Hi everyone! As I said the editing is slow but just keep in mind somethings have changed but the whole story makes more sense already. Also, and even though the story says completed, it is not, I made private the chapters that need to be edited, this story in total has 67 chapters, so only when the story is published with that amount of chapters you will know that it is finally done.
Thank you so much for reading and I hope it's turning out to be a better story based on what I wrote in the first place three years ago.
Enjoy!
Anne
Edited in: 22/02/16
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Chapter 2: Again, I'm not a pillow
Cody's P.O.V
Four years later and here I am again. I've been looking forward to this moment for quite a while now. Work has taken over my life in so many different ways that I simply can't explain how it feels to go back home, to finally get rid of that homesickness that has been bottling up for years.
Even though this year was my best yet and I sold out most of my shows and sold millions of albums, I only got an eight-week vacation, but I'm not complaining, it's more than nothing, after all.
My life has been exhausting, fans and work wear me off every day and getting eight weeks of freedom feels nice - sure there will always be some fans around, but it's nothing compared to what I'm used to every day.
I've been to Australia a few times since I became famous, but I never had the chance to come to Gold Coast and visit my friends, friends that I lost contact with during the moving to L.A., between losing my phone and being thrown to a pile of work to do every day, I forgot to nurture my friendships back home. To say the truth I was deprived of doing so.
As the big boy I am already - being sixteen is quite old - I begged my parents to travel by myself, yet due to some messes I got into, they insisted to tag along. I love my family, I do, but I wanted to do this on my own, be independent for a while.
I should have known better than to argue with them, maybe I wouldn't have ended up being squeezed in my seat between my sister and my brother, which at some point, thought I resembled a pillow.
I opened up my diary, a black notebook I use to write down some song ideas and thoughtful quotes that sometimes fly through my mind, and also poems, lots of them, all about one only girl.
Katherine was my childhood sweetheart, a cheerful girl with a brave spirit and a huge heart to love anyone and anything. She was never a girly girl, most of the times she was a tomboy, and I liked it, it made it easier to talk to her. Eventually, my heart would go crazy at the thought of her coming to my house to play, especially when she started growing up and gaining some curves, even if very softly, they were there.
So when I was forced to leave her behind my tiny heart broke, I promised to myself I would keep contacting her, but it was impossible, I barely had time to breathe let alone talk to my friends.
I miss her, her smile and her crazy attitude, it made her one of the most attractive girls in my world, still is, the idea I have of her is still of her eleven-year-old self, but it's quite impressive, with her blonde braids one of each side of the head and her chubby cheeks that I loved to pinch.
I want to find her while I'm back and I want to explain it all to her, show her how I still care, how I kept in caring even when I had no idea where she was or what she was doing. She was my best friend and I don't want to leave her in the dark anymore.
It's possible that she will push me away, and I will understand it, but I will fight for it, I'm stubborn, which if I'm not wrong, was one of the things she liked about me.
The plane was about to land in Gold Coast and with every mile, I got more anxious. Being back home meant being able to relax and fix what I once messed up.
Although getting my friends back is my biggest goal, the first thing I'll do once this big metal bird lands, is getting some salty water in my body and sand in my feet, I've been all around the world and no beach can be compared to the ones we have in Gold Coast. The sand is more golden and the water is clearer, even the breeze is softer and warmer.
As my eyes roamed my black notebook reading every verse I wrote about Katherine and every time I wrote her name in the corners of the pages as a way to keep me company when I was at the studio late at night, her name always made me feel peace.
"Cody?" Alli called me softly poking my arm.
"Yes?" I asked looking at her my eyes tired from just waking up - we all know the feeling.
"You're going to look for her, aren't you?" She inquired resting her head against my body.
Again, I'm not a pillow.
I looked down at her barely open eyes and smiled. She knew that Katherine meant a lot to me, not only because she was my second sister but also because along the way I let myself have feelings for her, not love though, I was only twelve back then, but defiantly something.
But that question made me think. Is it wrong for me to want to find her? Should I just leave her alone? Wouldn't that hurt her more? I get that she may hate me, I hate myself for leaving her, but there's always time to fix the past.
"Y-Yeah. Why?" I replied stuttering a little as my cheeks tinted red from embarrassment.
"I'll help you, she was my friend too, and I miss her, a lot," She told me smiling "I mean who else will I go shop with? Duh"
I rolled my eyes laughing quietly trying not to bother anyone on the plane and draped an arm around her kissing the top of her head. I have the best sister in the world, alright? Against facts, there are no arguments.
We were still squeezing each other when an annoying voice announced that we were landing in Gold Coast and that we needed to buckle up and get back to our seats.
I let her go and closed my eyes. I'm not giving up, I never do.
Katherine's P.O.V.
As the end of the classes came, I jumped off my seat and ran to my locker to leave any unnecessary books there. I was excited to finally have a day off, I've been craving it for a while now and I deserved it more than anything. Getting B in Algebra is not for everyone alright.
Samantha's mom showed up to pick us up in her car since we aren't able to drive yet - which is really annoying if you ask me. We stopped at my sister's school and not even after ten seconds that little bubble of happiness was putting in her seatbelt and grinning at me.
Sammy rolled the windows down to let the breeze hit our faces, as it did nothing to cool us down it did make us relax and it even made me a little sleepy.
The music blasted through the radio and I closed my eyes allowing myself to hum the song, I'm not a great singer so I stick with the basic.
"We're here" Samantha's mom announced. Poor woman, she is probably tired of driving us everywhere.
We all got out of the car and run to the sand. We have a special place in our hearts that belongs to the beach, it's an eternal love really. All Australians share the same symptom.
