Noise echoes around the food court, from babies screaming to a couple yelling at each other just over my shoulder. Laura sits in front of me, staring at her phone while I feed Erin the last of her lunch.

"So Maddie said she should be here in about hour. Adam finishes at two today so he should hopefully get here about half past. What time does Cory finish?" Laura asks me as she puts her phone back into her bag.

"Four?" I reply back yet my answer sound more like a question.

"You don't sound too sure,"

"I'm not. This one started crying as he was telling," I indicate to Erin who is sitting in her highchair happily staring around the room. "Anyway I probably won't be here at four as it is. She will need to go back home for a nap," I explain to Laura.

The two of us are at a shopping centre, luckily not the one where I gave birth in, hoping to meet up with our friends later in the day. The original plan was to try and revise but I doubt that will happen with all the noise surrounding us. The behind me are still yelling.

As soon as Erin has finished eating I pack her things up and place her back in her pushchair. I finish off the last few bites of my own lunch off before standing up, ready to go.

"What is it you want again?" I ask Laura as we walk away from our table.

"Clothes for the fashion show. Obviously nothing expensive but I do want some nice things. I went through the drama's department costumes hoping to find some stuff in there and it was a right mess," she tells me while flailing her arms everywhere to emphasise her statement.

I follow her into some shops and then follow her out again after only a few minutes. Her tactic seems to be check the price of the first item of clothing you see, then run out.

"Why is everything so expensive?" she asks after the third shop we have walked into and then straight back out of again.

"Because you're going into the expensive shops," I tell her. "Why don't you just look through some of your old clothes at home and bring some of them in? At least you're not spending your own money that way. I'm sure we can all find the time to look through our own wardrobes and help out that way," I suggest to her.

She thinks about it for a minute before finally saying, "that is a good idea. I just didn't really want this show to include second hand clothes though."

"It's a school fashion show honey. Even if you bought ten new outfits today, they'd be using those ten outfits in ten years' time, maybe even longer. It's hardly London Fashion Week. Use your own clothes and save money," I tell her.

"That does sound sensible. Can we look in one more shop though?" Laura practically pleads with me.

Once again I follow her into a shop, one much larger than the previous ones. I weave the pushchair down the thin aisles, being careful to avoid bumping into people. Erin's eyes have begun to close as the notion of the pushchair makes her sleepy. I keep walking back and forth, hoping to rock her asleep. After a while it begins to work.

Briefly I browse around the store but don't see anything that takes my fancy. Instead I move over to the section where the baby clothes are displayed and browse through there knowing that Erin will soon grow out of the clothes she has. I purchase a few outfits for before finding Laura again.

"Did you get something nice?" I ask, noticing the two large shopping bags she now has in her hands.

"Let's sit down here and I'll show you," she points in the direction of bench which is currently occupied by only one person whose back of their head is facing us.

"So show me what you've got...oh," I say as we reach the bench and notice who the person sitting on it is.

I just about hear an 'oh' from Laura as well when she lays her eyes on the person.

"Kristen?" the man sat in front of me asks.

"It hasn't been that long for you to no longer recognise me dad. Only ten months or so," I tell my father.

"Guess it's cause I don't recognise your sprog. Huh she looks a lot like you, and your mum except she doesn't have your mum's nose which is always a good thing," he mumbles causing me to roll my eyes. "Don't give me attitude like that Kristen, I'm still your dad after all,"

"Hardly. Did you not hear the part where I said I haven't seen you in ten months? You haven't even been round to see me since I've had the baby," I raise my voice at him.

"Give it a few years and I'm sure she'll get the same treatment from her own dad. Where is he anyway? Don't tell me he's bailed already?" my dad almost looks smug as he says this.

"No, he's working to help provide for his child," I say to me dad and then take a deep breath in. "I can't do this, I'm going before one of makes a scene," I tell him and then walk off, hoping that Laura isn't far behind me.

When I eventually turn around I see that she is with me so I give her a small smile.

