The bell rang and kids started to shroud around me asking questions. Where have you been? What have you been doing? Why are you back? What happened to you?
I looked around for Jace, wondering if he was in amongst the crowd.
My eyes caught him walking away down the main hall.
“Move!” I yell at people.
I make it through the crowd in time to see him disappearing through the door leading to the field. I run after him bursting through the door. I was amazed at how fast he could walk. He was already half-way across the field. I began to sprint towards him. No one was on the field yet so I called his name.
“JACE! JACE!” I call.
He finally turns around.
“I thought you would be answering questions,” he said sarcastically. I missed his voice.
“I came to see you.” I said. “Sorry, that came out wrong,” I said before he could say anything.
“So, what did you come for?” he asked.
“Where’s Avalon? I didn’t see her in class.”
The smile was wiped from his face at those words and he stared at the ground.
“What? What happened?” I said starting to choke with tears.
“She-she, hugh,” he sighed. “She’s left.”
I stared at him.
“NO! No!” She can’t,” I said. “Where?”
“No one knows,” he replied grimly.
“Well, do you have any idea where she might have gone?” I asked desperately.
He shook his head looking down at the ground. The lush green grass billowed in the wind.
“Um, Jace.”
“Yeah.”
“I know this is a lot to ask but, can I stay with you. I kind of have no where to go.”
“Sure.” he replied.
“Serious!” I say surprised.
“Yeah, my mum kind of has an open door policy and if you tell her you have no home and parents than she definitely will.”
“Thanks, hey-” I was broken off by the bell.
“We better get to class,” he said. “You can tell me after.”
“K,” I said. But I felt it couldn’t wait, it was kind of important. How did he know I had no parents?
The rest of the day passed pretty quickly. The bell finally rang for home time.
So, where do you live?” I asked Jace on our way to the car park.
“Hm, oh, I live out in the woods.”
“What? How do you get there?”
He pointed to a blood red car in the car park. My mouth dropped in awe.
“How could you afford that?” I asked running over to it and running my fingers along the smooth cold metal.
“Well,” he said gesturing towards the door.
I gripped the handle and opened the door. I stepped inside and sat down on the seat.
“Aaahhh,” I breathed.
He closed the door behind me and went around the car. He opened his door and sat down himself.
“Ready?” he asked.
I nodded in a yes. He started the ignition and backed up. He zoomed out of the car park and down the road. It didn’t take us long to get to the edge of the woods. There he stopped and got out.
“We need to walk the rest of the way.” he said.
“Why?” I asked starting to get out of the car.
“The track is too small for a car.”
“Oh.”
He started to walk. I was amazed at how fast he was. I had to run beside him to catch up. We hadn’t gone long when I started to puff.
“You getting tired?” He asked, acting like it was a normal thing.
“Nah,” I said.
“Here.” He walked over to me and picked me up so I was lying in his arms. Our faces were close now, I was staring into his eyes. I leaned closer, closer.
“Jace! Is that you!” A voice broke out.
We both tore our eyes away from each other and looked towards the voice. A tall skinny lady emerged from the bush.
“Who is that?” she said pointing to me. He let me down to the ground.
“Um, mum. This is Merissa, a friend from school. Is it alright if she stays with us for a while? She doesn’t have anywhere to stay.”
“What about her parents?” she asked.
I choked at the last word, I felt like I was going to cry. I shielded my face as I felt the first hot drip come down my face.
“Oh dear, did I do something?” she asked.
“Um, no.” I said. “It’s just that– that. I’m sorry. It’s just that my parents are-are.”
“Are what honey?” She said.
“They’re dead,” I said sobbing.
Jace held out his arms for a hug and I reluctantly fell into them.
“Oh, I am very sorry. Anyway of course! Of course! Of course you can stay with us!” She said trying to smile as warmly as she could.
“Thankyou,” I said between sobs.
“Come on then. Let’s go home.”
“Um, mum. Is it alright with you if I carry Merissa. She’s really tired and can’t walk.”
“Oh, yes!” She said.
Jace picked me back up again smiling. “It’s alright, I’ve got you.”
I wiped a tear off my face and pushed a bunch of hair from my eyes. I smiled gratefully and wrapped my arms around his neck.
“Let’s go,” he said and started walking.
