When my mom told me we were having a 'small celebration' before I went back to school, I was sceptical as to why it was happening (not to mention the fact that they would seemingly be celebrating me going). But when I finally exit the tack room after cleaning veritable mountains of tack, I discover what the sounds of cars and shouts were all afternoon.
The front drive has been transformed, with collapsable tables shoved to the walls, heaving with snacks and drinks. Music plays from the speakers trailing wires inside the French doors leading to the living room, and I note that it's my type of music: k-pop. Currently blasting out 'I Am The Best', 2ne1's voices set the perfect scene for the many people milling around, chatting and eating. A large banner hangs from the upstairs windows, reading 'Good Luck Rose and Alex'.
Alex? Isn't he just going back to their school in the town?
I don't have time to assess this curiosity, as my presence is noticed by a certain group of people.
"Rose!"
Namely, my friends.
Not my school friends; if Jess, Tabitha and Bertie showed up here I'd be surprised to say the least. But my friends from home, Andy, Bella, Evie and Sam.
I'm suddenly suffocated from all sides by hugs, and I attempt to push away Andy's bushy brown hair, in a desperate effort to breathe.
"We missed you!" Exclaims Evie, her tawny eyes sparkling in the evening light. "How's the school?"
Sam laughs. "Is it full of posh British people?"
"Do you eat tea and crumpets every day?" That's Bella.
"Okay," I say as soon as I'm free. "One; yes, but mostly nice posh British people," I pause, thinking of Jess. She's possibly the furthest from 'posh' you can get, and she puts herself down for her position at Silverstone. If anything, she was already better than all of us before we even got to school. "And two; no, I don't even like tea or crumpets." I raise my eyebrows. "And nice to see you all too."
Andy laughs, elbowing me. "Shut up, you know we texted you every day."
"Didn't reply much, though," mumbles Evie, pouting.
"I was kinda busy helping my friend train her demonic horse," I say, and their eyes light up.
"What?"
So, of course, I spend the next twenty minutes filling them in on what happened last term.
"So, Jess got the horse, right?" Bella furrows her eyebrows, confused.
"Yup."
"What happened with Kennedy?" Sam grins. "Did she get expelled?"
I shake my head regretfully. "Nah, Jess just kinda roasted her, then threatened to tell the headmistress if she messed with her again. Kennedy ran off then."
"No wonder," Evie ponders. "Vandalism of school property, and poisoning horses. She sounds kind of dangerous."
I shake my head. "Kennedy's not dangerous. Just jealous."
A comfortable silence falls between us, as I look past the party into the distance. The lowering sun casts shadows among the rough patches of grass, painting a unique and strangely beautiful picture.
The tone of the music shifts suddenly, from a light pop beat to a heavy drumming.
"Oh god, who's choosing the song?" I wince, glancing over to the speakers, but apparently it's playing from a playlist, cause there's nobody messing with it. "Isn't this my party?"
"Personally, I think anything is better than some girls going 'gee' over and over again," Sam comments, rather unhelpfully. "Does it even mean anything in Korean?"
While I take the opportunity to glare at him, Evie fills me in. "It's not just your party. Alex is going off to that engineering school, right?"
Confusion clouds my brain, and I rack my brain to see if I've forgotten this very important fact. But no, I haven't got a clue. "Huh? Engineering school?"
Andy makes a face. "Well, you probably should ask him. I mean, it's sort of important. It's in Canada."
Canada?!
And speak of the devil, and he shall appear.
"Hey, Rose," Al appears at my elbow, holding a drink. "Did we surprise you?"
I grow my teeth, anger replacing uncertainty. "Well, I was surprised to find out about fifty per cent of the reason for it."
His eyes widen, but he laughs. "So you're better at maths, huh? Is there anything your school doesn't do?"
I clench my fists. "Canada, Alex? Canada?! Were you so engrossed in your books that you forgot to tell me you were going off to some fancy engineering school in ANOTHER COUNTRY?"
He shrugs, staring down at his feet. "Not so different to you."
At this point, I'm pretty sure that there's smoke coming out of my ears. "Are you serious? I think it would have been hard to be unaware of the fact that I was going to Silverstone, unless you were living on the roof or something." I frown. "Scratch that. You would have known if you were living on the roof. But why didn't you tell me?"