"You alright Kristen?" she asks once we are out of ear shot.

"I'm fine. He just knows how to wind me up that's all. Shall we go upstairs and wait for Maddie?"

Laura agrees to do that so the two of us make our way into one of the coffee shops in the food court while we wait. I decide that now is probably the best time to try and revise so I take out one of the textbooks from the compartment at the bottom of the pushchair. I open it up and start going through one of the chapters that we have recently done. I must have read the first sentence about ten ties though as the words don't settle in my head. I only stop attempting when I hear footsteps near our table.

"I thought this was a joke that we were revising?" is the greeting we get from Maddie.

"Why the hell would you think that? The exams start next month," Laura tells as she lifts her own head up from her own textbook.

"Oh crap they do. I am definitely not ready for them. Kristen what are you studying?" she asks me, eyeing up my textbook as she does so.

"Something to do with dangers and hazards on stage although not of it is sinking in,"

"Can I have a read over?" she then asks.

I look over at Laura who is rolling her eyes at Maddie before passing her the textbook. I leave her to read over some of it, deciding that now is probably a good time to change Erin's nappy.

A few minutes later I return with a baby who has now woken up (why did I decide to change her when she was asleep) and with Maddie's face down on the table.

"Going well then?" I ask her, sitting Erin on my knee as I do so.

"I don't remember doing any of this. I am going to fail everything," she groans at me.

"With that attitude that you will go – get off of Laura's book," I say to Erin who has tried to grasp the corner of Laura's textbook in her hands. "I'm sure you know more than what you think you do," I try and comfort Maddie but I can it on her face that it isn't working.

"You have more hope in me than what I do," is all she replies as she rests her chin in her hand.

For the next thirty minutes I mainly just sit and watch Laura and Maddie working while trying to keep Erin somewhat entertained. Everything that she normally loves she ignore as she keeps reaching forward, trying to grasp the textbooks. Each time she tries it I see a smile appear on Maddie's face which makes a nice change from earlier on. I pull her away each time only for her to lean forward again.

After pulling Erin away from the books for about the twentieth time, I see Adam approaching our table. He has rucksack slung over his shoulder and wide smile which spreads all the way up his cheeks.

"How you are you?" I ask him, leaning up to try and give him some kind of a hug while trying to keep a tight grip on Erin.

"I'm great, you?" he asks as he sits himself down between Laura and Maddie.

"I'm good even though someone is being a nuisance,"

"I've told Laura to stop acting that way," he jokes at me much to Laura's expense.

"Rude," I hear Laura mumble under her breath, obviously directed towards Adam.

Adam just shakes his head as he laughs at her but  then soon wraps his arms around her shoulder bringing her closer to his body. The way she leans up to kiss him makes me think that he is forgiven.

"So have you girls done some shopping?" Adam asks once he has finally drawn away from Laura's mouth.

"It started off as a poor day but then eventually I manage to find some outfits that I like," Laura then proceeds to start dragging clothes out of her shopping bags to show Adam.

He acts as though he is interested but I can tell by the tone of his voice that he's not. Five minutes later Laura is finally done showing him everything.

"Well they'll all look nice for the show," Adam comments.

"Oh no, they're not for the show. They're for me. I came up with a new plan for the show,"

"I came up with the new plan," I interrupt Laura who then goes on to telling Adam about using old clothes for the show.

"Great I have a load of old stuff you can have," Maddie interjects, closing the textbook that she was reading.

For the next few minutes Laura begins to tell us all her ideas for the show, most of which we know already. When Laura isn't looking Maddie rolls her eyes at me so I return the gesture back. Laura only stops talking when she interrupted by the wails of a nine month old baby.

"I'm sorry guys but I better be going. She's probably getting restless," I say to my friends who are sat around the table. "Do you want to borrow this?" I ask Maddie, pointing to my textbook which she has been reading.

