I was going to get punched in the face.
He came at me with all the strength and speed he could master. I actually felt sorry for the guy before I ducked then punched him square in the stomach. He let out oomph! And landed butt-first on the blue mat.
“Out!” yelled Coach Louise, blowing hard into her silver whistle attached to a thin white string.
Couch Louise wasn’t exactly my favourite teacher and yet still I admired her for taking on such a man-dominated job. All the other PE teachers were male and tanks of men at that. Although, I didn’t think that was a problem for Coach Louise because she was a tank of a woman. She’d had enormous muscles that even the year 12’s couldn’t contend with and every day she wore a long white T-shirt with GOTTA BE IN IT TO WIN IT titled in flashing red across it. She often said she could teach Olympic medallists if she could, instead she had to put up with the lazy and undisciplined students from Paralowie R-12 School; a school north of Adelaide.
“Well done, Cathlene,” she said proudly, her deep voice echoing across the doom-like gym.
For some reason I was good at Attack and Defence classes, I couldn’t understand it.
“Hit showers everyone! If I find out you B.O infested teenagers haven’t showered there’ll be hell to pay!”
I followed the rest of the girls into the changing rooms and just as expected, my bag was missing.
“C’mon girls, give me back my bag,” I protested.
I went through the same thing every day I had PE and I couldn’t believe they hadn’t grown tired with it. So instead of having a shower, I went about looking for my bag. I looked under some of the doors to the individual showers and after the third one, went smashing into it. There was a horde of giggles from behind me, followed by running footsteps and the slamming of the door. A stream of blood poured out of my nose. Great.
“Are you okay?”
I froze, I haven’t had to hear that voice for over a month and the sound of it sent chills down my back. I turned around, oh shit.
She had changed since I last saw her; her usually long straight black hair was slightly shorter and had a few curls here and there. Kelly and I had known each other since the start of high school and I hated her. She was popular and had a group of girls follow after her all the time. Kelly also liked to bully me, for example, flicking paper at me, tripping me over and worse of all, getting the boys to play piggy in the middle with my underwear. Fortunately, she’d gone away at the end of last term and all was well. Sort of. Her group of followers still liked to do some jokes here and there. Kelly seemed to notice my widen eyes and scared expression and, to my surprise, rushed over to me.
“Oh, I’m not Kelly, she’s my twin. My name is Mel, here’s some tissues,” she handed me some tissues from inside her pocket.
She smiled at me warmly, not maliciously like Kelly would have done. I couldn’t believe it; Kelly never mentioned having a sister let alone a twin. Although she never actually talks to me so that’s probably be why. Her twin, Mel, seemed nice.
“I’m Cathlene,” I muttered.
I expected her to look at me like a freak and tell me that she’d heard about me from Kelly.
“Nice to meet you Cathlene, do you think you could help me around the school? It’s my first day and I don’t really know my way around,” Mel asked her smile as dazzling as a diamond, if not more.
“Sure.”
“Oh and here’s your bag, the group of girls were planning to put it in the bin,” she said, handing me my bag.
We headed out of the gym.
*
After getting my nose checked by the nurse, for most of recess I showed Mel around and at the same time, probed her with questions.
“How come you sister isn’t showing you around?” was one of my many questions.
“I asked, but she wanted to catch up with some friends,” she answered, her tone sounding neither upset nor annoyed that I was asking a lot of questions.
“How come I’ve never heard of you before? And why haven’t you been going to the same school as Kelly?”
She looked up at the sky for a while, her expression thoughtful.
“Well, I’m guessing the reason you’ve never heard of me before is because you and Kelly don’t get along, am I right?”
I nodded my head, looking embarrassed. ‘Don’t get along’ was an understatement.
“Don’t worry about it, Kelly hardly gets along with anyone,” Mel assured, smiling that warm, honey-like smile.
“As for the second question, our parents separated and I went with my dad while she stayed with mum. My dad died last month and now I have to live with my mum.”
Oh, that would suck, I thought. Maybe all this time Kelly was just upset about her dad and mom splitting up and had taking it out on me all this time.
“Enough about me, what about you? What are your parents like?” Mel asked.
“Um, I live with my grandmother,” I answered, embarrassed.
“Oh, sorry!” Mel apologise quickly, “what happen? I mean you don’t really have to answer that-”
I couldn’t believe how flustered she looked; it wasn’t like she committed a crime.
“It’s okay,” I reassured her, “my mum died giving birth to me. I don’t know what happened to my dad, I guess he just left.”
Mel nodded sympathetically and I felt a tinged of annoyance. I didn’t want to be pitied; it’s not like I knew who my parents were. How can I be sad when I didn’t even know them?
“Hey, Mel!”
