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THE RIDE HOME IN DEAN’S car is uneventful. We drive past the thick forest that’s between Avalon and Butler. Then as we get closer to town, the forest thins out in some areas for farms and houses. The smell of salt floats in the air as the breeze blows it into the window. “Raybaby” I roll my eyes, is always the first one to get dropped off, then Sienna and Jess because Jess always has homework and needs tutoring or something, then myself and Parker are always left until last. It has always been that way since the twins got their license.
I walk over to Mrs Flannery’s to pick up Em because Mrs Flannery gets her from school. Em finishes a little earlier than Avalon High.
‘Hey, Mrs Flannery,’ I say as I walk through the front door.
She is sitting at the table, helping Em with her homework.
‘Ava, is that you?’ Em calls out from the kitchen.
‘Yeah, it is. How was school, Blue?’
‘Oh, you know, same as yesterday.’ I stop as I reach the threshold and stare at my little blue-eyed, blonde-haired sister.
‘When did you grow up? I swear you were only five the other day,’ I tease.
‘Don’t be silly.’ She chuckles.
‘So, um I gotta go home really quick. I’ll be back in five.’
I walk over and scruff up her hair, and I then kiss her cheek.
‘Yeah, sure honey; dinner should be just about ready, so hurry on back,’ Mrs Flannery says. Surely Mrs Flannery deserves a medal for putting up with Emerson and me. I shove my hands in my pocket and walk to the front door.
* * *
THE FRONT DOOR SQUEAKS as I open it and walk to my bedroom. There are empty food containers throughout the lounge area, and dirty dishes stacked in the kitchen sink. The stench of cigarettes and marijuana is thick in this house. Sam’s bedroom door is wide open, and she is asleep flat on her stomach in her queen bed. Her room is actually tidy compared to the rest of this rickety old house.
I walk down the hall, the floorboards bend and creak underneath my feet. My bedroom door is open. Our beds have been stripped and tipped upside down, and all our clothes are spread out everywhere. Sam is having one of those days again; that’s the second time this week. I pick up every piece of the clothing, and refold them, and then put them in the draws. Then I place the beds the right way and make them up again.
‘I was wondering when you would show up,’ Sam sneers. I must have woken her.
‘Sam, I just finished school,’ I complain.
‘So, where’s the little brat?’
‘She is not a brat, and Emerson is somewhere safe.’
Sam laughs.
‘Safe from who? This—will be you one day,’ she runs her hands down her body. I roll my eyes. Over my dead body would I ever do that to Emerson.
‘So, what was it today Sam?’ I ask.
‘You see, some mail came through with bank statements.’ Sam takes out a folded letter from her pocket. ‘And I thought that I would open them to find out where my money went. Guess what I found?’
The colour drains from my face. Please, please, please no. This is the money that mum has been sending me for a long time. I don’t know why she’d send me money. She’s never been there for us in anything else. But I’ve managed to save what I can.
‘What did you find?’ I ask, trying to keep my voice even.
‘Well, it just so happens that some of my money was in the bank account mentioned in the letter. So, I went downtown to take all my cash out of my account, and they wouldn’t let me. They said that I didn’t have sufficient identification, but if I had the keycard I could just withdraw all that money.’
‘Look, Sam, someone trashed my room, and I’m trying to clean it. So if you will excuse me.’ I go to shut the door.
‘Just give me five hundred dollars, and I will leave you alone.’ She stands with one hand on her hip while her other hand waves the bank statement around.
‘I don’t have that money.’ I snatch the statement from Sam.
‘So, that bank statement is lying?’ She points to the piece of paper in my hand.
‘Yeah, it is. I had to pay for things at school; they gave me an extension on my bill,’ I lie. No, not really. I put some money on a new camera I need. I love to take photographs. The first time I used a camera, I was fascinated with how you could change the shutter frequency and capture a few shots until an amazing one comes along. I have asked the media teacher to hold my camera and all my photos at school. Maybe, I can ask the girls to keep them for me.
‘Do you ... have any money on you?’ she asks.
Instinctively, I drop the bank statement, and my hand rushes to my bra. I’ve been hiding a fifty there.
‘I knew it, skank!’ Sam stalks forward with a determined gleam in her eye.
I take a step back.
Sam leaps forward and we both tumble to the floor. I feel her hand grope for the money, but I get there first and grab the fifty dollar note. My hand is still holding the money.