"You can't go yet," Adam calls out as I begin to pack some of my stuff away. "I have some good news to tell you guys," he says, his smile getting even wider on his face which I didn't know was possible.

Sitting back down in my seat I ask him, "what is it?"

"My parents are now in a better financial position to hire more people at The Bar. It looks like things are finally looking up," he tells us, his smile still beaming at us. "They've had some steady business for a while and now with summer only around the corner they are hoping it will pick up even more,"

"That is great news honey," Laura wraps her arms around him before kissing him again.

Both Maddie and I congratulate him as well as we know how hard the last year has been for him and his family.

"As happy as I am for you Adam, I really do need to go," I tell him as I start putting Erin back in her pushchair.

It doesn't take me too long until I have everything ready and I am saying goodbye to my friends.

When I do get home, I lay Erin flat down on her back on the sofa so she can fall asleep. Gently I place a blanket over to keep her warm.

"Kristen is that you?" I hear my mum shout from upstairs.

Hesitantly I leave the room to stand at the bottom of the staircase. "Yeah it's me. Why are you home this early?" I ask knowing that my mum normally works Saturdays.

"Finished early. I've got a date tonight," she shouts back at me.

"Right," I mutter under breath, not needing to ask who her date is with.

Back in the living room, Erin is peacefully asleep so I turn the television on, quietly though so I don't disturb her. I only manage to watch about fifteen minutes of some reality show before I hear the front door unlock.

"What have you got to do to get some peace around here?" I ask Erin who is completely unaware that I am even talking to her in the first place.

A few seconds later Cory walks into the room, shortly followed by the strong smell of coffee.

"You stink," I say without even looking at him.

"So nice to see you too Kris," he replies back before sitting next to me on the sofa, being careful to avoid sitting on Erin. "Did you have a nice day?" he asks me.

Before answering, I lean into his body, letting him out an arm around my shoulder as I breathe in the scent of coffee even more. I then tell him everything about my day, from Laura and her mini fashion show crisis to Adam and his news and then to bumping into my dad. I feel his body suddenly stiffen up at the mention of my dad and I think back to the two occasions where he met him.

"How was your dad?" Cory asks when I've finished speaking.

"Compared to the two times you have met him, practically pleasant. Still managed to piss me off within about thirty seconds though," I tell him.

Cory doesn't comment on that and I don't blame him. There isn't much for him to say.

"How was your day?" I ask after a few seconds of silence.

"My mum phoned when I was on my way home from work. She mentioned the idea of a christening again," he tells me which doesn't really answer my question.

"What did you say?"

"That we have other things on our minds such as exams. We don't have the time to plan a christening which isn't actually a lie,"

"Good thinking," I lean up and kiss him, savouring every moment.

When we pull apart I notice my mum standing in the doorway looking ready to go out. Her blonde hair is tied up in a donut bun on the of her head. She is wearing a pair of black trousers and a pink blouse with matching pink accessories.

"Kristen, did I hear you mention something about your dad?" she asks me while fiddling with the back of one of her earrings.

Quickly I tell my mum the story about bumping into my dad and everything that it entailed.

"What a prick. Do you want me to message him later for an apology?" my mum asks.

"No it's fine. He is who he is and I don't care anymore," I tell her, sitting up as I do, so that I am no longer leaning against Cory. "You're ready early," I comment noticing that the clock only reads quarter-past five.

"We've got a table booked for half six but Chris is picking me up at half five just in case there's traffic," she tells me.

"Well have fun," I say to her, half meaning it, half being sarcastic.

The fifteen minutes soon passes and there's a knock at the front door.

"Don't wait up for me," my mum shouts at us from the hallway before leaving.

"On that note, I think I'm going to be sick," I tell Cory who just laughs at me.

The rest of our night goes well. I feed, bathe then play with Erin before finally taking her to bed just before eight o' clock. Cory and I spend the rest of the night watching telly before finally going to bed just before midnight – something one of us will probably regret when we have to get up at five in the morning with Erin.

Today has been quite a good day.