I looked up to see three guys coming our way and boy, were they hot. One guy was tall, had ashen skin and long blonde hair that reached his shoulders. The guy in the middle (and the one I think called out Mel’s name) was average size, had light brown hair tied in a ponytail and was tanned. The last one, the guy on the left, I knew quite well to be in Kelly’s group. Travis was what I called “one of Kelly’s regular boyfriends” and while admitting he was hot with luscious curly blonde hair and pale skin; he was still big-headed and a jerk. Two things the boys all had in common was their dashing deep blue eyes that were a deeper blue then the ocean. My eyes were like the same colour blue; my grandmother, Anne, says that every time she looks into my eyes she feels like she is back at the beach with her late husband who had died in a skiing accident a few years back. My Grandmother could never understand where I had gotten my blue eyes and curly light caramel hair since my mother had neither. As she had never met my father, she guessed that I got them from him. The second thing they had in common was that they had enormous muscles, maybe bigger then Coach Louise and that was saying something. However, whereas Coach Louise’s muscles looked unhealthy and taut; the guy’s muscles looked relaxed and natural.
“Hi Cathlene, miss me?” Travis asked, flashing an evil grin.
“No, not really, I think the amount of girls losing their virginity went down since you were gone, I’m glad to say,” I replied.
I couldn’t believe I just said that! I didn’t regret it though. The two guys standing with him gaped in surprise and Travis just watched me. Those blue eyes were telling me I was going to regret saying that. For making fun of him in front of them. He stared at me for a while longer before breaking into a huge smile.
“I guess me and my friends will fix that,” he jested, smiling lazily.
Yeah, right, I thought.
Mel let out a nervous cough and a weak smile plastered across her face.
“Cathlene, this is Paul, my boyfriend, and Fry” she introduced.
Both Paul and Fry held out their hands politely.
“I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” Travis warned, “she might give you AIDS.”
He smirked and the other two jerked their hands back. Mel shook her head crossly.
“The only person who’s got AIDS here is you, Travis, now get lost.”
Mel just became my favourite person. Paul stepped forward and whispered something in her ear. He left with a kiss on the cheek.
“Sorry about that, Travis gets on my nerves quite a lot,” Mel apologised.
“That’s alright, he gets on my nerves too,” I agreed.
“Hey, nice joke back there, you showed him!” she smiled, raising her hand.
I slapped her palm and we laughed. The bell sounded, ending recess and starting lessons.
“So, what do you have?” I asked, and she handed me her timetable.
We were in nearly every class except Art, Maths and Music, she was in advanced Maths. Right now, she had Music.
“Hey, isn’t that great? We’re in the same classes except three!” Mel smiled enthusiastically.
I nodded, equally enthusiastic.
“I have another friend you have to meet, her name is Hannah Rathbone,” I said, having forgotten about her and feeling guilty.
“Great!” Mel squealed.
She was quite small for her age, yet when she talked she seemed older and when I looked into her eyes, they seemed older too.
“Do you know where the music room is?” I asked, just to make sure she didn’t get lost.
She nodded and gave me a quick hug before skipping off to the Music building. Hannah was going to like her.
The Art building wasn’t that far away and I made it just when the teacher, Miss Williams, was unlocking the door. She was a chubby woman with a long nose and grey watery eyes. She always wore strange clothing and today was no exception; completely black with the white masks you see as a symbol for the performing arts. This would be okay if it wasn’t for the crimson tears pouring out through the holes. I let out shudder as I went in with the rest of the class and took my seat at the front, alone as usual. I was just getting my book out when Miss Williams sounded from above. I continued to go through my bag as she talked to me.
“Cathlene, we have a new student in our class and since you are the only one with a spare sit, I want you to help him with finding art supplies and such, okay?”
“Yep,” I replied, still going through my bag, where is my art book?
The stall next to me screeched as the new student pulled it back and took a sit. Found it, I thought with triumph. I zipped up my bag and at the same time looked at the pair legs next to me. The legs were long and were sporting a pair of faded black pants. The shoes the new student was wearing were pristine Nike shoes. I have always wanted a pair of Nike shoes, but grandmother said we didn’t have enough money.
“Having fun there?” a masculine voice asked.
The new student had repositioned his body so that he was staring down at me and was still on the chair. Heat flushed to my cheeks. I got up and sat on my chair, laying my art book and pencil case on the table in front of me.
“Found it,” I announced, beaming a smile at him.
He looked at me like I was a complete idiot and went back to sketching in his art book. Stupid, I thought. What a stupid thing to say, ‘I found it,’ stupid, stupid, stupid.
“This term I thought we could start with something easy and, for this rare occasion, give you the freedom to do whatever you want,” Miss Williams explained.
Excited whispering whizzed throughout the class like a tsunami crashing through a city. I couldn’t believe she was letting us do this. On regular days Miss Williams would give us a certain topic or genre. That had to be a catch.
“You will be assessed by the portfolio of artwork you will have to present. A maximum of twelve art pieces,” she continued, “However (there was a chorus of groans), all art pieces must be painted on at least a B1 piece of canvas.”
There it was, the catch. Although I preferred drawing via lead pencil, I was pretty good at painting. It was going to be hard keeping twelve pieces of canvas together without it getting wreck but I had long ago found a secret hiding place for all my work.
