Serenity Falls

Chapter 30

"Sorry!" she grinned, releasing him from her grip. "I’m so glad you’re back!"

Fred smiled back and pushed his glasses further up his nose, in an adorable way Olivia couldn’t help but smile at. He looked at her and nodded warmly. However, it wasn’t difficult to see that he was unsure of how to act around her. "Good to see you too, Olivia."

"Oh, come here!" Olivia laughed, pulling him in again into a tight hug, desperate to break the awkwardness between them. She didn’t know how things stood between them, but the last thing she wanted was for them to act weirdly around each other. It just wouldn’t feel right, although she was still unable to banish the guilt completely from herself. Every time she thought about the situation, it just made her seem like a worse person. She at least had to try and put things right.

When they had broke apart, she took a deep breath. "You know, that was really sweet of you what you did for me..."

"Think nothing of it," he answered her, shaking his head, but she couldn’t help but notice a blush spreading on his cheeks from their close hug. "The cops got the powder tested anyway and they found out it wasn’t anything bad, so I got let off."

"Yeah, but you didn’t know that," Olivia bit her lip, a feeling of shame suddenly washing over her. Why had she been so stupid to even think about doing something like that in the first place? And why had she been so naïve to think that Alyssa wanted to be friends with her in the first place? It had obviously been too good to be true, and yet she had still succumbed to the temptation of popularity.  "You could’ve gone to jail, Fred, and it’d all have been my fault."

"But I didn’t. So be thankful for that, okay?" He smiled sincerely. "And we can forget about that now."

"As long as you promise never to get friendly with Alyssa again," Chelsie piped up.

"God, no. I’ve learnt my lesson. That girl’s trouble, and don’t I know it."

***

Ethan lay back on his bed, checking his cell phone for about the hundredth time that afternoon. However, the screen was blank and still read ‘No new messages’, the same as it did three hours ago.

His school text books lay on his desk, open, but he hadn’t even looked at them. How could he, when his head was buzzing thinking constantly about Olivia?

He’d never thought he would get so hung up on someone, but Olivia’s words that night were still ringing in his ears. I need some time to think. Well, how long was it going to take? It was killing him, and yet he was almost scared that when she would finally speak to him, it would be the answer that he didn’t want to hear.

But if that was the case, it was only his fault.

"Ethan, can you give me a hand?" His mother’s voice called up the stairs, sounding tired and hinting at desperation. Downstairs, he could hear his one year old sister, Isabella, screaming at the top of her voice. She may have been the youngest, but she was able to out-scream the other two toddlers put together.

He sighed. Dealing with an upset two-year-old was the last thing he needed, but he knew that his mom was really struggling. Balancing work, the kids and the house was a difficult thing to do, and he was fully aware of how hard she was finding it. He couldn’t help but feel a little guilty that he couldn’t help her out more, but most of his time was taken up by school and other work.

"Yeah, okay," he called, putting his phone down and clambering off his bed, rubbing his head.

His mother was pacing up and down the living room, a screaming Isabella in her arms. She looked at Ethan, her tired eyes glazed over, her expression helpless. Her usually shiny black hair was greasy and thrown back in a ponytail, and her face looked pale and lacking make-up.