Sam scratches my arm. I push her away, but she is stronger than I am. Sam rolls me onto my back, and she pins me down. Her hands grip my hair, and she lifts my head up and then pushes it into the ground forcefully. I blink and let go of the money. My hands go to the ache in my head. Sam is already climbing to her feet. Her shoulders lift up like a huge weight has just been lifted, and a devious smile spreads across her face.
I curl up into a ball to ride out the pain.
‘Thanks, Avander, you’re a lifesaver,’ she says as I listen to the sound of her feet walk back into her room.
Jeez Avander. I hate that name, and Sam uses it to piss me off. I know that she is only gonna spend that money on drugs. Like she does all the time. The same old sinking feeling enters my stomach. I get up off the ground, and walk into my bedroom and look through my backpack for some pain killers.
After cleaning my room and setting things straight again, I walk back through the house and start cleaning up, throwing all the trash out.
I open the few windows that can open, to let some of the smell out. Then I do the dishes, while wishing we had a dishwasher for the mountain I’m tackling.
My stomach growls as the sun sets behind the thinner parts of the forest, and the glare poking through the trees behind the fence in the backyard. It’s almost picturesque and I only have my phone to take photos. I walk back over the road. I pull my phone out and text Parker.
Me: So how was the ride home?
;P: Um ... he apologised for Raybaby being a bitch. But who cares HE TOUCHED MY SHOULDER, LIKE SQUEEZED IT BEFORE I GOT OUT. I am never washing my shoulder again.
Me: LOL! ‘Raybaby’ what a stupid nickname.
;P: I know, tell me about it. His hands are so strong OMG!
Here we go super-crush talk. I’m about to text back when I hit something hard and fall flat on my arse.
What the heck! I look up at a mass of muscles. A hand reaches down to help me up. I take the hand, and mine fits into it so neatly. My hand receives a zap, and I quickly pull it away and rub it on my jeans to get rid of the tingling feeling. My eyes trail up a tanned, sweaty body. This person has an eight pack. Like, what the heck? All the boys at school only have six. Then my eyes meet his face, and it’s the dimples that I recognise first.
‘What the hell! Are you stalking me?’ I snap.
‘You walked into me,’ he reprimands, as he hangs his headphones around his neck.
‘Uh, no I didn’t.’
Dakota puts his hands on his hips and sighs.
‘Truce?’ He holds his hand out again.
I look at it and then back up to his eyes, which look yellow now. What the fuck! They must change with his moods ‘cause the green colour smiled mischievously at me earlier.
‘So, what are you doing in my neighbourhood?’ I probe him.
He rubs the back of his neck with his hand. ‘I live here.’
I look at him and then down the street. Where I live and Mrs Flannery live are the only houses up this end of the street. Down the other end are abandoned houses that the trees have taken over.
‘Really?’ I raise my brow at him, and my stomach growls again. The yellow in his eyes has toned down a bit. He flashes those dimples at me. The exact ones I told him to keep away. He leans down, and his hot breath blows just below my ear.
‘I could show you if you like. Dad makes a mean burger.’ Dakota smirks, and one dimple shows itself.
I swallow down the lump in my throat.
‘Uh—no thanks.’ I stalk past him and then run into Mrs Flannery’s living room.
I slam the door shut behind me and lean on it.
The smell of a home-cooked meal wafts through the house as I walk to the kitchen once I have calmed down.
‘Ava, the food is in the oven. Help yourself love,’ Mrs Flannery calls out.
I hear the water running in the bathroom; she must be making a bath for Em. I grab a plate from the pantry, place it on the bench, and then grab the oven mitts to pull the beef casserole out of the oven. As I grab a spoon to dish food onto my plate, Mrs Flannery walks into the kitchen and sits at the table.
‘Did you know we have new neighbours?’ I ask her.
‘Yes, they moved in a few weeks ago, I think,’ she replies.
‘Oh,’ I say slowly.
I go back to putting food on my plate.
‘I just think of that man with all them boys,’ Mrs Flannery ponders.
‘What?’ My head jerks back.
‘Well, when they moved in, I did the neighbourly thing and took some of my famous apple pie. All them teenage boys came running for the pie. I didn’t think it would feed them, but they shared it around.’ She smiles as she remembers the story.
I walk over to the table and sit down with my plate.
‘So, did Em do her reading yet?’ I ask as I take a mouth full of food.
‘No, I thought that would be something the both of you could do.’
I nod my head.