“Let’s get to work then,” Miss Williams announced, clapping her hands together.
I turned to look at the new guy, who was still continuing to sketch in his book.
“Um, do you want me to show you where the canvases and paints are kept?” I asked.
He looked at me, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He’s attractive. Whoa, I didn’t know where that thought came from, and yet it seemed to sum him up perfectly. His skin was quite fair, it seemed like hadn’t seen sun in centuries. When I looked into his eyes I realised they were the same colour blue. Was it just me or did all the new kids I had met so far have the same colour eyes?
“I’ll be fine thanks,” the new guy answered, his voice sounding like wind chimes yet deep and still masculine.
I nodded and walked off to choose my first canvas. I put my B2 canvas on a trestle in the right hand corner at the back of the room. I liked to keep my distance from other students in the class and they liked to keep away from me. The art room was big enough so that I was a good mile and a half away from everyone else. Another the plus side was that I was close to the massive windows that covered the entire right side of the room. I went off to get my paints and discovered a second trestle beside mine. The new guy (I really needed to ask for his name) came up beside me with a B4 canvas and a small wooden case in his arms. He laid the canvas on the trestle and the paints beside it on a small table. He smiled at me, as if to challenge me to ask him why he was setting up beside me. I ignored him, knowing his type straight-away. The type that expected the girl to fall for him faster than quicksand and I’m not that type of girl. I got to work, dipping my paintbrush into yellow paint and swishing my brush across the white canvas. Like always, I sort of went into a daze as I painted and it was like time was non-existent.
“Time to pack up, students!” Miss Williams boomed.
I snapped out of my daze and looked up at the time; fifteen minutes till lunch. Like I said before, time was non-existent while I painted. I looked at my half-done painting feeling immensely proud of myself; I had started painting the tree in my backyard. It had no leaves at the moment and its branches stuck out at weird angles, yet something about it seemed to catch my eye. I loved its natural beauty, not fake like half the girls in my school.
“Wow, look at that!”
“It’s terrifying, yet beautiful!”
Were they talking about my painting? I rotated to see two girls who always threw papers at me behind my back, pointing not at my painting but the one next to mine. I gasped; it was horrifying! On the canvas was a heart with swords stabbed into it, blood seeped from the cuts and fire blazed in the background. How could anyone think that beautiful? It was disgusting!
“I said pack up everyone!” Miss Williams ordered.
I grabbed my paints and canvas; putting the paints away in the proper place and hiding my canvas behind a cupboard. The bell went when I finished packing up and as I was reaching for my bag under the table, someone kicked it. My stuff went everywhere and foots treaded on my stuff.
“Hey! Watch where you’re going, jerks!” I yelled irritably.
“Need help?”
Another pair of hands helped shove my books and stuff into my ugly maroon bag. Once everything was in, I got up to face him. He wasn’t looking at me though; he was shaking his shaggy black hair out of his eyes. I noticed his muscles weren’t big like the other guys around here; they were smaller yet I believed he could take out a full-grown lion if he wanted to.
“What’s your name?” I blurted out.
I couldn’t call him new guy for the rest of the school year. He smirked slightly when he looked into my eyes.
“What’s your bra size?” he asked.
“What?” I exclaimed, aghast.
What sort of question was that?
“You heard me,” he whispered, eyes still on mine.
He went to walk out, and then turned back.
“It’s Ayden.”
He looked at me inquiring and I couldn’t believe he wanted me to answer his question. No way sonny boy.
“I am not answering your question,” I snorted.
“That’s alright, I already know what it is,” he shrugged, his smile challenging.
I scoffed.
“You do not,” I insisted.
Ayden came up to me so that his lips were just a centimetre away from my ear. I could feel the smile on his lips as he spoke.
“12B,” he whispered seductively.
I froze and he walked from the room, not turning back. How... how did he know that? I ran from the room to catch up to him and demand how he knew that. The corridor was empty, no sight of him.
Where had he gone?
*
I found Mel and Hannah sitting on one of the many benches, chatting enthusiastically. Not far from the bench was Ayden, sitting with a big group. I charged pass a shocked Mel and Hannah, and went up to him.
“How do you know my bra size?”
I am a complete idiot. Why did I say that in front of the group he was with? Especially since the group was made up mainly of guys? They all busted out laughing.
“This is Cathlene everyone, the one I have been telling you all about.”
Sitting next to Ayden with her arm around his shoulders was Kelly, smiling wickedly. On her other side, an arm wrapped around her waist, was Travis.
“Yeah, the AIDS girl,” he smirked, smiling lazily.
Mel came up beside me.
“Cram it Travis,” she said defensively.
They all stopped abruptly.
“Oh, come on Mel, we were just having some fun,” said a girl with her mouth half full of chicken.
I was surprise this miniature blonde haired girl didn’t spray everyone with chicken bits.
“It isn’t fun when someone gets hurt, Megan,” Mel retorted.
