We work for a solid hour and half before my Dad walks through the door and sees us sitting on the couch. Neither of us notice him until he clears his throat and when he does we both jump up from the lounge.

“Hello, Dad,” I say, getting worried that he won’t like this. “This is Colton. He’s my partner on my galactic communications assignment.”

“Hello, sir,” Colton says offering his hand for my father to shake.

“Hello, Colton,” my father says shaking Colton’s offered hand. “Will you be staying for dinner?”

“I think I should be heading home soon, sir,” Colton tells my father, respectfully.

“I insist that you stay, Colton,” my father says, in a voice that brokers no argument.

“Thank you, sir,” Colton says. “I should probably let my mum know what is going on.”

“I’ll show you where the phone is,” I tell him, after my father gives me a pointed look. I lead him out to the hallway and show him the phone. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, while he is dialing the number to his house. “I told you he could be strict.”

“It’s fine,” Colton says. He makes the call and lets his mum know that he is staying over for dinner.

“Dinner’s ready. Time to go wash up and come to the table,” my mother calls down the hall to us.

I lead Colton upstairs to the second bathroom and we both wash up. As I am washing my hands Colton puts a hand on my lower back. “You know, you’re really pretty, Lavender,” he says with a smile.

“Thank you,” I say, shyly because no other boy has ever called me pretty. “My father is going to question you at dinner,” I warn him while he washes his hands.

Once he’s finished washing his hands I lead him back downstairs to the dining room and see my mother and father have already taken their seats on the right side of the table. I also see that tonight’s dinner is lasagne with roast potatoes and mixed vegetables. My father gestures for us to sit down next to each other opposite them. I take my seat across from my mother and Colton sits across from my dad. Everybody starts serving themselves and we sit quietly eating dinner for a couple of minutes.

“So, Colton, how do you know my daughter?” my Dad asks.

“We go to school together. We have most of the same classes, sir,” Colton answers quickly and respectfully.

“What were you two working on earlier?” my dad says.

“We have a partner assignment for our galactic communications class,” Colton tells him politely. “We are studying customs and traditions for the different planets. We got Pluto.”

“That one can be difficult,” my father tells with a small nod. “I hope you do well.”

We finish our dinner in relative silence the only noise is our knives and forks scraping the plates. When we finish my parents ask me to wash up before heading to the study to work on somethings for my mother’s home cooking business. Colton and I clear the table and offers to wipe up while I wash and we do this until everything is almost done.

“Would you mind if I talked to your father privately for a few minutes?” Colton asks, breaking the silence.

“That would be fine,” I tell him, as we finish washing the dishes.

Once everything is washed up, dried and put away in the cupboards, I lead Colton to my parent’s study and knock on the door. My father opens the door after a couple of seconds.

“Dad, Colton would like to talk to you privately for a couple of minutes,” I tell him, hoping he won’t object.

“That’ll be fine,” he says, indicating for him to go into the study.

My mum quietly ducks out giving them their privacy and we head out to the lounge room. I sit down on the lounge and start to review everything that Colton and I worked on tonight.

“Do you know why Colton wanted to talk to your father?” my mother asks sitting on the recliner next to the couch.

“No,” I tell her, putting the holo-tablet down with a sigh. “I have no idea and I can only hope it goes well for him.”

Mum is just about to reply when my father and Colton walk out of the study. “Thank you, sir,” I hear Colton say before he comes into the lounge room. “Lavender, I should be heading home,” Colton tells me when he comes into the lounge room.

I help him carefully pack up his stuff into his bag. “I’ll walk you to the door,” I tell him and lead him out to the door to the veranda. “I’ll see you tomorrow in class.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Colton says. He leans in and gives me a hug. When he pulls back from the hug he gives me a quick peck on the cheek and then quickly runs down the front stairs.

I stand there frozen from shock for a couple of seconds. When I am finally able to move my legs I head back inside. I pop my head inside and tell my parents that I need to head upstairs and practice my songs for choir.

When I get upstairs I quickly move my music stand into place at the end of my bed and grab my holo-tablet off my shelf that contains my different holo-tablets. I press a button on a remote I keep on my bedside table and instantly my room becomes soundproof. I turn on my computer and log on to my favourite instant messaging site. I leave it open while practice a routine of songs that we need to know for a school choir competition. Just as I finish practicing the second song Hera comes online.

Hera: Hey, Lavender. How was your study date?

Lavender: Hey, Hera. No chance to breath? It was good we got a lot of work done.

Hera: Details. Now.

Lavender: Dad was working late so it was just Mum at home when I got back and I just told her it was for school and she said that it was fine as long we studied in the lounge room. When Colton came we just did a heap of studying. Mum brought out some snacks and then left us alone for most of the afternoon. When dad got home, Colton was very polite he kept calling him, sir. Anyway dad insisted Colton stay for dinner. He did a minor inquisition and then after dinner Colton asked to talk to my father after dinner. Privately.

Hera: That’s weird. Did he tell you why he wanted to talk to your dad?

Lavender: Not at all. And if you think that’s weird you haven’t heard anything. When we were in the bathroom wash our hands for dinner he put his hand on my lower back. Then after he talked to my father he said he had to leave so I walked him out and he hugged me, gave me a kiss on the cheek and then ran off.

Hera: That is weird. Wait he just requested a chat with me. What do I do?

Lavender: Answer it.

I practice another song while I wait for Hera to reply. I have just finished the third song in the routine when my computer gives a beep letting me know I have a message.

Hera: Oh my god.

Lavender: What? Tell me what he said.

Hera: Not much.

Lavender: So what did Colton say? Tell me.

Hera: He just wanted to ask me a question about a school assignment.

Lavender: I know your lying. What did he want?

Hera: He asked me what you’re doing tomorrow. I don’t know why, that’s it.

Lavender: Okay. Have you started on your maths’ homework?

Hera: Yeah, it’s hard. I hate algebra.

Lavender: I don’t hate it but it is really hard. Do you want to go bowling on the weekend? It’ll be fun. We can invite some of the other girls from school.

Hera: Sure, that sounds like heaps of fun.

Lavender: Let’s ask Sarah, Naomi, Jane and Audrey.

Hera: Sounds like a plan.

Lavender: I better go. I have to practice my song routine for choir.

Hera: I have to go too. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Lavender: See you tomorrow.

I log off and shut down my computer. I finish practicing the last three songs in our routine, turn off the soundproofing and then get ready for bed. I head downstairs to say goodnight to my parents and give them each a hug goodnight before going to bed.

When I head back to upstairs to my room I start to puzzle over the way Hera went real secretive after she talked to Colton. Something seemed off and I think she might be planning something but I just shrug it off and decide to let it be. I do a half hour of reading for pleasure before I go to bed. I go to sleep almost as soon as I turn off my lamp. The last thing I think of before I doze off is the feel of Colton’s lips on my cheek.