We grow up in the beach, I mean while other kids go to the park in the other parts of the world, we go to the beach, and yeah if you happen to be me, when I was little I used to eat sand... Don't judge me, I loved sugar and sand looked a lot like sugar! It just didn't taste like it...
"This is going to be amazing" David said breathing in the salty air.
"So... we're going to stay here or what?" Sophia asked jumping up and down anxious to get her feet wet.
We looked at each other and smiled. Samantha and I laid all the towels in the sand while David and Michael put the sunscreen on the kids - yeah, Demi and Daniel came too.
The weather was great just like David predicted, the ocean wasn't too aggressive but the waves were quite big, perfect for surfing. So when the kids were protected from the sun we took off our clothes and ran to the water. We looked like six kids in the water doing stupid things and throwing water at each other.
After about one hour of chilling on the beach we got hungry- counting we spent more calories in those activities than in the whole day at school. Well, Michael and David are always hungry, the reason why we had to bring a lot of food.
"Someone feed me, please" I pleased plopping in my towel as I looked at them.
"Whoever feeds her has to feed me" Michael said rubbing a hand on his belly. Oh my, those abs, well Michael you have been hitting the gym a lot more now, haven't you?
I grabbed my bag and carefully took out six sandwiches. Michael handed the drinks, orange juice for the kids and soda for us - a little less healthy but I just don't care really.
After 'lunch' - if we can call it that - we were a bit bored, so like we are young and we just want to have fun, we decided to play Truth or Dare (for the kids the dare couldn't be too risky or things like kisses, although they wanted it, stating they were big enough already).
"I'll start" Samantha announced.
She started looking at us as she took out the empty bottle of water and spun it in one of the towels. Sure it had to stop on me, the oh so cliché thing, and I don't really mind playing truth or dare, it's actually fun, but with Samantha... She is crazy about the dares. Once she dared me to stay in my underwear during the entire game, and there were boys in there...
"Truth or Dare Katherine?" She asked smirking at me.
"Dare?" I chose with fear.
Alli's P.O.V
As soon as we landed there was a limo waiting for us. As they all grabbed their bags and put them in the car I stayed still looking at my luggage, I packed everything I could and I turned out to have seven big bags, heavy ones too.
"Cody?" I said with a really soft and annoying voice, smiling like an idiot. Please fall for this one... Please.
"No way Alli, those aren't my bags" He replied not even looking at me.
I grabbed two bags and put them in the limo - my Dad and my Mom helped me with the rest proving they are lovely parents. Tom took care of Buddy as they have such a close relationship - both little and a tiny bit immature.
When we were in the limo, my Dad was talking with Mom about Cody's career and things like that. Tom was playing with Buddy and Cody was smiling like an idiot while looking down at his notebook.
"Katherine?" I whispered in his ear.
"Maybe..." He said raking his fingers through his hair.
"I've never seen you this happy" I told him looking at his face.
"I know, it's been a while since I felt like this" He responded putting his head on my shoulder "Are you really going to help me?" He asked looking up at me.
"Yeah, of course, I will" I assured him happy.
If anything he deserves to be happy, and if that means Katherine has to be part of his life then I'll do anything I can.
"Thank you Alli" He thanked letting out a breath, smiling.
We stayed like that until we arrived at the beach. Dad and Mom were going home while Tom, Cody and I planned to go to the beach and get a little colour. Cody took his surfboard off the limo and I took the towels and stuff like that. Cody only cares about the surfboard, he doesn't need more than that to enjoy a day at the beach.
The weather was amazing, warm but relaxing, not scalding but also not freezing, it was a great combination of the heat from the sun and the breeze. I missed Gold Coast so much. And I think I wasn't the only one...
"Home sweet home" Cody and Tom said at the same time breathing in the cold breeze.
They looked at each other and smiled. Cody took off his shirt and immediately the girls around us went crazy, some because they were angels, others because he was hot - I can't believe I just said this about my brother.
"OH MY GOD CODY! YOU ARE SO FREAKING HOT!" One girl screamed.
Shame? What's that?
"MARRY ME CODY!" Another one exclaimed.
It didn't take long for a crowd of horny girls to approach Cody and for me to leave him there with his admirers. As this was supposed to be our vacation it totally didn't feel like it. Cody may have a smile on his face but he is tired of this life. He wants to make music, but having girls grinding on him all the time? It's not exactly what he expected.
I felt sorry for leaving Cody alone with the fans, but it's not like they can rape him. Right? Well, they are a bit crazy, but I think they wouldn't do it, at least not in the middle of the beach.
I went for a walk at the seaside feeling the water tingle my feet and the breeze on my hair making me feel at home, again. I missed these walks, I used to take them in the morning when I was little, they were quite relaxing and still are. I also used to come here at night with Katherine, when I was angry with something she helped me and it was that what I loved in her.
She was a great friend, she still is, even if we don't talk, I know that if I needed something she would be there for me. Not talking to her is pure agony, and even though I could have kept my friendship with Katherine I didn't because I had to be there for Cody, he needed me, and my family always comes first.
I hope Cody gets to fix what he broke and if not I will fix it myself. I won't mind handcuffing both of them and locking them in a room until they finally give up and solve their issues.
Sure there's a slight possibility that she would beat him to death, but at least he would die trying.
When I looked up I saw five teenagers and three kids, they looked familiar to me but I couldn't put my finger on it. I looked away for about five seconds if much and when my gaze went back to the group, one of the girls was kissing a boy.
And then it hit me. It hit me really hard. Like a rock... I knew that girl so well... And I couldn't even believe it.