The girl, Megan, stood up and brushed the arms of another guy off her. There had to be four guys, including Travis and Ayden, sitting at the table with Kelly, along with three other girls. All new. Well, well, Kelly made some new friends, I thought. Megan walked over to Mel so that they were a centimetre apart. She held out a chicken leg.
“Calm down, Mel, have a piece of chicken,” she spat.
Mel took the chicken leg and threw it into Megan’s face. She took me by the arm and dragged me away from Megan, who was screaming like a banshee.
“You… you wait!” Megan screeched.
“Come on, Hannah,” Mel spoke placidly.
Mel led us to the oval and didn’t stop until she had found a clear space. When she did, she fell to the ground and let out a buff of air.
“Oh, sugar buns, I really hate her,” she muttered, eyes closed.
Hannah and I sat down beside her.
“What happened?” Hannah asked.
“Can we not talk about it right now?” Mel mumbled.
“Okay,” Hannah muttered.
“Oh, and you,” Mel said, looking at me, “Stay away from those jerks, they’re just as bad as my sister.”
“There’s someone more evil then your sister? Surely not,” came a voice from behind us.
Paul swooped Mel up into his arms and gave her a big kiss on the lips then little ones all over her face. From behind him, Fry and two other guys (new guys seemed to be popping out everywhere) stood awkwardly. I noticed that each of them had a difference stance; Fry stood up straight, as if he had all the strength and courage in the world to take on anything. The guy in the middle, with long white hair that reached his butt and was tied in a ponytail, had fairer skin than Ayden and also, not a big surprise, blue eyes. He stood in a relaxed pose, as if he could fit in anywhere he wanted; school, home, sports club. He reminded me of the elves off of Lord of the Rings. The last guy looked quite cute in a kid kind of way. He looked like Megan, accept his blonde hair was a few shades lighter and he was a few inches taller. He had a friendly stance, an I’ll be nice to you if you be nice to me, stance.
“Girls, this is Clay and Matt. Cathlene, you’ve met Fry, Hannah, this is Fry,” Mel introduced, pointing to each of them in turn.
It looked like Hannah’s eyes seemed to be stuck on Matt and when they all held out their hands; she grabbed hold of his looking into his eyes adorably. Matt looked quite uncomfortable about this and seemed to be relieved when Paul said it was time to go.
“Why? You just got here!” Hannah cried, looking upset at their abrupt departure.
“We’ve got practice,” Paul explained, a smile on his sweet-looking lips.
“Yeah, the Volleyball team needs us,” Fry roared, raising his fist in the air.
Already, Matt was hastily making his way across the oval. Clay leaned down so that he could whisper to Hannah,
“If you want, tomorrow you can come see us play at Lunch. Matt would like it if you did.”
“Really?” Hannah asked, looking hopeful.
“Yeah, and-”
Clay, not noticing that Matt had walked back, was suddenly jolted up and face to face with him.
“We’ll going to be late,” he said in a strangled kind of voice.
We waved them goodbye as they walked away. Mel and I were trying hard not to laugh as Hannah waved at Matt.
*
The last lesson of the day was Science, which Hannah, Mel and I all had together. Unfortunately, Kelly and her posse were also in the same class. I made sure to sit at the front so that I was as far away from them as possible. Kelly seemed to notice this and took a sit directly behind me, her posse joining her.
“Ignore her,” was Mel’s words of encouragement.
Ignoring Kelly was like ignoring a fly that kept buzzing in front of you; really hard. Our turkey neck science teacher, Mr Barnes, was writing up today’s aims when Kelly approached him. Her posse, in response, had all positioned themselves so that there was one of them at the end of each table. Ayden was at the end of mine. I didn’t know why I cared about that, but something about him intrigued me. Something that had to do with knowing my bra size.
“Excuse me class,” Mr Barnes boomed (he didn’t know that his voice was so loud that it could reach China, it was something you had to get used to when in his class).
“Kelly has an announcement to make,” he continued.
She stepped forward, beaming at everyone like they were all her best friends.
“As you have all known, I been gone for the past month and now that I am back, I have organised a welcome home party that I am inviting everyone too. It’s tomorrow night and I hope you can all come,” she spoke, the false smile still on her lips.
One by one, her posse started handing out black invitations to everyone. I didn’t expect to be handed one so you could imagine how surprise I was when I did get handed one. I studied it, looking for the possibility of a prank. When I found none, I opened it and found crimson words wrote in a bloody font on a shiny black background. Interesting choice of decoration for a party that wasn’t even a Halloween party or a scary dress up one. The bloody words in it said,
11th of March
7:00pm to Midnight
You are invited to my welcome home party!
The only rules are:
1. Have fun
2. Bring some food
3. NO UGLY CLOTHES
4. NO GOING INTO MY HOUSE
We will be having the party outside; any person found inside my house will wish he/she had never gone in. Bring your bathers for the pool!
7:00pm to Midnight
You are invited to my welcome home party!
The only rules are:
1. Have fun
2. Bring some food
3. NO UGLY CLOTHES
4. NO GOING INTO MY HOUSE
We will be having the party outside; any person found inside my house will wish he/she had never gone in. Bring your bathers for the pool!
