Boy Oh Boys! (Season 1)

Chapter 13-5

"Uaaahhh," Charlie awoke the next morning with a yawn and moseyed over towards the mirror in her temporary bedroom.

"Hey!" she realized when her mind began to wake up. "My ankle doesn't really hurt this morning!"

Charlie grinned down at her foot, but eyes passing the digital camera lying on the twins' dresser, her discovery of the previous night came instantly flooding back.

"I wonder how Pace is feeling this morning..." she frowned at her reflection. "He looked really upset last night... Maybe I should check on him..."

Tentatively opening the door, Charlie made her way into the common room. It was empty. Then slowly moving to her own bedroom, and after a brief nervous pause, she knocked lightly on the door. There was no answer.

"Pace?" she called, her voice still groggy. Once again, there was no answer. "I'm coming in!" she shouted, before turning the knob to step inside. "Hey, are you a- Huh?"

Charlie looked around, but there was no one else in the room.

"He's already gone?" Charlie frowned at her cat-clock. "But it's still so early!"

With a quick spring towards the window, she peeked through the glass- to see Pace's familiar shape crossing the grounds.

"Aha! Well he certainly looks better," thought Charlie. "He must be going back to the inn. But what's that he's holding?" she watched as he slipped into the trees. "More flowers? That jerk! What's he doing, going around kissing me, and then taking flowers to someone else?" Charlie crossed her arms. "But if he said Delilah wasn't his girlfriend... then who are those for?"

Charlie knit her brows as she squinted out the window, but the sight of Pace was already entirely obscured by the woods.

"That's it," she decided firmly. "I'm going to see what he's doing once and for all. If he can spoil my date, then I can spoil his!"

Furiously ripping on her jacket, Charlie stormed out of the academy and marched across the lawn.

"Okay, Pace. Let's see how nice this is," Charlie smirked as she stomped through the trees in the direction of the inn. "Let's see how-"

Charlie stopped short when she broke out of the last of the trees. Standing in the center of the cemetery, was Pace- who was bending down, and placing the flowers at the base of one of the headstones.

Looking back up, his dark eyes connected with Charlie, who took an unsure step forward.

"Pace," she didn't know what else to say as she continued towards him.

"What do you want?" he stared at her hard. "Another kiss? Isn't your boyfriend Printz good enough?"

"That's not funny," Charlie frowned as she reached him. "That's really not-" she fell silent as her vision fell upon the headstone.

Carved upon the granite was the name 'Casey Nevea'.

"Nevea?" Charlie turned to Pace in wide-eyed, face-draining bewilderment. "Isn't that your last name?

"He was my brother," said Pace.

"Casey... was your brother?" Charlie struggled to comprehend the stunning revelation. "But... what happened?"

She stared at him in earnest sympathy, and for the longest time, was sure he wasn't going to respond, but at last, Pace spoke up.

"I guess it's time you knew," he said lowly, and began his story.

~~~

"Oh man! This is going to be the best year ever!" Casey beamed as he ran his silver pen furiously across a sheet of paper. "After we beat the Spartans, Athens is going to go down in history!"

"Better not get your hopes up," Pace lightly grinned from his bunk as he looked up from his sketchbook. "Athens hasn't won in years."

"Yeah, well that's because we weren't in Athens yet! I mean, seriously!" Casey cried. "Rib's great at his event. The twins are super skilled. And that new kid, Max, is totally awesome too! Then if you add in Olympus's Record-Holding Track and Field Bros., no one can touch us! We'll be unbeatable! And there's not a thing anyone will be able to do about it! Even that jerk Printz! Oh, I've just been waiting to show him since Kindergarten!" Casey clapped his hands in day-dreaming bliss.

"Sure," Pace scoffed. "But I really don't think you should get too excited."

"Why not?" Casey turned to raise a brow at his brother.

"Because it's dumb," said Pace. "I mean, even if we somehow manage to miraculously win against Sparta, we'd still have to get the medal. And you'd have a better chance of getting accepted at Juno than reaching it."

"Come on, bro! Have a little faith!" Casey waved his hands. "It just so happens, that I have designed the perfect method to reach the medal when we win," he held up the inked diagram he had been working on.

"Right," Pace rolled his eyes. "No one ever reaches the medal. And you and your diagram are no different," he crossed his arms and laughed.

"Whatever! You'll see!" yelled Casey, offendedly jumping up and storming out of the dorm, leaving his brother and diagram behind.

~~~

"They said the car came out of nowhere. He just... didn't see it in time," Pace finished his tale, voice still gravely low. "And so now you know," he whispered. "Casey died because of me."

Charlie said nothing, only able to stare.

"I told you I've done worse things that skip class," said Pace.

"Oh, Pace!" Charlie found her words at last. "I'm so sorry!" she cried, suddenly flinging her arms around him and giving him a surprisingly heartfelt hug. Even more surprising, was when Pace's arms wrapped around her in return.

"I really am so sorry," Charlie tearily gazed up into his face. Pace gazed back.

"That's what I wished for," he said at last.

"Huh?" Charlie creased her brows.

"You asked me what I wished for that day at the mall," Pace explained. "Even though I can never make up for what I caused, I wished that I could just... make him proud."

"Well, wouldn't still entering the competition make him proud?" said Charlie thoughtfully. "I mean, by not entering... aren't you sort of letting him down?"

At this, Pace instantly broke away from Charlie, a look of sheer rage covering his face.

"No! I didn't mean anything by it-" Charlie stammered. "I just mean- Why don't you enter for Casey?"

"Because I guess I'm clearly just one big disappointment," growled Pace, spinning instantly on his heel and storming away.

"I was just trying to help," Charlie sighed in the silence.