first cousin, while in a few nations it is also illegal to marry your second cousin. These are written under the laws governing what is called incest, which is a broad term for any relationship between related family members. In the case of Kas and David, they are first cousins, and therefore would not legally be able to marry. However, loving relationships between unmarried cousins are extremely hard to regulate, and do happen.