“Nice of her to put an address,” I muttered.
“I’ll take you and Hannah, if you want,” Mel offered, hearing what I said.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yeah, no problem,” Mel replied.
Great, I am going to my worst enemy’s party, I thought enthusiastically.
Chapter 2
“I thought you hated that Kelly girl?” My grandmother asked, passing me the milk for my cornflakes.
“I do, but her twin sister, Mel, is my friend and she wants us to come,” I explained for what had to be the twenty-fifth time.
Her grandmother smiled.
“Sort of like an evil twin and a nice twin, huh?”
I thought about it for a second and realised that what grandmother was saying was true. Kelly was like a female version of Satan and Mel was like, um, I guess, an Angel. A horn beeped outside; Mel had kindly offered to pick Hannah and me up and take us to school.
“Hey, grandmother, do you want to meet-”
She was gone. This was usual behaviour for my grandmother and I had learnt to accept it when I came to live with her when I was six. Before then, I had to live with my horrible auntie who liked to eat healthy food. While she would say it was healthy food, I would say it was rabbit food and that it was the reason she was so skinny. Mel beeped the horn again and I grabbed my bag. I raced out to the front and caught sight of her car. My jaw dropped. Hannah and Mel were sitting in an actual red Cadillac El Dorado. I thought they had stopped being made. Hannah giggled and Mel tossed her head at the seat beside. I carefully slid into the seat, stunned, and ran my hands over the sides; this had to be a dream.
“Where did you get this,” I choked, it was beautiful.
“I inherited it from my dad,” she answered briefly.
The ride to school was entertaining as Mel explained how Paul had taken out the out the original engine and replaced it with a faster one. Ayden and Paul were great mechanics she said.
“So, Ayden is a nice guy?” I asked.
I was completely baffled by him, I didn’t know what to think about him.
“Yeah, Ayden’s nice when he wants to be, it depends on what mood you catch him in. Why?” Mel explained.
“He hangs out with your sister,” I stated.
“Yeah, well, I can’t tell you about that. It’s kind of private,” Mel informed.
She pulled up into the student parking lot and swiped a spot before a black Volvo could get a chance to pull in. The morning passed as uneventful and tedious as Woodwork and Maths could get. At Recess, I met up with Mel and Hannah by the canteen, having split up after Woodwork.
“Do you think I should wear my hair up tonight?” Hannah asked- we were talking about our clothes and stuff for the party.
We were just about to answer when Kelly shouted out from the line at the canteen.
“You’re not thinking of wearing bathers are you, Hannah? No one wants to see your fat!” she yelled.
Tears welled up in Hannah’s bright green eyes. Okay, Hannah was fat, but it was the beauty on the inside that counted and her shoulder-length wavy red hair was beautiful. I wished I had it.
“Ignore her,” Mel soothed, rubbing Hannah’s back.
We chose a green bench near the Middle School building and ate our food. Mel, obviously hating the silence, spoke up about what we were wearing for the party.
“My mum is giving me her green cocktail dress, she thinks it will bring out my eyes,” Hannah answered.
Mel nodded sweetly and then looked at me expectedly.
“I guess whatever I find in my cupboard,” I replied.
“You mean you haven’t picked out a dress!” Mel cried, shocked.
To tell the truth, I hated dresses and I wasn’t ever going to wear one. Not for some party or to impress a guy. Heck, I would go to Formal in my T-shirt and jeans if it wasn’t for my grandmother. She said that she a dress that used to be my mother’s that she wanted me to wear. I was in year eleven and already my grandmother had picked out my dress, jewellery and booked in the hairdressers for my hair.
“We need to find you a dress, I got plenty you can pick-”Mel began.
“No, Mel, I can handle it.”
She looked like she doubted that, but after nodding at her and assuring her, she finally let go. For lesson three and four (Computing) I spent the lessons dreading Art. Ayden seemed harmless, and I figured out why he would know my bra size. Travis was one of the boys that liked to play piggy in the middle with it. That meant he was making fun of me and I didn’t trust myself to not say anything. However, when Art did come I seemed too choked up to say anything and the first part of the lesson went by in silence as I painted my next art piece (a backdrop of the woods with the moon as the centre piece). I couldn’t take it anymore; we had ten minutes before the bell went and I just had to say something to him.
“I don’t appreciate you teasing me about all those times when Travis and his friends were playing piggy in the middle with my bra,” I declared, not looking at him.
“That’s not how I know,” he spoke.
I turned to him, he was still painting. His landscape showed an eagle flying over a mountain, light reflecting off its wings. He appeared to be fixed to his painting. I packed away my canvas and equipment, then I stood facing him, waiting. I wanted an explanation, and I wanted one now. Disregarding me, Ayden packed up his equipment and only at the last minute did he face me.
“See you at that party,” and he left without another word.
