Pucking Fantastic

Chapter 30: She Was Right, Everyone Was

Look out for the <>! Also Enjoy a little Jaimie and El photo!

I smiled as I got off my bike. I walked into the garage and parked it. I wouldn't lie, having mom and dad gone was freeing. Without them looking over at me, I felt more alive than I had in a while and they had only been gone for a 30 hours. 

I walked back into the house after being away for hours and slipped off my shoes. My socks were wet from a puddle I stepped in a while ago. I took them off to show my blistered and slightly mangled feet from skating boots.

"Hey Jaimie, I'm home!" I called out to him, knowing that he probably would even acknowledge me but for some reason it was habit to let him know I came back. 

I hung onto the wall and tried to catch my breath. As if I hit an invisible force field, I suddenly felt light headed and dizzy. I didn't feel like myself as my head started to pound. I needed to sit down to rest.

"Hey El," I heard Jaimie's voice ring out from somewhere deep in the house. His words echoed in my mind, making me think that I was imagining it.

Jaimie had been such a ghost, I hadn't heard from him in days even though we lived in the same house. Like Paulo, Jaimie had changed over the past few months. I knew that it was his way of cooping, but I wished he was more present. I wanted my brother back.

I walked into the family room and saw him laying on the couch with an ice pack to his face. I held back a shocked look from my face as I looked at him. Jaimie never got into fights other then with Paulo. That was always Paulo's thing. Paulo was the hot head of the family. Jaimie was more of a thinker then a fighter. "What happened to you?" I asked as he sat upright. Without waiting for an invitation, I sat down next to him.

<>

"I slipped," he said a little too quickly. I saw that his eyes were guarded. He was hiding something from me.

I shook my head, causing the room to spin. I wasn't stupid. He couldn't get a black eye from falling, after all, I should know. "I call BS on that."

He let out a sigh. "You can always see right through me," he said with a small smile.

I nodded. "It's something I'm so good at. So let's see it," I said and took the ice from his face. His eye was already bruising. Whoever got him, had a lot of force behind their punch. "Ouch, who did this to you, Jaimie?"

"Wallace Weeks," Jaimie spit out instantly with venom.

"Callum's dad?" I asked as I felt my forehead. I think I was running a low-grade fever. I put up my blonde hair into a ponytail. 

He nodded in silence.

I knew Wallace had a temper but I didn't even think Jaimie knew him. What did Jaimie do to get this? Or was Jaimie looking for trouble.

As if he read my mind, Jaimie went into details about why he got the shiner. "I went to find him because of that article about you."

That article was posted almost two weeks ago. I wonder why he went now. Regardless of the facts, I felt my heart swoon. My eyes welled up with tears. Finally, after all, that was said between us, this one action made up for whatever hard feelings I had towards him. Jaimie was there to watch me back, he always was, he just showed it differently. "You did that for me?"

He nodded. "Of course. The thing is, I know Paulo hates Callum, but I don't think Callum is that bad. I think the bad guy in this story is Wallace. As I have watched Callum, I realized that Callum doesn't have the heart to post any harsh article about you. I saw the way he looked at you. He loves you. I may be a little slow with social ques but I can at least read people when they love someone," Jaimie said with a chuckle.