The Girl in the Hoodie

19

(Amazing cover made by Seymour Matthew. Not sure what their Wattpad username is tho^^)

[Chapter nineteen]

"Shot?" I repeat, my eyes wide as I pull away from Noah and he stares at the ground. "Please tell me it was a water gun."

His gaze moves from the ground to my face and he stares at me with a blank stare.

Sarcastic remark in three, two, one--

"Yes, Carter. Because a water gun can actually kill someone."

"Hey, you never know!" I narrow my eyes at him.

He groans. "It was a real gun, Carter."

"Oh my lord, was you brother involved in some gang shit or something?!" I exclaim.

I see him tense. "No, he wasn't fucking involved in some gang shit or something! He was just...in the wrong place at the wrong time."

He's lying. He bites the inside of his cheek when he lies.

And he's biting the inside of his damn cheek!

"It sucks, doesn't it?" I sigh, making him stare intently at me. "Not getting to say goodbye?"

His eyes soften. "You didn't get to say goodbye?"

"I didn't get to say goodbye to Lucy." I admit. "Heaven and I were at school and we got picked up by our mum. She was freaking out and when we asked her why she just said something happened to Lucy. We knew she had cancer but we didn't know how serious it was. We got to the hospital and only got to see her while she was being wheeled away. Turns out she fainted in school."

He sighs. "I was at Saturday football practice. It was about half an hour in and Anthony still hadn't shown up. I hadn't actually seen him the whole morning. Max and Dylan hadn't shown up either. All of a sudden, Max ran over to me, shouting his head of and crying. He just grabbed me and ran to his jeep. I asked him what the hell was happening and he told me that Anthony was shot in the head. Dylan was going to the hospital with him in the ambulance. When we got to the hospital my mum, dad and Danny were already there along with Dylan. Then the doctor came out and told us that he's gone."

This is the first time I've heard him mention his dad.

"Oh."

Oh?

Really?! That's all you say, dumbass?!

"You're wondering why I've never mentioned my father before, aren't you?" Noah questions making me look up at him.

"Uh, well..."

He shakes his head. "He's dead to me."

*~*

What the fuck did he mean?!

He's dead to me.

His words keep repeating in my head.

What did he do to make Noah hate his father so much?

Where is he?

I walk into my early childhood class and see Max sitting at the back of the room.

What the heck?

I walk over and sit at the desk next to him.

"Hi, Vaeh!" He grins brightly.

"Kia Ora, Max." I raise an eyebrow. "Since when do you take Early Childhood?"

"Since now." He smiles cheekily just as the teacher walks in.

"Alright, class." She claps her hands, making everyone go silent. "We're going to be doing the baby project!"

Everyone groans.

"Wow, don't act too excited." Mrs Cooper says sarcastically. "All the boys names are in this hat. I'm going to come around and the girls are going to pick a name out of the hat. This will be your partner."

After a few minutes, Mrs Cooper comes to me and I pick out a piece of paper from the hat.

I unfold it and look at the name.

Max.

What were the odds?

An arm wraps around my should and Max pulls me to his side. "Hey, baby-mama."

I elbow him in the gut, making him let go of me and groan. "Never call me that again."

"Yes, ma'am." He wheezes out, holding his stomach.