*
I stepped out of the shower and quickly wrapped myself with a fluffy white towel. I enjoyed the warm softness on my skin like a nice cup of hot chocolate and hated that I had to change into clothes, but it was 6:30 pm and the Mel was picking me up at 6:49pm. After going through my cupboards of nothing but T-shirts, jeans, tracksuits and football tops; I finally settled on long-sleeved crimson blouse and a pair of flared-out jeans. Having found them deep within my wardrobe. They were the only girlish clothes she could find and they were comfortable. I picked up my grey single shoulder bag and shoved my purple bikini with a thin black lace sarong in it. I decided to keep my caramel curls just the way they were and put a matching purple cap that I got from Girl Xpress at Kmart. I glanced at my ball-like white and pink clock, it said 6:42pm and I let out a sigh. I wanted Mel to hurry up before I changed my mind about the party. In truth, I didn’t exactly want to go but Mel insisted and I couldn’t let Hannah go by herself.
“Wow, I like your room, Cathlene,” a familiar voice said behind me.
Mel stood in the doorway, glancing at my room. I liked to take photographs a lot and my room showed that. Covering my walls were pictures of random photographs such as the wild but beautiful tree I had been painting in Art, sunsets and sunrises at the beach, just stuff that I found interesting or beautiful. Off in the corner at the back of my room was my single bed. I had recently changed the covers so that now the blanket showed a picture of a snarling lion and hanging over it was what looked like a mosquito net, but it was a light blue and was used because I liked having something over my head when I slept at night. On the ceiling were several different dreamcatchers that I had collected of the past few years.
“How did you get in here?” I asked, surprised.
“Your front door was unlocked, I thought you said you were fine,” she replied, looking at my clothes.
“I am, this is what I’m wearing,” I assured.
Mel was wearing a light blue ruffled dress with a light brown diva wrap on her left wrist. She wore smoky blue eye shadow, her hair was up in a loose bun and she had pink dangly earrings in each ear. Mel looked gorgeous.
“Come on, let’s get moving,” she urged.
I led her down the stairs and nearly collided with my grandmother who appeared out of the side door. She didn’t look happy about something and I thought it was because she forgot about the party.
“Hey, grandmother, this is Mel. Mel this is my grandmother,” I introduced rashly.
Mel stared at my grandmother with what looked like shock? My grandmother was looking at Mel like she was the most disgusting bug ever to cross over her household. Her eyes were as cold as ice as she stared at Mel. Feeling like I had to break up this telepathic fight here, I spoke up,
“Grandmother, you remember about that party tonight, right?”
With the sound of my voice, Anne seemed to snap out of it and faced me with a smile on her face.
“Oh course, you’ve better hurry up, it’s nearly seven,” she prompted.
I watched as my grandmother limped her way back into the kitchen. I went to the door and was just about to walk through it when I saw that Mel hadn’t moved. She was looking in the direction my grandmother had disappeared and looked like she was going to follow her.
“Mel?”
Mel looked at me and smiled, grabbing hold of my arm.
“Come one, we’ll be late,” she declared.
Waiting in Mel car, was Hannah. She looked stunning in the green cocktail dress; her mother was right, it did bring out her green eyes. I greeted her and she said hi back. She wasn’t surprise at my choice of clothes, having known me for nearly four years. It didn’t take long to get to Kelly’s party, which was a beach house at Noarlunga. Mel directed us around to the backyard of the massive white house and into blaring different coloured lights and booming music. My favourite band was playing- Black Eyed Pea’s, ‘The Time (Dirty Bit)’ and Kelly’s mum must have hired the people who were handing out finger food on silver platers. I was surprised that Kelly didn’t demand gold platers. In the middle of the yard was a massive kidney shaped pool and already girls and boys were in their bathers showing off their legs or muscles.
“Do you gals want to get changed?” Mel asked.
We nodded and she led us over to the changing rooms. I went into a separate locker and changed into my bikini and sarong. When I went out, Mel was already in her pink bikini and bottoms holding out three different juices for me. I decided on the blackcurrant and we stood there waiting for Hannah. It became obvious that something was wrong when at least fifteen minutes had gone by. Mel and I looked at each other and went back into the changing rooms which were completely empty.
“Hannah?” I called.
The door down the far-side opened and Hannah stood out in a black bikini and mini bather shorts. She was red in the face and I knew what was wrong.
“Hannah, you look beautiful!” I exclaimed.
“No I don’t,” she muttered.
“Yes you do, Hannah, look at those sexy curves,” Mel pointed out.
Hannah looked at herself and her face instantly brightened.
“I do, don’t I?” she asked, proud in her voice.
“Yep,” I replied.
We left the changing rooms with Hannah now more confident about her looks. Mel told us that we had to come down to the beach and see the ocean. So we followed her down stone steps onto the hot sand. Close by, a stage had been set up and Travis was singing ‘Down’ by Jay Sean and Lil Wayne and even though I hated him, he actually sounded great. Red Chinese lanterns had been put up around the place and were the only source of light. The smell of snags and onions wafted through the air. We went over to the BBQ, passing a lot of teens resting on the beach. A great deal of them looked at Hannah with disgust on their faces and thankfully, Hannah didn’t seem to notice.