He shrugs again, mumbling. "I guess it never came up."
I fix him with a glare.
He sighs. "Fine. I didn't want you to be mad at me."
All my anger suddenly drains away, to be replaced with confusion again. "Huh?"
"Cam is," Alex finally looks up at me. "He thinks I'm leaving him."
Ohhh. Right. That makes... a lot of sense, actually. Sighing, I roll my eyes, pulling him foward into a hug, messing up his blonde hair with my fist. "Well, no, Alexandra, I'm not mad at you," I grin, using an old nickname. "So, you've been accepted into some fancy engineering school. What's the name? Where is it?"
"The Vancouver School of Engineering," he gives me a half-grin. "So you're not mad?"
I shake my head firmly. "Obviously not. Sounds fancy."
He laughs in relief, and my stomach twinges. He shouldn't have been worried. "Well, I'm gonna go find my friends again. Check out the barbecued ribs."
I wink. "Will do." And he's gone.
By this point, my friends have drifted away, to the food tables. So I decide to take the opportunity to go be a good sister.
"Okay," I mutter to myself, scanning the area. It's not helpful that literally every friend living within a two-hour distance was invited. "Where would Cam be?"
Apparently, not at the location of the party. After ten minutes of searcing, it suddenly clicks. Of course Cameron wouldn't be here. He must be round the back, with the horses, or at least in the stableyard. I must have missed him when I left the tack room.
I frown. No, I couldn't have missed him; the tack room literally leads out right into the middle of the stables. Where could he be?
I decide to finally ask for help.
"Hey, Zac," I pull over a passing friend of Alex, who obviously knows Cam (them being twins and in the same year at school and all). "Do you know where Cam is?"
"Hey, Rose," he bites his lip. "Um, try the orchard? I saw him earlier, and I think that's where he said he was going."
"Thanks." Zac gives me a little wave and walks off.
Orchard. Of course. Cameron always goes to the orchard to play football (or soccer, as he calls it) when he's annoyed or stressed.
We like to call it an orchard, because we had one in England when we lived there, but really, it's just a grove of trees, arranged in loose rows. It's located a little further away from the house, past the stableyard. It's also partially hidden, thanks to the trees, but the sound of a bouncing football make me hesitate briefly before I enter.
Cameron is here, kicking a ball off a reasonably wide tree. He looks up quickly, but goes back to staring morosely at the object of his attention when he sees it's me. "Hey, Rose. Good party?"
I shrug easily, going to sit at the base of a shady birch. "Boring without you there."
"Well," he kicks the football with a little too much force. "Not my party."
"But it is for your brother."
"He told you, then? Took him long enough. Wuss."
"Hey," I reply sharply. "With your reaction, I can see why he didn't want to tell me."
Cameron scowls. "It's fine for you. You're going back off to your fancy school tomorrow, and then Al's going the day after. It's just me who's gonna be by myself here."
I sigh. "Look, I can see why you're upset. But can't you at least be a little happy for Al? It's a big deal for him, you know that. He feels really bad about something he should be happy about."
He kicks the ball so hard that it rebounds, shooting off away from him. He sighs deeply, seemingly exhaling all the air in his lungs, and slumps down next to me. "I know. I guess you're both so good at your own things, and then all I can do is 'kick a lump of leather round a pitch', as you put it," he mutters bitterly, tugging up handfuls of grass.
I roll my eyes. "Stop being a baby. You know I was joking. Anyway, come on," I stand up offering him a hand. "Bet you I can beat you. First to score through the two silver birches."
Cam smiles half-heartedly. "You wish."
a/n: 'TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY, FALALALALALALALALALA, LALALALA!
Yeah, I know, it's not officially Christmas Day (at least, not over here in li' old England), but my parents are irritating me on a whole new level by banning the Internet in our house tomorrow, cause Christmas spirit, yada yada. I'll probably go on, cause I'm a rebel, but yeah.
HAVE A GOOD CHRISTMAS! I HOPE ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE, BLAH BLAH.
JfMaddie xox