I can't wait to see your reactions to this chapter :D
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The following Monday morning, as the tired students were piling into the hallways (a lot of them still half asleep), there was an announcement over the loudspeaker. The sound of Mr Delmar’s voice boomed through every room in the school, although many people did not take any notice of it at all.
"This is just a reminder that student elections will take place in two weeks time," it said. "We currently have two candidates running for school president, and anyone else who wishes to stand must report to reception by the end of today."
At that moment, as if on cue, Alyssa Taylor strode into the hallway. On her shirt, she had pinned a huge neon pink badge, with the words ‘VOTE ALYSSA’ on, and she had a new guy, Aiden, on her arm. Aiden was also wearing a badge, and a smug smile from all the attention he was getting. After all, he’d been after Alyssa for months now, and he’d finally got what he wanted. The hottest and most popular girl in the entire school... and the popularity just came as a bonus.
"Make sure you vote for me as your new school president... again," Alyssa said, flashing a smile at some unsuspecting victim in the hallway and outstretching her hand, in which she held a pink pen, printed with her name.
The girl frowned but took the pen anyway, looking slightly perplexed as Alyssa moved onto another random person and recited exactly the same speech, also handing them a pen.
"Election time, huh?" Olivia said to Chelsie as she stood by her locker.
Chelsie nodded. "Afraid so. But you know, there’s no competition. Alyssa always runs, and she always wins. There hasn’t been a year she’s lost since she’s been here. But that’s probably because most people are scared to go against her anyway."
"Who’s the other candidate then? Didn’t Mr Delmar say there were already two people running?" Olivia frowned.
"Uh... I don’t know, actually," Chelsie shrugged. "But whoever it is, they don’t stand a chance. No one does when they’re up against Alyssa Taylor and her thousands of freebies."
"Since when has she been with Aiden?" Olivia asked, nodding at Alyssa, who had appeared at the other end of the hallway, harassing students with her dazzling fake smile and free stationery.
"Vote for Alyssa – she’s the hottest candidate!" Aiden called across the hallway, to no one in particular, grinning as everyone’s heads turned to look at them both. He was basking in all the attention, and loving every second of it.
Alyssa slapped his butt playfully, squealing, "Oh, shut up!" but she threw her arms round him and pressed her lips to him, the two of them starting to make out in the middle of the hallway.
Olivia rolled her eyes as she turned back to Chelsie. It was obvious that relationship wasn’t going to last, anyway. Aiden was too busy enjoying his new-found popularity and all Alyssa wanted was someone decent-looking on her arm to help front her election campaign. It was a relationship based on image, which was the case with a lot of couples at Serenity Falls.
"Hey, guys!"
Wait... why did Olivia recognise that voice? It sounded strangely familiar, and yet she couldn’t put a face to it. She turned her head quickly, and could not help but let a smile spread across her face as she realised who was bounding towards them.
"Fred!" Chelsie squealed, throwing her arms around the guy. "You’re back!"
"Can’t... breathe..." Fred panted, sandwiched between both of Chelsie’s arms. "Being... suffocated."
"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.
"Please, just take her," she said, thrusting the baby at him. "I just need some space."
Now where had he heard that before? He watched her leave as she walked out of the small living room, rubbing her head. Looking at an upset Isabella in his arms, he sighed. ‘What’s the matter, eh?’ he said softly, stroking her dark head of curls.
He lifted her up in his arms, pressing his nose to her diaper, but no unpleasant smell reached his nose. "At least you’re clean, Belly," he said gently, as he walked across the sitting room, in the direction of the play pen which was littered with toys.
"What about this one?" he asked, holding a soft rag doll in front of her face and shaking it lightly. "Hello!" he said in a high-pitched voice, shaking the doll. Isabella stopped crying for a second, gazing at the doll intently as if inspecting its suitability, before bursting into tears again.
"Okay, not that one," he muttered to himself. It was kind of a pain, looking after his younger siblings, but he was aware of how much his mom was struggling, especially on her own all day. And he usually found it easier to calm them down than she did, which was a major advantage to him.
"What about this lovely teddy?" he asked, as he removed a fluffy pink bear from the pen. Isabella looked at it for a second, as if inspecting its suitability, then made a grab for it. "Ah," he smiled. "This is what we’re after."
He gave the toy to her and then bent down, placing her inside the play pen. He smiled triumphantly as he watched her hug the bear close to her chest and start talking gibberish to it, but at that moment the doorbell sounded.