“Three snags on bread with onions, thanks, Damon,” Mel requested.
Damon passed the snags over. This guy looked older then everyone here and yet, Mel seemed to know him. He had black hair (not darker then Ayden’s) and tanned skin. He caught me watching and winked. Damon too had blue eyes. Mel tugged on my arm and I let her drag me over to a gigantic rock that we all could sit on. The rock was warm and was comfortable to sit on while we ate our snags. Ever since I was born, I had been a big eater and I also ate fast so I was often called piggy. I was still skinny for some reason and my grandmother commented that I must have a fast metabolism.
“Cathlene, look!” squealed Hannah excitedly.
She pointed to the stage where Matt had started singing ‘Leave out all the rest’ by Linkin Park. He was good, better than Travis. Hannah got off the rock and rushed over to the stage so that she was close to him. At the sight of her, Matt seemed to instantly nervous and stopped singing. Some people were laughing and I wanted to shout at them.
“Mel,” Paul appeared, “We’re having a meeting.”
Mel nodded and smiled at me in apology. I shrugged and she got off to follow Paul over to where Kelly’s group and a couple of others were sitting far off from the group. My heart stopped; sitting on Ayden’s lap was Kelly. They were pashing like crazy and Ayden’s hands were rubbing up and down against Kelly’s thighs that were bare from the mini black dress she was wearing. Kelly’s hands were up Ayden’s black singlet. I got up and started storming over to them, then stopped. What was I doing? I had no reason to go over there, I thought. Matt came stumbling into the group, following him was Hannah. Kelly looked up and got off Ayden. I watched as she went up to Hannah and shove her into the sand with a simple push. That’s a reason, I thought angrily. I stormed over to them and caught the last few words.
“And didn’t I say not to wear bathers? You’re so fat that I’m surprise half my guests aren’t blind!” Kelly screeched.
Her posse laughed liked a pack of hyenas while the rest just stood there watching, including Mel. Hannah was still on the ground, tears streaming down her face. She went to stand up and Kelly pushed her back down again. The laughter grew louder. I rushed around Hannah and pushed my hands into Kelly’s chest. Hard. Kelly landed into the sand and the laughing silenced. I turned quickly to Hannah and helped her up.
“This is my new dress, bitch!” Kelly screeched.
Kelly looked like a fired up bull, ready to charge. She smacked me in the face and went flying face first into the sand.
“Kells,” I could hear Mel saying.
She was being held back by Paul. I tried to get up and Kelly kicked me in the stomach, it felt more like a torpedo diving into my stomach. I vomited on the ground, the putrid acidic smell burning my nostrils and at the same time raising my awareness. Mel was cry and telling Paul to let her help me, yet didn’t come any further. She was literally letting her time bash me before her eyes and she couldn’t do anything because she was letting her boyfriend hold her back? Some friend. Mel had to be stronger than that. Kelly snaked her claw-like nails in my hair and pulled me up by it. I screamed and she laughed. A shriek of pleasure. Pleasure at seeing me in pain, humiliated and unable to defend myself. Because that’s the way Kelly thinks and embraces it like a steaming hot bath.
“Should have stayed out of it, Cathlene,’ she whispered.
I looked into her eyes- fiery balls of blue. They were the last thing I saw before Kelly fist came smashing into my face. I landed into the sand again and pain flashed coursed my body. I manoeuvred so that I was facing upwards, big mistake. Kelly stood over me, a smile on her face. She spat in my face.
“Leave,” she ordered placidly.
I got up and walked through the onlookers. Hannah had disappeared, probably ran off in fear. Some people were laughing at me, while others looked on in pity. I made it around the front and started walking down the street when Mel caught my arm.
“Don’t be silly, get in my car,” she said softly.
I yanked back away from her and hurt flashed across her face.
“Thanks for the help,” I said sarcastically.
I winced. My lip was broken and blood was dripping from it.
“I wanted to, but Paul said I had to stay out of it, Cathlene,” she cried.
I scoffed and continued to walk.
“Please,” Mel begged.
“Stay away from me!” I yelled.
I walked away from her, Mel’s hurt face stuck in my head. Freezing wind attacked my face and I had no idea where I was going. Soon I was coughing and I couldn’t stop. I was still wearing my bikini and sarong and went to pull my clothes out of my bag. Shit, I thought. I had left my bag on the rock. I continued to walk with my arms wrapped around me, shivering violently. I thought my teeth were going to snap from the amount of chatting. Everywhere was dark, not a single house light or street light was on and everything looked daunting like the boogieman was lingering somewhere in the shadows. Waiting for me to let my guard down and attack me. Car lights from what looked like a red Holden approached from behind me and I held out my hand, hoping to catch a ride. Dizziness overtook me and I fell to the ground. The car came to a stop in front of me and someone got out. I felt a warm coat thing get wrapped around me and suddenly I was out of the cold. The heater got switched on and I was suddenly engulfed in blissful warmth. I opened my eyes, everything was hazy and I could barely make out the human form next to me.
