CHAPTER 9:

It's 12am when I started writing this and now it is 8:53 and Christmas in Australia and I'm
writing, I feel a tad bit sad and I don't know why.
"She tried to stay away from me, she didn't want to get involved with my bad ways as she
said. Kate Swan, that's her name. No one knew of her, only few people. I know this because
I tried finding everything about her. How did we meet you may ask? Well it all started on
January the 29th.
Mr Carter's pov
"Need a lighter?" Conrad asks me, I keep the smoke in my mouth and grab it from him￾lighting up the cigarette. I blow out a puff and sigh, leaning against the wall.
"Rough night?" Jonty asks. I shrug my shoulders and look around at the people in school
blankly.
"You could say that," I chuckle humourlessly. A girl with long brown hair, brown eyes, olive
skin, slim with long legs and slightly tall walks past with purposeful steps. She coughs
dramatically, fanning the air being over dramatic as if saying silently to not smoke. "Got a
problem?" I snap.
She pauses, Conrad and Jonty watch the scene play out with amusement as she looks
uncomfortable. Good. She should regret being over dramatic. I drop the smoke onto the
ground and stomp on it, walking closer to her, she backs away into the wall. She clenches
her eyes shut and shakes her head, holding her breath. "No problem," I raise my eyebrows.
"Didn't seem like it before," she gulps, looking up at me in almost fear. But then all emotions
disappear and she scowls at me, a change in her attitude noticeable.
"Maybe you shouldn't smoke a cancer stick near people or on school grounds, plus dumping
it onto the ground. Can't be too good for the environment," I raise my eyebrows, slightly
shocked that someone would actually speak to me like that.
"I do whatever the hell I want and no one can stop me," I spit venomously at her. She
pushes against my chest and sneaks away from the wall, in a space where she can easily
get away.
"No one can do whatever they want, there are rules Carter," with that she turns on her heel
and walks away.
Faye's pov.
"Wow..... so everyone was afraid of you? Why? You are so not intimidating, how could
anyone be afraid of you?" His mouth drops open in shock towards me.
"I'm slightly offended that you'd actually say that, Lacuna."
I shrug helplessly, "answer my question."
"They were afraid of me because I made bad decisions and did bad things to people, they
knew I wouldn't hesitate to do it to them. Kate acted like she wasn't afraid, but she was. She
was just good at hiding it, that obviously irked my ego that she wasn't afraid and would
actually talk back at me. Yet, I was intrigued and wanted to know more about her." He stares
at the back wall, as if he's in another world and isn't talking to me. It's like his old life is on a
big display screen right in front of him.'
"Oh, but you stopped doing bad things to people right?" I ask, he shakes his head in shame.
"It was the only thing that could make me forget some things. Everyone has a scapegoat
from their lives, that happened to be mine. But then Kate slowly turned into my scapegoat, I
needed to be near her, I needed to annoy her or something just so I could be around her. It
sucked that she hated me, but I would deal with it," so he has a 'dark' past like every other
bad boy.
"Right...," I trail off not knowing what to say to him.
"Oh come on, please tell me that you have a scapegoat to all your problems?" He almost
pleads making me smirk and laugh.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. But it's too personal I guess," I wink at him, further annoying the
hell out of him.
"Seriously? This whole story about how me and the love of my life came to be is 100 percent
personal! The least you could do is share a tiny bit of information out of your personal life, it
isn't even a big deal anyway. It's not as if I'm asking you your whole life story," I crack a smile
at his obvious growing annoyance towards me.
"You're really desperate to know, huh?" I gaze at him expectantly. He just simply looks at me
blankly, hiding his emotions of annoyance aimed at me.
"Tell me something, Faye. Why is it that you come to my office to hear my story? Wouldn't
you rather get a detention so you could spend lunches with your friends?" My annoying
attitude diminishes after he says this. He sees that I'm no longer in a playful mood which
makes him frown.
"I um.... don't actually have any friends," I whisper in embarrassment. Mr Carter had heaps
of friends while growing up, he was so popular! This is a little embarrassing to admit.
"You remind me of her so much, maybe that's why I've tolerated you so far," he laughs. I
scrunch my face together in confusion and tilt my head slightly, is he talking about his
fiancé? "I bet you have a guy completely interested in you, but you would have no idea," he
smiles slightly.
"You're speaking like this as if it happened to you," I mutter.
"Well I was the guy completely interested in Kate, which she was completely oblivious to it."
The bell goes and I sigh, not wanting to have to endure another 2 hours of school.