‘This casserole is ...’ I take another mouth full. ‘Mm. hmm.’
‘Nana,’ Em calls out.
Mrs Flannery gets up from the table and goes to Em. I finish what is left on my plate and start washing up before Em and I walk home.
Damn it, why does Dakota get under my skin?
‘Why do we have to come back here?’ Em asked.
‘Because we live here.’ I puff out some air through my nose.
‘But I hate it,’ Em whines.
Believe me, I do too.
‘I know Blue, but it’s where Dad left us,’ I say quietly as a lump forms in my throat again.
I tuck Emerson in her bed, and walk over to the door and dead bolt it locked. Sam isn’t home so who-knows-what kind of mood she will be in when she gets back or if she brings any weirdos home with her.
As I jump onto my bed, the moonlight shines through the window. It’s not yet full, but it is pretty bright. I pull the covers over me, and I hear a faint howl of a dog or something in the distance. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep, and I dream of Dakota with his ever-changing eyes. His voice is smooth as he talks to me. We’re at Donny’s Rock, watching a storm brewing just off the coast.
I awake to the sound of loud music, and I look over at Emerson, who is still fast asleep. She looks exhausted; she must have had a rough day at school. Maybe that’s why she can sleep through the party and I can’t. I get up and grab a towel that is hanging on a hook by the drawers. To keep some of the sound out, I roll the towel up and tuck it under the door where the light shines in.
I hate Sam. She does this all the time. Why didn’t I ask if Emerson could stay the night at Mrs Flannery’s?
‘Avander!’ Sam yells as her hand bangs on the door.
‘Let the girl be.’ I heard another female voice tell her.
‘I hate her,’ Sam chides.
Well, no love lost there.
‘No, you don’t,’ the same voice said.
‘Yeah, I do. I hate the way Jeremy looks at her, and he always sticks up for her.’
‘Well, who could blame him? Her eyes are weird,’ the other girl says.
I take deep breaths and try to hold it together.
‘I know, right. Her mother has grey eyes too.’ Sam shares with the girl she is talking with.
Please don’t compare me to that woman.
‘You know, I never understood what Uncle Gary saw in her.’
And don’t talk about my dad! Tears start descending down my face as I stand here and listen to them talk about my fucked-up family on the other side of the door.
‘You girls are boring,’ some guy says. I hear their footsteps walk heavily across the floorboard as they groan in pain. Well, that’s how it sounds. I lie in bed and don’t fall back to sleep until sometime early in the morning when people start to leave Sam’s party.
I am like the walking dead when Emerson wakes me up. She has her backpack ready as she waits for me.
God, today is gonna be a long day.
I gather my things, lock our bedroom door and head out in my tank top and boxers. Emerson and I have to walk around the people who have fallen asleep on the floor.
There are small plastic packets everywhere and bottles of beer.
Bourbon takes up the rest of the space around the place. I grab Em’s hand, shut the front door behind us and walk across the road.
‘Good morning,’ said the rough voice that haunts my dreams. Not that I remember dreaming about him, but maybe those dimples were there.
‘Love the outfit.’ I look up to see a group of young guys with massive muscles bumping each other, and all of them are without shirts and have sweaty bodies. There are too many naked people in my street, me included.
‘Morning,’ I say before walking through the pack.
As I walk through the front garden, I hear whistles followed by ‘damn she’s hot’ and ‘man I love this neighbourhood’. I flip them off as I enter the front door.
‘Hey, Mrs Flannery,’ I call out once I’m inside. The smell of bacon and eggs fill my senses.
‘Jane, dear,’ Jane admonishes.
Em is already filling her plate up when I walk into the kitchen. I scruff her hair.
I make a cup of coffee.
‘Oh, um ... Jane, are you able to take Em for the night? Sam—’ I don’t get to finish my sentence.
‘I know, I heard the racket from here.’
I hang my head. Sam likes to make life a living hell.
‘Sorry, about that.’ I make another coffee for the road. ‘Emerson.’ I only call her that when I’m being serious.
‘Yeah,’ she ponders, as she comes from the room with her Barbie doll that Mrs ... Um ... Jane had bought her.
‘Tonight, I need you to stay here okay.’ Em’s eyes light up, and she gives me her full-blown smile as she nods her head.
‘Yay, I love nana’s house!’ She fists pumps the air.
‘Cool, well, I will see you later Blue.’ I walk out the door.
‘Yep, bye Ava.’