Chapter Sixteen

Joshua found his first day at secondary school as boring as primary school

He was however so eager to learn about gardening, he stopped on his way home and stood on the edge of the park reading until he felt he had grasped the basics of planting

He then dropped by the grocery store to buy some simple seeds to plant

It's late by the time he got home, and he was ready for bed, but he stopped at the postbox and paid the bills

Before going straight to bed.

Next morning he got up bright and early to start clearing the garden ready for planting

As Jo prepared breakfast for the two of them, Joshua planted his new seeds

Once Jo had finished cooking, she called Joshua in to eat and he told her about his plans for his life

"I'm going to be the greatest farmer ever, I'm going to grow the most perfect fruits and vegetable and people will come from miles around to buy them!"

After Joshua had left for school, Jo realised that they'd run out of clean clothes so she decided to leave for work early and drop by the laundrette on her way

While she was waiting for the washing to finish, she carried on reading her cookery book, she'd been progressing well in her career, despite all her troubles and she loved cooking

After school, Joshua decided to pay a visit to the local nectary, one of his teachers had mentioned that they had a variety of foreign fruits in the garden there which were free for any locals to pick

He spent the evening harvesting the apple trees 

and the grapevines

When he was done he decided to drop by the graveyard on his way home to see his aunt (well, her ghost anyway)

He told her about how much he was enjoying gardening and how he hated school, there was a prom coming up and he didn't know any of his classmates and was dreading the idea of having to spend an evening dancing with them all

Jasmine pointed out a teen who was sat near them doing her homework - "Why don't you introduce yourself Joshua, at least then you'll know someone at your prom"

Joshua did as his aunt told him and began chatting nervously to the girl, who he vaguely recognised from school.  He learned that her name was Tamara Fields-Vamp, but they didn't have much time to chat before curfew hit

Soon Saturday dawned, the day of the prom...


Joshua was up early as usual tending his growing garden

He'd discovered through further reading of his gardening book that fertiliser - either fish or other plants - made plants grow faster, so he used the fish he'd caught previously and some of the fruits he'd picked from the nectary to fertilise his garden

As well as tending to the weeding and watering of course

Once he was done he grabbed some leftovers from the fridge

All too soon it was time for prom, he'd not had a chance to find Tamara again and get to know her so he went alone

Prom proved to be a tumultuous affair for Joshua, he managed to pluck up the courage to ask one of the girls to dance, but was completely ignored, he then got into a fight with another teen who mocked him over this...


Despite all this Joshua left the prom feeling quite happy, after his fight, Tamara had come up to him and asked him to dance, what was more, by the end of the evening she'd asked him to go out with her!

When he got home, Jo was waiting for him to see how his night had gone.

Once Joshua had finished telling her about the events of prom, she shared her news - she'd had another promotion and was now a sous-chef!

Joshua was thrilled for his mother

And the two of them went to bed happy, Joshua placed his prom picture by his bed as a reminder of the night

In the morning, Joshua cleaned out the fridge

And then went out to tend his garden while Jo made their breakfast

After they'd eaten, Joshua cleaned the dishes while Jo unclogged and cleaned the toilet

Joshua then finished off watering his garden as Jo left for work

When he'd finished he decided to go to one of the local fishing spots - he knew he'd soon need more fertiliser! 


Tamara found him there later that afternoon

They spent some time talking by the pond

Although Tamara did have to tell him off at one point when he made a rather inappropriate comment about a passer-by...

Joshua managed to recover the situation though, complimenting Tamara on how lovely she looked

And presenting her with a beautiful bunch of flowers

They ended their evening with a passionate kiss

After work, Jo stopped by the grocery store to pick up some seeds for Joshua, she'd seen how much good he was already getting at gardening and knew he was ready for more challenging plants.  A work colleague had also mentioned that garlic made for a wonderful fertiliser so she bought a large quantity of it for him

They arrived home at about the same time and Jo wasted no time in presenting her purchases to Joshua who was absolutely delighted.

As they ate dinner together, he told his mother all about Tamara and how lovely she was

That night his dreams were filled with Tamara and the kiss they'd shared