Who was that? He glanced at the clock on the wall – it was now past seven and he couldn’t think of anyone who would be stopping by at this time – if at all. He frowned slightly, pausing to think, before pulling open the door to see what the mystery visitor wanted.
"Um, hey."
He just stood there, his shock evident on his face. What was she doing here? The person he least wanted to see, standing expectantly at his door.
"Sammi? What the hell are you doing here?" he said, his voice sounding more sharp and angry than he had intended. He drew in a breath as Sammi winced slightly. "Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that."
He looked at her intently, half expecting her to be wearing a tiny dress and huge heels, practically throwing herself at him like she had been doing for the past few days. But to his surprise, she wasn’t. She looked kind of bad, actually. Her black hair wasn’t straightened, and curled messily around her pointed face. There was a distinct lack of make-up on her eyes especially, and this completely transformed her appearance. She looked tired, too, and the way she was biting her lip gave the impression she was feeling slightly uncomfortable.
"How did you even know where I..." his voice trailed off.
She shook her head, not giving an answer. "Can I come in?" she asked quietly, hugging her arms closer to herself. The way she was now... she looked almost vulnerable. And this transformation was so major, it was unnerving for Ethan. This was definitely not the Sammi he was used to seeing.
"Uh... sure," he said, stepping to one side as she entered the house. He led her into the sitting room, gesturing for her to take a seat, but she stayed standing.
She took a deep breath, letting out a long sigh before beginning to speak. "You know, I just wanted to say... I’m really sorry. About the other night... and..."
"Seriously," Ethan interrupted, his voice tinged with irritation. He was still angry at himself more than Sammi about what had happened at her party, and Sammi bringing it up was the last thing he needed. "You don’t need to be."
"What I did was wrong," she continued, looking down at the floor. She ran a hand through her messy hair uneasily. "I really shouldn’t have. I mean, I know you really like that Olivia girl and I can tell you really care about her..."
"That doesn’t matter now," Ethan said quietly, shaking his head.
"Of course it does," Sammi said, looking up quickly. "Look. I know how much you liked her and... I deliberately tried to mess that up. I tried to lead you on. In the back of my head, I didn’t actually think you’d go along with it. I knew that you’d moved on. But I was desperately trying to convince myself that we still belonged together, if you could just realise it and..."
"I could’ve said no, Sammi. But I didn’t. And that’s not your fault. It’s not anybody else’s fault but mine."
"That doesn’t make what I did any better, Ethan," she said, her voice sounding more sincere than ever before. This was definitely something that people did not see often – Sammi’s soft side. "And I’m really, genuinely sorry."
"I get that, Sammi. But that doesn’t change what I’ve done." He sighed, a tear brimming, threatening to roll down his cheek. "I’ve messed it up big time."
"Maybe I can talk to Olivia, explain to her what happened?" Sammi suggested, biting her lip, unsure of what else she could do. "She’s got to know that this was all my fault."
"But it wasn’t, Sammi. And if Olivia never speaks to me again... there’s no one to blame but me."
Silence consumed the room. The only sound that could be heard was the soft muttering of Isabella from inside her play pen as she chattered away to her bear, oblivious to the tension around her.
"Thanks for coming over, Sammi," Ethan said quietly. "But this isn’t your fault."
"Can we stay friends?" Sammi asked suddenly, blushing as she looked at Ethan’s unreadable expression. "I mean... only if you want to..."
"Yeah." His answer was short, and he didn’t say anything more.
Sammi nodded understandingly and started towards the door which led out to the hallway. "Goodbye, Ethan," she said, pulling him in for a brief hug as they stood in the narrow entrance. And it wasn’t flirty – she didn’t try to lower her hands a little too much, or whisper something seductive in her ear. She knew that it was way past that.
He nodded, pulling down the handle of the front door for Sammi to step out. But as the door swung open, there came a sight that made his heart drop and his stomach twist itself into a thousand knots.
And in a split second, Olivia had torn the pink note in half and dropped onto the path and turned quickly on her heel, running down the street as fast as she could with tears streaming down her face.
When Ethan had pieced the note together, the words ‘I forgive you’ became readable, although they had been ruined by the huge tear down the middle.
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I seem to be torturing my characters in these last few chapters... I must've been in some mood when I wrote them! But... it will get better :) I PROMISE! Aaaaaaaand.... remember to VOTE for Fred being back :D