“Take it easy,” the guy soothed in a voice as silky as silk.
His voice comforted me and at the same time it sounded familiar. A restraining hand pushed me back into the seat and the car slid into motion. I laid there with my eyes closed for what felt like hours before I felt the car come to a halt. Firm arms picked me up and a jostle of the guy’s hips slammed the car door closed. I thought he would struggle with me in his arms, but he was able to get her into the house and on what felt like a bed. The door to the room opened and closed as the guy left the room. I knew it was a guy because of his voice and the way he felt when he was picking me up. The door opened and footsteps approached the bed. A foul, intoxicating thing was shoved under my nose, making me choke and clearing my mind instantaneously. I opened my eyes; Ayden was standing over me with a light blue flower with circular petals and a bright orange stem. I never had seen anything like it before, but I was too shocked to see Ayden to care and in surprise, rapidly lifted my legs… between his legs. Ayden fell to the ground, moaning. Oh no, I thought. I hurried lifted myself off the bed and ran to his side.
“Get off me!” he snarled.
He was holding his hands to his pants, moaning in pain and cussing. I could he was in a lot of pain and ran from the room. I went into the kitchen that was just down the hallway from the room and went through the freezer. Finally finding a bag of frozen peas, I ran back to the room and went to put it between his legs. Ayden grabbed me before I could do so and about then I realised where exactly I was going to put my hand.
“Yeah I wouldn’t want to do that either,” Ayden said, as if reading my facial expression.
I blushed and handed the bag to him. He took it and I looked away as I pressed it to his, um, area.
“So this is the thanks I get? Usually it’s a kiss or just a thank you,” he stated sarcastically.
“I’m sorry, you surprised me that’s all,” I amended.
I winced; I had forgotten about my split lip which had stopped bleeding but was throbbing terribly. Ayden, who had seemed to have gotten his cockiness back, held out the bag of frozen peas with that quirky smile of his. Funny, no wait, hilarious. I rolled my eyes and turned my back on him.
“Where am I?” I asked.
“Where do you think?” he retorted.
I looked around; every inch of the floor was covered with clothes and the walls were covered with posters of cars and women in bikinis. Typical boy room, I said subconsciously. I looked at his bed; it was unmade and just picking out of the covers was pair of jocks. I could’ve been laying on them. On the dresser next to the bed was a jar of… condoms. Ayden followed my horrified gaze and smiled.
“Gotta keep safe, don’t want to end up with a kid,” he explained.
“You’re not old enough to be doing stuff like that,” I protested.
“Yeah I am, I’m seventeen,” Ayden responded, “I had my birthday not long ago.”
I nodded. I was in a boy’s room who was old enough to have sex, well done Cathlene. Ayden recovered quickly from my surprise attack and walked from the room. I followed him into the kitchen where he put the peas back in the freezer. Note to self: don’t touch the frozen peas. He then reached up to one of the cupboards where he pulled down a First Aid Kit. Ayden gestured for me to go through the door and as I did he moved in front of me and down the opposite way we had come from. I trailed after him into the lounge room. A long mirror stood at one end and when I glimpsed at the mess Kelly had made I shrugged, I had definitely had worse than a puffy black eye, fat lip and bruises that covered my arms. Ayden looked at me with interest.
“What?” I asked.
“Normally a girls I know would be upset at the site of their face looking like it had been ran over by a four ton truck,” he explained.
He patted to the spot next to him and sat down. The next twenty minutes were painful with Ayden wiping and disinfecting my face and lip.
“How come you didn’t take me home,” I asked while he wiped at my eye.
“Did you really want to go home with a face like that?” he answered.
He had a point there; grandmother would do her nut if she saw my face right now.
“I should call my grandmother,” I informed him.
“Already done it, messaged her while driving here. I told her that you going to spend the night at a friend’s,” Ayden clarified.
He finished up with my lip and eye, making sure to give them both an extra swab of disinfectant.
“Can I ask you something?” Ayden asked.
“You just did,” I jested.
“Can I have another one then?”
“You just had another one.”
“Stop being cheeky, how come you are so good at taking down guys in PE, yet couldn’t take down Kelly?”
“How do you know about that?”
“Mel told me, so how come?”
“Kelly is stronger than me for some reason. It’s like she has some sort of abnormal power that enables her to have great strength.”
Ayden looked away uncomfortably; did I just guess some kind of secret? The rest of the night was spent eating dinner (chicken casserole that Ayden had cooked to perfection) and watching gory movies. We sat far apart from each other and Ayden was dead silent, barely looking at me at all. It wasn’t until we had finished our third movie that he told me to get so he could flip out the bed attached to the couch.
“Thanks, Ayden,” I thanked as he went to walk out of the room.
He smiled, a genuine one not the other cheeky smiles he usually did, and nodded his head. The couch bed was unbelievably warm and comfortable like the inside of a kangaroo’s pouch. I instantly fell asleep.
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