"I wish I had you as a teacher sometimes mr Carter," he smirks and stands up, walking me
out of the room.
"You would be one lucky student, Lacuna."
||
I haven't seen Jake, Ruby, Max and Tyler since the incidents at the party happened. It's just
as if they never existed, they disappeared into thin air and no one has seen or heard from
any of them. It's been a week.
Days seem to drag on forever, lunches are too short. Mr Carter tells me a little snippet of the
story every day, their love story is interesting. It makes me want a relationship. Even if their
relationship started out a bit patchy, I would deal with it and we will love each other
unconditionally.
I seem to be visiting the forest less frequently than usual, I haven't been there in a week and
I'm starting to miss it a lot. I need to go tomorrow or something, it's too late now. When I got
home everything was silent, I was surprised when I didn't see anyone who wasn't in my little
family of four here. I'm happy nevertheless. I can't stand to see Chad's ugly face a moment
more, he needs to be gone from our lives for good; he's irritating and disrespectful.
Someone knocks on my door and I invite them in, it's mum with a smile on her face. "Hi
sweetie, dinners ready now so why don't you come down?" I stand up and nod, following
after her to the dinning room. I take a seat and we all dig in, it's so silent that all we can hear
is the clatters of the knives and forks on the plates.
"This silence is good. I'm glad nobody else is here, we don't really have quality family time
ever. We never have because someone is always over, why is our house always crowded?
It's a handful with all the kids screaming and crying." Dad and mum stare at me, wondering
where I'm getting at.
"It is nice," mum comments.
"Exactly! Why can't it always be like this? Can our house not be the central meeting place for
everyone? It's really annoying, I never get my own privacy anymore, or time to myself and I
need it."
"If that's what makes you happy then we will make sure people aren't always over, it does
get a handful and I'm glad you're bearing with us and being respectful about it," dad says
smiling slightly.
"Our house has always been the meeting place for everyone ever since we were young, they
barley stayed at their own houses," mum laughs slightly.
"I'd get so annoyed," I groan, banging my head on the table lightly.
"I'd love spending practically every day with my mates, it's better than doing nothing all day
and night," Nick says before shoving steak into his mouth. I roll my eyes, how does he never
get tired of being around people? Wait, he's a people person whereas I'm the polar opposite
twin. Definitely not a people person.
"How can you spend that much time with people without getting tired of them? Sometimes
you need your breaks to feel refreshed and have some you time, don't you want that or even
like that?" I'm shocked as I stare at him with my mouth wide open. I can't believe I'm related
to him.
"Nah, not me. I get enough breaks at times, but I usually like being around people who I
actually like and their company isn't... annoying," he gives me a pointed look and I roll my
eyes at his double meaning.
"Brock called," mum stops us from our quarrel and makes everyone grow silent in shock and
wonder. Brock finally called? "He's doing great actually, he says that the summer camp is
really good. He's coming home next week," I feel relief after she's said those words. I think
we all do, it's like a silent invisible force wafted through the table and around the room.
"That's good, that's actually great! I miss playing the ps with that little sucker," Nick grins
excitedly.
"Nick, honey.... you know he's sick. He needs to rest a lot, we let him go on that summer
camp because this could be the only time that he will get to go. You understand that, right?
You too, Faye." Mum softly says, reminding us all of the pain and trauma that we have been
frowning through. No fifteen year old boy should go through what Brock is going through, no
one in the world should have to deal with it.
"He's our brother mum, why can't you understand that we want to spend time with him and
know that we got to say goodbye and enjoy our last moments together as siblings," Nick
spits out angrily.
"Of course, Nick. But I just want you both to remember that you need to be careful, he's
fragile," she looks down at the table sadly. I move my food around with my fork, having lost
my appetite when this conversation began. Dad places his hand on mums back and kisses
her on the forehead, he looks at us sadly.
"We do want you to spend as much time with Brock as you can, just make him forget the
pain he's feeling for a while," dad runs a hand through his hair. He's been trying to save him,
he's booked many appointments, gave him many medicine. But there is no cure to cancer.
Having had enough of this sad conversation, I stand up, the chair scraping across the
ground making a loud noise. I look at everyone then storm away to my room, the tears
already falling one after the other. Brock didn't deserve this, no one does. Why does it have
to be him? Why? He's too young to die. He has his whole life ahead of him, he needs to
experience life, go to parties, travel maybe. He needs to enjoy life because it's too short.
I pick up my phone and dial the familiar number, he answers straight away. "What's up little
Lacuna?" Tyrese asks.
I sniffle, he then realises something is indeed actually wrong with me. "Brock's coming
home."